GetMyMessages

Use this call to retrieve information about the threaded messages sent to a user's My Messages mailbox.

Depending on the detail level, the response can include message counts and headers, resolution status and flagged status, and message text. Note: GetMyMessages requires a DetailLevel in the request. Otherwise, an error is returned.
Note: Alerts are treated as flagged messages with data returned in the Messages container. For high priority messages, the Flagged field has a value of true. When the Flagged field is true, it means the message is displayed with a flag in the seller's My Messages mailbox on eBay. It is strongly recommended that the seller act on the message by the specified date (or within 60 days, if not specified).

GetMyMessages returns more types of messages than GetMemberMessages. GetMemberMessages returns more nodes per message than GetMyMessages.

The output of GetMyMessages is available as a notification. See MyMessages Notification.

For maximum efficiency, make sure your application can first call GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnHeaders. Initially, do not specify any message ID. Your application should be able to cache the returned message ID values. Your application also should be able to create new My Messages requests (up to 10 cached message ID values per request).

Usage Details

With a detail level of ReturnHeaders or ReturnMessages, GetMyMessages only accepts 10 unique message ID values, per request.

Controlling the Volume of the Response

Depending on the activity of the user, GetMyMessages can return an overwhelming amount of data. To reduce the volume of the response, you can restrict the number of messages returned by adding different filters to your request:

Filter by start and end time
1. (Optional) Call GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnSummary to obtain the counts for the new messages.
2. If total message counts are too high for your application to process (say, above 200), specify StartTime and EndTime values to return messages sent within a specific time range.
3. Make additional GetMyMessages calls with different date ranges until you have retrieved all new messages.
Filter using detail levels
1. (Optional) Call GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnSummary to obtain the counts for the new messages.
2. Use a DetailLevel of ReturnHeaders to return MessageID values and cache them for future use.
3. Keep calling GetMyMessages with a DetailLevel of ReturnMessages, and 10 MessageID values, until you have retrieved all messages.
For high-volume use, be careful when using ReturnHeaders without specifying MessageID values, because otherwise eBay returns all messages.
Filter using folder names
1. (Optional) Call GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnSummary to obtain the counts for the new messages.
2. If total message counts are too high for your application to process (say, above 200), you can specify a FolderID value to return only messages from the specified folder.
3. Make additional GetMyMessages calls with different Folder ID values until you have retrieved all the new messages.
Note that if you set FolderID to 0 (indicating the Inbox), the result often contains a large number of messages. If the number of messages is too large for your application to process (say, above 200), filter your the results using an additional method, perhaps another as described above.

See the Samples section for calls that use these filtering mechanisms.

This call returns the text of the messages embedded in HTML code. You can parse the content from the HTML, or you can pass along the code as-is, depending on your needs.

Optimizing Your Calls

To make the most of your GetMyMessages calls, make one call with DetailLevel set to ReturnHeaders, without including MessageID values. This will return a complete list of message headers with their corresponding message ID values. Cache these ID values and use them in a second call to GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnMessages. Using this method, you can retrieve details of up to ten specific messages at a time.

Testing GetMyMessages

You can test GetMyMessages in the Sandbox.

Several API calls allow you to replenish your supply of messages in the Sandbox. See Exchange messages for information on adding new messages. You can contact Developer Support to obtain further testing information.

Related Information

See also the reference documentation for this call:

GetMemberMessages - Retrieves a list of the messages buyers have posted about your active item listings.

Input

See also Samples.

The box below lists all fields that could be included in the call request. To learn more about an individual field or its type, click its name in the box (or scroll down to find it in the table below the box).

See also the Deprecated Objects link above. Fields presented in this color are deprecated, and fields presented in this color are (or soon will be) non-operational.

The XML prototype does not include requester credentials. This is a documentation limitation only (see Standard Requester Credentials for Making Calls).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetMyMessagesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <!-- Call-specific Input Fields -->
  <EndTime> dateTime </EndTime>
  <ExternalMessageIDs> MyMessagesExternalMessageIDArrayType
    <ExternalMessageID> MyMessagesExternalMessageIDType (string) </ExternalMessageID>
    <!-- ... more ExternalMessageID values allowed here ... -->
  </ExternalMessageIDs>
  <FolderID> long </FolderID>
  <IncludeHighPriorityMessageOnly> boolean </IncludeHighPriorityMessageOnly>
  <MessageIDs> MyMessagesMessageIDArrayType
    <MessageID> MyMessagesMessageIDType (string) </MessageID>
    <!-- ... more MessageID values allowed here ... -->
  </MessageIDs>
  <Pagination> PaginationType
    <EntriesPerPage> int </EntriesPerPage>
    <PageNumber> int </PageNumber>
  </Pagination>
  <StartTime> dateTime </StartTime>
  <!-- Standard Input Fields -->
  <DetailLevel> DetailLevelCodeType </DetailLevel>
  <!-- ... more DetailLevel values allowed here ... -->
  <ErrorLanguage> string </ErrorLanguage>
  <MessageID> string </MessageID>
  <OutputSelector> string </OutputSelector>
  <!-- ... more OutputSelector values allowed here ... -->
  <Version> string </Version>
  <WarningLevel> WarningLevelCodeType </WarningLevel>
</GetMyMessagesRequest>

Argument	Type	Occurrence	Meaning

Call-specific Input Fields [Jump to standard fields]

