Star seller score

[GraceFilledJewels]

I believe my star seller score was calculated incorrectly (currently at 94%),I was dinged for not replying to a fellow seller regarding an order I placed from her shop. I thought seller response rates only applied to responses to buyers, in this case I was the buyer!

[BootifulLabels]

All messages received must be answered within 24 hrs, regardless of whether they relate to a sale, a purchase, or neither, and even if they are duplicated messages.  If you receive a lot of non-sale related messages which don't require an answer, it may be a good idea to set up a snippet that just says something like "thanks again" or similar so that you can tick the box with one or two clicks and not have to worry.  Duplicates and unsolicited messages can be marked as spam and they will not count against you, you can do this retroactively and it will correct the date for the upcoming badge, but past badge decisions will not change.  You can also setup an automated "out of office" response, but this will only last for five days, so you have to keep setting it each time it expires.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

It was calculated correctly,
etsy says you have to reply to every thread at least once.

[TheNatureAngel]

Hello, I've just discovered that the same thing has happened to me and I'm so upset about it. I had 100% response rate, but I purchased an item from another seller last week, and they sent a confirmation message that there was no need to reply to. I've just found out that my message response has dropped to 88% because of it! I had no idea that this would be counted, and I'd read all the star seller info thoroughly. How utterly unfair on sellers to do this! 

[CarpetCollectionAU]

SSP Program has been very clear about this Message Response Requirement for nearly 12 Months now. It clearly states "Reply to the first message within 24 hours"

It does not, and never did, say "from Buyers only"

But it is advised

"Messages that you mark as spam don’t count"

and 

"Set up an auto-reply when you’re unavailable. It counts as a reply."

Given there are 3 ways to cope with messages received as a Buyer, I cannot see any unfairness.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

The star seller info in shop manager says this:

"Your message response rate is based on just the first message in a conversation, not ongoing conversations. This means you just need to respond to the first message within 24 hours. This applies to messages both from buyer and seller accounts."

It's been like this since the programme was set up. 

[TheNatureAngel]

Thank you for your responses. I feel it is unfair because the purpose of Star SELLER is to assess a shop owners' performance as a seller - not as a buyer. Therefore, messages received as a buyer should not be taken into account. 

Automated replies are useful in some circumstances, however they are not intended for permanent use, and require renewing every 5 days. Spam folders are intended for genuine spam, not for purchases, and should not be used for such. (Future messages may divert to spam, meaning that important information could be missed.)

Having said this, once you know that you need to reply to every message within 24 hours, the problem can be avoided. A very simple, fair, and effective solution for this would be to add a folder in messages for messages relating to your own purchases, and just as with the spam folder, these would not be taken into account when calculating a star seller score. 

Thank you again for your help, I have now managed to find a solution and revert my score. 

[JJewellerySuppliesUK]

Send it to spam and your score will recalculate after a day or so.