This sterling silver and turquoise bracelet was made by David Bowman and is for sale in his Etsy shop, Chain of Beauty.
Photo courtesy of David Bowman, Chain of Beauty.
We’ve been doing a lot of reading about Etsy’s new Star Seller program which rolled out at the start of September. There’s been a lot of impassioned responses from sellers, and one stood out for us. It was originally posted on the Etsy forums and authored by David Bowman, a chain jewelry artist who also has extensive experience in communications and is an instructor at the University of New Mexico. He goes through each aspect of the rollout and examines the pros and cons in a methodical way that we appreciate.
We reached out to David and he’s granted us permission to republish his forum post. Here’s David:
I understand what Etsy is trying to do with this program. I have conducted research and evaluations of many types of programs for more than 25 years, and it’s clear to me why this rating system is designed as it is.
Let’s say you want to rate customer service. What would you analyze? Message response, shipping times, and buyer feedback are three good categories of information to look at.
Once you decide what to analyze, the next step is to determine what data are available and what data can be generated to analyze. Basically, how would you know if message response, shipping times, and feedback are top quality? What data would you analyze? What are the possible data sources and what can you learn from those data? Then you have to determine whether or not the analysis process is valid, meaning it actually determines what you are trying to learn.
This is where the Etsy star rating system runs into problems. It is not a valid process and does not determine whether or not the seller has good customer service.
It is clear to me that in designing this system, Etsy did not employ statisticians or research scientists. The Star Sellers program would be laughed out of any research journal or nearly any credible trade publication. Try to publish a dissertation using this methodology, and you will not receive your degree. In the program world, a proposal that espoused these practices would never get funded.
Why do I say these things about the Star Sellers system? Let’s look at the specifics, and I’ll explain.
Shipping Time
You can’t actually see the seller send the products, so what can you look at? One possible data point is whether or not there is a tracking number. This is not the same as delivery, but if there is a tracking number, then the product will likely be shipped because delivery costs have been paid. In this way, tracking numbers make a good indicator of likely delivery for a particular product.
On the other hand, not all delivery methods will generate a tracking number and not all products are worth tracking. So, while this is a good indicator that any particular product will be delivered, you cannot use the absence of a tracking number to indicate that the product will not be shipped or shipped on time. You can infer that a tracking number indicates likely delivery, but you cannot infer anything from a lack of a tracking number. It is not a valid process because it cannot be used to evaluate a seller’s customer service level.
This is the flaw in Etsy’s logic because they are using the lack of a number to indicate late delivery. The data cannot be used in this way.
Etsy is making assumptions that are not valid because the lack of a tracking number is not an indication of a customer service level. There is only one thing you can conclude from the lack of a tracking number: the seller didn’t enter a tracking number in the Etsy system. Nothing else can be concluded.
Message response
Replying to buyers’ messages about a product will demonstrate the seller’s responsiveness to buyers. It’s a good metric.
However, for this metric to be used, you would have to separate messages that merit a response from those that do not. If you cannot do that, then you cannot use this metric. By applying it to all messages without differentiating messages needing a response from those that don’t, the measure is not valid.
Along with this, Etsy’s description of the measure specifically indicates they assess how sellers respond to buyers’ messages. If Etsy cannot determine which messages are from buyers, and further determine which messages merit a response, the findings on responses are not valid.
The analysis does not consider whether or not the seller responded to a buyer’s message, only that the seller did not respond to a message, whether or not it was from a buyer and whether or not it needed a response. Basically, the process used for analysis doesn’t measure what is intended, which is the definition of an invalid measure.
It is also not reliable because it will not indicate whether or not the seller responded to a buyer’s question that needed a response, and it is not valid because it does not actually measure a seller’s service to buyers.
There is one additional threat to reliability: quantity. Unless there are enough messages, you cannot make any general conclusions from the message responses. Let’s say a seller only has 3 messages. Each message has an excessive amount of weight on the final result and can skew the results wildly. If one of those 3 messages was spam or contained a suspicious link and the seller simply deleted it, the entire rating can drop below the required level. On the other hand, if you have 300 messages, one anomaly in responding doesn’t have much effect.