EndTime	dateTime	Conditional	The end of the date-range filter. See StartTime (which is the beginning of the date-range filter).
ExternalMessageIDs	MyMessagesExternalMessageIDArrayType	Optional	This field is currently available on the US site. A container for IDs that uniquely identify messages for a given user. If provided at the time of message creation, this ID can be used to retrieve messages and will take precedence over message ID.
ExternalMessageIDs .ExternalMessageID	MyMessagesExternalMessageIDType (string)	Optional, repeatable: [0..*]	Currently available on the US site. A message ID that uniquely identifies a message for a given user. If provided at the time of message creation, this ID can be used to retrieve messages, and will take precedence over the message ID. A total of 10 message IDs can be specified.
FolderID	long	Optional	A unique identifier for a My Messages folder. If a FolderID value is provided, only messages from the specified folder are returned in the response.
IncludeHighPriorityMessageOnly	boolean	Optional	If this field is included in the request and set to `true`, only High Priority messages are returned in the response.
MessageIDs	MyMessagesMessageIDArrayType	Conditional	This container can be used to retrieve one or more specific messages identified with their unique MessageID values. Up to 10 MessageID values can be specified with one call.
MessageIDs.MessageID	MyMessagesMessageIDType (string)	Conditional, repeatable: [0..*]	An ID that uniquely identifies a message for a given user.
Pagination	PaginationType	Optional	Specifies how to create virtual pages in the returned list (such as total number of entries and total number of pages to return). Default value for EntriesPerPage with GetMyMessages is 25.
Pagination.EntriesPerPage	int	Optional	This integer value is used to specify the maximum number of entries to return in a single "page" of data. This value, along with the number of entries that match the input criteria, will determine the total pages (see PaginationResult.TotalNumberOfPages) in the result set. The maximum and default values are not the same for all calls. For most Trading API calls, the maximum value is 200 and the default value is 25 entries per page.
Pagination.PageNumber	int	Optional	Specifies the number of the page of data to return in the current call. Default is 1 for most calls. For some calls, the default is 0. Specify a positive value equal to or lower than the number of pages available (which you determine by examining the results of your initial request). See the documentation for the individual calls to determine the correct default value. Min: 1. Default: 1.
StartTime	dateTime	Optional	The beginning of the date-range filter. Filtering takes into account the entire timestamp of when messages were sent. Messages expire after one year.

Standard Input Fields

DetailLevel

DetailLevelCodeType

Required,
repeatable: [1..*]

Detail levels are instructions that define standard subsets of data to return for particular data components (e.g., each Item, Transaction, or User) within the response payload. For example, a particular detail level might cause the response to include buyer-related data in every result (e.g., for every Item), but no seller-related data.

Specifying a detail level is like using a predefined attribute list in the SELECT clause of an SQL query. Use the DetailLevel element to specify the required detail level that the client application needs pertaining to the data components that are applicable to the request.

The DetailLevelCodeType defines the global list of available detail levels for all request types. Most request types support certain detail levels or none at all. If you pass a detail level that exists in the schema but that isn't valid for a particular request, eBay ignores it and processes the request without it.

For each request type, see the detail level tables in the Input/Output Reference to determine which detail levels are applicable and which elements are returned for each applicable detail level.

Note that DetailLevel is required input for GetMyMessages.

With GetSellerList and other calls that retrieve large data sets, please avoid using ReturnAll when possible. For example, if you use GetSellerList, use GranularityLevel instead, or use GetSellerEvents. If you do use 'ReturnAll' with GetSellerList, use a small Pagination.EntriesPerPage value and a narrow EndTimeFrom/EndTimeTo date range for better performance.

Applicable values:

ReturnHeaders

(in) Returns message headers. For GetMyMessages, if you include MessageIDs in the request, this detail level returns header information, without body text, for the specified message ID or alert ID values. If you include a FolderID, header information is returned only for the messages and alerts in the specified folder.

If you do not include MessageIDs, this detail level returns header information for Alerts and Messages as follows:

If all the Alerts have been read, they are sorted in date order, with the most recent first.
If one of the Alerts has not been read, the Read Alerts come first, sorted most recent first, followed by the Unread Alert(s).
All messages in ascending order by date received with the oldest messages first.

Note: Even when restricted by this detail level to return only header information, GetMyMessages may return a high volume of data.

ReturnMessages

(in) Returns full message information. For GetMyMessages, if you include MessageIDs in the request, this detail level returns message information for the specified message ID or alert ID values. If you include a FolderID, message information is returned only for the messages and alerts in the specified folder.

ReturnSummary

(in) Returns the summary data. For GetMyMessages, this detail level returns the same data whether or not you include MessageIDs in the request. Returns up to 10 FolderID and FolderName values. Currently, this detail level is the only way to retrieve FolderID and FolderName values. See GetMyMessages for a code sample that demonstrates this.

(Not all values in DetailLevelCodeType apply to this field.)

ErrorLanguage

string

Optional

Use ErrorLanguage to return error strings for the call in a different language from the language commonly associated with the site that the requesting user is registered with. Below are some examples from different countries.

