Latest / The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast / EP 32. Why Was My Star Seller Badge Removed and Will It Hurt My Shop? | Tips for Etsy Sellers

Transcript

EP 32. Why Was My Star Seller Badge Removed and Will It Hurt My Shop? | Tips for Etsy Sellers · The Modern Etsy Seller Podcast

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hey there, welcome to the Modern Etsy Seller Podcast and What You're Wondering, the segment where I answer one specific Etsy question in under five minutes.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Melissa, a busy working mom with two profitable Etsy shops, and I help other busy women make money with Etsy and print on demand.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, today I'm answering the question: why was my star seller badge removed?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And will losing it hurt my shop?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: First, there are two different reasons your badge may disappear.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: The most common reason is that you didn't meet Etsy's star seller requirements during the monthly review.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Etsy looks at three things when determining star seller eligibility.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: They look at how quickly you respond to initial messages, whether your orders ship on time with tracking, and your average review rating.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you had the badge last month, your numbers may have changed enough that you did not qualify this month.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: But Etsy can also remove the badge for reasons outside of those regular performance requirements.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is less common, but according to Etsy, your badge may be removed if your shop has an overdue bill, your account privileges have been limited, your shop violated Etsy's policies, or Etsy believes you tried to falsely increase your star seller statistics.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you lose your star seller badge and want to know why, then you'll want to check your customer service stats in the shop manager.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: There you'll be able to see each of those three criteria I mentioned and your case rate.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Case rate doesn't affect Star Seller, but that's a customer service standard that needs to be met as well.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that information is there too.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's laid out really clearly there as far as what your stats are versus the expectation.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: But to earn Star Seller, you need to reply to 95% of first messages within 24 hours.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Ship 95% of your orders on time with tracking and have an average review rating of at least 4.8.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on your volume, as in like you don't have a lot of sales yet, those standards can be hard to meet.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you only had three messages and didn't get to respond to one of them until 26 hours later, your percentage will go down and you'll lose the badge.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about the second part of the question.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The part sellers are usually most worried about.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Will losing the badge hurt your shop?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer there is no.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Etsy has said that not having the star seller badge does not affect where your listings appear in search.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: That means losing the badge does not lower your ranking, hide your products, or stop your shop from making sales.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The badge is just a visual signal that shows buyers your shop met Etsy's star seller requirements during the most recent review period.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some shoppers may notice it and it may offer a little extra reassurance, but plenty of successful shops make sales without it, and I would bet most buyers don't notice it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I have no facts to actually back that little piece of information up.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just what I think.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, do with that what you will.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is also important not to confuse the star seller requirements with Etsy's minimum customer service standards.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Those are two different things.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like where Etsy requires you to respond to 95% of first messages in 24 hours to meet star seller requirements, their basic service standard expectations are for you to respond to 80% of messages within 48 hours.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you drop below those basic standards, then you will likely see it affect your shop in a negative way.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you definitely want to make sure you are at least meeting those expectations.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So let me wrap this question up by saying I personally don't pay attention to the star seller badge and whether or not I have it for the month.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: If I do, that's great.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I certainly strive to have really good customer service, as I think all sellers should.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: But if I don't, I probably didn't even realize that I didn't have that star seller badge.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not something that I think sellers need to stress over.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a question that you'd like me to answer on a future episode of What You're Wondering, then you can go to melissacarol.co slash question or click the links in the show notes.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening today, and I will see you next week.