Five star ratings
This is actually a pretty good indicator of customer service because the data come from the customers based on their impressions of the customer service, among other factors, such as product quality and utility. On the surface, it looks like a valid measure. It is reasonable to assume that five stars are given by satisfied customers and that one star is given by unhappy customers. (In some rare cases where the buyer gets confused, unhappy buyers may give a high number of stars and vice versa.)
But there is a problem: reliability. Buyers use the rating stars inconsistently because they don’t use the same definition for what a certain number of stars means. Basically, a four or five star review doesn’t mean the same thing to each buyer. One buyer might think that 5 stars is only for exceptional, better than expected product and service, but that 4 stars is for simply acceptable service and product. Another buyer might think 3 stars is for barely acceptable, 4 stars is amazing, and 5 stars is only for faster than expected delivery, super low cost, and freebies included in the package. In some cases, one person’s 4-star rating may express greater satisfaction than another person’s 5-star rating. Without a consistent definition for a number of stars, the process is not reliable.
The star rating system is also not a valid measure of customer service because the stars are not only for customer service but for other factors as well.
If you take a look at associated comments, you see that they address a range of topics, including shipping time, product quality, packaging, prices, and, yes, customer service. Then, you have those that reflect a mistaken idea about the nature or type of product they expected to receive, perhaps because they didn’t read the description carefully.
The point is this: the stars are not specific to customer service, so using the star ratings in that way is not valid. The data simply cannot be used in that way.
On the other hand, the star ratings could, reasonably, be divided into two groups, and likely produce general impressions: greater than 3 stars and fewer than 3 stars, with 3 stars having no value. In this way, the findings would approximate customer overall satisfaction more closely, and some of the individual difference of definition would be averaged out by this general grouping.
Even better would be a sliding scale in which 5 stars is worth a certain amount of points, 4 stars fewer points, etc., down to 1 star. With a bit of simple math, the total points could be a percentage of 100 points. This is a very common process in evaluation.
The final point about using ratings was addressed previously: quantity. Without a sufficient quantity of ratings, any anomalous rating would skew the results significantly, whereas with a large quantity of ratings, a “one-off” rating would have little effect on the result.
The way the stars are being used now is nonsense, given that a 4-star rating has the same deleterious effect on the analysis result as a 1-star rating.
Sales quantity and value
Actually, Etsy using sales quantity makes a lot of sense. Without a sufficient number of sales, you can’t make any general conclusions about a seller’s service. (Note, it is unfortunate that this same concept isn’t being applied to message and star ratings.) Etsy hasn’t executed this measure well, but the measure, itself, makes sense from an evaluative perspective. Without enough data points, you can’t draw any reasonable conclusions.
On the other hand, a minimum of 10 sales seems arbitrary and is likely too low to reach any reliable conclusions. Twenty, thirty, or more would be more reasonable, but that would prevent many, many good sellers from ever reaching the top ratings needed for the badge. With this low quantity, the measure simply isn’t reliable.
Additionally, for some sellers, especially those making custom, high-end, and labor intensive, long-term products, 10 sales may be nearly impossible to achieve, such as those who make furniture or custom wedding dresses.
Sales value, in contrast, doesn’t make sense given that the range of product prices has a very large standard deviation – the range is just too wide. A seller with a $1,000 product will meet the value criterion in one sale. The same seller may never reach the quantity metric because the items simply take too long to make. A seller of low-cost items, say around $1.99 digital products, would need more than 150 sales to reach the necessary level.
This measure is also based on the faulty assumption that sellers who make more money are somehow better sellers–without taking into account the value of the products sold. A seller with 30 $10 sales isn’t necessarily more worthy of a badge than a seller with 149 $1.99 sales
Overall, neither quantity nor aggregate value can work as measures for customer service. On one hand, they may prevent great sellers of low-cost items, and great sellers of high-value items from ever obtaining the badge.
As a side note: sellers of trademark infringing items in the $10 – $15 range will likely reach both the quantity and value criteria rather easily and quickly.
And the fact is that neither one of these measures directly reflects customer service or, even, product quality. They are unreliable and invalid measures.
