Long-time lurker, posting because I've been helping a friend with their eBay side-hustle and the thing that fixed it for them is something I see asked about here all the time.
Friend was at 2-3 hours a night on buyer messages, after the DCs were in bed. Couldn't keep up. Sat with them for an evening and the problem turned out to be one most people miss: it's not the typing that's slow, it's the hunting. Every reply means opening the listing, the order, the tracking, the return policy, THEN writing. By message 10 you've half-forgotten what the buyer actually asked.
What worked:
- One doc with their standard answers. Copy-paste instead of retype.
- Pull up the order BEFORE reading the message (sounds backwards, try it, you walk in with the answer ready).
- Same shape every reply: hello, answer, next step, sign off.
- Two windows side by side, no more alt-tabbing.
- Note the questions that keep coming up, then add the answer directly into the listing description. Half their incoming dropped once they added "yes original box included" to every relevant listing.
Fortnight later, under 30 minutes a night. They said the best bit was getting their evenings back.
Anyone got their own tips for keeping eBay messages from eating into family time? Especially curious how solo sellers handle the late-night flood. Batch reply once a day? Set seller hours? Something else?