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The thing that burns me is when the Guest leaves a 4 star review, but writes how wonderful and pleased they are with the experience of shopping in your shop. I mean what the fudge? I work hard to give a great product at a fair price. Rant over.
I had a teacher who never gave an A+ grade because he said "no one is perfect". Some people just never leave 5 stars. Either way, 4 stars is still a good review and anyone who reads the review will know that the customer was happy with their purchase. Like I mention in the video, you can always message the customer directly for feedback if it bothers you. But honestly, 4 stars is good - so I wouldn't let it get under your skin. 🙂
It's annoying bc Etsy expects nothing less than 5 🌟 stars..some people just leave a 4 star 🌟 review regardless if they are thrilled with their purchase..it's still a good review 👍 but Etsy sees it different
One major flaw of Etsy reviews is allowing customers to rate /review immediately after ordering. I sell digital files in one of my shops and just recently customer left a one star rating, NO review within minutes after ordering. The product is an editable file using a third party app that they edit and download. Customer had indeed downloaded the instruction file, logged in and edited and downloaded her purchased file. Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened. I've reached out to the customer with no response. Etsy will do nothing about it. I've been doing this for 12 years so only thing I can do now is move on! Okay, rant over! lol - oh, thanks for the awesome video Starla ♥
Yes, I agree. This is definitely an issue on Etsy's end. If you can't get the review removed, just be sure to respond to it in a way that shows that you did everything in your power to help the customer. I know if I saw a review like this as a shopper, I'd just assume that the customer was a jerk. Especially if I saw a kind and helpful response posted from the seller.
I just got 1 star review, I explained my situation, I was always in contact with a buyer I didn't complain just gave the money back in the end, and even tho I still got 1 star, I will get it if that is 4 or even 3 stars but giving 1 star is cruel :( If you are s small artist one bad review can drop your statistics pretty low. I am a small artist doing commissions, so had delays and I think I did all I could. Is hard.
This is worth watching! I just followed the advice having received a 1 star review on my Etsy shop and it turns out the buyer had made a mistake and wanted to give me 5 stars. My first inclination was to post a public response but I know now that is the wrong thing to do. Thanks for making this video and helping me avoid a big mistake.
I love how easy at straight forward all your video's are - I think you are amazing Starla - I just binge watched many of your videos, thanks for the helpful tools!!
This has happened to me a handful of times i sell a lot of vinyl stickers and have had a few 1 star reviews due to late shipping mostly (etsy never ever remove them) and i had one recently that really annoyed me a 1 star with a rude comment saying my item is flawed (i have over 2k 5 stars on this item so its not flawed ) etsy wont remove it i tried lol the customer just didn't like the font i guess so they just left a 1 star without contacting me and you can clearly see the font i sell, its advertised in all photos and is extremely clear :( so i reach out politely and offer a replacement or refund and no response so i left a reply which i have to say it's great as you can say what actually has happened and shows you do care! i've had some before that go in and change it but i hate asking as it really annoys the customer. I wish etsy had something in place so the customer has to contact you before they can leave a review as if i had hardly any reviews on the item i would worry as my quality score would be damaged :(
Just got my first 3 star review without any comment, just the three stars. Thanks so much for this super helpful content. Fingers crossed I get a response back and a chance to get that review upgraded!
Excellent information, thank you. One thing I would say though is that while Star Seller itself may not affect ranking, what I've noticed def does is some of the elements that go in to Star Seller, so for instance if you regularly ship products late even by a day, I noticed you absolutely do fall down in rankings!
Shipping products on time is tied to star seller, but star seller itself is not tied to ranking. I would assume that shipping products late has an impact on your overall Customer and Marketplace Experience Score, which could absolutely impact rank. But this is not a direct influence of Star Seller. Star Seller is impacted but it, but not the other way around, if that makes sense. 🙂
Thanks a lot! It's very relevant for the coming holiday season. This period is so nervous and saturated, so sometimes sellers are not ready for a big amount of orders, questions, reviews, and exceptional situations, so such real examples will be very helpful. Bad reviews discourage small businesses, and that's why being, let's say, training or prepared will be a significant advantage.
Dear Starla, thank you so much for this video! Someone gave me a terrible review, they wrote a paragraph with their complaints. I offered two options and they were being kind of rude but I kept treating them with respect. Without even asking them to update the review they did it within minutes and gave me a 5 star review and praise my customer service skills. I panicked and I was upset but I was very professional and it worked!