Bottom line
The manner in which this entire system is being implemented is faulty: both invalid and unreliable, as shown above.
Now, I have to consider the value of the entire idea. From an evaluation perspective, it attempts to replicate a measure that is already in place: the star rating and review system. It offers a judgment on sellers that provides less information, and less usable information, than the current system.
It will also lead to misunderstanding due to some shops (most?) not receiving the badge but without informing the shoppers why the badge wasn’t received. For example, a shop might not receive the badge because the seller doesn’t respond to messages quickly. A particular buyer might not care about that measure because he or she won’t be sending any messages.
It can also lead to a misconception that the seller is less trustworthy than a seller with a badge, even if the non-badge seller generally provides great service. This misconception can significantly hurt a great seller, simply because the seller missed a criterion by an insignificant amount, say 94% on some measure rather than 95%. The only thing a shopper knows is that the shop doesn’t have a badge.
Even if the above-mentioned problems with reliability and validity are addressed, this system will hurt many great sellers, while providing potential benefits to sellers who violate Etsy policies. A single seller with trademark infringing products who receives a badge will invalidate the value and integrity of the entire system.
One big “elephant in the room” is Etsy taking on the role of business manager for individual sellers. I have to question why Etsy believes it has the responsibility to tell sellers how to conduct their business. The marketplace already rewards good sellers and punishes bad sellers by affecting repeat buyers and the star rating and review system.
Before Etsy considers it has the knowledge, expertise, and responsibility to micro-manage individual sellers, it first must fix problems with the services it sells: faulty search, poor responsiveness to its customers, troublesome shipping products, and the rampant reselling, counterfeiting, and trademark infringements that are coming to characterize the entire platform. Until Etsy improves its own services, Etsy does not have the moral authority to tell others how to treat their customers.
Finally, I expect that this system will eventually affect search ranking and be a search filter. Yet, to judge sellers based on invalid an unreliable processes, and then to hurt their sales potential based on the results, is both unconscionable and unethical.
In the medium to long term, good shops will close, and shops violating Etsy policies will benefit.
Given the numerous significant problems to be addressed on the Etsy platform, time and effort would be better spent improving the platform rather than finding a new ways to limit sales from passionate, responsible, and customer-focused sellers.
My conclusion: the entire system needs to be canceled. Not fixed, improved, or tweaked–but canceled.
That’s my two cents. I would love to hear your thoughts on the way sellers are being judges in the Star Seller program.
David Bowman
Contributor
David Bowman is an award-winning jeweler. He learned silversmithing on the Navajo Reservation and, in 2006, turned his attention to chainmail. David is also the owner and chief editor of Precise Edit. He serves as a communications consultant, highly rated University of New Mexico writing instructor, grant writer, and program consultant. He is the author of 6 writing guides.
Wow, thanks David for putting it all out so clearly. I couldn’t explain why or how it felt so wrong and frustrating but this is !! Totally agree on the star rating system too, it’s so hard to see people leaving good reviews with 4 stars, and know that it will close my access to that star seller system :-/
Excellent analysis and explanation of the Star Seller program. The only shopping I’ve done via Etsy was to artists I’d bought from in person, artists who have a blog/social media account to see their work/process, or through a vetted online art sale (American Craft Council’s virtual sales which replaced their 2020 in person shows). I’ve always been wary about starred reviews and their averages, especially when there is both a lot of hyperbolic commentary and no commentary at all behind the number of stars given. David’s insight has given me more reason to think about how accurate this system might be for any future purchases. Thanks to David for giving permission to share this response, and for highlighting it.
Thank you, David, for pointing out the flaws in their system! I was unhappy from day 1 about the Star Seller Program because it gave me a negative on providing a tracking number. I DID provide a tracking number to the customer, but it was in messages and not in the queue so it never got calculated as being provided to the seller. The package was delivered on time via UPS and the buyer was notified of the tracking # and yet, I was penalized for not entering it in to the correct place where Etsy wants it. I have been on Etsy since 2007 and have all 5 star reviews and have only ever had one late package in 14 years and that was recently due to the backlog at USPS. I feel that should be enough of a “painted picture” for customers to trust making a purchase from me. I don’t need a purple star.
