ODR and common misconceptions on Etsy
We have not found reliable sources confirming that Etsy has stopped measuring ODR. But it seems to be the case for now because Etsy has removed all ODR-related information from their website. It's important to remember that Etsy expects you as a seller to offer excellent customer service. It wouldn't be surprising if Etsy introduced something similar to ODR in the future.
As you may already know, Etsy recently disclosed how they measure customer service. Etsy is also taking action on shops with unsatisfied customers by sending out Customer Service Warnings, which should be taken very seriously. After reading through Etsy's article about Order Dissatisfaction Rate (ODR), we decided to summarize it and to clarify some misconceptions that we have seen are spreading in the Etsy community.
Etsy is expecting you as a seller to offer excellent customer service. When a customer has a poor shopping experience on Etsy, it could be the last purchase the customer makes on Etsy, which punishes everyone in the community. But you know from experience that some customers are hard to deal with, and unfortunately some things are outside your control.
How Etsy evaluates your shop's customer service
Etsy measures your shop's customer service through Order Dissatisfaction Rate (ODR). ODR is raised by either a bad review (two stars or less) or a case against your shop.
Your shop will receive a Customer Service Warning when all of the following criteria are met:
- Your shop's Order Dissatisfaction Rate is 1% or higher.
- Your shop has three or more orders with a case or low review since your first sale.
- Your shop has two or more orders placed within a 60 day evaluation period (starting 90 days ago, until 30 days ago) that resulted in a case or low review.
Customer Service Warnings should be taken very seriously. If you receive a warning, then Etsy expects you to improve your customer service, and they will review your shop again within 90 days. When you receive a second warning Etsy will review your shop for permanent suspension.
Changed reviews and resolved cases still affect your ODR
Several discussions in the Etsy Community is whether or not ODR is affected by a bad review that is later changed to a good review. You probably know that some customers change the review after you reach out to them. Another discussion is whether or not a case against your shop that is later resolved with the conclusion that it was not your fault, will affect ODR. Etsy clarifies that both scenarios will affect your ODR, because your customer experienced bad customer service somewhere in the shopping process.
Etsy won't suspend your shop automatically
An important lesson we learned from reaching out to Etsy was that they assured us that the suspension of shops is a manual process. Etsy will conduct an analysis, which will review the reasons behind the Customer Service Warnings. Etsy is a successful shopping platform because of hard-working and skilled sellers, and they have nothing to gain from suspending shops that are doing everything they can to please their customers. We conclude that the idea behind ODR is not to automatically suspend shop, you should instead view it as a radar that Etsy uses to monitor and suspend shops that are misbehaving, which is desirable for all of us.