If you’ve been struggling with maintaining Star Seller Status since Etsy launched the program earlier this year, don’t fret because changes are coming.
For those who don’t know, Star Seller is a program Etsy put in place to incentivize things like fast shipping, quick message responses, and overall good customer service. The incentive is a badge on your shop that shows buyers that you are a reliable seller.
More Sellers Will Now Be Eligible
With the initial roll-out of the Star Seller program, sellers had to have at least 10 orders in a 3-month period to be eligible for the Star Seller program. Starting in July, that number will be reduced to 5 orders in a 3-month period to qualify. Keep in mind, the total value of those 5 orders will still need to be at least $300 before shipping and taxes.
Easier To Achieve Ratings
Prior to the announced changes, Sellers were expected to have 95% of their reviews be 5 Stars, which meant that a few 4-star reviews in the mix could seriously jeopardize your Star Seller status. There are many reasons that perfectly happy buyers could give you a 4-star review like slight shipping delays and other things out of your control.
With the new changes to the program, Etsy is looking for an average review of 4.8 Stars over a 3-month period which means those happy 4 star reviews will help you gain and maintain your Star Seller status. This change will be rolled out in July.
Consolidating Messages
One pain-point that sellers brought up regarding responding to messages is that every thread required a response within 24 hours, which could get cumbersome when there are multiple message threads from the same buyer. Going forward, Etsy will begin to automatically group conversations from the same customer to help simplify your workflow and not require as many responses within the 24-hour time frame.
We Can All Be Stars
With these changes, it looks like Etsy is willing to listen to seller feedback and make changes to help better serve both sellers and buyers on the platform. We are looking forward to these changes helping to make more deserving Star-Sellers. Getting recognition for all your hard work, even if it’s just in the form of a Star Seller badge can be a great confidence booster for anyone working to build their Etsy business.
Want to make sure your packages are making it to your customers in time? Check out eRank’s Delivery Status Report for an at-a-glance look at the shipping status of all your orders.