As a former Etsy seller, I agree. I could say a whole lot more but it’s really just not worth my time.
For those waning to wean themselves off of Etsy, do it !
Set up your own shop on a Squarespace (or other platform) website and promote it yourself.
Free yourself from pesky petty Etsy rules and the aggravation ! (Ie, customer sends message, you respond, customer sends another message to thank you-if you don’t respond quickly enough to being thanked-ding!)
Great evaluation of this system, David. Thank you for the detailed explanation of how this works…and doesn’t work.
I don’t sell on Etsy, but I do buy a lot from Etsy sellers.
I don’t always leave a review, but now realize how important it can be for a seller. That said, if the majority of us reading this decide our review either doesn’t help a seller, or could even hurt a seller (and we don’t want that to happen), how likely are we to continue taking the time to leave a review?
It appears, from the outside, that the Etsy team often doesn’t think this stuff through before implementing it. And I know from speaking from numerous sellers that there are many issues with how Etsy treats, and responds to, it’s sellers. Perhaps, as you shared, fixing its own issues first should be of more importance.
Again, thanks for sharing your perspective and fir the reminder the leaving positive reviews for sellers is important.
We are woodworkers and offer laser engraving options on our wares. Often times a customer will pay for the engraving but not respond to our messages / emails for proof feedback & approval, which can lead to delays in shipping. I have actually had to send snail mail letters to prompt a response from a customer. Etsy did not factor lack of response from customers into their metrics.
Completely agree with everything David said. I mentioned some of these concerns when Etsy asked for feedback several weeks ago, but David said it much better than I did. I have not yet gotten the badge because Etsy says my message response rate isn’t high enough. I can guarantee that I have never taken 24 hours or more to respond to a message that required a response. Do I now have to respond to messages from sellers who send me a message with a generic form update on something I bought? Do I have to respond to both messages when a buyer sends me the same question twice within a short period of time in separate messages? Those are the only things that could be keeping my response rate down. I also don’t have enough 5 star reviews because a few only left 4 stars but had no complaints. They are also only looking at reviews in the past few months so really it was the one recent 4-star review that I got last week that was the problem.
Etsy has been micro-managing how sellers run their business for awhile now so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at any of this. Unfortunately, I’m stuck on Etsy until another platform starts collecting, reporting, and remitting out of state sales tax on our behalf.
Totally agree with your analysis. I have 2 Etsy shops where I have almost all 5-star reviews and ship promptly, but in one I don’t have enough volume to make the Star Seller rating and with the other, I didn’t answer a message in the 2 days before they rolled the program out because the person answered herself with “never mind” and then emailed me another question that I replied to via email. I almost never get messages so that one non-answer means I’m not a Star Seller. I complained and sent copies of the messages and emails, and they replied with “sorry, we can’t help you”. Makes me want to send myself messages to answer to “fix” my message rating, but that’s not a solution. I agree that canceling the program is the best idea.
Thank you fir your analysis David.
Since the star seller system started my sales have dropped off completely. My shop was doing well up until this point. I haven’t been given a star seller badge, initially because I am a Uk seller and I don’t ship with a method that produces a tracking number- just his would cost a fortune. Now I have also been told I don’t ship in time and I don’t reply to messages! Non of this is true. I have all 5 star reviews snd lots of happy customers- no unhappy ones so far in 110 sales. I am gutted my shop has stopped working for me as it had just taken off. Not sure whether to carry on with it now or not.
I can’t see how I will ever get a star seller and I really don’t see why such things are necessary. I am a silversmith making jewellery. I work hard, to a high standard snd I offer great customer service… whatever Etsy say!!
Great post, David. It’s all been said above. Sadly, Etsy has gotten ridiculous.
Thank you for this. I have been ranting about this for weeks! 100% all this.
Thank you! The message thing kills me. I had 18 orders and ONE message in October. The message required a thoughtful response as my customer was going through a difficult time, one that made me cry. Unfortunately the Star Seller Badge of Customer Service thinks a thoughtful response can only happen in the first 24 hours! September I had 17 orders, 4 messages (2 were identical) the algorithm got it wrong even though I responded to both. No badge for me.
