eBay Messages: Replies not sent if sender had an attachment with their original message

[replacementradios]

I have noticed something happening repeatedly which I assume is a bug:

If someone sends us a message and they included an attachment, if I reply, they don't get the reply. It's not in my Sent folder either. The reply just vanishes into cyber-space... I DO get the page which says "Your message was sent. A copy of this message is in your messages Sent folder" But my reply is most definitely NOT there...

This is very annoying if I have taken the time to draft a lengthy response. However, I have been burnt by eBay Messages enough that I now copy my text from every message before I send it. (Shift-Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-C take very little time...) So I rarely get 'bit' like I used to. But I shouldn't have to do this.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[shipscript]

@replacementradios 
This is an interesting observation. Does it happen every time?

I just tried this with two accounts, and nothing seemed amiss.
- Both of my accounts allow HTML messages (includes graphics) - important when attachments are hosted by eBay, and I believe that is the eBay default setting.
https://commspreferences.ebay.com/commsprefs
- Both messages, to and from, were short and sent within eBay messages.
- The initial message was created as a non-buyer through the listing. I attached a 250KB JPG image when creating and sending the message through eBay messages.
- My response appeared in my "sent" folder.

Is there anything different about your process?
Were these messages all prior to purchase?
Or all after purchase through the buyer's purchase history?
Do you have any browser add-ons that could be interfering? Temporarily turn them off for a test.

[mtgraves7984]

Has anyone else experienced this?

@replacementradios 

Dang... I might be right now. I tried to reach out to a buyer (with attachments) last Monday, haven't heard back. I tried again today, haven't heard back. Now you make me wonder if the buyer is  responding after all... 🤔
Might have to send a message without  attachments to draw a response... thanks for the tip!

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

These are messages from a buyer (usually a recent one) when I have noticed it. It happens every time I have tested it. (I was just overwhelmed with work previous times and didn't bother to post anything about it here.) I assume the buyer has their preferences set to include graphics, if that is truly the setting that also allows attachments. But I only say this because the buyer is able to add an attachment and successfully send it to me. It is only when I then try to reply to their message that this is an issue. (We do have our preferences set to allow graphics.) If, however, eBay does not require that setting to be 'Include graphics' in order to add an attachment, I suppose it is possible they do not have that preference set to 'Include graphics' and that is what is causing the message not to get to them. (Although I would argue, in that case, eBay should just be deleting the graphics and attachments in order to still deliver what could be an important message. It seems silly just to let the sender think it was sent and received...)

If you are up for it (since it sounds like you are in a better position to test this than me), it would be an interesting test to set one account to not 'Include graphics', send a message to another account that does allow graphics, and see if the attachment goes through. If so, then have the second account reply to that message with attachment and see if it makes it back to the original sender. This would at least eliminate one possible cause. However, it won't be a truly accurate test  for the exact scenario at play since the original sender will not have been a buyer of an item. In the interest of being 100% thorough, here is the actual sequence of events from the latest occurrence of this issue:

-User purchases item.

-User sends email (without attachment), indicating he needs it ASAP.

-We reply, saying it will ship tomorrow but questioning whether he matched his part number, as instructed in the ad.

-User replies with attachment, showing a picture of his part number sticker.

-We reply to the message with attachment, thanking him and reconfirming the shipment date.

-We check the Sent folder and our latest reply is not there. (Even after 30 minutes.)

-We send the same reply, this time using his previous message that did not have an attachment.

-We check the Sent folder and it is there.

-We again reply to the message with attachment (as a test) with the same basic message.

-We check the Sent folder and it is not there. (And still isn't today.)

I have not checked browser add-ons but I will look into that. I also do not remember if previous occurrences of this issue were messages that started out without an attachment but ended up with one by the time of my last reply. But I can say with certainty that these messages have been exchanged with buyers, after the purchase. 

[shipscript]

@replacementradios 
Can you confirm whether or not the buyer received the message that did not appear in your sent folder?
Have you ever responded directly from your external mail (which should also copy to eBay's sent folder)?

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

I did not confirm in this case, but we have had two cases where the buyer has indicated they never received our reply. I checked the Sent folder and found it wasn't there either. It was then that I discovered the commonality and have tested for it a couple times since then, confirming at least that it is not in our Sent folder. I have merely assumed that meant the User was not receiving it, since that is what happened in the previous instances. 

