Your Etsy “Star Seller Ratings” are not high enough to earn your shop a shiny new badge.
How can you improve your ratings to maximize your shop and future sales?
Improving your Etsy Star Seller badge ratings involves: THE BIG 3!
- Accelerating your message response rates
- Ensuring you ship on time
- Receiving five-star reviews
In the following sections, I will tell you more about how Etsy rates you based on these metrics and give you some tips and tricks on how to improve your chances of success.
What Are The Benefits of Getting Your Etsy Star Seller Badge?
Before we jump into the metrics, you might be wondering whether having a star seller badge benefits your store in any way. It’s an understandable question, so here are the top three advantages to gaining your badge:
- It serves as a declaration of top-class customer service, allowing new customers to know your quality before purchasing.
- Since customers know you are reputable, your shop’s sales could increase.
- It provides more chances to be featured in various marketing promotions conducted by Etsy.
Which Metrics Go Into Your Etsy Star Seller Badge Ratings?
Etsy determines your eligibility for the star seller badge by looking at four main metrics:
#1 Your Message Response Time As An Etsy Seller
Etsy wants 95% of your responses to be within a 24-hour period of receiving the customer message. Bear in mind that this relates to new messages only — i.e., the first in a conversation thread.
With that said, if one customer decides to initiate multiple conversation threads, you’ll need to reply within 24 hours to all threads. In other words, you shouldn’t necessarily go by the original message per customer per order.
#2 Your Star Ratings As An Etsy Seller
For the next metric, Etsy requires 95% of your reviews to be five stars. Disappointingly, customers often give low stars for shipping carriers’ poor performance, despite Etsy saying sellers shouldn’t be penalized for this. Currently, nobody knows how Etsy will handle these situations under the star seller program.
In my experience, there’s one major thing you can do at this stage — add extra shipping weeks if you’re shipping internationally. Why? So your customer doesn’t get the Etsy robot message prompting them to leave a review before their item has arrived!
#3 Your Shipping Times and Tracking Options As An Etsy Seller
Like the other metrics, you need to have 95% on-time shipping and provide a tracking option. For the latter, you can either pay to add tracking and upload the numbers manually or use Etsy’s shipping labels.
As for digital downloads, they won’t impact your shipping rate, provided your choose “digital” and not “physical” when you list the product. If you list a digital product as a physical item, it’ll negatively affect your star seller badge as it won’t ever be shipped in the traditional sense.
#4 Your Orders and Sales As An Etsy Seller
If you’ve already satisfied these limits, they won’t appear in your star seller dashboard.
But basically, you need to have at least ten orders within three months to meet the order requirement. The products sold must meet the following monetary thresholds, depending on your currency:
- USD — $300
- CAD — $350
- AUD — $350
- EUR — €250
- GBP — £200
How to Improve Your Etsy Star Seller Badge Ratings
So, how do you improve your Etsy star seller badge? Well, you need to consider each metric in turn and think about how you can better every aspect. Don’t worry; I divulge my suggestions right here:
#1 Set Up Auto-Reply Messages to Increase Your Response Time in Etsy
The easiest way to improve your message response rate is to craft an automated response for a set period.
While I encourage you to respond to all customer messages within a 24-hour window, only the reply to a customer’s initial message counts toward your star seller badge.
Unfortunately, you can’t set auto-replies indefinitely. The maximum limit (as you’ll see below) is five days. So, I recommend setting your automated response to go out to anybody who messages you over the weekend, allowing you to relax and enjoy your time off.
Follow these steps to set up auto-replies on Etsy:
- Click on the Shop Manager.
- Navigate to Messages.
- Click the Auto-Reply button located in the top right-hand corner.
- Turn your Auto-Reply settings on.
- Type out your auto-reply message (I’ve given you some examples below to help out!).
- Set your auto-reply message for:
- One hour
- Four hours
- 12 hours
- One day
- Two days
- Three days
- Four days
- Five days
- Hit Save.
Auto-Reply Examples
As promised, you can find a couple of universal auto-reply examples below that you’re welcome to customize to suit your Etsy store!
“Hi there!
Thanks so much for your message. We’ve received your inquiry and will get back to you as soon as possible.
Please check out our shop’s FAQs in the meantime.
Thank you again!
