The Create Email page includes many features that you can use to create the content of your email messages and to specify who will receive them.

Learn about different aspects of creating an email:

• Templates

• Recipients

• Frequency

• Subject

• Header

• Personal message

• Item showcase

• Item list

• Show your feedback

• Previewing your email

• Sending your email

• Saving a draft

• Duplicating an email

Templates

Select the type of email that you want to create: Welcome, Ending Soonest, Items On Sale, Newly Listed (default choice), Previous Purchase, or Custom (create your own content and layout). The type of email you select will pre-populate the items that show up in the Showcase and/or Item List view as well as provide default text for the email. You will have the chance to change any part of the email on the next page, or you can always accept the defaults and use what we provide.

Next, select the layout you wish to use. This choice will determine the layout that is applied to your email. You will have the chance to change any part of the email on the next page, or you can accept the defaults and use what we provide.

From the template page, you can preview your email before continuing. After you are satisfied with the general layout, click "Continue".

Recipients

• To get an idea of how many emails will be sent, each mailing list is shown with the number of current subscribers. Some buyers may be subscribed to more than one mailing list, so if you select more than one, the total number of recipients may be lower than the total number of subscribers to those lists. eBay will only send one email per subscriber, regardless of how many mailing lists a subscriber belongs to.

• If you have sent an email to one of your mailing lists within the past seven days, its check box will appear inactive and you won't be able to select it. After seven days, that check box will become active again, and you can select it for a future mailing.

• If you want to refine the recipient list further, click the "Show advanced options" link. The page will refresh with options on limiting your recipient list by purchase history ("Number of purchases"), subscription history ("Length of Subscription"), and previous email activity, such as only "people who have received and opened your email in the past."

  Note: To keep buyers interested and to protect your relationship with them, you should make sure that the content of an email message is appropriate for the mailing list. If the body of an email and the subject name do not match, buyers may get confused and feel that you sent them an email they didn't request,-which could lead them to unsubscribe from your mailing list.

Frequency

Select whether or not you want to have email sent automatically. If you want an automatic email send periodically, you can select the frequency (every week, every two weeks, every month, every 8 weeks (bi-monthly), and which day of the week to have it sent (Monday-Sunday). Tuesday and Wednesday are the days subscribers are most likely to read your newsletter.

Subject

Create a subject for your email, or if you used a template one will already be created for you. You can either use the default subject link or create a new one if you wish. On the resulting email message, your subject will appear after the words: "eBay Seller Email:" in the email's "Subject" line.

Store listing header

In the same way that you can include your Store listing header in all your eBay listings, you can also include it in your email. The header appears at the top of your email message and includes your Store logo, Store name, and links to Store categories and Store pages.

Note: If you’ve chosen to display your Store listing header along with a left-navigation bar in your listings, the left-navigation bar will not appear in your email.

To make changes to your Store listing header, go to "Manage My Store" in My eBay and click the "Listing Template" link in the left-hand navigation bar.

Personal message

Include a personalized message to your subscribers or use the default message in the email template. You can have up to 96K of content, including eBay Store HTML tags, and eBay-hosted pictures. Keep your message short, simple, and professional. 

Content not permitted in the custom message includes:

• Offers to sell items off eBay

• Telephone numbers or email addresses

• Links or image references to items not located on an eBay site

• More than 100 eBay HTML tags

• JavaScript or other active scripting

If you insert viruses or other malicious content in your message, it will not be delivered. Its status will become "Failed (virus threat)".

Item showcase

To feature specific items in your email using large pictures, use the item showcase option. You can choose items either manually or automatically (based on criteria that you specify).

Here's how your picture and item information will look (in a horizontal layout) to potential buyers.

Item list

The item list allows you to promote items in a standard list or gallery view (this is similar to how eBay shows search results when you search for an item). You can choose to display up to 50 items. The items are selected automatically based on criteria that you specify.

Here's how the item list (in list view) will look to potential buyers:

Show your feedback

You can include your feedback profile in your email. If you choose this option, a link will be included that sends users to your Member Profile page.

Previewing your email

When you're finished creating an email, click the Preview and Continue button. The preview page shows the total number of recipients and any associated charges, along with a preview of the email message.

If you have exceeded your monthly allocation of free email, you will see a flag with a message and the total amount that will be charged to your account when you click the Send Email button.

Note: eBay includes in the email a marketplace safety message, instructions for unsubscribing, and specific text to comply with federal email regulations, including your mailing address.

Sending your email

Once you've checked the preview of your email, click the Send Email button. Your email message will be processed for sending. Scheduled email messages will be queued and will be sent according to the schedule that you created. For messages that are to be sent now, it may take up to four hours for your message to be delivered to buyers. You will also receive a free copy of your email once it is delivered to all of your recipients.

You can check the status of an email by going to the Email Marketing summary page. Emails that are scheduled will be displayed in the Pending Emails section. Emails that are in the processing of being sent or have already been sent, will be shown in the “Sent Emails” section. While an email is being processed, the status will appear as "Sending." When it has been distributed to the recipients, the status will change to "Sent." If your email is blocked because of a potential virus in the content, the status will change to "Failed (virus threat)," and the email will not be delivered to any of the recipients.

Saving a draft

If you want to save a draft of your email instead of sending it immediately, click the "Save draft" link near the bottom of the Create or Preview pages. You can access the draft later by going to the Emails page and clicking the "Edit" link. A saved draft will remain in your list of emails for up to six months.

Duplicating an email

If you created email in the past that was particularly effective or you want to avoid starting from scratch every time, click the "Duplicate" link on either the Emails page or View Email page. All of the details from your past email will be prefilled on the Create Email page for you to edit. If any previously selected listings have ended since the original email was created, they will no longer be available, but all other settings (recipients, subject, and your custom message) will be duplicated.