All great comments for readers, and a great run down of the flaws. I think this program could end in a class action lawsuit if Etsy doesn’t fix the problems immediately. Algorithms are getting things wrong and sellers have screenshots to prove they replied in 24hours or did put in the tracking numbers. My sales, number of reviews and organic customer acquisitions have all dropped since this began.
I didn’t like the idea of this program when they sent out the first survey “asking” sellers about it. Clearly they weren’t asking because a couple months later it was up and running. And now it is affecting our income.
I am kinda over Etsy for selling hand made goods. I might just join the masses and sell cheap stuff from China on there instead. I can sell my goods wholesale through small businesses.
So sad.
As a buyer on Etsy, I don’t think it is my responsibility to necessarily give feedback. The whole system is ridicules. I I would think that when service is poor or seller is unresponsive, that is more important over whether it was right and showed up on time. Why do businesses expect buyers to spend their time rating people. Sometimes, I don’t even answer at all and that should say, I was happy with my purchase. Time is is important to everyone these days.
Sellers pay a hefty fee to use the Etsy platform and to me that is like a landlord of a store reviewing all your sales. As long as they get their rent, that should take care of it. If customers are not pleased, it won’t take long to weed out bad sellers.There should be a place where buyers can make comments if they wish. Good or bad. In today’s world when everyone expects instant satisfaction, so many factors are involved beyond the seller taking the product to the post office or wherever. A tracking number is wonderful. At that point, it is out of their hands. That should satisfy the buyer and give them what they need. Do things get lost or misdirected? Of course. Is it the sellers fault? No.
They should use their profits to improve the quality of the website for both users and sellers.
It was very kind of David to refer to Etsy as self-appointed “business managers.” I’m a seller who understands Etsy is pressuring us to perform so the drop in 2021 profits won’t look so steep after 2020’s mind blowing sales. As I see it, if Etsy were acting as a true business manager, we sellers would be awarded something of real value to us if they want us to stay on the platform. Our livelihoods are really hurting now that last year’s heady days of craft-from-home euphoria have ground to a halt. A good business manager would take care of their workers AND their investors. But Etsy isn’t acting like a business manager. They’re exploiting sellers which more accurately means, they’re acting like pimps. And the hoops we sellers are now expected to jump through are nothing but slaps to keep us earning.
Any buyers who want to opt out of this whole mess can do two simple things – Check the sellers About information to see if they have a webstore instead (many sellers have multiple sales outlets) or message the seller and ask if you can make a purchase off the Etsy platform. They may even find better deals on the seller’s independent website. Especially since the sellers won’t have to mark their prices up to cover Etsy’s prodigious “service” fees. #etsploitation
Basically people get cross with etsy only if they finally perceive that there are issues that negatively impact on themselves. Years of disgruntled sellers on the other hand are just seen as complainers who need to work harder. – at least that is the way it is seen by many. The truth is that there is a lot wrong with etsy that many people have refused to acknowledge because etsy has currently works for them. As so many sellers have previously said, the ‘switch’ can and does get turned off at any time.
Mankind is selfish and only generally cares about themselves. It is time etsy was held generally more accountable rather than the sellers. As more people think the system is unfair (it always has been to many), perhaps more people will wake up. Time for a new ethical platform for handmade sellers?…..maybe but then again there have been those who purport to be that. They have not done so well. I have no solution. However, why support a company that does not ultimately support you?
Incredible post! All laid out so clearly. Agree. I protested in the beginning. I have a Star Seller badge this month with 94% previously because of two tracking numbers not provided by the drop shipper. Drop shipping creates other challenges
that Etsy seems to pretty much ignore. I would be happy about the Star Seller but I remember too well how I already a star seller without a badge & I think there are many star sellers that may not get a badge due to some gliche. I am not in favor of Etsy’s Star Seller program. I thought about posting the “kuco” on FB but no, doesn’t feel right.
Appreciate these insights. It’s been such a stressful experience to have this ridiculous designation not bestowed upon me. For one thing, I rarely get messages; I do answer promptly. I toyed with the idea of falsely accumulating some, but that doesn’t feel right. Cheering me on that I’m “almost there” is actually disheartening. The absolute worst is that My sales are basically nonexistent currently yet I need to make a quota that appears astronomical under these circumstances. As far as I’m concerned, I am a Star Seller … and I hope I can find the courage to move on with my own website.