ID	Country
en_AU	Australia
de_AT	Austria
nl_BE	Belgium (Dutch)
fr_BE	Belgium (French)
en_CA	Canada
fr_CA	Canada (French)
zh_CN	China
fr_FR	France
de_DE	Germany
zh_HK	Hong Kong
en_IN	India
en_IE	Ireland
it_IT	Italy
nl_NL	Netherlands
en_SG	Singapore
es_ES	Spain
de_CH	Switzerland
en_GB	United Kingdom
en_US	United States

MessageID string Optional Most Trading API calls support a MessageID element in the request and a CorrelationID element in the response. If you pass in a MessageID in a request, the same value will be returned in the CorrelationID field in the response. Pairing these values can help you track and confirm that a response is returned for every request and to match specific responses to specific requests. If you do not pass a MessageID value in the request, CorrelationID is not returned.

Note: GetCategories is designed to retrieve very large sets of metadata that change once a day or less often. To improve performance, these calls return cached responses when you request all available data (with no filters). When this occurs, the MessageID and CorrelationID fields aren't applicable. However, if you specify an input filter to reduce the amount of data returned, the calls retrieve the latest data (not cached). When this occurs, MessageID and CorrelationID are applicable.

OutputSelector

string

Optional,
repeatable: [0..*]

You can use the OutputSelector field to restrict the data returned by a call. This field can make the call response easier to manage, especially when a large payload is returned. If you use the OutputSelector field, the output data will only include the field(s) you specified in the request, as well as all of its child fields (if a field is a container) and its parent fields (if any). Note that it is possible that a field included through an OutputSelector field may still not be returned if it is not applicable, or if it is not found based on other criteria set up in the request payload.

For example, if you are using GetItem and you only want to retrieve the URL of the View Item page (emitted in ViewItemURL field) and the item's Buy It Now price (emitted in BuyItNowPrice field), you would include two separate OutputSelector fields and set the value for each one as ViewItemURL and BuyItNowPrice as in the following example:

 If the following output selectors are used: 

...
 <OutputSelector>ViewItemURL</OutputSelector>
 <OutputSelector>BuyItNowPrice</OutputSelector> 
... 

 ...the response might look like the following 

  <Item>
 <BuyItNowPrice currencyID="USD">0.0</BuyItNowPrice>
 <ListingDetails>
 <ViewItemURL>http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tag-Heuer-Mens-Watch/182879833261</ViewItemURL>
 </ListingDetails>
 </Item>

See OutputSelector.

Version

string

Conditional

The version number of the API code that you are programming against (e.g., 1149). The version you specify for a call has these basic effects:

It indicates the version of the code lists and other data that eBay should use to process your request.
It indicates the schema version you are using.

You need to use a version that is greater than or equal to the lowest supported version.
For the SOAP API: If you are using the SOAP API, this field is required. Specify the version of the WSDL your application is using.

For the XML API: If you are using the XML API, this field has no effect. Instead, specify the version in the X-EBAY-API-COMPATIBILITY-LEVEL HTTP header. (If you specify Version in the body of an XML API request and it is different from the value in the HTTP header, eBay returns an informational warning that the value in the HTTP header was used instead.)

See:
    HTTP headers
    eBay Schema Versioning Strategy
    Lowest Supported Version

WarningLevel

WarningLevelCodeType

Optional

Controls whether or not to return warnings when the application passes unrecognized or deprecated elements in a request.

An unrecognized element is one that is not defined in any supported version of the schema. Schema element names are case-sensitive, so using WarningLevel can also help you remove any potential hidden bugs within your application due to incorrect case or spelling in field names before you put your application into the Production environment.

WarningLevel only validates elements; it doesn't validate XML attributes. It also doesn't control warnings related to user-entered strings or numbers, or warnings for logical errors.

We recommend that you only use this during development and debugging. Do not use this in requests performed in the Production environment.

Applicable values:

High

(in) The WarningLevel value is set to High if the user wishes to receive warnings when the application passes unrecognized or deprecated elements in an API call request. Setting the WarningLevel value to High is not recommended in a production environment. Instead, it should only be used during the development/debugging stage.

Low

(in) The WarningLevel value is set to Low if the user does not wish to receive warnings when the application passes unrecognized or deprecated elements in an API call request. This is the default value if WarningLevel is not specified in the call request.

See Warning Level.

Output

See also Samples.

The box below lists all fields that might be returned in the response. To learn more about an individual field or its type, click its name in the box (or scroll down to find it in the table below the box).

