Find the answer to your question
Advanced Search
When I call AddMemberMessageAAQToPartner or AddMemberMessageRTQ, I sometimes get back an error saying "Service not Available"
What is going on?
Detailed Description
Member to member messaging has limitations on the number of messages that can be sent.
These limitations can apply to the overall number of messages sent by any one user for a given time period.
They can also apply to the number of messages sent for any 1 item by any one user, including the seller.
These limitations are also in place for equivalent member to member messaging done from the eBay.com, so this is not an API only restriction.
The exact limitation details as to the number of messages allowed per item or per user and what time periods are not publicly available.
If any of the limitations have been exceeded, the following error will be returned:
<Errors>
<ShortMessage>Service is not available.</ShortMessage>
<LongMessage>Service is not available.</LongMessage>
<ErrorCode>20957</ErrorCode>
<SeverityCode>Error</SeverityCode>
<ErrorClassification>RequestError</ErrorClassification>
</Errors>
If you do get this error, please try again after some time.
In some cases, the call may go through after an hour.
In some cases, you may have to wait 1 full day.
You may also want to retry making the call earlier in the am hours for those that failed on the previous day.
Additional Resources