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Frequently asked questions

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Customer Messages - Counted

All customer messages received count toward your monthly limit. 

Replies - Free

Your replies to customers are always free. They do not count toward your limit.

Free System Notifications

You can send all normal Amazon, Shopify, Walmart, Newegg and Etsy notifications to your helpdesk for free. All of these marketplaces support standard email forwarding for their one-way notifications.

We also offer several types of notifications that do not count toward your monthly limit. These are marked as "Free" in your ChannelReply settings. They include:

It's possible to import all other normal eBay notifications for free through email forwarding. We no longer recommend this, though, as eBay has removed the setup options that made this easy to do in the past.

Paid System Notifications

If you opt to send system notifications through ChannelReply, they generally count toward your limit. The upside is that you can often get order data in the app and custom fields. Plus, they may also come with actions, like issuing refunds on eBay Resolution Center Support tickets.

Most eBay and Back Market notifications count toward your limit by default.

You can opt in or out of almost all system notifications that count toward your limit. You will find most of these options in each marketplace account's settings in ChannelReply.

Absolutely. ChannelReply was specifically developed to do just that. Just be aware that how replies are delivered varies from one marketplace to the next.

ChannelReply brings all your Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Back Market, Newegg and Walmart messages into your helpdesk. That helpdesk can be Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Gorgias, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, or Onsite Support. You can help all your customers much faster when you have all your messages on one screen!

We also support Shopify messaging for all supported helpdesks except Gorgias. (Gorgias already comes with the world's best Shopify integration, so we don't try to compete with them there!)

You can answer all messages from Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Back Market, Newegg, Shopify and Walmart from inside your helpdesk.

Your responses to Amazon, eBay, Newegg and Walmart messages are posted to the marketplace's messaging system. That way, your messages count toward all requirements like Amazon's 24-hour response time SLA.

Since Shopify messages arrive by email, your Shopify replies are delivered by email, just as the customer would expect.

Etsy and Back Market work a little differently, though.

The Etsy API does not allow anyone to post replies to Etsy Messages from outside Etsy. However, you can still respond to any message where ChannelReply can identify the customer's email address. This includes all order-related tickets. In such cases, we'll deliver your responses directly to the Etsy customer's email address.

If you want your messages to count as replies within 24 hours on Etsy, you'll need to respond from inside Etsy. You can jump directly to the correct conversation using the Reply on Etsy link we include with each ticket.

Back Market messages are now answered by Back Market staff in most cases. However, you will still sometimes receive messages from Back Market agents and customers. When you reply to a Back Market ticket, your message is delivered to the Back Market agent responsible for solving the issue. They can then decide whether to send your message to the customer or to solve the problem their own way.

A helpdesk is a customer service platform that allows you to read, answer and organize customer messages. We currently support Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Gorgias, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, and Onsite Support. 

Yes—ChannelReply has no independent user interface. You must connect it to Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Gorgias, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, or Onsite Support to answer your messages.

Note: If you do not want to pay for two separate platforms, you can use Onsite Support. ChannelReply is included with every Onsite subscription.

We support the following marketplace regions and countries:

Amazon: We currently support the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Let us know if your country isn't listed here and we’ll do our best to make it available!

eBay: We support eBay globally. No matter which eBay site you sell on, ChannelReply is compatible.

Back Market: We support Back Market Europe and Back Market America.

Newegg: We support Newegg, NeweggBusiness and Newegg Canada.

Shopify: We support Shopify globally.

Walmart: ChannelReply is fully compatible with Walmart USA. For Walmart Canada, we support messaging, but we are temporarily unable to provide data or actions on Canadian tickets as we adapt to their new API.

Etsy: We support Etsy globally.

WooCommerce: We support WooCommerce globally.

We support helpdesks universally, no matter where you're located.

If you use Zendesk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, or Onsite Support, you can use ChannelReply to cancel orders on certain tickets:

  • Most Shopify tickets.
  • Most Walmart tickets.
  • Some Newegg tickets.
  • Official eBay cancellation requests delivered by ChannelReply.
  • Back Market tickets about orders that have not yet been validated.

In Help Scout, you can approve eBay cancellations. However, no other cancellation actions are available in Help Scout.

Please note that orders can't be cancelled from Gorgias, or on Amazon or Etsy tickets.

If you use Zendesk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, or Onsite Support, you can use ChannelReply to issue refunds on certain tickets:

  • Most eBay Resolution Center cases and official eBay return requests.
  • Most Shopify tickets.
  • Walmart return notifications generated by ChannelReply.
  • Most Back Market tickets.

In Gorgias, it is currently only possible to issue refunds on Back Market tickets.

In Help Scout, it is possible to issue refunds on Back Market tickets and on eBay return requests.

Please note that refunds are not available on Amazon, Etsy or Newegg tickets.

Of course! No matter which helpdesk you use, you can create tags for each selling channel from inside your ChannelReply account. See "Creating and Using ChannelReply Tags."

