Star seller unobtainable due to outlier message

[Battleaxe3D]

I’m posting here because I can’t find where else Etsy gives another option to bring up star seller issues. I get very little in the way of messages to my shop, maybe 7 in total. One of these messages was very strange, it simply praised one of my products and thanked me for the low price all in broken English. It contained no question and the sender never placed an order off the back of it. I did not reply to this message and now have no way of being able to get back to Star seller status as I simply do not receive that many messages. 

Is there a way to get something done about strange outlying messages like this that affect my star seller status and so in turn my shop and sales? 

[KlaassyArtsFinest]

Mark it as spam and then it should fix your star seller 

[Battleaxe3D]

I went and deleted the message, next time I will either send a reply (any reply) or mark as spam 

[Battleaxe3D]

Ok, found it in my deleted folder and marked it as spam. Will wait and see if that fixes it. 

[KlaassyArtsFinest]

I get those type of messages in my other shop. I don't believe they are a "potential customer" . Potential customers get to the point when they send messages ! 

I mark them as spam and it stops the SS from getting effected 

[TheWestcountryWitch]

You can set up an automated message--I have one set for when I am away from my computer. If you don't get many first messages, it will take some time to boost your message reply up to get the star seller badge. You need to reply to all first contact messages. Sadly, you're just going to have to do the slow climb back up--I know for my other shop I don't have the star seller badge as rarely get messages. It's just one of those things sadly. 

[NTLinhLanShop]

Oh, why do you only reply if that message is a question?
You can send a thank you note.

[Battleaxe3D]

I just didn’t think it needed a response, it was a very odd message. I had no idea at the time it would affect my star seller. 🤦‍

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@Battleaxe3D: Keep in mind that the Star Seller metric is that the FIRST message of EVERY NEW INCOMING 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.

We always consider these non transactional messages as an opportunity to try to convert the sender into a buyer.

[HazelsSewingSupplies]

If someone sends me a message and praises one of my items what should I do?

1).  Ignore it and not reply to the message (no matter how weird it is) and lose my SSB.

2). Say "thank you" and hope it turns into a sale OR mark it as spam and keep my SSB.

No brainer.