Your response time is the average time it takes you to send your first reply to a new conversation. It is shown to buyers on your profile, on your offers, and on service profiles, where buyers use it to judge how quickly they can expect to hear from you.
What counts
Three types of conversation are measured:
Order chats - time to your first reply after the buyer writes in an order.
Direct messages - time to your first reply after someone messages you.
Dispute chats - time to your first reply after a message in a dispute.
Only the first reply in each conversation is measured. Later replies in the same chat do not affect the number, so a fast opening reply is what matters most.
How it is calculated
Only the last 45 days of activity are used, so old slow replies drop out over time.
All three conversation types are pooled together and averaged into a single figure.
It is a plain average, which means one very slow reply can pull the number up noticeably. Consistency matters more than any single fast response.
When it updates
Your response time is recalculated when an order of yours is completed. If you have not completed an order recently, the figure buyers see may be older than your current activity.
Why it matters
Response time is one of the factors in the ranking of your products. Faster sellers get a visibility boost, with two limits worth knowing:
Replying within 1 hour already earns the maximum boost. Being faster than that does not add more.
Beyond 12 hours the penalty stops growing, but you are already at the bottom of the range.
New sellers with no measured replies yet are treated as a 1 hour average until real data exists.
Tips
Enable notifications so new messages and orders reach you straight away.
Send a short acknowledgement first if you cannot deliver immediately. A quick "on it, delivering within the hour" counts the same as a full answer.
Going offline for a while? Use Vacation mode instead of leaving messages unanswered.