message response rate

[GrumpyBearSigns]

I hate to be a broken record but from what I am reading the “message response rates” are generally messed up and inaccurate. mine has never dropped down since this all started and now goes to 88%??? what happened? Since there is no way to actually get with Etsy about this problem we are left to an inaccurate system that customer may believe is correct. Though I don’t know how much customers are paying attention to it. But…that is not the issue. We are forced to be part of this, do our best for every customer and then are penalized because the system is not working correctly. 

As I’ve said before…if the program has bugs, doesn’t work correctly for everyone…scrap it until it’s right. It’s misleading and totally unfair to hardworking crafters.

Please…fix it or eliminate it. Change/ Improvements(?) are NOT always a good thing.

[NanaLetha]

Did you download a CSV for messages to see which ones you missed?

[bradgoodell · Accepted solution]

Download a CSV.  The most common problems people have with messages:

1. Buyer sends duplicate message, seller only responds to one.
2. Not marking Spam as spam.
3. Not replying to Seller messages after buying on Etsy.
4. Not noting/responding when a buyer starts a new thread, instead responds through old thread.
5. When a buyer requests a cancellation, cancelling and responding through the cancellation, not through the original message.

No, the "Message Response Rates" or not generally messed up and inaccurate.  Usually when you see a complaint, it is seller error, not the system.  Sure, there can be issues such as legit messages ended up in Spam. or a time stamp/time zone issue, but those are rare when you look at the millions of Etsy messages that happen every day.  If you are having repeated problems that have been going on this entire time, it is likely something you are missing.

Good luck, I hope you get this resolved. 

[GrumpyBearSigns]

OK, what is the point in downloading CSV? I did that but not knowing what I'm looking at. Did I download the wrong thing? it has nothing to do with messages only my listings which look fine. Not great with this...I make signs. I count on Etsy to make sure it's running correctly. And when it doesn't we should have an easier way to be able to contact Etsy. This is the biggest frustration for many of us. Been with Etsy for over 12 years I don't think that's too much to ask for.

[GrumpyBearSigns]

I do appreciate the help!

[WildWestCandleCo]

This post is 100% accurate. I was at 100% yesterday, and with no messages at all today it has dropped me to 90% when I was at 93% the first of the month. The 88% seems to be a common number - as that is what I was dropped to a few months ago even with responding to all messages within 24 hours from a star seller status. My shop does not get that many messages, so it takes MONTHS to get back to a "star seller" status. This is very disappointing, and I wish they would just fix this program or throw it in the trash can. There is no reason why it should have dropped that low on my account.