See also the Deprecated Objects link above. Fields presented in this color are deprecated, and fields presented in this color are not returned (or soon will not be returned) or are not operational (or soon will be non-operational).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetMyMessagesResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <!-- Call-specific Output Fields -->
  <Messages> MyMessagesMessageArrayType
    <Message> MyMessagesMessageType
      <Content> string </Content>
      <ExpirationDate> dateTime </ExpirationDate>
      <ExternalMessageID> string </ExternalMessageID>
      <Flagged> boolean </Flagged>
      <Folder> MyMessagesFolderType
        <FolderID> long </FolderID>
      </Folder>
      <HighPriority> boolean </HighPriority>
      <ItemEndTime> dateTime </ItemEndTime>
      <ItemID> ItemIDType (string) </ItemID>
      <ItemTitle> string </ItemTitle>
      <ListingStatus> ListingStatusCodeType </ListingStatus>
      <MessageID> MyMessagesMessageIDType (string) </MessageID>
      <MessageMedia> MessageMediaType
        <MediaName> string </MediaName>
        <MediaURL> anyURI </MediaURL>
      </MessageMedia>
      <!-- ... more MessageMedia nodes allowed here ... -->
      <MessageType> MessageTypeCodeType </MessageType>
      <QuestionType> QuestionTypeCodeType </QuestionType>
      <Read> boolean </Read>
      <ReceiveDate> dateTime </ReceiveDate>
      <RecipientUserID> string </RecipientUserID>
      <Replied> boolean </Replied>
      <ResponseDetails> MyMessagesResponseDetailsType
        <ResponseEnabled> boolean </ResponseEnabled>
        <ResponseURL> anyURI </ResponseURL>
      </ResponseDetails>
      <Sender> string </Sender>
      <SendToName> string </SendToName>
      <Subject> string </Subject>
      <Text> string </Text>
    </Message>
    <!-- ... more Message nodes allowed here ... -->
  </Messages>
  <Summary> MyMessagesSummaryType
    <FlaggedMessageCount> int </FlaggedMessageCount>
    <FolderSummary> MyMessagesFolderSummaryType
      <FolderID> long </FolderID>
      <FolderName> string </FolderName>
      <NewHighPriorityCount> int </NewHighPriorityCount>
      <NewMessageCount> int </NewMessageCount>
      <TotalHighPriorityCount> int </TotalHighPriorityCount>
      <TotalMessageCount> int </TotalMessageCount>
    </FolderSummary>
    <!-- ... more FolderSummary nodes allowed here ... -->
    <NewHighPriorityCount> int </NewHighPriorityCount>
    <NewMessageCount> int </NewMessageCount>
    <TotalHighPriorityCount> int </TotalHighPriorityCount>
    <TotalMessageCount> int </TotalMessageCount>
  </Summary>
  <!-- Standard Output Fields -->
  <Ack> AckCodeType </Ack>
  <Build> string </Build>
  <CorrelationID> string </CorrelationID>
  <Errors> ErrorType
    <ErrorClassification> ErrorClassificationCodeType </ErrorClassification>
    <ErrorCode> token </ErrorCode>
    <ErrorParameters ParamID="string"> ErrorParameterType
      <Value> string </Value>
    </ErrorParameters>
    <!-- ... more ErrorParameters nodes allowed here ... -->
    <LongMessage> string </LongMessage>
    <SeverityCode> SeverityCodeType </SeverityCode>
    <ShortMessage> string </ShortMessage>
  </Errors>
  <!-- ... more Errors nodes allowed here ... -->
  <HardExpirationWarning> string </HardExpirationWarning>
  <Timestamp> dateTime </Timestamp>
  <Version> string </Version>
</GetMyMessagesResponse>

Return Value	Type	Occurrence	Meaning

Call-specific Output Fields [Jump to standard fields]