Take care,
*your shop name*“
“Hello!
Thank you for reaching out to *your shop name*. We’ve received your message and will be in touch within *your response timeframe*.
Kind regards,
*your shop name*“
Whether you use the templates above or not, keep these tips in mind when crafting your auto-reply message:
- Be specific — Ensure any dates, times, and contact information can’t be misunderstood.
- Proofreading is your friend — Make sure your auto-reply message is grammatically correct and free from spelling errors. The language you use should fit the voice of your brand too.
- Set expectations — You should provide a clear timeframe, so your customer knows when to expect to hear from you. Otherwise, they feel pretty out-of-the-loop.
- Add useful links — A link to your shop’s FAQ section inside your auto-reply message is usually beneficial to customers. Alternatively, you could link them to your social media or a best-selling product.
What If You Don’t Want to Set Up an Auto-Reply Message?
If you have an aversion to setting up auto-replies, I suggest installing the Etsy Seller app on your phone. You’re more likely to reply instantly to messages that way.
#2 Set Realistic Shipping Times to Improve Your On-Time Shipping and Tracking in Etsy
Prompt shipping gives you a better chance of A) qualifying for the star seller program and B) keeping your star seller badge once you receive it.
Thankfully, Etsy doesn’t expect you to have ultra-fast shipping. Instead, they require you to stick to your word. For example, if you promise shipping within seven days, then you must adhere to that timeframe on all orders.
Therefore, being realistic is vital! If you’ve promised an enticing shipping speed (one to two days, for instance), but you typically ship after two weeks, Etsy won’t like it — and neither will your customers.
To change your shipping settings, follow these quick steps:
- Go to your Shop Manager.
- Hit Settings.
- Click Shipping Settings.
- Now, create, duplicate, or change your shipping profiles.
#3 Ask Your Customers to Provide Feedback to Improve Your 5-Star Reviews in Etsy
Granted, you can’t request positive reviews from your buyers (Etsy doesn’t take kindly to shilling!). But, offering a discount on their next purchase if they leave a review is a great way to encourage star-based feedback.
If you’re worried about asking for a review, here’s an example of a post-purchase message:
“Hi *customer name*,
Thank you so much for your recent purchase! It means a lot 🙂
It’d help my small business and any future customers out massively if you could spend a minute of your time leaving a review!
Every authentic review will get a discount code for my store that you can use on your next purchase as a thank you for your time and energy.
I look forward to hearing back from you!
Thank you again and take care,
*your name*“
Alongside that, improving your products, shipping times, and customer service as a whole will organically lead to more positive reviews in the future.
Etsy Star Seller: Your Frequently Asked Questions, Answered
Why Can’t You See The Star Seller Badge Even Though Your Store Meets Criteria?
Your store must abide by all of Etsy’s terms and conditions and continue to do so to keep the badge. It’s possible your store no longer meets the star seller requirements, and thus, Etsy has unfortunately taken the badge away.
If you’re sure that your shop still meets the requirements, Etsy may remove your bad for another reason, such as:
- Your account privileges were limited
- Your store has an overdue bill
- Etsy has reason to believe you’ve tried to falsely improve your star seller ratings
- Your account violated Etsy’s seller policy
Will Not Having a Star Seller Badge Damage Your Sales?
No, not having a star seller badge won’t damage your sales, so there’s no need to worry too much about it. It’s simply an incentive offered by Etsy to encourage shopkeepers to upgrade the quality of their stores.
However, it’s your keywords, SEO, and designs that actually dictate the number of sales you experience. Many successful Etsy sellers don’t have the badge and still make a load of sales. So, don’t overly stress about the star seller badge if you currently don’t have one.
Do You Have to Respond to Every Single Message Within 24 Hours to Improve Your Response Rate?
Nope! Only the first message customers send you plays a role in your response time average. Of course, it’s always best to respond to messages that come in within a day, but know that it won’t affect your star seller badge.
The Wrap Up
Etsy has built this new program to help you the seller shine. Stand out from the rest with this shiny new Seller Badge. Etsy tells us to become a Star Seller, your shop must meet certain criteria or messages, shipping, ratings, orders, and sales. Flow the steps in this article, and you will have your badge in no time. Remember, this Star Seller badge is for you in recognition of your proven record of success.