Using My Messages

The My Messages page is where you receive secure, relevant messages from eBay and from other eBay members. All messages originate from eBay systems and are guaranteed to be authentic.

Messages include information such as:

Important alerts about your account that require your immediate attention
Member-to-member communications (Ask a Question, Contact eBay Member, and Second Chance Offer)
Customer Support correspondence and replies
Useful information about buying and selling
News about upcoming activities, events, and product updates
Copies of your seller invoices for listing and final value fees
Policy changes and other special notices

Important: My Messages is an important tool for helping eBay members buy and sell safely and efficiently. You should check your messages often to make sure you don't miss something important. You cannot opt out of My Messages.

Learn more about:

Types of messages

You can receive two types of messages in My Messages:

Alerts: Only eBay can send you alerts. Alerts appear at the top of My Messages and contain important information about your account that requires your immediate attention. You cannot delete an alert until you’ve acted upon it, or the specified time has passed.
Messages: Messages contain useful information and may be sent by eBay or by other eBay members. You can delete messages whenever you want.

Unlike Web-based email services, alerts and messages expire from My Messages after a period of time. Since they contain important information about your account, alerts are kept until they have been acted upon. Messages are generally kept in My Messages for up to 60 days. After the expiration date, messages are removed from your Inbox and no longer available to you.

Using My Messages reminders

My Messages reminders let you know immediately when you have messages to view. My Messages reminders are included on your My Summary page, the same page as your buying and selling reminders. Reminders are also included in the My eBay at a Glance pages throughout eBay.

You can click on a My Messages reminder to take you directly to My Messages. You can also access My Messages from the link in the left column of My eBay. For direct access to My Messages, bookmark the page using the Web site address http://messages.ebay.com.

Adding the My Messages view to your My Summary page

If you’ve removed the My Messages view from your My Summary page, you can always add it back.

To add the My Messages view to your My Summary page:

On the My Summary page, click the “Customize Summary” link near the top, right of the page.
On the Customize My Summary page, in the Views to Display list, select My Messages, and click the button to move it to the Available Views list.
Click the Save button.

About My Messages folders

The My Messages page includes folders—similar to a standard Web-based email Inbox—for managing your messages. You can organize messages by time and sender, mark as read or unread, add and remove follow-up flags, delete messages, or move messages to other folders. Folder views also include a status column that shows whether or not you’ve read a message, and if you’ve forwarded or responded to it.

eBay automatically provides you with the following My Messages folders. You can also create and manage up to ten additional folders.

Inbox: Your Inbox is where you receive all new alerts and messages. eBay automatically prioritizes alerts by level of importance, most important at the top.
Sent: The Sent folder contains a copy of all the messages you’ve sent to Customer Support and to other eBay members. You cannot delete messages in the Sent folder, but you can copy messages in the Sent folder to another folder you've created.
Unread: The Unread folder includes all of your unread messages from all folders.
Flagged: The Flagged folder includes all of your flagged messages from all folders.

Managing messages

From the My Messages page, you can:

View and respond to messages
Delete messages
Delete alerts
Save messages

Viewing and responding to messages

To view a message, from any folder view, click on the subject of a message. From there, you can respond to or forward a copy of the message to your registered email address, or navigate to the folder where you filed the message.

Note: When you respond to a message, eBay delivers a copy of the message to both the recipient's My Messages Inbox and to their registered email address. A copy of the message will be saved in your My Messages Sent folder and you can also choose to receive a copy of the email at your registered email address.

Deleting messages

You can delete any messages you no longer need.

To delete messages:

From the My Messages section on the Summary page, click the link for your new messages. The My Messages page shows all of your new messages in the Unread folder.
Select the checkbox next to the message you want to delete, and click the Delete button.
Optional: To delete filed messages, locate the message in the appropriate folder, select the checkbox next to the message, and click the Delete button.

Deleting alerts

You can delete alerts as long as you have acted upon them, or the specified time has passed. Alerts appear above My Messages with a symbol.

To delete alerts:

From the Alerts section of My Messages, open the alert you want to delete.
Complete the action specified in the alert, or check to see that the specified time has passed.
Click the Delete button in the alert.

Saving messages

You can save messages that you want to keep on your desktop.

To save a message:

Select the checkbox next to the message you want to save, and click the Save to Desktop button.
Select either EML or HTML as your file format.
Click the Save Message button to download a .ZIP file that contains your selected messages.

Tip: Click the “Save Messages” link on the left side to save time when saving multiple messages.

Information for eBay Developers

My Messages is Web Services-enabled. To learn more about how to access eBay Web Services, visit the eBay Developers Program Web site.

Related Help topics

Contact Customer Support

If you're looking for more help or have a question to ask, please contact us.