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The Messages tab in My eBay is where you receive and respond to secure, relevant messages from eBay and other eBay members.
Viewing 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.
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 trading activity.
Types of messages you’ll receive
The Messages tab displays messages you’ve received from eBay or other eBay members.
If you receive a message from eBay at your regular email address, you’ll also find a copy of it in your Messages in My eBay. This duplicate message in My eBay verifies that the email is authentic and not a spoof (fake) email.
You can receive three types of messages:
Alerts: Only eBay can send you alerts. Alerts appear at the top of Messages and contain information that requires your immediate attention. You can’t delete an alert until you’ve acted upon it.
Messages: Messages from eBay or other eBay members. You can delete messages whenever you want.
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.
Enter the member’s user ID or email address.
Tip: You can also contact a member by clicking his or her user ID anywhere on the site. On the member’s Feedback Profile, click the “Contact Member” link.
To respond to a message you received:Click the Messages tab in My eBay.
Click the subject of the email.
Type your reply and respond to the email.
Limits on sending messages
To protect members from harassment, we may limit the number of messages a member can send on a given day. If you’re unable to send a message because you reached a limit, we apologize and ask that you try again in 24 hours.
Saving messages
Alerts and messages expire after a year. After the expiration date, messages are removed and are no longer available to you. However, you can save messages to your computer desktop.
To save messages:Select the checkboxes next to the messages you want to save, and click the Save to Desktop button.
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.
Tip: To save all messages,click the Save Messages link on the left side of the page.
Deleting messages
You can delete most messages at any time. You can delete alerts as long as you’ve acted upon them, or the specified time has passed, whichever comes first.
To delete a message:Select the checkbox next to the message you want to delete.
To delete an alert:Open the alert you want to delete.
Complete the action in the alert, or check to see that the specified time has passed.
Click the Delete button in the alert.
Organizing messages into folders
You can organize your messages into folders. You get the following four folders automatically, and can add up to ten more folders:
Inbox |
Where you get all new alerts and messages. We automatically sort alerts by priority, with the most important at the top. |
Sent |
Contains copies of all the messages you’ve sent to 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 My Messages folder you've created, or forward them to another email address. |
Unread |
Contains all your unread messages from all folders. |
Flagged |
Contains all your flagged messages from all folders. |
Information for eBay Developers
eBay Messages is Web Services-enabled. To learn more about how to access eBay Web Services, visit the eBay Developers Program Web site.
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