The Messages section in My eBay is where you receive secure, relevant messages from eBay and from other eBay members. To view your messages, go to My eBay, then click the Messages tab.

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)

• 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: The Messages section is an essential 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.

• Types of messages

• Messages reminders

• Adding the Messages view to your my Summary page

• Working with folders

• Viewing and responding to messages

• Deleting messages

Types of messages

You can receive three types of messages in the Messages section:

• 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.

• General eBay Announcements: eBay automatically posts the latest eBay news and announcements on your Messages page. Learn more about eBay announcements.

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

Using Messages reminders

Messages reminders let you know immediately when you have messages to view.

• When you have new messages, you'll see a number in brackets on the Messages tab.

• Messages reminders are included on your My eBay Summary page, the same page. You can also see your buying and selling reminders here.

Clicking on a Messages reminder takes you directly to the Messages section. You can also access Messages from the Messages tab of My eBay.

Adding the Messages section to your Summary page

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

About the Messages folders

The Messages section includes folders—similar to a standard Web-based email Inbox—for managing your messages. You can:

• Sort messages by time and sender

• Mark messages as read or unread

• Add and remove follow-up flags

• Delete messages

• Move messages to other folders

• Save messages to your computer

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 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 prioritises 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.

• Saved Messages: You can keep your messages for up to 30 days in the folder.

Managing messages

From the 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 Messages Inbox and to their registered email address. A copy of the message will be saved in your 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.

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.

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

To save a message:

• Select the check box 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 Download Saved Message button to download a .ZIP file that contains your selected messages.

Tip: To save all the messages in a folder, click Save Messages in the left navigation menu.