Seller Hub "With Questions" won't clear – Mark as Read option gone
Summary: stovestickers reported that the 'Mark as read' checkbox under Seller Hub > Listings > With Questions has disappeared, making it impossible to clear listings from the 'With Questions' filter. kat@ebay clarified that this is not a bug but a design change where the feature has been deprecated, and reassured that unanswered questions do not impact search placement. Several participants expressed frustration over the deprecation, worried it would affect their performance negatively. kat@ebay promised to report ongoing issues and update on any solutions, but acknowledged that there is currently no way to mark questions as answered, leading to some confusion and difficulty in message management.
"Has anyone else recently lost the 'Mark as read' checkbox under Seller Hub > Listings > With Questions? The checkbox has disappeared completely for me, so I can no longer clear listings from the 'With Questions' filter. Buyer messages have been replied to, but the count remains stuck at 1. Is this a current Seller Hub bug?"
pillarboxred
·2 weeks agoI've seen this. I find it annoying as I click to answer a new question and it is already answered. A vast site like eBay is expensive and difficult to maintain and I think there are a lot of signs of creaking software. By neglecting minor problems they keep the costs down.
twofourdeltasurplus
·3 weeks agoI have just replied to a thanks / thumbs up with a full stop and that has cleared one message.
Buyer replied with ?
so I did the same
Think this needs some work still ( like all "improvements" )
pillarboxred
·2 weeks agoThe trouble is that eBay treats any Message as an Unanswered Question. I ask enquirers not to reply unless they have a fresh question as we'll be trapped in a loop because I have to answer every message, even it it says "thanks".
kat@ebay
Hi All,
Thank you for your replies.
We appreciate your insights and feedback on this. Just to avoid misinformation, having listings showing unanswered questions does not impact the search placement. Its a reminder feature not a performance metric.
Once a question is answered the unanswered part should remove automatically. It can take a few hours to update. If you have examples that are taking alot longer then do share the item numbers where the questions have been answered but still show unanswered and how long its been like that. I will get that reported to tech.
Thank you,
Kat
jlovie
·Jul 22, 2026 at 12:00 PMWhat happens if someone replies to my answer with 'thanks'?
Am I supposed to reply to that?
pillarboxred
·2 weeks agoYes. If you don't, the blasted "metrics" will mark you down as one who doesn't answer buyer questions.
stovestickers
OPJul 22, 2026 at 12:51 PM · EditedHi Kat
Perhaps there is a misunderstanding. The problem isn't in Messages. It's in Seller Hub → Listings → With Questions and the number displayed next to "With Questions", which is now incorrectly indicating that listings still have unanswered questions.
Previously, clicking the "With Questions" link took you to the relevant listings. From there you could select Actions → View Message, where the drop-down menu included an option to mark the question as read/answered. Once this was done, the listing disappeared from "With Questions" and the counter reduced accordingly.
That option has now disappeared completely. As a result, there is no way to clear listings from "With Questions", even though the buyer's question has been read and answered days before. The counter is therefore becoming permanently inaccurate and will simply continue to increase over time.
"wholesalepack" has posted a screen shot that clearly illustrate the problem
kat@ebay
Hi @stovestickers ,
Thank you for the reply and the details. I understand and it has been confirmed the mark as answered has been deprecated. Is it every question that you have answered/read remains as "with questions" or is it the just the ones where the buyers reply with thanks and there is no need to reply to that?
Thank you,
Kat
stovestickers
OPJul 22, 2026 at 2:57 PM · EditedHi Kate
As "britishpaper" has already alluded to - it never worked properly in the first place and that was probably why it has been "deprecated" but unfortunately not properly "deprecated" as the ticker number linked to "With questions" still remains
In regard to your question - I never knew which question/reply the "With questions" number(s) referred to. For example -- I might have five questions/replies in my Messages but only 'one' would be indicated by "With questions" - There might have been a way to determine which question that 'one' would be, especially if it pertained to a product that was different from the products linked to the other four questions - but as long as all questions were answered/read in my Messages I was happy - all I then did was mark the 'one' question as read ( in Actions → View Message) to make the "With question" ticker number disappear
britishpaper
·2 weeks agoHi Kat,
Any updates on this, our number is growing and all questions were answered in the timely manner, the trouble is even if you want reply "thank you" to customers "thank you", when you go to "unanswered" questions and view them, it will show you 100's questions from the past about that listing, so we don't know which one is triggering that false "unanswered" message count. Can you please help - Thank you.
kat@ebay
Hi @britishpaper ,
Thanks for following up.
As the option to mark them as answered has been removed there is no current way to get rid of them showing as unanswered. I appreciate this is frustrating and while I don't have a timeline for the fix our team is working on a solution as fast as possible. Once I get any further details on progress I will update.
Thank you,
Kat
britishpaper
·2 weeks agoThank you Kat for looking into this, as soon as you have update, please let me know - Thank you.
pillarboxred
·2 weeks agoThe problem is that if a message just says "thanks", it is classed as an unanswered question. If you answer "No, thank you", the buyer might desist but you have to send an explanation ,which takes time, to make sure they don't message again.
wholesalepack
·Jul 20, 2026 at 7:08 AMWe have 3 listings showing as having messages for a week now, all been answered and unable to mark them as replied, why this option was removed? It doesn't make sense and surely will affect our performance badly.
britishpaper
·1 month agoSame problem here, we now have 3 which are showing unanswered, where all of them was responded in the timely manner, that glitch was here for years, but before you could simply mark them as answered, now we can't, surely that will affect our placement in search result if algorithm will think that we not responding to buyers messages. Ebay please sort this out, or bring back the function where you can mark question as answered.
kat@ebay
Hi All,
Tech have confirmed that it is not a technical issue and the Mark as Read option has been deprecated . This is part of a design change that involves moving forward with the unread messages which will be rolled out to accounts on a gradual basis.
Thank you,
Kat
twofourdeltasurplus
·1 month agoso what does that mean in plain English then ?
I have 7 listings showing as having messages, all been answered / or read, so this list is just going to grow and grow.
What are the plans then ?
stovestickers
OP1 month ago · EditedI'm sure the placement of your items in the search function would be lower (worse) the more unanswered question you have ???
padanpcparts
·2 weeks agoI have 47...
jlovie
·Jul 21, 2026 at 5:14 PMSo will we now be forced to reply or face a penalty?
twofourdeltasurplus
·1 month agoNoticed it a few days ago, mine is sat at 6 and there is nothing you can do about it
kat@ebay
Hi @stovestickers ,
Thank you for your post.
We have had reports from other users and it has been logged with tech who are currently investigating it. Once there is a further update from them I will let you know.
Thank you,
Kat
stovestickers
OP1 month agothank you Kat
jlovie
·Jul 21, 2026 at 5:09 PMSo what am I supposed to do when I answer a question and someone replies with 'thanks'.
Do I get stuck in some infinite loop?
Thanks.
No, thank you.
It's a pleasure.
The pleasure's all mine.
Thanks for your reply.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
No.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks.
Glad to be of help.
Thanks
No, thank you.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.