Communicating with the people you trade with is an important part of having a successful experience on eBay. Most transaction problems can be prevented, as well as resolved, by communicating directly with the member. Here are some tips to make communication easier.

You can:

• Ask a seller a question

• Request a member’s contact information

• Request a member’s User ID

Tip: As part of knowing about your buyer or seller, you can look at their Feedback scores and comments that other eBay members have made about the transaction. For more information, see Feedback for Another Member.

Asking the seller a question

You never have to bid on or buy an item you're not sure about. If you have any doubts or questions, you should ask the seller a question before you bid or use Buy It Now.

Example questions:

• Is this item compatible with...?

• Has this item ever been used/worn/played?

• Does this item come from a non-smoking environment?

If you have a question you can use the Ask Seller a Question feature. To ask a question, click the “Contact Seller” link on the item page. When you ask a question of a seller, the seller will get an email with your question and your email address. The seller can then write you back an email with the answer.

Note: You must be a registered eBay member to ask the seller a question. If you are not yet registered, you can complete eBay’s registration form.

If you are unable to get a response from the seller, you can request additional contact information directly from eBay.

Requesting a member’s contact information

If you cannot contact your trading partner by email, you can request this person's contact information (name, city, and telephone number) directly from eBay.

To protect the privacy of eBay members, you can only get contact information for eBay members who are involved in your current or recent transactions.

For example:

• Sellers can request contact information for all bidders in an active transaction and the winning bidder in a successful, closed transaction.

• Bidders can request contact information for a seller during an active transaction and in a successful, closed transaction if they are the winning bidder.

In addition, due to International laws, access to contact information for International users may be limited.

The information you request will be sent to your registered email address. This information can only be used in accordance with eBay's Privacy Policy. The user whose information you are requesting will also receive your contact information.

If you have requested contact information and it is invalid, please review our contact information policy. Remember to keep your contact information up-to-date.

Requesting a member’s User ID

If you only know a buyer's or seller’s email address and need to find their User ID, use the Find a Member feature. This feature is useful if you receive emails from buyers who have not specified their User ID and you cannot locate their listing.

For privacy reasons, eBay limits the use of this feature to members who have completed a previous transaction with the member whose User ID is being requested. If you have not completed a transaction with the member, eBay will provide only limited information. In this situation, you can request that the buyer send you their User ID using email.

Receiving secure messages from your buyer or seller

Using My Messages in My eBay you can check for secure, relevant messages from eBay and from other eBay members. All messages originate from eBay systems and are guaranteed to be authentic.