What do I do about Etsy shop owners that buy from My shop just to leave a bad review? Among all my other products, I started selling stickers that Everyone loved- until now. All of a sudden I get three 1 star reviews saying the stickers were small- although they're clearly marked! Upon researching buyers, I found they all sell similar stickers! I feel this is the lowest of lows, and I'm really upset. Should I respond to their reviews and note this information?
I recently had a customer rate one of my products 1 star. I reached out to ask her if there was an issue with the product, and if so, what can I do to remedy the situation. She replies and tells me that she meant to rate 5 stars, but that her screen is broken so she accidentally rated 1 star and that she won’t be able to get her phone fixed until after the holidays (how convenient). By that time, the review period will end (she had bought the product a little over month ago) so she won’t be able to update the review. She also made sure to tell me that she won’t be rating anymore shops until she fixes her screen. Nice for those shops that won’t get a 1 star rating by her, but what about mine? Why even rate knowing your screen is broken!?!?
Hi Starla, love your channel! I am new to etsy and have recently received my first review (after about 30 sales), which unfortunately was 2 stars. The issue was with the print quality of a Christmas ornament (I use printify, and the rating for quality of the provider has dropped significantly in recent times 😞). I reached out to the customer and we agreed to a full refund (a replacement would not have turned up in time). I have messaged them a few times asking them to let me know that they received their full refund, and if they could update the review, but nothing. I'm thinking I should publically respond now, but not sure what to say. Obviously only having one review like this is hurting the shop, would appreciate any suggestions.
Recently had a 1star review "I need customer service I didn't receive my order". I reported it, and Etsy removed it the next day. Wasn't sure if it would qualify for removal, but it did.
Very interesting! It doesn't seem like this violated any of Etsy's guidelines but maybe the word "customer service" triggered the removal. That's great though! Glad you were able to get it removed! Especially if the customer didn't message you directly for support before leaving the review.
@Starla Moore exactly. In the note box when reporting I just said "customer is looking for customer service in the wrong place". But hey, if someone else has this same issue they should report it for removal.
You are so welcome! Hopefully you won't need to use the advice in this video, but it's good to have in case you encounter a butt-head customer. Good luck this season, Hannah!!! 🎄❤
The customer bought the product and then did not send any message to my store, the customer bought the same product again and rated 1 star twice on the same product. If it's the customer there's always the possibility to change but if it's not......and I honestly haven't been able to contact the customer. Sometimes we have to accept the fact that receiving 1 star is inevitable even though it will drag the shop down a lot
I don't know how much faith I have in Etsy's ability to notify buyers about shipping delays from mail carriers, when they can't even determine when said mail carriers are CLOSED; Etsy is always telling me to drop off my orders at the post office on federal holidays, when the post office is closed. If they can't make a trivial fix like that, I don't know about carrier delay notifications.
Totally agree. I still recommend that sellers make shipping delays veeeeery clear. Even if Etsy were to plaster the delay notices everywhere, shoppers would still miss them. 😅
@@StarlaMoore yes i always pad my shipping estimates. I also add an image to all my listings around 8-10 days before Halloween & Christmas letting buyers know the latest date to make a purchase so an order is ensured (but not guaranteed) to arrive by the holiday.
Can you create a video that teach us how to encourage our customers to leave positive reviews on their purchase. Apologies if you have done so and I have not seen it yet. Recently, my Etsy shop has been bombarded with dishonest 1-star reviews back to back. It’s systematically hurting my shop’s rating as these reviews have no comments so they are not in violation of any policy so Etsy won’t remove it.
It is wrong to expect a 5 star review or to pester customers who paid good money for a product that was not received to give you a 5 star review. Etsy does nothing to ratify lies on answers to reviews.
Customer review: "This seller is from XXX (country). Please don't buy from him" Etsy's response: Thank you for reporting this review to Etsy. I took a look into the entirety of the transaction, and have found that this review is not in violation of our policies and doesn't qualify for removal. Me:??????
This was very helpful as I just received a 3 star review (with no comments on why they didn't like it). Sending a message and hoping the person will respond.