Every eBay, Etsy, Back Market, Newegg, Shopify or Walmart account you connect can have its own unique tag. This tag will appear on every message from that particular selling account.

For Amazon, we get even more granular, and you can create a separate tag for each Amazon marketplace and/or brand you connect. For example, you could have different tags for Amazon Brand 1 in the US, Amazon Brand 1 in Canada, and Amazon Brand 2 in the US.

All Zendesk, Gorgias, Re:amaze, Kustomer, and Onsite Support account levels are compatible with ChannelReply.

ChannelReply is compatible with all paid plans for Freshdesk (Growth and above).

With Zoho Desk, ChannelReply is compatible with the Standard plan and above.

Help Scout users need the Standard plan or above to use ChannelReply. Help Scout Plus and Company accounts have the added feature of being able to use ChannelReply data in Custom Fields.

All Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Newegg, Shopify and Walmart messages are sent and received immediately. Messages from Back Market are received once every 5 minutes, but your responses are delivered instantly.

By default, ChannelReply will only process your Amazon buyer messages. (It will also process your delivery failure notifications if you began setup after December 19, 2022, 9:00 AM EST.) All other messages, like order notifications, can be forwarded from Amazon to your helpdesk's mailbox.

On accounts connected after March 29, 2022, we deliver virtually all eBay notifications by default. We also generate eBay feedback notifications.

The only notifications that ChannelReply does not deliver by default are:

  1. New Order notifications.
  2. Payment Dispute notifications (these require additional authorization beyond our default setup).
  3. System notifications about returns that our users widely reported as unhelpful.

All notification types, including the three above, can be enabled from inside your ChannelReply account. Simply log in and click eBay on the dashboard, then hit "EDIT" under any connected account. You'll find these options under Notification Preferences.

You can also disable any notifications you don't want to receive. For example, many users choose to disable positive feedback notifications.

You can learn all about managing your notifications with ChannelReply in our eBay notifications guide.

Integrating your helpdesk and your first marketplace account takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Additional marketplace accounts only require a few minutes each.

Yes. All messages delivered by ChannelReply appear in a threaded, easy-to-read format. With your customer's messages and your replies all in one neatly organized conversation, it's easy to provide world-class support.

Note about Shopify: Shopify messages are delivered through standard email instead of the ChannelReply API. This means we do not change the threading of Shopify tickets. However, all helpdesks are built to thread emails, so Shopify messages thread correctly by default.

We offer ChannelReply and CR Feedback as month-to-month services so you don’t have to make any long-term commitments. However, you can choose annual billing to get a discounted rate.

Note: Onsite Support users are subject to different terms. If you use Onsite Support, ChannelReply service will be available to you for as long as you continue to use it with an active Onsite Support subscription. You can switch to using a different helpdesk at any time, but you will need to pay for one of our normal monthly or annual plans if you make such a switch.

Absolutely.

  • All ChannelReply plans allow unlimited WooCommerce, Etsy, eBay, Back Market, Newegg, Walmart and Amazon integrations.
  • Unlimited Shopify integrations are also supported unless you have Gorgias integrated. (Gorgias's own amazing Shopify integration is included with all their plans.)

Not at all. In fact, we recommend this! We use eBay’s messaging API, so all your messages will be sent/received directly via your helpdesk regardless of email settings.

If your eBay email address is the same as your support address, you can actually end up with duplicate messages after activating ChannelReply. Our eBay setup walkthrough explains how to avoid this problem.

ChannelReply pulls in everything you might need: order ID, ASIN, items ordered, amount paid, buyer's language, a link to the order on Amazon, and more. 

ChannelReply can show over 40 order details on messages about Etsy orders, including:

  • Order ID
  • Tracking Number
  • Buyer Message (any note left by the buyer when they placed their order)
  • Item Title
  • Expected Ship Date

When a customer messages you via an item's listing page, we can provide more than 60 datapoints, including:

  • Item Title
  • Listing ID
  • Listing URL
  • Personalization Instructions
  • SKU

For a full list of all the info we can provide on Etsy tickets, please see our Etsy integration announcement.

We can provide more than 55 order details on Back Market messages. A few of the most important details include:

  • Order ID
  • Tracking ID
  • Shipping address
  • Item name(s)
  • Delivery note

Want to see all available details? Check out our Back Market integration announcement.

In short: everything you need. ChannelReply pulls in the eBay username, items ordered, amount paid, shipping address, tracking ID, and a link to the item, among other things. If the eBay user is a current customer, ChannelReply will even be able to give you the customer’s name, and often their real email address.

We can provide well over 50 order details with each Newegg ticket. Some of the most important are listed below:

  • Order ID
  • Order status
  • Tracking numbers for each related package
  • Item title for all items ordered
  • Multiple tax fields, including sales tax, VAT, and duty

Learn all the details we can provide in our Newegg integration announcement.

Our Shopify integration is designed to outperform the basic Shopify apps for Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk and Kustomer. One of the ways it does that is by providing info that other apps don't, including the following:

  • Order date
  • Item SKU
  • Tracking number
  • Shipping service (e.g. USPS, DHL, FedEx)
  • Delivery level (e.g. Standard, Express, etc.)