Messages	MyMessagesMessageArrayType	Always	This container consists of an array of one or more messages that match the search criteria in the call request. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message	MyMessagesMessageType	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	A Message container is returned for each message that matches the input criteria in the call request. Each Message container consists of detailed information on a message. The amount of information that is returned in each Message container is partially dependent on the value that is set in the required DetailLevel field. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Content	string	Conditionally	Message body in plain text format. The message body is displayed in plain text even if the eBay user's Preferred Email Format preference on My eBay is set to HTML. Graphics and text formatting are dropped if the eBay user's preference is set to HTML. DetailLevel: ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .ExpirationDate	dateTime	Conditionally	Date and time at which a message expires. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .ExternalMessageID	string	Conditionally	ID used by an external application to uniquely identify a message. Returned only when specified by the external application on message creation. This value is equivalent to the value used for MessageID in GetMemberMessages. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Flagged	boolean	Conditionally	Indicates if the message is displayed with a flag in the seller's My Messages mailbox on eBay. It is strongly recommended that the seller act on the message by the specified date (or within 60 days, if not specified). DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Folder	MyMessagesFolderType	Conditionally	Details relating to a My Messages folder. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Folder .FolderID	long	Conditionally	An ID that uniquely identifies a My Messages folder. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.HighPriority	boolean	Conditionally	Indicates if this message is marked as a high-priority message.
Messages.Message.ItemEndTime	dateTime	Conditionally	Date and time for the ended item.
Messages.Message.ItemID	ItemIDType (string)	Conditionally	Unique identifier of an eBay listing. This field is returned if the corresponding message is associated with a specific listing. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders.
Messages.Message.ItemTitle	string	Conditionally	Title of the item listing. Max length: 55.
Messages.Message.ListingStatus	ListingStatusCodeType	Conditionally	Coming soon. Specifies an active or ended listing's status in eBay's processing workflow. If a listing ends with a sale (or sales), eBay needs to update the sale details (e.g., total price and buyer/high bidder) and the transaction fees. This processing can take several minutes. If you retrieve a sold item and no details about the buyer/high bidder are returned or no transaction fees are available, use this listing status information to determine whether eBay has finished processing the listing. Note: For GetMyMessages, the listing status reflects the status of the listing at the time the question was created. The listing status for this call must not match the listing status returned by other calls (such as GetItemTransactions). This is returned only if Messages.Message.MessageType is AskSellerQuestion. This tag is no longer returned in the Sandbox environment. Applicable values: Active (out) The listing is still active or the listing has ended with a sale but eBay has not completed processing the sale details. If the listing has ended with a sale but this Active status is returned, please allow several minutes for eBay to finish processing the listing. Completed (out) The listing has closed and eBay has completed processing the sale. All sale information returned from eBay should be considered accurate and complete. In this state, all transaction fees should be calculated. Custom (out) Reserved for internal or future use. CustomCode (out) Reserved for internal or future use. Ended (out) The listing has ended. If the listing ended with a sale, eBay has completed processing of the sale. All sale information returned from eBay should be considered accurate and complete. However, the transaction fees are not yet available. Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Messages.Message.MessageID	MyMessagesMessageIDType (string)	Conditionally	ID that uniquely identifies a message for a given user. This value is not the same as the value used for the GetMemberMessages MessageID. Use the GetMemberMessages value (used as the GetMyMessages ExternalID) instead. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.MessageMedia	MessageMediaType	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	Media details stored as part of the message. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.MessageMedia .MediaName	string	Conditionally	The name of the image. This will be displayed on the flimstrip. Max length: 100.
Messages.Message.MessageMedia .MediaURL	anyURI	Conditionally	URL of an image to be included in a message. The image must be uploaded to EPS (eBay Picture Services) using a separate API call or the web flow. This URL will be validated and if it doesn't exist, the request will fail. Max length: 200.
Messages.Message.MessageType	MessageTypeCodeType	Conditionally	Type of message being retrieved through GetMyMessages. This is available only on the US site. Applicable values: See MessageType. Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Messages.Message.QuestionType	QuestionTypeCodeType	Conditionally	Coming soon. Currently available only on the US site. Context of the question (e.g. Shipping, General). Corresponds to the message subject. Applies if Messages.Message.MessageType is AskSellerQuestion. Applicable values: See QuestionType. Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Messages.Message.Read	boolean	Conditionally	Indicates if a message has been viewed by a given user. Note that retrieving a message with the API does not mark it as read. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.ReceiveDate	dateTime	Conditionally	Date and time that a message was received by My Messages and stored in a database for the recipient. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .RecipientUserID	string	Conditionally	Displayable user ID of the recipient. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Replied	boolean	Conditionally	Indicates if there has been a reply to the message. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .ResponseDetails	MyMessagesResponseDetailsType	Conditionally	Details relating to the response to a message. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .ResponseDetails .ResponseEnabled	boolean	Conditionally	Whether a message can be responded to. To respond to a message, use the URL in ResponseURL. You may need to log into the eBay Web site to complete the response. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message .ResponseDetails.ResponseURL	anyURI	Conditionally	A URL that the recipient must visit to respond to a message. Responding may require logging into the eBay Web site. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Sender	string	Conditionally	Display name of the eBay user that sent the message. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.SendToName	string	Conditionally	Displayable name of the user or eBay application to which the message is sent. Only returned for M2M, and if a value exists. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Subject	string	Conditionally	Subject of the message. DetailLevel: ReturnHeaders, ReturnMessages.
Messages.Message.Text	string	Conditionally	Contains the message content, and can contain a threaded message. This field can contain plain text or HTML, depending on the format of the original message. The API does not check the email-format preferences in My Messages on the eBay Web site. Max length: 2 megabytes in size. DetailLevel: ReturnMessages.
Summary	MyMessagesSummaryType	Conditionally	Summary data for a given user's messages. This includes the numbers of new messages, flagged messages, and total messages. The amount and type of data returned is the same whether or not the request includes specific Message IDs. Always/Conditionally returned logic assumes a detail level of ReturnMessages. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FlaggedMessageCount	int	Conditionally	The number of messages that have been flagged. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary	MyMessagesFolderSummaryType	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	Folder summary for each folder. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary.FolderID	long	Conditionally	An ID that uniquely identifies a My Messages folder. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary .FolderName	string	Conditionally	The name of a specified My Messages folder. For GetMyMessages, Inbox (FolderID = 0) and Sent (FolderID = 1) are not returned. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary .NewHighPriorityCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of new high priority messages that a given user has. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary .NewMessageCount	int	Conditionally	The number of new messages in a given folder. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary .TotalHighPriorityCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of high priority messages that a given user has. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.FolderSummary .TotalMessageCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of messages in a given folder. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.NewHighPriorityCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of new high priority messages that a given user has. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.NewMessageCount	int	Conditionally	The number of new messages that a given user has. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.TotalHighPriorityCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of high priority messages that a given user has. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.
Summary.TotalMessageCount	int	Conditionally	The total number of messages for a given user. Always returned for detail level ReturnSummary. DetailLevel: ReturnSummary.