While this is true, Disney exclusively owns the rights to Pooh in a red shirt and Blood and Honey utilizes a red shirt, which ties their version directly to Disney.
hi starla i dont know how I express this LOL you keep my sanity :) for new etsy seller the other youtuber perhaps will devided all your information into 3 or 4 video so they will get more money, but all from etsy youtuber you are really help me :D big big thanks and big hug
Oh thank you! I am always SO annoyed when I have to watch 10 videos just to understand a simple point. So unless a video is going to run way too long, I always try to keep topics to one video! 💛
@@StarlaMoore thank you!! for your video i really have to extra focus, - and take a note - thankfully you really master how to speak and play with tone :) several your video also play funny things :) that really refreshing my task this week ^^ see all of your video and make note of it :D did I say thank you so much -- again and again :D
A customer left me a 1⭐️ review complaining that the process of downloading her digital files was too complicated and frustrating. The review had zero to do with my product. She was complaining about the Etsy platform. I requested Etsy to remove it, and I was told NO, she’s entitled to her review and that they had to follow some form of legal guidelines.. blah blah blah.
Definitely reply to the review in a way that explains to future shoppers that this was beyond your control. I'm very surprised that Etsy didn't remove it, as it seems that this would qualify.
From what I've gathered from Etsy's explanation of the review system, 5 and 4 are positive, 3 is neutral, 2 and 1 are bad. Since Etsy says bad reviews hurt our quality score, I assume 1 and 2 star reviews are the only reviews that hurt our quality score. This is just speculation, but if 3 stars are "neutral", I assume they don't have impact. Which might also suggest that 4 starts do have a positive impact.
It's all about percentages. With low sales, one bad review is going to have a huge impact because it will make up a larger percentage of your overall rating, thus taking a bigger impact on your overall customer and marketplace experience score. Bigger shops aren't impacted as much by one bad review. So you have to be especially careful when you're just starting out.
I have a bad review from three years ago but I no longer sell these items any more is there a way to get rid of the review as I hate seeing it there when it no longer relevant
Unfortunately, no. Especially since the review was left so long ago. Even if a seller completely changed their entire business model and products, all previous reviews would still remain in their shop, good or bad. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. A review from 3 years ago isn't going to negatively impact customer perceptions. Especially for a product you no longer sell. Just continue providing good customer service so you can accumulate more good reviews and further bury the bad one. 🙂
Thanks so much for this video Starla! What are your thoughts when they get the size wrong, yet everything else is ok…? Do you offer a discount on a replacement? At the end of the day a person could take an additional loss on a replacement and still end up with the same rating. 😕
I think it's all about treating the customer how you would want to be treated. As sellers, we should do all we can to ensure the customer is happy (within reason... no bullying) and sometimes this means taking a small loss every once in a while, which is totally tax deductible and a normal part of running a business. If you sell to/within the EU, you actually don't have a choice. You have to offer refunds and replacements. But for everyone else, it boils down to how you want your brand to be seen and what kind of service you want to be associated with giving to your customers. Sometimes amazing customer service is worth the occasional loss because it leads to more sales in the long run and pays itself off. Again, your policies are totally up to you though. 🙂
@@StarlaMoore Agreed, they were happy with a few options that I had given and favorited my shop in the end. I was really hoping it might make them change their star rating - but that doesn’t appear to be the case, so I’ll have to respond to the comment and move along. Thanks again! Love your videos. 🥰
Hey James! HAA is $1,997 but if you are on the waiting list linked in the video, you'll get a private invite link with a $1,000 discount. So it would be $997 as long as you're on that list. We also have a 6 month payment plan available. That includes lifetime membership, lifetime support from me and Marc, 12 months of eRank PRO, access to our private facebook community, access to our yearly holiday business bootcamp, as well as any and all updates or additions we make to the program in the future (as things with Etsy change we constantly update the material to reflect these changes). If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to let me know! You can also drop me an email at starla@handmadealphaacademy.com
As a customer I would caution against offering coupons in a resolution because it seems like a dishonest tactic to get more money out of the situation or an attempt to withhold actual compensation. A coupon is useless if you no longer intend to use that seller/shop. This may be a personal thing but my opinion of a seller who messaged me about giving them a 4 star review would worsen. It would feel like they were trying to harass me into taking down or changing my review just to keep the rating up. To me 5 star is exceptional and 4 star is you did what I expected very well.
I think it really depends on situation/context and the amount of the coupon. For example, I've issued HUGE coupons for customers which has allowed them to order more expensive items that what they'd originally purchased. This wasn't after a bad review though. Just after issues with orders. So though I do agree with you, I think it's an okay option to offer depending on the specific circumstance that lead to the review.
