The Messages section in My eBay is where you receive and respond to secure, messages from eBay and other eBay members.
You can receive 3 kinds of messages:
Alerts: Only eBay can send you alerts. Alerts appear with a yellow exclamation point in front of them and contain information that requires your immediate attention.
Messages: Messages from eBay or other eBay members.
You can delete these messages whenever you want.
General eBay announcements: We may also send you general eBay news and announcements.
The Basics: viewing, sending, saving and deleting messages
When you have new messages or alerts, you'll see reminders throughout eBay. You can click these reminders to view your messages, or go to My eBay and click the Messages tab.
Note: If you receive a message from eBay at your regular email address, you'll also find a copy of it in the Messages section of My eBay. This duplicate message in My eBay verifies that the email is authentic and not a spoof (phishing, or fake) email.
To view your messages:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages.
If you have unread messages, you'll see a number in parentheses on the Messages tab.
Click the Messages tab to read your messages.
We recommend that you check your messages frequently for emails that impact your buying and selling activity.
Sending messages
When you send a message to an eBay member, we deliver a copy of the message to the member's registered email address and to the member's Messages in My eBay.
To send a new message:Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the Find & Contact a Member link on the left side of the page the More Options section
Enter the member's user ID or email address.
Enter the verification code, and then click the Search button.
Click the member's user ID in the search results.
Click the Contact Member link on the right side of the page.
A dialog box appears. Under For item, select an item you've bought or are watching from the drop-down menu, or select Enter item number and enter the item number of the listing you're asking about.
Click the Continue button.
You may see a Find answers page, depending on the preferences the seller has chosen.On the Find Answers page, choose the topic that best fits your question, and look for your question in any Q&A that appears. If you can't find your question, under Did you find your answer?, select No, I want to contact the seller, and then click the Continue button.
On the Contact Seller page, enter your question in the space provided. Depending on the topic you selected, you might be asked for additional information related to your question.
You may need to enter a verification code for security purposes.
Note: If your question is not about a specific item, select the It's not about an item check box in step 6 above. After clicking the Continue button, you'll be taken to a page where you can enter your question and click the Send button.
Tip: You can also contact members by clicking their user ID anywhere on the site. On the member's My World page, click the Contact member link.
Limits on sending messages
To keep eBay safe, we limit certain kinds of email. Emails that contain a virus, are especially large, have a blank subject line, or provide an incorrect item number will be returned to the sender. There are some other reasons email may not go through namely:
Viruses - If we detect a virus in an email that's been sent, the message will be returned to the sender. If you've sent an email and it's been returned, try checking your computer for viruses before resending it.
Too Large
- Messages are limited to 2MB in size. If you're trying to send a large email, try reducing the size of the message. eBay Messages won't let you attach or download files, but you can send links to listings, photos, and descriptions.
Too many messages - The number of messages that can be sent over a weekly period is limited. This protects email accounts from unwanted messages (spam).
Full mailbox - If a member's mailbox is full, the message you sent will be returned to you. Try again in a few hours.
Invalid or expired item - If you're sending a message to your buyer or seller about a transaction, make sure that the item number is correct and that the item hasn't expired. If you use an incorrect item number or the number of an item that is more than 90 days old from the end of the listing, your message won't go through.
Encryption - Emails that are encrypted before they are sent (or are automatically encrypted when sent) won't be delivered through eBay Messages. Encryption is a way of scrambling or coding information before it's sent, and then decoding the same information when it's received. If you're using encryption software, you may need to turn it off before sending messages.
Active content - Messages that launch streaming videos, Flash, animated clips, or have JavaScript may not be delivered. Because of the risk of viruses or malicious programs, we block active content. You're always able to send links to listings and other areas of eBay.
Attachments - Only pictures may be sent through eBay messages (.jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png file types). Please note that you won't be able to view the attachments in eBay messages.
Note: When you contact other eBay members on the site by clicking on links such as Contact seller, Contact buyer, or Contact member, your message to that member will go through an anonymous email forwarding system. Your actual email address will remain hidden. For more information, read about anonymous email forwarding.
Responding to messages
Just like with email, you can reply to messages you receive in My eBay.
To respond to a message you received:Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the subject of the email.
Type your reply and send the email.
Searching messages
You can search your messages in My eBay to find messages by:
Sender name (except in the Sent folder)
Recipient name (only in the Sent folder)
Tip: For faster searching, search by sender name, recipient name, or item ID.
To search by sender name or item ID:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the name of the folder you want to search on the left side of the page.
Enter your search term in the search box.
Select By sender name, By recipient name, or By item ID from the drop-down menu next to the search box.