As for using external emails, I no longer send messages that way. I had too many times (attachment or not) where my reply would not make it to the eBay system. So I now reply to ALL eBay messages through the eBay Messages system. (I am not saying it was an eBay thing. That could be an issue with my email server/host. I do occasionally get messages flagged as spam for random recipients.) 

[shipscript]

When I reply through messages, I usually check the box to send a copy to my external email. Can you test whether checking that box sends a copy directly to you? I suppose your spam filter could block that arrival, so an iffy test at best.

[shipscript]

@replacementradios 
I tried a lot of scenarios between two accounts (no purchase).
Buyer initiates contact through the listing, sending a photo.
Seller responds that photo arrived.
Buyer continues conversation by sending another photo.
Seller responds that photo arrived.
Buyer turns off "graphics" in settings and sends another photo successfully.
Seller responds that photo arrived.
Buyer sends image from external email as attachment. No attachment in eBay sent folder.
Seller responds that no attachment arrived.
Buyer turns "graphics" on again and attaches another photo through external email.  No attachment in eBay sent folder.
Seller responds that no attachment arrived.
Buyer copy-paste-embeds photo into external email. No photo in eBay sent.
Seller responds that no image arrived.
In all cases, the "seller" was able to send a response that the buyer received.

It appears that the "graphics/text-only" setting does not affect exchanging eBay hosted photos within eBay messages; and that the externally attached photos (which previously relied on the "graphics" setting) don't pass through at all. But that could just be my new desktop email client, which is different than the one I used for the past 10 years.

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

Technically this doesn't follow the exact sequence of the scenario I detailed. (Setting aside the issue that there is no sale involved in your test, of course. Understandably, that is not really something you can reasonably include in the test.)  The buyer first sent a message to me with no attached photo. I responded with no attachment, it was in Sent and he received it. He responded to that, with an attachment. I then responded to that message with the attachment (twice) and it wasn't in the Sent folder...

It appears your string of tests all involved scenarios where there was an attachment in the very first message. That was not the case here. I cannot say that is the way every instance of this problem goes but it is pretty common. (Because the buyer is usually responding to my message: "Did you check your part number", with a picture of their part number or VIN tag.) -- One difference in the situation I've been discussing in this thread was the fact the buyer reached out first, asking us to ship ASAP. So I merely responded to that message with my question about part number. (Instead of starting a new message trail.) -- So, in a normal situation where I see this problem, I am the first one to message the buyer. He gets the message and replies with an attached picture. I then cannot reply to that successfully. (Although eBay gives me the message that I did...)

I will test to see what happens when I click the box to send a copy to myself. But it is my normal process to do that, so I can't imagine I forgot... I will wait until I hear back from the buyer though. I sent him a message, asking how many times he received my response yesterday. (If he's actually getting messages that don't appear in my Sent folder, I don't want to bombard him with 'test' messages.)

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

I have a white list entry for ebay.com on my spam filter. I have never failed to receive a message I've copied myself on in eBay. And, as luck would have it...

I was just able to test what you've asked for. (Although, admittedly, it is a different buyer, so I am not replying to a trail that was buyer-initiated. But, again, that has not been a requirement for me to see this problem. In fact, as I detailed in my last message, that is actually the norm. I am usually reaching out first, not the buyer.) At any rate...

I just sent a reply to a buyer message that had an attachment, with the box checked to copy myself. I received the eBay page saying "Your message was sent. A copy of this message is in your messages Sent folder"... But there was nothing in my Sent folder and I did not get a copy of the message in my personal email... I then sent the buyer a direct message (from the Contact Buyer link in the Order page on Seller Hub) with the exact same content, minus an attachment, and it showed up in Sent and I received a copy at my personal email. This would seem to indicate checking or not checking that 'Send a copy to my personal email' box has no bearing on the problem. (Again, I did not have a message from him that did not include an attachment, so I could not reply to a different message in this case. But the fact it happens this way in both instances leads me to believe the problem I'm reporting has nothing to do with who sends the original message in the trail...)

