Our eBay Messages updated automatically this morning.
Without logging out, it reverted back to original format just by closing the tab and opening a new window. Then a link appeared to try the New Updated Messages.
I clicked that link and now I am back to the new updated version of eBay messages.
There is no option to revert back to the old format that I can find but that is okay for me.
My Ebay messaging is still the old format.
Since I mostly hate the Ebay messaging format, I assume I would be at worst ambivalent and at best happy with the changes.
The “thread” style makes it much cleaner, similar to Amazon Messages.
Darn, not as good as Amazon with combining threads. (yet)
Amazon will link all previous buyer communications from all previous orders under the same thread.
Ebay Messages seems to create a new thread for each order.
Ebay Messages seems to create a new thread for different product questions.
I prefer the eBay version. One for each order.
We have one repeat customer on Amazon with over 100 orders and they will sometimes place multiple within the same week as it is for their business. Their messages are a train wreck but they an outlier.
Messages from repeat customers can be a mess due to multiple orders merged together.
I prefer messages from repeat customers in the same thread.
First, some repeat customers are fantastic but others are… not. It is useful to see when a buyer complains about something if they have a history of making up complaints to try to get free stuff, or they have a history of being honest and reasonable when making decisions about how to handle their requests.
Second, the vast majority of orders require no contact of any kind. If there is a message history long enough to get muddled between orders, this is probably an indication of a broader issue with this buyer. Not necessarily that they are dishonest, but maybe their shipping address has problems with UPS deliveries, or something else that it is good to see an immediate log of without having to go looking for it. (Obviously this is different if the seller offers customizable or handmade items that require additional contact, but I can’t speak to that.)
Often our repeat messages are things like, asking about a warranty from an item purchased 2 or 3 years previously, but the message was sent under a completely different item purchased more recently.
I guess there will be benefits to each version. I hope people leave feedback to eBay.
It would be nice for us to be able to choose which format we prefer, but I understand the need to keep only 1 format.
we have many buyers who use our custom poker chips or golf ball markers for yearly events. It is nice to see their previous years all in 1 thread to help refresh my mind of their designs and quantities.
Edit: the word wrap is not working correctly in the reply text box. Kind of annoying.
I leave a 1 star rating on the new format whenever I view it.
I am resistant to change for the sake of change.
Is anyone able to find order information within this new messaging view without leaving messages? I find this new view very feature lacking…
Also ever since they introduced the text-messaging view, customers think it’s okay to shoot off 10 short texts instead of an email like message… love it 
I can only see the Buyer Name and Item Title with the main Image.
Damn, same here. Another half-thought update pushed to production with little to no testing. Just like Amazon’s catalog page update a couple of months ago; “We’ll add features as you complain about them”. UI programmers have gotten worse and worse as time goes on.
This is one of the worst aspects of Ebay’s messaging. How is the order number and item purchased not shown? It’s so obvious! When I get a message from a buyer complaining about something, the first thing I need to do is look up the order. Why do you make that so hard?