To perform an advanced search by item title or message received date:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the Advanced search link.
In the window that appears, enter your search terms and select what messages you want to search from the drop-down menu.
Saving messages
Alerts and messages expire after 6 months if they don't have a shorter expiration date. Once they expire, they're removed and no longer available to view. However, you can save messages to your computer desktop.
To save messages:Select the check boxes next to the messages you want to save, and click the Save to Desktop button at the top or bottom of the list of messages.
Select either EML or HTML as your file format.
Click the Continue button.
Click the Download Saved Messages button to download a .ZIP file that contains your messages.
Deleting messages
You can delete most messages at any time. You can delete alerts just as you would any other email in the system, but we recommend that you take the necessary action the alert requests before deleting it. Deleted messages remain in the Trash folder for 6 months.
To delete a message:Select the check box next to the message you want to delete.
Managing your messages: Customizing your inbox, organizing messages into folders, flagging and filtering messages
Customizing how many messages are shown
You can choose how many messages you want to see on each page of your inbox—25, 50, 75, or 100.
To change the number of messages shown per page:
From the Messages section of My eBay, click the Change settings link near the top of the page.
On the next page, choose the number you want to see from the drop-down next to the label Show this number of messages per page
Click the Apply button at the bottom of the page.
Organizing your messages into folders
You can organize your messages into folders. You get the following 4 folders automatically, and can add up to 10 more folders:
Folder |
Description |
Inbox |
Where you get all new alerts and messages. We automatically sort messages by time received, with the most recent at the top. |
Sent |
Contains copies of all the messages you've sent to eBay Customer Support and to other eBay members. You can't delete messages in the Sent folder, but you can copy messages in the Sent folder to another eBay Messages folder you've created, or forward them to another email address. |
Trash |
Contains the messages you deleted for 1 year. |
Folders |
Here you can create your own personalized folders, like "Holidayshopping" or "Antiques." To create a new folder, click the Add folder link, enter a name for the folder, and then click the Save link. |
To move messages into folders:
1. Select the check box next to the messages you want to move.
2. Select the folder where you want to move the messages from the Move to drop-down menu.
Flagging messages
You can flag messages if they're important and you want to be able to find them quickly later. To flag a message while you're reading it, just click the flag icon at the top of the message. To flag a message from your inbox, just click the flag icon next to that message. You can flag as many messages as you want.
To remove a flag from a message, click the flag icon again.
Filtering messages
You can filter your messages to that you can quickly find messages based on who they are from, what they're about, or when you received them.
To filter your messages:
Click the Filter link at the top of your inbox
In the window that appears, choose how you want to filter your messages using the drop-down menus.
If you want to remove the filter later, click the Filter link at the top of your inbox and choose All from each drop-down menu. Then click the Apply button.
Advanced stuff: Adding a signature, sending out of office replies, forwarding to your personal inbox
Adding an email signature
An email signature adds a personal touch to your outgoing emails. Adding an email signature to your emails can help promote your business and give customers easy access to your contact information. If you have an eBay Store, you can also add your eBay Store logo to your signature.
To add a signature and Store logo:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Select the Change settings link on the top right side of the page.
In the Email Signature section, select Show signature.
Enter your signature in the text box that appears. We provide an example in the text box to help you.
If you have an eBay Store, you can also add your Store logo by selecting the Add my store logo check box.
To remove your signature:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Select the Change settings link on the right side of the page.
In the Email signature section, select Don't show signature.
Sending out of office replies
If you're going on vacation or not planning to check your email for awhile, use the out of office reply to notify other members who try to contact you. When you create an out of office reply, any email you receive will be replied to with the message you create.
To turn on your out of office reply:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the Change settings link on the top right side of the page.
In the Out of office email response section, select Turn my out of office response ON.
Select a Start Date and End Date.
Enter a message to send to your customers while you're away.
When the out of office reply is on, you'll see an alert every time you visit your Messages inbox. The alert is at the top of your inbox and reads: Your out of office reply is currently on. To turn this off, change your settings.
To turn off your out of office reply:
Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Select the Change settings link on the top right side of the page.
In the Out of office email response section, select Turn my out of office response OFF.
If you have an eBay Shop, you can place your Shop on vacation while you're away. Learn how to use Shop vacation settings.
Forwarding messages to your inbox
You can forward messages from My eBay to your personal inbox.
Forwarding messages from My eBay:
From your Messages inbox, choose the messages you want to forward by selecting the check boxes next to those messages.
Click the Forward button at the top of your inbox. Your messages will be forwarded to the email address that is associated with your eBay account.
Note: You can change your eBay email address from My eBay
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