This is spot-on. I can’t believe I missed this when if was first posted, but I’m heartened to read it now. Thank you for taking the time to articulate why this program is a problem. I’ve sold on Etsy for over a decade. I’ve made over 4000 sales of handmade, one-of-a-kind sculptures in a price range of $50-$200. Most of my buyers are repeat buyers. About half of the buyers leave reviews. Over the years, I’ve only received two 4-star reviews (the rest are 5-star), from folks who were happy with their purchases, but who expected something bigger because they didn’t read the listing or look at the photo that shows the size of the item next to a ruler. If you read my reviews, you can see that my customer service is exemplary. I answer messages multiple times a day and ship multiple times a week. I have lovely, engaging conversations with my customers. All of my work is guaranteed: I repair shipping damage for no cost, accept returns and offer refunds. However, I’m not a Star Seller. Why? Because I don’t pedantically answer every message that comes in, messages that do not need a response. Of course, now I’m trying to jump through this ridiculous hoop, compulsively replying to every message (including spam!) like some blowhard who simply has to have the last word. How has it come to this? It’s astounding that Etsy has no real competition, when there are hundreds of thousands of artisans like me who just need a reliable, quality online marketplace (what Etsy used to be) to show and sell their work. Yes, yes, I know it’s time for me to make a webshop of my own… but it’s a real challenge to stock up two shops with handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces (and there is no way I can generate the traffic that Etsy provides, so I can’t just walk away… yet).
I laready replied once, bottom line being that I am all for Etsy ditching this Star Seller program even though right now Im a Star Seller.
Just to mention two more gliches in case no one else has.
1. Customer convoed me and shortly thereafter realized she wanted to send a photo of her pet. I saw that moth convo messages were the same except the second had a photo attached. So I clicked on the one with the photo shortly after I recieved, answered it promptly and ignored the first because I had just answered her question in the second.
Etsy then deducted 5% from my 100% score for communication.
2. Using drop shipping, I regularly have to change suppliers who also have difference production times.
So I had two of those to change the shipping. But when I went to click ont he “Change shipping time and notify customer ” link, it immediately flipped back to the orders page. When I tried to do it again, Etsy doesn’t allow more than one shipping change so I couldn’t do that. Instead of extending the shipping date as I had wanted (if I had been given the chance), Etsy made the shipping date automatically show as the next day. Oops, another deduction due to Etsy’s faulty link.
Someone else said their sales dropped off upon installing the Star Seller program. Mine have dropped quite dramatically as well. Maybe the program has nothing to do with it but that’s rather curious to me. Plus, as it turns out, even at selling 900+ items in two years, I’ve barely made ends meet with the drop shipping charges and Etsy fees.
I’ve attempted to contact Etsy a couple times in the last 6 months concerning the star seller badge. Of course I received responses completely unrelated in all aspects. It was obvious the responses were now computer generated vs an actual response from a human rep. I found a number to call and was quite surprised that I did get through quickly. I explained my son had been diagnosed with cancer and for that totally devastating reason, I had let my convos slide a few days while we processed the info and made plans to aggressively tackle the situation. I posted an announcement stating the crisis at hand and temporarily closed the shop. I received maybe 3 convos and didn’t answer in 24 hrs and was dinged harshly. The next month, I had a custom order that was international. She chose to add to the order which extended the processing time. Long of the short, I couldn’t alter the ship date and was dinged, no badge. Because I combined shipping for the orders to save my buyer on shipping, I was dinged because I didn’t duplicate tracking (enter on 1st order). It is so frustrating to see star badges on shops that are mass produced, and found all over sites like amazon. But back to my contact with a live Etsy human, I was told the robots generate the stars and there is definitely room for improvement. The platform for sellers is miserable now. We can’t even counter or post a reason for a missed badge criteria. It is maddening to see the warm ads on TV spouting unique gifts (old Etsy ideals) knowing how much the platform has changed.