[shipscript]

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@replacementradios wrote:
In the interest of being 100% thorough, here is the actual sequence of events from the latest occurrence of this issue:

1. User purchases item.
2. User sends email (without attachment), indicating he needs it ASAP.
3. We reply, saying it will ship tomorrow but questioning whether he matched his part number, as instructed in the ad.
4. User replies with attachment, showing a picture of his part number sticker.
5. We reply to the message with attachment, thanking him and reconfirming the shipment date.
6. We check the Sent folder and our latest reply is not there. (Even after 30 minutes.)
7. We send the same reply, this time using his previous message that did not have an attachment.
8. We check the Sent folder and it is there.
9. We again reply to the message with attachment (as a test) with the same basic message.
10. We check the Sent folder and it is not there. (And still isn't today.)

I have not checked browser add-ons but I will look into that. I also do not remember if previous occurrences of this issue were messages that started out without an attachment but ended up with one by the time of my last reply. But I can say with certainty that these messages have been exchanged with buyers, after the purchase. 

---

I'm pulling some of the important details into this post.

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@replacementradios wrote:
I have a white list entry for ebay.com on my spam filter. I have never failed to receive a message I've copied myself on in eBay. And, as luck would have it...

I was just able to test what you've asked for. (Although, admittedly, it is a different buyer, so I am not replying to a trail that was buyer-initiated. But, again, that has not been a requirement for me to see this problem. In fact, as I detailed in my last message, that is actually the norm. I am usually reaching out first, not the buyer.) At any rate...

I just sent a reply to a buyer message that had an attachment, with the box checked to copy myself. I received the eBay page saying "Your message was sent. A copy of this message is in your messages Sent folder"... But there was nothing in my Sent folder and I did not get a copy of the message in my personal email... I then sent the buyer a direct message (from the Contact Buyer link in the Order page on Seller Hub) with the exact same content, minus an attachment, and it showed up in Sent and I received a copy at my personal email. This would seem to indicate checking or not checking that 'Send a copy to my personal email' box has no bearing on the problem. (Again, I did not have a message from him that did not include an attachment, so I could not reply to a different message in this case. But the fact it happens this way in both instances leads me to believe the problem I'm reporting has nothing to do with who sends the original message in the trail...)

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After several tests between my two accounts, where my "buyer" has NOT purchased, I have been unable to duplicate your results. So, either the issue is unique to your account or specific to communicating with a buyer.  I will have to set up a purchase between my two accounts.

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

Appreciate it. I just want to be clear that the message trail starts out without an attachment and the buyer adds one at some point in the back and forth. Once that happens, we can no longer reply successfully to that message. (Although eBay tells us we did right after we hit the Reply button.) We have to go to a previous message that did not contain an attachment OR go to the Orders and choose 'Contact buyer' from the drop-down, to start a new message trail. 

I suppose it is possible it happens when the message trail starts out with an attachment, but that doesn't happen very often, so I don't have one available to test it out. 

Thanks for your interest.

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

I was just able to successfully reply to a message with an attachment using a different browser (Firefox). I was all ready to declare it a browser problem, as a result. However... I went back to Chrome and sent the same reply there and, lo-and-behold, the reply was sent successfully this time. It's in my eBay Sent folder twice and I received the copy sent from both browsers in my personal email.  ⁉️

I don't know what to think now. Either this is an intermittent problem or eBay has fixed the issue...

I will keep monitoring the situation and post back here if it re-appears.

[shipscript]

@replacementradios 

A buyer had reported that their messages were not being sent to the seller. When the buyer (on a Mac with Safari) switched to the new mail system, their problems resolved. I did not see such a switch available on Windows with Firefox, but when I used Safari on a Mac, I could switch to the new eBay Messages tool (formatted like mobile chat).

Since your current results are no longer stable, I'll wait to see how this plays out for you.

@mtgraves7984  What have you learned?

[replacementradios]

@shipscript 

I was able to successfully reply to two more buyer messages with attachments today. In both cases they were in message trails I had initiated, without an attachment. The buyer added an attachment to their reply and I was able to then reply to them (and it was actually sent).

So, for now anyway, this issue appears to have been resolved without me having to change message system versions, browsers, etc. I am guessing it (or something related) had already been reported and made it into a recent patch. Either that or it is an intermittent problem. Because I can't imagine them reacting that fast to this message trail. (I have been told they monitor these boards passively, although their official stance is this isn't the correct place to report an issue and expect results...)

If something changes I will come back to this thread and report it. Thanks for your efforts.