Sustaining Star Seller Sadness, the struggle with skewed percentages

[ourglasscreations]

At this point, I can think of no other explanation than the star seller program being rigged to destroy. If it was an actual functioning algorithm there wouldn't be more forum posts about it's fundamental flaws than anything else, but it's not and there are. Further, the two or three people that run etsy don't seem to care about how it's affecting sellers shops. Obviously it is biased to the buyer and has little regard for real time stats.

We ship everything with tracking on time, and that stat doesn't go above 95%. We miss one shipment on time  once and the stats goes down to 93%. Have responded to every message for three months within 24 hours and the stat stays at 96%.  I reached out and was slapped down, they said they were going to limit my account because of the products I sell, which are all within their community guidelines. How can they operate a flawed program , not allow an opportunity for address of grievances? then get all bully bully when one attempts to address said grievances and then sleep at night.... makes one sad

[ourglasscreations]

and for the love of truth i am not an "inspiration seeker", whoever coined that phrase lacks both inspiration and insight, and again, no course available to wipe that away....so sad

[bradgoodell]

You've missed one point.  Star Seller doesn't affect shops, it affects shop owners.  Star Seller doesn't make a whit of difference in search placement, buyers don't know what it is, nor do they care, and most shops will never achieve it but will continue to sell without it.

So stop letting a little purple star be your goal!  Do you best to provide customer service and quality products, and don't be concerned about meeting a goal that most sellers on Etsy will never receive.  Set your own goals, don't live by someone else's definition of success.  

[BirdsongEmporium]

@bradgoodell  I so agree. I read that Etsy sent out an email (that we never receive even though signed up for them but that is another lack of Etsy customer service issue)  that about 26,000 sellers had the star seller status continuously during the first 6 months. That is a pitiful drop in the bucket in the number of sellers here. How could any buyer rely on a program that has so few shops to choose from? This program is so flawed. It is needlessly stressing many sellers out while not providing any benefit to buyers because the results are way too small to be of any benefit to buyers. If buyers were actually to rely on the star seller results to shop, Etsy would be shooting themselves in the foot because buyers might get the idea that there are very few sellers here with high customer service levels.

[bradgoodell]

@BirdsongEmporium I believe Etsy has designed it so it would not be possible for most sellers to achieve it permanently. 

[BirdsongEmporium]

@bradgoodell  that seems entirely possible but I just cannot fathom why they would want such a program that could not be consistently attained to be reliable for both buyers and sellers. Obviously it has a benefit to Etsy. Their own customer service is so lacking it is hard to believe that Etsy cares about anything but what benefits Etsy most.

[bradgoodell]

If it was consistently attainable to most sellers, it would be worthless.  Worthless as a seller incentive, and worthless as a buyer incentive.  Imagine going to Netflix, or Amazon, or Yelp, or TripAdvisor, and everyone, every place, and  everything was 5 stars.  It doesn't happen IRL.  

[bradgoodell]

Not defending it, I think it's stupid, but as a carrot to sellers, it's been remarkably effective to get slacker sellers to actually answer messages and ship on time.  

[JDTotesnDolls]

My opinion of the star seller is that it is the ODR with a carrot stick.  It is Etsy's way of informing all sellers of what they think customer service is and what they want sellers to attain.  With stats gained from the star seller, I think (based on past experience with similar in other businesses) that Etsy will use the information gained to weed out the sellers seriously underperforming.

By underperforming sellers who never get above a 3 star, never answer messages on time, never ship on time.  And yes, there are sellers like tha here. With the information in hand, Etsy can point to it as reason for letting those shops go.  They are not performing to Etsy's view of customer service.  

Does this mean if one does not have the badge a seller might consider themselves doomed.  Not at all.  The badge in and of itself is not the goal.  It is performing customer service as Etsy sees important.  If a seller is answering messages in a timely manner, getting mostly 4 and 5 stars (with maybe one or two low stars mixed), shipping on time and generally in line with service level standards then they are doing well no matter not having the badge.

This is the ODR with a carrot stick to inform sellers of what Etsy wants, give a little reward but generally to get all sellers to understand if you want to use this venue, you need to have good customer service as espoused by Etsy. 

[ourglasscreations]

My point being that despite our excellent customer service as a result of us setting our own goals, the star seller algorithm is jacked. Current instance, we were star sellers in August, did not miss a single message, message response rate is at 100%, but we did not get badge for it....legit complaint

[Former_Member]

As above... more disturbing, to me, is where I read in one of your reviews how the purchaser actually knocked off a star because "... it was handmade."   I don't even know where to go with that.  Another danger of allowing mass produced chit onto this site is that many buyers may now expect 'handmade' to be just like 'machine made'.  That's sadder than any lack of purple pomp.  Maybe it's just me.

[leinweberstudio]

I agree with your opinion about the "handmade" complaint.

And, as this buyer mentions shopping with OP again, I would cancel any subsequent orders from them at once, seeing the product is not up to their standards. 

[KKayGiftsArt]

Yeah this has been an ongoing issue that effects a seller's self esteem if they do not meet the goal on one or the other criteria.  Wither your a star seller or not, your items will still sell if they are desired and most shoppers will go to reviews to get a "feel" of the quality of the item and if the seller can be trusted.  Like others mentioned it does not effect anything on the sales and again its just a goal one can try to meet, some months a seller/shop might not be able to reach the goal due to real world situations and circumstances. Also, we are also all just humans and are not error free so if such a thing causes criteria not to be met then let it not depress you and continue to strive for excellence.

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

@ourglasscreations  , Off topic but don't use the word AMBER . Even if you are describing a color. Your listing will be deactivated. It is a prohibited word , it has something to do with amber beads. The bots will be triggered by that word so don't use it.

[SugarTaffySoap]

@ourglasscreations. What does "limit my account because of the products I sell" mean? 

[Jewels2at]

I was wondering this too...

[PrairieCrocusStudio]

Could be the use of the word amber, which is being targeted by Etsy bots lately, even if it's only a color.

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

It could be because of the Game of Thrones items.

[ThePurplePuppy]

@SugarTaffySoap 

Probably because the OP is infringing on the TM's of GOT and is using "Gandalph "  on his/her products. By doing this the items would be  considered counterfeit. They may have put a reserve on funds or some other restriction on the account.

[moonbeamgifts]

I thought it was pipes because that might be considered drug paraphernalia?

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

Tobacco pipes are allowed.

[moonbeamgifts]

@PiecesOfMePaperCraft 

Right but I think it depends on what terminology you use.   It could be sticky ground if you use the wrong keyword or even open to interpretation if you DON'T describe.

And it's also telling that how many people in this thread can look at a listing to suggest X amount of potentials.   I'm not sure if that's just multiple violations or a flaw in Etsy's policy page that it can be a "guess".   

It feels like the rules shouldn't be a determination between whether the dress is blue or gold....dating myself with the internet history?  LOL

[GraveIntentions]

Whole platform is flawed but where else you going to go? Nowhere. 

[MossandSageDesign]

You can have a Shopify store, sell on Ebay, Amazon and sell wholesale.

[Former_Member]

 Set your own goals, don't live by someone else's definition of success.  

So true and so valuable for your own peace of mind.