Etsy Is Changing How Shop Review Ratings Are Calculated
Etsy is rolling out an update to how shop review ratings are calculated that may change how a seller’s reputation is reflected across the marketplace.
Here's what's changing: instead of calculating your shop’s rating using only reviews from the past year, Etsy will now use your entire lifetime review history -but newer reviews will still carry more weight.
How Etsy Shop Ratings Worked Before
Until now, buyers could see your full lifetime review count and scroll through reviews going back years, but Etsy calculated the average shop rating using only reviews from the last 12 months.
That meant the two pieces of information weren’t actually based on the same timeframe. A shop might show thousands of total reviews but have a rating calculated from only a small slice of that feedback.
How Etsy Will Calculate Ratings Going Forward
Under the new model, Etsy will calculate your shop rating using all reviews your shop has ever received.
However, the system will apply recency weighting, meaning newer reviews carry more influence than older ones.
According to Etsy's Seller Handbook, each review gradually loses weight over time, with its influence reduced by half every year.
How your new rating will be calculated
Even with a lifetime calculation, your current performance remains most relevant.We’ll calculate your overall rating using a recency-weighted average. That means newer reviews count more, and the impact of each review decreases by half each year—so your score better reflects your current customer experience.
That approach allows Etsy to keep ratings focused on current customer experience while still reflecting a shop’s long-term reputation.
Why Etsy Is Making This Change
The main goal appears to be clarity for buyers.
Previously, a shop’s displayed rating and its review count were based on different timeframes. Aligning those numbers gives buyers a more consistent picture when evaluating a shop.
It also brings Etsy closer to how many other major marketplaces handle ratings, where lifetime reviews contribute to the score but newer feedback has greater influence.
Some Shops May See Rating Changes
Because the formula is changing, some shops may notice their rating adjust when the update rolls out.
For many sellers, the number may stay roughly the same.
But established shops with strong long-term review histories could see their ratings improve if older positive reviews are now factored in, while shops with older negative reviews that were previously outside the 12-month window may see their ratings go down as a result.
The potential biggest winners from this change could be sellers who have taken time off or been less active over the last year, as ecommerce consultant Cindy Baldassi points out in a post on her Patreon:
...this improvement was actually needed. Shops who take over a year off have come back to their home page showing zero stars, since they did not receive any buyer reviews while the shop was inactive. It's been a major complaint from sellers for years, and is likely confusing for buyers as well.
Star Seller Metrics Are Not Changing
Etsy also clarified that this update does not affect the Star Seller program.
Star Seller eligibility will continue to focus on recent performance, specifically the last three months of reviews, message response times, and on-time shipping.
Etsy wants to know what sellers think of the change, providing a link to a survey to fill out - and I'd love to know you're thoughts in the comments below too!
