Auto Reply for Buyer Inquiries (Acknowledging Receipt)

eBay currently lacks an auto-reply feature outside of "Time Away". This creates a communication gap during the workday where buyers may feel ignored, leading to multiple follow-up messages.

I recently had a buyer send three separate questions in a short window because I think they weren't sure if their first inquiry was received, they eventually purchased the item before I could respond, the lack of an instant receipt confirmation created a bad experience for the buyer and unnecessary inbox clutter for me.

An instant acknowledgement like "We've received your message and will respond within 24 hours" stops buyers from shopping elsewhere or feeling ghosted.

Small sellers shouldn't have to pay for third-party CRM software just to send a simple "thank you, we're on it" message.

Adding a simple toggle in the Seller Hub to enable a custom automated replies for the first message received from a buyer would be great.

ten_o_nine

7497 View listings

Posted 4 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

3 comments

sin-n-dex

·4 months ago

12213 View listings

@ten_o_nine wrote:
eBay currently lacks an auto-reply feature outside of "Time Away". This creates a communication gap during the workday where buyers may feel ignored, leading to multiple follow-up messages.
I recently had a buyer send three separate questions in a short window because I think they weren't sure if their first inquiry was received, they eventually purchased the item before I could respond, the lack of an instant receipt confirmation created a bad experience for the buyer and unnecessary inbox clutter for me.
An instant acknowledgement like "We've received your message and will respond within 24 hours" stops buyers from shopping elsewhere or feeling ghosted.
Small sellers shouldn't have to pay for third-party CRM software just to send a simple "thank you, we're on it" message.
Adding a simple toggle in the Seller Hub to enable a custom automated replies for the first message received from a buyer would be great.

I used to have the away message to tell buyers what time of day I respond. But in the subject it was saying I was away until date xxx (which someone pointed out) and people wouldn't read the message, just the part about me being "away" so I cancelled it.

Now I try to respond when I'm at work to say I'll answer later so they don't feel ignored if I think they need a response right away. Less important stuff I just wait until I finish work to answer.

slippinjimmy

·4 months ago

4 View listings

Set up an auto-reply on your own email system (whatever it is that you use). On some systems you can filter the messages that get the auto-reply so you could select only messages from eBay.

I imagine eBay assumes that the only time you want auto-replies would be when you are on Time Away.

lakefor94

·4 months ago

117 View listings

That makes a lot of sense @ten_o_nine. Very buyer centric.

I think the next step would be for eBay to handle all communications from buyers for you. AMZ has ~something like that setup though I declined to partake.

Soooo, eBay might offer something like that in 2032. Stay tuned.