Very old bad review showing up first under new listings just because I replied to the review.

[#1]

I am hoping Etsy will fix this, but I have over 800 positive reviews and one bad review from a year ago. I replied to the bad review to help the customer out and now that bad review is the first recommended review for my new listings. I asked Etsy staff why it is showing up first and they said that Etsy prioritizes reviews that you reply to - I said so can I reply to a positive review so that it shows up first and the rep said no. I find this to be a mistake, why would the priority be for the replied to reviews if only negative reviews are able to recieve a response? If I had known this I would have never replied to the review. This is one of the only bad reviews I got and from such a long time ago, why would that be recomended at the top of all my reviews? This is negativily impacting my new listing sales.

Thanks so much

- Gina

[SvgCraftFiles]

I am going to try replying to positive reviews and see if anything changes. So far nothing has changed but I am sure it takes some time. I will return to respond if that indeed fixed the issue. Thanks again for your help!

[SeasideRoseCreations]

Once again, totally wrong info from a "rep".

The reviews on listings are related to the listing.  IF you don't have the same listing to renew, it pulls up what it thinks is a similar one.  It's easy to catch in my shop as I sell OOAK vintage (mostly).  

[SvgCraftFiles]

Interesting! All of my products are the same type of listing - digtal files. So I am not sure why one would be considered more similar to another. Thanks so much for your reply

[RoseyandCoPrintables]

Sorry this happened to you. It has happened to me. However I didn’t reply to it at the time in my case - but equally annoying.  It is a review from 6 years ago and for a completely irrelevant product I stopped selling years ago. 

I spoke to a nice person on Etsy chat help and he said he will ask for Etsy to review it but nothing has happened. I didn’t ask for it to be removed but just moved at least to the second page as it is just not relevant at all! It comes up under most of my listings as the first of second review. 

Absolutely fed up with it. 

[ZehOriginalArt]

@RoseyandCoPrintables 

A review from 2016 comes up on totally unrelated items before current reviews. Wow. I would ask Etsy again, maybe try the email option instead of chat.

I think for a while Etsy was testing putting bad reviews first (because they thought it might be a good thing!??) But I thought they had stopped that.

[SvgCraftFiles]

Wow that is very annoying! I am so sorry this is happening to you too!

[RoseyandCoPrintables]

Thank you @SvgCraftFiles !

[RoseyandCoPrintables]

@ZehOriginalArt  I know it is nonsensical isn’t it?  it’s really affecting my sales since it appeared. Thanks for the tip, I will try Etsy email this time - worth a try! 

[tinacdesigns]

I also have this problem.  I have only one bad review out of over 300 five star reviews and the one bad one pops up when you click on most listings.  I didn't reply to my bad review.  He reached out to me with his concern prior to leaving the bad review and I offered to resolve the issue but he didn't reply and left the bad review.  Etsy needs to fix this issue!

[SvgCraftFiles]

Hmm so it is not related to responding then? 

[BagmakerSupply]

My guess is that Etsy has an algorithm that finds what it considers the most relevant reviews if a listing does not have any and the number of stars is not a significant factor. It seems that it would in Etsy's best interests to put favorable reviews first when the choice is relevance over latest. Looking at which items are selected for our listing which do not have a reviews, I would agree that the entire algorithm needs to be rewritten (as long as they don't make it worse for sellers).

[SvgCraftFiles]

Yes they need to rewrite the algorithim for sure!

[acaciaroseaustralia]

I had a negative one -star review from almost three years ago, when I first opened my shop and it is STILL appearing first up on my of my items. I did NOT reply to this review - so either etsy (the Dubliners who monitor Australia and the non-US regions) are being mischievous/malicious or etsy has a different rules for different regions. When I first raised this topic of negative reviews showing up - I was advised to answer the review - I didn't, because I thought that would lock it in forever. Etsy should get rules straight. Not happy!

[RefinedRuffian]

I rarely comment here, but I just had the exact same thing happen to me, a horrible one star review at the top. I contacted Etsy support & they told me they are now prioritizing reviews with comments…aka bad reviews, as you can only leave a comment on 1-3-star reviews. Very disturbing. The guy tried to claim it was to improve the customer experience. I asked how an outlier review is helpful to the customer if the average rating is 4.8 stars. He just kept repeating the same thing.

[SunnytyDE]

@RefinedRuffian  you say you just had it happen to you? I did not look at your reviews but if the rep just now told you you can only respond to 1-3 stars he is wrong. You can respond to any review. And like @BagmakerSupply  said sometimes it is a good idea to do so to lock it in.

