Send a direct message to a buyer regarding a specific transaction or inquiry. Use this to communicate about orders, answer questions, resolve issues, or provide updates.
AI agents use ebay_send_message to create or update resources in Ebay — usually the action step of a workflow, after the agent has gathered context. Every call changes real data in your Ebay environment.
Sending a message creates new data (message records) in eBay's system and modifies the communication history between seller and buyer. This is a reversible write operation (messages can be deleted or retracted in most systems). While it has side effects, it does not execute arbitrary code, delete data irreversibly, or move money, so Write is the appropriate category.
From the tool's definition Tool name 'ebay_send_message' and description states it will 'Send a direct message to a buyer' - this creates/modifies communication data in eBay's system.
Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access ebay_send_message gives an agent:
PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Ebay, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for ebay_send_message:
{
"version": "1",
"default": "deny",
"tools": {
"ebay_send_message": {
"limits": [
{
"counter": "ebay_send_message_rate",
"window": "minute",
"max": 30,
"scope": "grant"
}
]
}
}
}ebay_send_message stays usable, but capped — an agent stuck in a loop can't make hundreds of changes a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.
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Send a direct message to a buyer regarding a specific transaction or inquiry. Use this to communicate about orders, answer questions, resolve issues, or provide updates. It is categorised as a Write tool in the Ebay MCP Server, which means it can create or modify data. Consider rate limits to prevent runaway writes.
Register the Ebay MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for ebay_send_message: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Ebay. Nothing to install.
ebay_send_message is a Write tool with medium risk. Write tools should be rate-limited to prevent accidental bulk modifications.
Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the ebay_send_message rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.
Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for ebay_send_message. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.
ebay_send_message is provided by the Ebay MCP server (yosefhayim/ebay-mcp). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.
Deterministic rules across all 332 Ebay tools. Per-identity grants. Full audit log. Live in minutes. Nothing to install.
Free to start. No card required.
332 Ebay tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 42,500+ MCP servers.