How to Import Notifications from eBay

You can import one-way communications from eBay directly to your helpdesk. But if you use ChannelReply, you have to be careful with your settings. Otherwise, you can end up with two copies of every buyer message.

To import notifications from eBay without getting duplicate messages, you only need to do two things:

1. Make sure the setting "Receive messages from other members" does not forward to your helpdesk. Otherwise, you will get duplicate messages and other problems in your helpdesk. 
2. Make sure your contact email in "Personal Info" does forward to your helpdesk. This email address controls your one-way notifications.

This is pretty simple in theory, but there's one major challenge. eBay will hide your "Receive messages from other members" setting if it matches your contact email. So, updating both of these settings at once can get pretty complicated!

We've laid out a step-by-step process below to help you get these settings right.

How to Update Your "Receive Messages" and "Contact" Emails on eBay

Start by logging in to eBay. Next, mouse over your name in the upper-left corner and select "Account settings." Click “Communication Preferences."

You will arrive at the screen shown below. Click "Edit" in the "Delivery Options" section.

You may or may not see two settings: "Send messages to other members" and "Receive messages from other members."

If you see these two options:

Enter an email address that does not forward to your helpdesk in the "Receive messages from other members" field. It is very important to make sure this email is secure, but not connected to your helpdesk in any way. You do not want to receive emails of buyer messages in your helpdesk if you use ChannelReply.

If you do not see these two options:

Simply continue to follow these instructions. You'll be able to make this change at the end.

Next:

Open the "Personal Info" dropdown. Choose "Personal Information."

Sign back in to your eBay account if prompted. Once you arrive at the screen shown below, find the "Contact info" section, then click "Edit" next to the "Email address" field.

Enter an address that forwards all messages to your Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias or Re:amaze account, or a Help Scout mailbox. Follow the prompts to verify your new contact email address.

If you edited your "Receive messages from other members" email address earlier:

You're done with setup! Skip forward now.

If you did not see "Receive messages from other members" earlier:

Make sure you have finished changing the contact email to a new address. If you did not change the contact email address, you must change it now. You can change it back right after you fix your "Receive messages from other members" setting.

Return to Account preferences > Communication Preferences. Click "Edit" next to "Notification Delivery Format."

You should finally see "Receive messages from other members." Click "Edit" next to it.

Change the "Receive messages from other members" address to an email that does not forward to your helpdesk. It should be a secure email address, but it must not be connected to your helpdesk in any way.

Important Note: Billing Email Address Is Tied to Contact Email

eBay does not allow your billing email address to be different from your contact email. This means that if you follow the instructions above, eBay will automatically send your billing emails to your helpdesk.

Advanced eBay Notifications from ChannelReply

ChannelReply has three types of advanced eBay notifications: 

1. Resolution Center Support
2. New Order
3. Cancel Order

These are all optional.

Resolution Center Support

Resolution Center Support (RCS for short) is enabled by default. While this is active, we send you our own notifications about your eBay Resolution Center inquiries, cases and returns.

Zendesk, Freshdesk and Re:amaze users can perform actions on RCS notifications. For example, they can approve returns, issue RMAs and provide info required by eBay.

All ChannelReply users can also reply to RCS notifications directly. Your reply will go to the Resolution Center if possible. If the Resolution Center refuses to accept the message, we will deliver it straight to the buyer.

See our article on Resolution Center Support for detailed info on these advanced notifications.

Please note that RCS notifications count toward your monthly message limit.

New Order Notifications (Free!)

ChannelReply’s New Order notifications work a lot like eBay’s, but you can reply to them. That means you can message any eBay buyer who purchases from you, even if they haven't sent you a message. These notifications also show data in the ChannelReply app and support custom fields.

Our New Order notifications are automatically tagged with “neworder” to help you tell them apart from eBay emails.

Free: New Order notifications do not count toward your monthly message limit.

Please note that this feature is turned off by default.

Cancel Order Notifications

ChannelReply can generate Cancel Order notifications whenever customers submit official cancellation requests. If you use Zendesk, Freshdesk or Re:amaze, you can approve or decline the cancellation using the ChannelReply app. These notifications also show data in the app and support custom fields.

Our Cancel Order notifications are auto-tagged with “CancelOrder” to set them apart from eBay emails.

This feature is enabled by default.

About Duplicate eBay Notifications

ChannelReply’s advanced notifications may sometimes duplicate eBay emails. Fortunately, you can disable some eBay notifications in your eBay Communication Preferences:

You can also disable Resolution Center Support from inside ChannelReply if desired.

How to Enable or Disable ChannelReply eBay Notifications

To update your advanced eBay notification preferences, log in to ChannelReply and click “eBay.”

Then click “EDIT” under your eBay account.

Scroll down and you’ll see a section labeled “NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES.”

Here’s a quick explanation of the settings:

• Messages: Disabling this will prevent ChannelReply from delivering buyer messages to your helpdesk.
• Inquiries / Cases / Returns: These are the different kinds of RCS notifications. Read our article on Resolution Center Support for detailed info.
• New Order: Enable this to allow ChannelReply to generate New Order notifications that you can answer just like buyer messages.
• Cancel Order: Leave this enabled to generate cancellation notifications. You can use these notifications to approve or decline cancellations in Zendesk, Freshdesk or Re:amaze.

If the slider is moved to the right and green, it’s enabled. If it’s moved to the left and grey, it’s disabled.

Changes to the sliders are auto-saved. Just wait for the save confirmation to appear in the lower right to make sure the auto-save has succeeded.

Need help or clarification? Contact us here.