[BagmakerSupply]

Actually you can now leave a response to any review (although there seems to be a time limit) - but the seller will not be able to change their review without going through Etsy support. So it would be good practice to at least leave a thank you for your five star reviews so they are locked in.

[ElestialJewelry]

Having same type of problem, 2star review that Esty shows as a recommended review,. sales are way off,.  I am going to have to consider leaving Esty and move to another platform,. I pay for advertising offsite all for Esty to show them the worst review,. can't win..  There is no easy way to communicate with Esty anymore for unusual issues, I have tried so many times - its ridiculous.  Hope things work out for your shop..

[PrairiePrimitives]

I hadn't noticed this but read about it in an email newsletter this evening and it was easy to find a review that I'd replied to at the top of the reviews on a product page. Never mind the product wasn't the least bit related to the review, other than I'd made both items. 

Etsy, what is the point of this change ... and when can we expect reviews to be shown in reverse chronological order (most recent reviews first)?

[ElestialJewelry]

Here is the Info below that I received from Etsy.. I had sent in request due to 2star review showing up first on most of my listings,. Yes, I complained as no shop owner should have to deal with this,. I have had my shop for 10 years,. 99% of my items are one of a kind, so there is no history of reviews for my items, explaining to some degree why the 2 star review was showing up first on most of my listings. *(The 2 star review was the longest written review, if word count is involved IDK) If the item itself has reviews they will show first.  It will help greatly if you find away to get in-touch with staff so they can review with executive management teams.  

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"As you may know, Reviews aren't chronological in Shop. We give priority to reviews with comments because Buyers can learn a lot more about the shop and items from reading comments others have left.
 
Some Low-score reviews appear toward the top for the reason of:

• We want to give buyers an accurate representation of the level of customer service a seller usually provides.
• This may include showing poor reviews along with the best ones.
• One reason is that when a review is 3 stars or less, the seller has an option to reply publicly.
• These responses can give potential buyers better insight as to what level of care they may expect from the seller.

 
Also, Language settings affect order. Buyers will see reviews in the language that matches their regional settings above those that don't."

[TagTeams]

@elestialJewelry
Etsy isn't going to remove the review, so where do you go from here?  
Ask yourself, "Are any of her claims true & are there any issues that need to be addressed that could come up in the future?"
Honestly look at the buyers comments to see where you can improve for future buyers.

[PrairiePrimitives]

Etsy's response about giving buyers "an accurate representation of the level of customer service a seller usually provides" by putting negative reviews at the top doesn't make any sense!

If Etsy wants to give my potential customers an accurate representation of the level of customer service I provide, then show the 5 star reviews that say how fast my shipping is, how well-packed the order was, and how fricking delighted the customers have been with their multiple purchases from my shop. #ItsNotRocketScience

[DiegoBeachBooks]

Same issue in my shop for many, many months.  I don't find that any sort of modifications I've done with listings makes any difference at all.  Listing terrible reviews at the top on every listing is NOT a  fair representation of what a customer can expect, because typically a bad review represents less than 1 percent of a shop's total sales.  And the fact that this is happening to only SOME shops seems highly discriminatory.  It would be very easy to put shops out of business using this lopsided method of recommended reviews.

[ElestialJewelry]

@tagteams  No, there was nothing true about what the customer wrote,. when I contacted her she wanted a full refund without returning the item, when I refused she contacted my other customers that left reviews - saying I was a fraud.  I had sent her prepaid shipping label and offered full refund for her to return it,. she never even sent the item back.  Etsy later removed her for harassments.  

Etsy will not remove reviews- however with enough shops speaking up is what will bring change,. showing a negative review 1st is just wrong, and it needs to be changed,. I have been on here for 10 years,. I move forward by getting this issue resolved.  If they feel that it is beneficial they can move them to 3rd of 4 place,.  I'm not giving up!!

[ZehOriginalArt]

@ElestialJewelry 

I see what you mean. Every single item I clicked on had that same review either first or in the first three reviews. And it shows the buyer is Inactive.

If I were browsing through your shop, I would think that buyer was a troll putting that same negative review on every item.

It's bad for Etsy to do this to sellers and it is also bad to do this to buyers as well when you think about it. Not only to those looking for something to purchase, but also for any legitimate buyer who was not satisfied with something in one shop and is now stuck with looking like a troll forever - or as long as Etsy thinks this is a good thing.

[acaciaroseaustralia]

I had a bad review a couple of years ago - I didn't respond  and refunded fully her but that review still pops up - so whoever told you it's only for reviews that have been responded to - well, porky pies, I'd say. In any case, it doesn't endear me to etsy - but I'm sure they don't care about that.