Hi. I’m Bradley, one of the Product Managers for My Messages. I’m joined by Campbell (from Customer Support) and Quincy (from the North American Business Unit.) Welcome to today’s workshop. My team and I are here to discuss how buyers and sellers can best use My Messages.

To give you some background, the first phase of My Messages launched December 2004. At that time, My Messages was a read-only Inbox with messages from eBay about buying and selling.

The second phase of My Messages launched in June 2005. My Messages is now also the place for you to receive secure, relevant messages directly from eBay and other eBay members. All messages originate from eBay systems and are guaranteed to be authentic. With this phase, one of the greatest benefits is spoof/phishing protection. If you get an email that looks like it’s from eBay about a problem with your account or requests personal information and it’s not in My Messages, it’s a fake email. From a safety perspective, the bottom line is this -- if the email affects your eBay account, it’s in My Messages.

In addition to the spoof protection benefit, My Messages is now available for two-way communication with eBay and other eBay members. You can receive important account-related messages (like seller monthly invoices, alerts, and Trust & Safety messages), Customer Support responses and member-to-member communications in your My Messages Inbox. This will ensure you never miss an important message because of spam blockers or a full email box.

If my registered email address receives exact copies of the messages in My Messages, why did you create My Messages? What are the benefits to using My Messages?

Phase two of My Messages was created based on what both buyers and sellers have asked for: spoof protection, member-to-member communication, Customer Support correspondence, etc. Some benefits include…

Reliable delivery – We've all had emails simply not show up in our email inbox for some reason from time to time (typically due to ISP Spam blockers). When you use one of eBay's on-site contact forms (such as Ask Seller a Question), we will deliver copies of your email to both the recipient's My Messages Inbox and to their registered email address. A copy will also be saved to your Sent folder within your My Messages in case you need to reference it later.

New Alerts at Sign In – eBay will tell you when you have new account alerts that require your action as soon as you sign in (such as unpaid item alerts). This will help ensure that you never miss important account-related information from Customer Support or Trust and Safety. Additionally, these alerts cannot be “spoofed” by the bad guys.

Easy Contact with Customer Support – Quick access to Customer Support will be provided within My Messages, and you'll receive all their responses both in My Messages and at your registered email address.

As you know, with any solution it is impossible to satisfy over a million people. One of the key things we heard from sellers is no matter what solution we created -- “don’t take away email.” We heard that and that’s why you will continue to get copies of your messages in both My Messages and email.

I noticed that users are allowed to hide their email addresses? When I tried to reply to a member’s email (from my email client), I was told to “UseTheYellowButton@ebay.com” – what is that?

Yes, members do have the ability to hide their email addresses from the recipient on all of the Member Contact forms. However, this feature is not new to My Messages. Users have had the ability to hide their address on the Ask Seller a Question form for a very long time. Member-to-member emails always come from member@ebay.com (prior to that, they used to come from aw-confirm@ebay.com). The reply to address (if you use email to respond) is either the member’s email address OR UseTheYellowButton@ebay.com (if they have hidden their address). The only thing My Messages changed was replying to UseTheYellowButton@ebay.com (instead of replying to member@ebay.com). We used the yellow button address to make it more visible that it isn't going to the member.

That said, we have found that the button doesn't appear in text emails so the reply address does seem a bit funny in that case. The number of users receiving text emails is quite low. We are looking at changing the reply to address for text emails (to point to the link, instead of the button.)

As a buyer, I’ve received numerous spoof (fake) emails. How will My Messages protect me?

Spoof emails can be a major problem (and annoyance) for Internet users. These emails look like they come from legitimate companies (your bank, eBay, and other trusted-brands) and often have a sense of urgency for you to reply with your personal information such as a credit card number, social security number or account password. These emails can be very convincing and it can be hard to tell a real email from a spoof (fake) email.

With the second phase of My Messages, we’ve taken the guesswork out of whether an email is real or fake. You can now verify if the eBay email is legitimate. The bottom line – if an email affects your eBay account, it's in My Messages. So next time you get an email that looks like it’s from eBay about a problem with your account or requests personal information– visit My Messages. If the same message is not in My Messages, it’s a fake email.

Please visit our Link tutorial for more information on how you can detect spoof emails and keep your account safe.

Sounds great!

Everyone can't be poolside

We'd love to hear your questions and comments.

Thanks,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development

Hi lglightsey:

Did you have any questions for the My Messages workshop team?

Thanks,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development