How come messages are turned off for transactions?

[ndswords]

I just made my first sale ever on here - for $650 dollars. I would like to contact my buyer to tell them The date that I intend to ship on and just to verify that I am aware the item has sold and that they will be receiving it shortly. However when I try to contact the buyer I receive an you’re a message in response telling me that messages are turned off for this transaction and or this item or something like that. I never saw any sort of a type of option or selection to turn messages on or off for my listing in the first place. Where do I change the setting and how can I turn my messages on so I can contact my buyer? I am very frustrated with this and if it’s not some thing that can be fixed I do not intend on using eBay as a sales platform again… Has anyone else encountered anything like this before? And why would this automatically be activated to have messaging blocked like that? Who knows what kind of offers I may have missed because I couldn’t respond to people who may have wanted to ask questions about the item when my auction was still running! This is totally uncool…

[ittybitnot]

@ndswords 

eBay for some reason "turns off" the regular communication channels between buyers and sellers when one of their 'authenticator' programs are used.  I seem to remember at one time it was supposed to be "to protect the integrity of the sale/program" or some such, but no details were ever given as to why.  A quick look at the explanatory pages  this morning simply state that the option to communicate is blocked. 

Good communication with your trading partner was always considered a good business practice until eBay decided it wasn't.  

[downunder-61]

I agree it is good customer service to advise the buyer regarding the item, but it is not necessary, so long as you ship as soon as eBay advises you to ship all will be well.

Congratulations on your sale

[mod-designs4u]

I email my buyers that the item has shipped after purchasing the shipping label. In the upper-left corner of the Seller Hub highlight Orders and then click Paid and Shipped in the drop-down box. Go to the item sold and click the bottom pointing arrow, scroll down in this drop box and select Contact Buyer to send him the email message. EBay had some seller messaging issues for unsold items about 6 months ago which I had reported to the programming department (in my case I got an error trying to respond to a buyer question in the Manage Active Listings page showing that there was a question for the item). However, I was able to respond by accessing the email in my eBay messages account. Perhaps seller messaging in the Awaiting Shipment category in the Orders submenu has been compromised but I haven't had any messaging issues in the Paid and Shipped submenu. Good luck!    

[mtgraves7984]

Don't sweat contacting your buyer. They'll see shipment information, etc., in their Purchase History. Good going!

[kensgiftshop]

@ndswords 

There's really no need to contact the buyer, Ebay will give them all the information they need.