How long do PMs stay in your inbox in here?

[bigdeals.etc]

I have some PMs with valuable info. Should I archive it somewhere else before the PM deletes itself?

[eburtonlab]

Definitely make a local copy that you control.

eBay messages typically self destruct after about six months, but I would not rely on that if the info is important.

Edited to add: I just checked my community messages, and it appears they go back about a year, but I have no idea how consistent eBay is about that, or if any are missing.

[Anonymous]

They go back a while, even after you delete them.

I suggest keeping the email that accompanied the message, which will probably last longer.

[pburn]

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@Anonymous wrote:

They go back a while, even after you delete them.

I suggest keeping the email that accompanied the message, which will probably last longer.

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@Anonymous

I believe the OP is referring to messages through the Community platform private messaging system, not the messages through eBay platform messaging system (via links in item listings, feedback page, member profile page or whatnot). There are no emails that accompany Community platform private messages.

@bigdeals.etc

@eburtonlab

I just checked my Community platform private messages, and my earliest one is 12/16/2020! I'm just scrolling down the list, and that's as far back as I can go. My oldest "sent" message is from 01/03/2021. Perhaps there's another link to access a longer list somewhere? 

Could it be based on the number of messages in the "inbox?" I can see 50 messages I've received, and 50 messages in my "sent" box. Perhaps there's a way to change that number?

[eburtonlab]

@pburn 

Could it be based on the number of messages in the "inbox?" I can see 50 messages I've received, and 50 messages in my "sent" box. Perhaps there's a way to change that number?

I think you are correct. I also have fifty messages showing. There appears to be a scroll bar, but no apparent way to scroll back farther than that.

I was able to search my messages and find older messages going back to 2018. If I can think of some appropriate keywords, I will try to see how far back I can go, but I did not use the private messages much before that.

[pburn · Accepted solution]

@eburtonlab

Found the setting.

Go to your Community profile page.

My settings > Preferences > Private Messenger > Number of private messages per page

Mine was set at 50. I changed it to 100, and my list showed 100. Changed it to 1,000, and it now appears to show me all the messages I've sent/received since I joined the Community in 2018.

@bigdeals.etc

I still think it's a good idea to have some kind of off-site storage for messages you feel contain important information. While it appears all your messages should be available now, that may change in the future.

[eburtonlab]

@pburn 

Excellent! That setting does the trick.

Now I can see all my messages back to 2018 as well. At least I assume that was my first private message; I do not have a good way to verify that, however, or tell if any are missing. But what I do see seems reasonable with no obvious gaps.

Agreed that making a backup of important messages still makes sense.

[bigdeals.etc]

Thanks a lot @pburn . That's pretty much what I was asking about. It's just an annoyance to manually back up stuff like this, but I agree with you. Heck, I don't even like transferring important info that I get from texts.

LOL, you can tell I'm not a fan of browser bookmarks neither.

PS. I don't generally join many forums... but I've always found that they tend to have waaaaaay too many options/settings for an account. Just looking a the "My Settings" tabs and stuff on this forum gives me the heebie jeebies.

[Anonymous]

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@pburn wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

They go back a while, even after you delete them.

I suggest keeping the email that accompanied the message, which will probably last longer.

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@Anonymous

I believe the OP is referring to messages through the Community platform private messaging system, not the messages through eBay platform messaging system (via links in item listings, feedback page, member profile page or whatnot). There are no emails that accompany Community platform private messages.

Oh geez, I feel like an idiot now...sorry folks.

[eburtonlab]

@Anonymous 

I made the same assumption, too. I had to go back and edit my first post to include some additional info about the community messages after further thought.

[pburn]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Oh geez, I feel like an idiot now...sorry folks.

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@Anonymous

NO! DON'T FEEL THAT WAY! I apologize that my reply made you feel like that. You made a very good point about off-site storage of eBay messages, too, so that was definitely a valuable suggestion.