Messages

To go to your Messages, select the button below. 

Go to Messages - opens in new window or tab

You can always view your Messages by signing in to My eBay and selecting Messages - opens in new window or tab.

How to send a message on eBay

How you send a message to another eBay member will depend on whether you’ve already done business with them:

• If you’d like to contact someone you haven’t had any transaction with before, you can select their username to go to their profile page and then select Contact
• If you’ve bid on, bought from, or sold to the member, you can contact them through My eBay:
  1. Find the item in your Purchase History.
  2. Select the More actions dropdown menu and select Contact seller or Contact buyer.
  3. Type your message and select Send.

We’ll send your message to the member’s Messages inbox and their personal email address. You can choose to send a copy to your registered email address as well.

Tip
Sellers sometimes provide answers to commonly asked questions. If they have, we’ll show you this information before you contact the seller.

Organizing your Messages inbox

There are a number of features to help you organize your inbox and keep track of your messages:

• You can filter your messages to only see messages from other members or from eBay by selecting From members or From eBay
• You can mark messages as high priority by selecting the box next to the message in your inbox and select Mark as and then choose Flagged
• To organize your messages into folders, select Add a folder+, enter a name for your folder, and select Save
• If you have any unread messages, you’ll see a number in brackets on the Messages tab
• If you’d like to delete a message, select the box next to the message in your inbox and select Delete

You can also change how many messages are displayed in your inbox and when your old messages can be archived by changing your settings:

1. Go to Messages - opens in new window or tab.
2. Select Change Settings on the top right-hand side of the page.
3. Update your settings and select Apply.

How to add an email signature or Automatic response

You can personalize the messages you send by adding a signature or your eBay Store logo. Here’s how:

1. Go to Messages - opens in new window or tab.
2. Select Change Settings on the top right-hand side of the page.
3. In the Email signature section, select Show signature.
4. Enter your signature in the text box.
5. If you have an eBay Store, you can also add your store logo by selecting the Add my store logo check box.
6. Select Apply.

To remove a signature, select Don’t show in the Email signature section.

If you’re going to be away or won’t have access to your Messages, you can turn on an automatic response. Here’s how:

1. Go to Time Away settings - opens in new window or tab.
2. Select Automatic response.
3. Set a Start date and End date for your message.
4. Type your message in the Automatic response box.
5. Select Apply.

If someone contacts you through Messages during your time away period, they'll receive your automatic response message, along with the end date of your time away.

Tip
Remember, turning on your automatic response does not hide or pause your active listings. Buyers will still be able to bid on and buy items from you as usual. If you want to pause sales, see our Time away help page.