Just want to thank you for your comment that resonated so deeply.
First of all Etsy has no place in managing my business. If I am a bad shipper with bad customer service then the marketplace will punish me. However, for many of us the 2 giant elephants in the room are #1 the requirement to be on call 24\7 and #2 the complete lack of understand by Etsy of how sellers in countries outside the US deal with shipping. In Canada tracked shipping is extremely expensive and my items are small so they go regular mail unless the buyer requests tracking. With tracking a shipment of, say $25, goes from $2 to about $16. The Star Seller program also punishes woman and racialized minorities far more. Why? Because women and racialized minorities are more likely to be single parents who need more time to spend with their children. It also negatively affect people with disabilities who may require more time to answer messages and may not be able to work 7 days a week. Please Etsy … drop it.
I have written to Etsy with many of the points you raise. I feel there are double standards. Weekends should not be spent having to answer messages yet, this is what we are now forced to do to get this ridiculous badge. If you don’t have the badge, sales drop and since, for many of us this is our livelihood, we feel forced into complying to their ridiculous demands that they themselves do not uphold! On top of all of this, the Star Seller stats are not updating! So in all, it’s a bad system working badly.
Thank you David, this is a great summary and beautiful jewelry by the way!
I have just a few comments as the system is seriously flawed and I’ve taken the survey and relayed my frustrations to Etsy, we’ll see if they make any comments.
1. sales qty isn’t a great marker as to what if you only do a limited about of goods and creating those goods takes time. Those sellers would most definitely sell fewer items.
2. Part-time sellers with full-time jobs and families may not be able to sell, post, or market as much as others (isn’t this why we joined Etsy in the first place as they were helping to do the work for us?!). Also, I have excellent customer service but not all of my customers post reviews when they do it’s definitely favorable. But I also don’t think great customer service is continually asking customers to post a review, that would annoy me! And take Beth’s comment above, life throughs us challenges that we must handle. How about you switch to only basing it off negative reviews?! I’m sure there are some of those.
3. I ship on time always! My evaluation progress (Data based on current review period: October 1–December 31, 2021- It’s Dec. 18th???) states that I’ve shipped late twice, which is completely incorrect. I have 1-2 day shipping…you can’t truly base shipping on weekends as not all post offices are open. I am fortunate to have a very close post office that closes at 1 pm on Sat and another that is about 6 miles away that closes at 5. But if someone purchases on a Sat at 5:21 pm…post offices are closed and sunday shouldn’t count, I shipped the pkg Monday…that’s on time! and I shipped it priority, which I always do so things arrive quickly. They also stated I shipped late an item purchased on the 8th and i shipped on the 9th…there’s a serious flaw!
4. The algorithm should help everyone achieve results, isn’t this why we are on this site and what portions of our fees go too? I’m very frustrated with the entire system.
5. Shipping: I concur Jean, shipping charges are through the roof and the service isn’t matching. At least I’m not having the problems I had last year. I shipped a pkg in Dec and after giving a refund the customer received it in August! Absolutely ridiculous! Anyway, agree that a lot of the time I break even, but love doing what I do!
I hope they work things out and it has a positive effect for all.
Thanks again David for your comments!
The Star Seller program is GARBAGE. It does not make the buyer explain why they are giving less than 5 stars, It does not make them contact the buyer before allowing less than 5 stars, it does not allow a seller to dispute the less than 5 star review. If you only sell a couple items a month, ONE review will knock a small seller out of Star Seller stats instantly. I will probably loose mine for the month because one buyer bought an item and gave me 3 stars.
The buyer said “I did not get the color I wanted also the handle was loose that is my reason for the rating” The listing specifically says that they colors will vary and to request a specific color. It also mentions that if they are warmed up and the bit pressed in, you can squeeze the plastic to make it stay or you can leave it loose so that you can swap the bits out for different ones. This is copied from the listing… “Feel free to contact me if you would like this item in a particular color.” “heat the bit and press into the hole then let cool. You can even heat the handle with blow drier to press into the bit to form even more tightly.”
Now any competitor that sells something similar could be taking money from my pocket because this idiot could not be bothered with reading the description and is not held responsible for their crappy review by Etsy.