Standard Output Fields

Ack	AckCodeType	Always	A token representing the application-level acknowledgement code that indicates the response status (e.g., success). The AckCodeType list specifies the possible values for the Ack field. Applicable values: CustomCode (out) Reserved for internal or future use. Failure (out) This value indicates that the call request processing failed. Success (out) This value indicates that the call request was processed successfully without any issues. Warning (out) This value indicates that the call request was successful, but processing was not without any issues. These issues can be checked in the Errors container, that will also be returned when one or more known issues occur with the call request. (Not all values in AckCodeType apply to this field.) Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Build	string	Always	This refers to the specific software build that eBay used when processing the request and generating the response. This includes the version number plus additional information. eBay Developer Support may request the build information when helping you resolve technical issues.
CorrelationID	string	Conditionally	Most Trading API calls support a MessageID element in the request and a CorrelationID element in the response. If you pass in a MessageID in a request, the same value will be returned in the CorrelationID field in the response. Pairing these values can help you track and confirm that a response is returned for every request and to match specific responses to specific requests. If you do not pass a MessageID value in the request, CorrelationID is not returned. Note: GetCategories is designed to retrieve very large sets of metadata that change once a day or less often. To improve performance, these calls return cached responses when you request all available data (with no filters). When this occurs, the MessageID and CorrelationID fields aren't applicable. However, if you specify an input filter to reduce the amount of data returned, the calls retrieve the latest data (not cached). When this occurs, MessageID and CorrelationID are applicable.
Errors	ErrorType	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	A list of application-level errors (if any) that occurred when eBay processed the request.
Errors.ErrorClassification	ErrorClassificationCodeType	Conditionally	API errors are divided between two classes: system errors and request errors. Applicable values: CustomCode (out) Reserved for internal or future use. RequestError (out) An error has occurred either as a result of a problem in the sending application or because the application's end-user has attempted to submit invalid data (or missing data). In these cases, do not retry the request. The problem must be corrected before the request can be made again. If the problem is due to something in the application (such as a missing required field), the application must be changed. If the problem is a result of end-user data, the application must alert the end-user to the problem and provide the means for the end-user to correct the data. Once the problem in the application or data is resolved, resend the request to eBay with the corrected data. SystemError (out) Indicates that an error has occurred on the eBay system side, such as a database or server down. An application can retry the request as-is a reasonable number of times (eBay recommends twice). If the error persists, contact Developer Technical Support. Once the problem has been resolved, the request may be resent in its original form. Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Errors.ErrorCode	token	Conditionally	A unique code that identifies the particular error condition that occurred. Your application can use error codes as identifiers in your customized error-handling algorithms. See Errors By Number.
Errors.ErrorParameters	ErrorParameterType	Conditionally, repeatable: [0..*]	This optional element carries a list of context-specific error variables that indicate details about the error condition. These are useful when multiple instances of ErrorType are returned.
Errors.ErrorParameters [ attribute ParamID ]	string	Conditionally	This optional element carries a list of context-specific error variables that indicate details about the error condition. These are useful when multiple instances of ErrorType are returned.
Errors.ErrorParameters.Value	string	Conditionally	This is the value of the request parameter noted in the ParamID attribute. So, if the ParamID value was ItemID, the value in this field would be the actual value of that ItemID.
Errors.LongMessage	string	Conditionally	A more detailed description of the condition that raised the error.
Errors.SeverityCode	SeverityCodeType	Conditionally	Indicates whether the error is a severe error (causing the request to fail) or an informational error (a warning) that should be communicated to the user. Applicable values: CustomCode (out) Reserved for internal or future use. Error (out) The request that triggered the error was not processed successfully. When a serious application-level error occurs, the error is returned instead of the business data. If the source of the problem is within the application (such as a missing required element), change the application before you retry the request. If the problem is due to end-user input data, please alert the end-user to the problem and provide the means for them to correct the data. Once the problem in the application or data is resolved, you can attempt to re-send the request to eBay. If the source of the problem is on eBay's side, An application can retry the request as-is a reasonable number of times (eBay recommends twice). If the error persists, contact Developer Technical Support. Once the problem has been resolved, the request may be resent in its original form. See the Error handling section of the Making a Trading API call guide for more information. Warning (out) The request was processed successfully, but something occurred that may affect your application or the user. For example, eBay may have changed a value the user sent in. In this case, eBay returns a normal, successful response and also returns the warning. When a warning occurs, the error is returned in addition to the business data. In this case, you do not need to retry the request (as the original request was successful). However, depending on the cause or nature of the warning, you might need to contact either the end user or eBay to effect a long term solution to the problem to prevent it from reoccurring in the future. Code so that your app gracefully handles any future changes to this list.
Errors.ShortMessage	string	Conditionally	A brief description of the condition that raised the error.
HardExpirationWarning	string	Conditionally	Expiration date of the user's authentication token. Only returned within the 7-day period prior to a token's expiration. To ensure that user authentication tokens are secure and to help avoid a user's token being compromised, tokens have a limited life span. A token is only valid for a period of time (set by eBay). After this amount of time has passed, the token expires and must be replaced with a new token.
Timestamp	dateTime	Always	This value represents the date and time when eBay processed the request. The time zone of this value is GMT and the format is the ISO 8601 date and time format (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSSZ). See the Time Values section in the eBay Features Guide for information about this time format and converting to and from the GMT time zone. Note: GetCategories and other Trading API calls are designed to retrieve very large sets of metadata that change once a day or less often. To improve performance, these calls return cached responses when you request all available data (with no filters). When this occurs, this time value reflects the time the cached response was created. Thus, this value is not necessarily when the request was processed. However, if you specify an input filter to reduce the amount of data returned, the calls retrieve the latest data (not cached). When this occurs, this time value does reflect when the request was processed.
Version	string	Always	The version of the response payload schema. Indicates the version of the schema that eBay used to process the request. See the Standard Data for All Calls section in the eBay Features Guide for information on using the response version when troubleshooting CustomCode values that appear in the response.

Detail Controls

DetailLevel

The DetailLevel input field influences which call-specific fields may be returned. (All standard output fields are returned regardless of DetailLevel.)

The none column indicates the fields that are returned when you do not specify a DetailLevel.

Y	The field is always returned.
(Y)	The field is conditionally returned. See the field documentation for clarification of conditions.
-	The field is not returned.

