Star seller stats include buying messages

[HankiesBySarah]

My Star Seller stats for this month show that I’ve not replied to one of my messages. However this was a dispatch message from another Etsy seller when I purchased an item from them. So it had nothing to do with my shop. 

[NanaLetha]

All messages count.

[EmmasHeritage]

Except ‘Help with Order’ messages from the buyer.  They don’t count those as ‘regular’ messages and will ding your rating.

[pennyemporium]

@HankiesBySarah:  the Etsy computer has no way of knowing if your message was from a buyer or a seller.  the computer counts ALL messages.  you can always mark the message as "spam" to creatively make the message "not count" against your badge score.  

[ChristmasIsLove]

Read the rules on your Star Seller dashboard (or some of the 1000s of Forum threads just like yours): ALL. MESSAGES. COUNT.

[CatsWhiskersCurios]

It's been that way since the programme began

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@HankiesBySarah: Probably everyone in this forum can sympathize with you but as you will see by the innumerable threads about the exact same issue in this forum this has been discussed ad nauseam.

The Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of a NEW thread must be replied to within 24 hours. It does not matter who sent it, the subject matter, if it is a duplicate or blank or anything else. If it is SPAM then it should be marked as such. Those have always been the rules. Subsequent messages from the same account (a buyer may have multiple accounts) are supposed to be combined into a single thread. Etsy is now putting a blue text warning / advisory on those messages they consider to be a "new message" but should semantically be called a "new thread".

Help Requests always start a new thread.

If you are creating a custom listing based on a new thread, you still need to reply to the message.

Cancellation requests in a new thread must be replied to in the actual message - replies using the cancellation form do not count as a response.

At least for the time being, it appears that marking an unanswered message as SPAM (even after the 24 hour deadline has passed) will cause your reply percentage to change in a day or two if the original message was within the current star seller period. Note that subsequent messages from that account may go directly to the SPAM folder.

If you have not yet done so, you might want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403058372503-How-to-Become-a-Star-Seller?segment=selling

[WitticismsRus]

@HankiesBySarah 

"Star seller stats include buying messages..."

Yes, that is correct. They have always included ALL messages as clearly written in all the info about star seller. It's been this way for at least a year now. 

[thePaperFramer]

And yet another seller that hasn't read the policies or looked this up in this forum. This is the 7 zillionth thread on this exact same issue. You have to reply to all first messages. Like it or not, this is what you have to do to keep from getting dinged for your Star Seller. Every body does this once. Hopefully to learn from this and not do it again.

[KitschCreative1]

Ive had this ruin my star seller too!! But it was an auto reply from a seller to an order i had made! Im absolutely gutted! 

[BootifulLabels]

Im absolutely gutted! 

Try not to take it to heart, the badge has no direct affect on your shop, regardless of the warm fuzzy hints from Etsy that it makes you special.  It does not give you a boost in placement or visibility and any increase in sales is coincidental, as Etsy has definitively stated that AT THIS TIME the badge has no special privileges attached.  From posts in the forums, even the recent announcement of chat support to Star Sellers appears to be randomly applied and doesn't seem to be any better than the standard chat offered to other shops.

My best advice is to just carry on with your own brand of great customer service and don't fall for the hype and urgency Etsy wants us all to feel.

[OmAgainVintage]

Yep, I received a threatening message from someone and his reason for threatening me had nothing to do with a purchase, he was just bat shoot crazy.  I reported it, but I also sent a response so that my Star Seller status wouldn't suffer.

It was at that point I realized how idiotic worrying about Star Seller status really is.