It also provides everything else you'd expect, like items purchased, buyer's name, shipping address, etc.

Zendesk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer and Onsite Support also support our robust Shopify actions like refunds and cancellations. You'll be able to handle almost any request without leaving your helpdesk!

We make sure you never need to check Walmart for more info before answering a question. The ChannelReply app will show you all of the following and more:

  • Order IDs
  • Order status
  • Shipping address
  • Estimated shipping and delivery dates
  • Tracking ID and URL
  • Buyer name and email

There are too many details to show here! A full list is available in our Walmart integration announcement.

We have ecommerce autoresponder systems for all supported helpdesks: Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Help Scout, Re:amaze, Zoho DeskKustomer and Onsite Support.

All eight of the systems linked above are compatible with Amazon, eBay, Newegg, Shopify and Walmart.

They can also be used to email Etsy customers on any ticket where ChannelReply can identify the customer's email address. This includes all order notifications and post-order questions. 

Note that auto-replies are not considered sufficient to meet Walmart's Customer Care Requirements. To stand up to an audit from Walmart, you will need to make sure a human still replies to each message within 48 hours.

At this time, we do not recommend using autoresponders with Back Market. Since replies go to Back Market staff rather than straight to your customers, autoresponders are rarely helpful. However, if you have a use case for a Back Market autoresponder, it will work!

Kustomer's default auto-reply systems work well with all ChannelReply integrations. However, you'll still get the best results by following our Kustomer autoresponder instructions.

Zendesk's default auto-reply triggers also work perfectly with our Shopify messages.

CR Feedback is a feedback request tool for eBay and Amazon sellers. It allows you to send automated requests whenever an order is purchased, shipped, or delivered.

For eBay, it allows you to create custom feedback request templates that can personalize themselves to the customer and their order.

For Amazon, it offers two ways to send requests: "Request a Review" mode and Email Template mode.

"Request a Review" mode: Automate Amazon's "Request a Review" button to send Amazon's default feedback requests on the schedule you set.

Email Template mode: Send instantly personalized emails to better connect with customers and stay on brand.

Either way, you can build your seller rating and product reviews without wasting hours sending requests! Learn more at our CR Feedback homepage.

You do not need a ChannelReply or helpdesk account to use CR Feedback. It's a separate product with a separate subscription, and works all on its own.

If you have both ChannelReply and CR Feedback, you can manage both in your ChannelReply account. No juggling multiple logins or wasting time redoing eBay or Amazon integrations! Both products are built to work together just as easily as they work alone.

Bonus: If you use Zendesk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer, or Onsite Support with ChannelReply, you get extra features! You can send any CR Feedback review request from Amazon support tickets, or even cancel your scheduled requests.

No. We will never send a feedback request on any cancelled order.

You can have an unlimited number of agents using ChannelReply in your helpdesk at no extra cost.

Yes! You can manage eBay Resolution Center inquiries, cases, and returns from Onsite Support, Kustomer, Zoho Desk, Freshdesk, Re:amaze or Zendesk. Issue a refund, provide required info, or even appeal a closed case without logging into eBay.

Help Scout users have the ability to issue full refunds on eBay returns. We are planning to add this feature for Gorgias as well in the near future. Other Resolution Center actions are unavailable for Help Scout and Gorgias due to API limitations.

More info is available in "How Does eBay Resolution Center Support Work?"

Don't like the idea of your agents having that much power? No worries, you can disable our Resolution Center notifications from the eBay page of your ChannelReply account.

Yes, in most cases, it’s possible to do this if you have one of your helpdesk’s higher account levels. For example, we cover how to do this in our guides to custom fields for Zoho Desk and Onsite Support.

It's not yet possible to solve A-to-z Guarantee claims or Amazon returns from our app. However, we can deliver these notifications to your helpdesk and provide a direct link to the related case.

We can also display order data and provide custom fields on these tickets. That makes it easy to track claims and returns and build detailed reports in your helpdesk.

Yes! We have built-in video tutorials for setting up every integration, so most of our customers never need setup help. But we do indeed offer free demos, setup support calls and more on request. You can schedule a free call here.

Our support team is also always happy to provide email support and is available seven days a week. Contact us anytime!

Absolutely! We encourage the use of canned replies in handling your marketplace messages. 

Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Re:amaze, Zoho Desk, Kustomer and Onsite Support users can use order data in canned replies. See our article on custom fields for more info.

You have unlimited messaging during your free trial. No matter how many messages you process during the trial, you will not be charged any fees for them, and service will not halt.

The message counter is only there to show you how well your usage matches your current plan. Since the free trial defaults to our Standard plan, you will generally see a "limit" of 200 messages. However, there are no issues at all if you go over this limit during your free trial.

For more info and instructions on changing your plan, please see our account management instructions.

If you use Onsite Support and your account is currently in trial, please contact us to have your special Onsite plan activated.