Output Field	ReturnHeaders	ReturnMessages	ReturnSummary
Messages	Y	Y	-
Messages.Message	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Content	-	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ExpirationDate	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ExternalMessageID	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Flagged	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Folder	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Folder.FolderID	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ItemID	(Y)	-	-
Messages.Message.MessageID	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.MessageMedia	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Read	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ReceiveDate	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.RecipientUserID	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Replied	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ResponseDetails	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ResponseDetails.ResponseEnabled	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.ResponseDetails.ResponseURL	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Sender	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.SendToName	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Subject	(Y)	(Y)	-
Messages.Message.Text	-	(Y)	-
Summary	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FlaggedMessageCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.FolderID	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.FolderName	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.NewHighPriorityCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.NewMessageCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.TotalHighPriorityCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.FolderSummary.TotalMessageCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.NewHighPriorityCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.NewMessageCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.TotalHighPriorityCount	-	-	(Y)
Summary.TotalMessageCount	-	-	(Y)

Samples

New to making API calls? Please see Making a Call.

Note: Some item IDs, user IDs, or other data in these samples might no longer be active on eBay. If necessary, you can substitute current eBay data in your requests.

Available samples:

Basic Call ↓ - Retrieves Message headers for the authenticated user.
Specific Message IDs ↓ - Retrieves specific Messages, according to the provided message ID values.
Message Folders ↓ - Retrieves message headers for the specified folder.

Sample: Basic Call

Retrieves Message headers for the authenticated user.

Description

This sample shows how to retrieve the headers for messages. Once retrieved, you can cache the MessageID values, which you can use to get more details on specific messages with another GetMyMessages call.

Input

XML format.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetMyMessagesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <RequesterCredentials>
    <eBayAuthToken>A*******3</eBayAuthToken>
  </RequesterCredentials>
  <WarningLevel>High</WarningLevel>
  <DetailLevel>ReturnHeaders</DetailLevel>
</GetMyMessagesRequest>

Output

XML format.
<GetMyMessagesResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2019-11-04T22:17:05.891Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>1127</Version>
  <Build>E1127_CORE_APIMSG_19083139_R1</Build>
  <Alerts/>
  <Messages>
    <Message>
      <Sender>b***r</Sender>
      <RecipientUserID>m***************r</RecipientUserID>
      <Subject>b******r has sent a question about item #1**********2,
          ending on Oct-18-19 18:52:35 PST - Acura : CL</Subject>
      <MessageID>1*****0</MessageID>
      <Flagged>false</Flagged>
      <Read>false</Read>
      <ReceiveDate>2019-10-18T02:54:32.000Z</ReceiveDate>
      <ExpirationDate>2020-02-12T02:54:31.000Z</ExpirationDate>
      <ItemID>1**********2</ItemID>
      <ResponseDetails>
        <ResponseEnabled>true</ResponseEnabled>
        <ResponseURL>http://contact.sandbox.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?M2MContact&
            item=1**********2&requested=b******r&qid=7****0&redirect=0&messageid=m1*****0</ResponseURL>
      </ResponseDetails>
      <Folder>
        <FolderID>***</FolderID>
      </Folder>
      <Replied>false</Replied>
    </Message>
    <Message>
      <Sender>b************r</Sender>
      <RecipientUserID>m***************r</RecipientUserID>
      <Subject>b************r has sent a question about :Question about book Edition for item #1**********5,
          ending on Oct-16-19 15:45:13 PST - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone</Subject>
      <MessageID>1*****0</MessageID>
      <Flagged>false</Flagged>
      <Read>false</Read>
      <ReceiveDate>2019-10-16T18:03:43.000Z</ReceiveDate>
      <ExpirationDate>2020-02-10T18:03:43.000Z</ExpirationDate>
      <ItemID>1**********5</ItemID>
      <ResponseDetails>
        <ResponseEnabled>true</ResponseEnabled>
        <ResponseURL>http://contact.sandbox.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?M2MContact&
            item=1**********5&requested=b************r&qid=7****2&redirect=0&messageid=m1*****0</ResponseURL>
        <UserResponseDate>2018-10-17T18:51:33.000Z</UserResponseDate>
      </ResponseDetails>
      <Folder>
        <FolderID>***</FolderID>
      </Folder>
      <Replied>true</Replied>
    </Message>
  </Messages>
</GetMyMessagesResponse>

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Sample: Specific Message IDs

Retrieves specific Messages, according to the provided message ID values.

Description

Retrieve a summary of your messages by calling GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnHeaders. Make a second call to GetMyMessages with DetailLevel set to ReturnMessages, and specify the message IDs of the messages you want to review. This returns detailed information for each specified message.

Input

You can specify up to to 10 MessageID values per request.

XML format.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<GetMyMessagesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"> 
  <DetailLevel>ReturnMessages</DetailLevel> 
  <RequesterCredentials> 
    <eBayAuthToken>1*******C</eBayAuthToken> 
  </RequesterCredentials> 
  <MessageIDs> 
    <MessageID>1**********0</MessageID> 
  </MessageIDs> 
</GetMyMessagesRequest>

Output

Notice that the response contains HTML within the Text node.

XML format.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GetMyMessagesResponse 
  xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2019-11-04T22:17:05.891Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>1127</Version>
  <Build>E1127_CORE_APIMSG_19083139_R1</Build>
  <Messages>
    <Message>
      <Sender>e**y</Sender>
      <RecipientUserID>r***9</RecipientUserID>
      <Subject>?? You have a new offer: $12.00 for Jonathon Byron Float... (1**********0)</Subject>
      <MessageID>1**********0</MessageID>
      <Text>Good news, R***l! You\x92ve received an offer for Jonathon Byron Float. The buyer is waiting - let them know your response before Oct-26 11:10:10 PDT.</Text>
      <Flagged>false</Flagged>
      <Read>true</Read>
      <ReceiveDate>2019-10-24T18:10:13.000Z</ReceiveDate>
      <ExpirationDate>2020-10-24T18:10:13.000Z</ExpirationDate>
      <ItemID>1**********0</ItemID>
      <ResponseDetails>
        <ResponseEnabled>false</ResponseEnabled>
      </ResponseDetails>
      <Folder>
        <FolderID>***</FolderID>
      </Folder>
      <Replied>false</Replied>
      <ItemEndTime>2019-10-26T18:28:54.000Z</ItemEndTime>
      <ItemTitle>Jonathon Byron Floating Swans 3-D Hand-Painted Porcelain Collector Plate</ItemTitle>
    </Message>
  </Messages>
</GetMyMessagesResponse>

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Sample: Message Folders

Retrieves message headers for the specified folder.

Description

If you get too much data when retrieving only message headers, you can further restrict the amount of data returned by specifying a FolderID in the request. Doing so returns only the message headers from the specified folder.

Retrieve the FolderID values for the My Messages folders by calling GetMyMessages with a DetailLevel of ReturnSummary. Note that the FolderID for the Inbox is 0.

Input

This example uses a FolderID of 2.

XML format.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<GetMyMessagesRequest xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents"> 
  <DetailLevel>ReturnMessages</DetailLevel> 
  <RequesterCredentials> 
    <eBayAuthToken>1*******C</eBayAuthToken> 
  </RequesterCredentials> 
  <FolderID>***</FolderID> 
</GetMyMessagesRequest>

Output

The following sample shows the results from this call. Notice that the message is from FolderID 2.

XML format.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<GetMyMessagesResponse xmlns="urn:ebay:apis:eBLBaseComponents">
  <Timestamp>2019-11-04T22:17:05.891Z</Timestamp>
  <Ack>Success</Ack>
  <Version>1127</Version>
  <Build>E1127_CORE_APIMSG_19083139_R1</Build>
  <Messages>
    <Message>
      <Sender>e**y</Sender>
      <RecipientUserID>s********r</RecipientUserID>
      <Subject>eBay Second Chance Offer for Item #3**********9: Auction Title</Subject>
      <MessageID>2*****9</MessageID>
      <Flagged>false</Flagged>
      <Read>false</Read>
      <ReceiveDate>2019-10-20T23:34:37.000Z</ReceiveDate>
      <ExpirationDate>2019-11-20T23:34:30.000Z</ExpirationDate>
      <ResponseDetails>
        <ResponseEnabled>true</ResponseEnabled>
        <ResponseURL>http://*************.com</ResponseURL>
      </ResponseDetails>
      <Folder>
        <FolderID>***</FolderID>
      </Folder>
    </Message>
  </Messages>
</GetMyMessagesResponse>

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Change History

Change Date	Description
743 2011-10-12	MessageType.ClassifiedsBestOffer (added): Indicates that a best offer has been made on the seller's corresponding classified ad listing. MessageType.ClassifiedsContactSeller (added): Indicates that an inquiry has been sent to the seller regarding the corresponding classified ad listing.
677 2010-07-07	IncludeHighPriorityMessageOnly (added): Element newly available in Sandbox only. Pagination (added): Element newly available in Sandbox only.
661 2010-03-17	Various (modified): The documentation has been updated to state that Alerts are now treated as flagged messages. Data formerly in the Alerts container now is returned in the Messages container, and the Alerts container is empty.
657 2010-02-17	Messages.Message.Text (doc change): The documentation has been updated to state that the content of the field can contain up to 2 MB of data.
635 2009-09-16	Messages.Message.Text (modified): Threaded messages are returned. Additionally, emails that were sent by an eBay member's email client (to another eBay member) are returned; their message type is indicated as MessageTypeCodeType.ContacteBayMemberViaAnonymousEmail.
583 2008-09-17	Messages.Message.QuestionType.None (added): New value indicating that no question type applies.
573 2008-07-09	Messages.Message.ListingStatus (added): Specifies the listing status at the time the question was created. Messages.Message.MessageType (added): Available on the US site as of September 2009. Specifies the type of message being retrieved through GetMyMessages. Messages.Message.QuestionType (added): Available on the US site as of September 2009. Specifies the context of the question, and corresponds to the subject of the message. Messages.Message.ExternalMessageID (added): Available on the US site as of September 2009. An ID used by an external application to uniquely identify a message. Messages.Message.Content (added): The message body. This can be plain text.
479 2006-09-20	Messages.Message.Folder (doc change): Messages.Message.Folder is conditionally returned.
445 2006-1-25	Messages.Message.SendToName (added): A new value is returned, the displayable name of the user or eBay application to which the message is sent. Only returned for M2M, and if a value exists.
439 2005-12-28	Alerts.Alert.ResponseDetails.ResponseEnabled (added): Indicates whether or not an alert or message can be responded to. To respond to an alert or message, use the URL in ResponseURL. You may need to log into the eBay Web site to complete the response. Messages.Message.ResponseDetails.ResponseEnabled (added): Indicates whether or not an alert or message can be responded to. To respond to an alert or message, use the URL in ResponseURL. You may need to log into the eBay Web site to complete the response.