Messaging a vendor

Messaging lets you have a private, back-and-forth conversation with a vendor — a step beyond a one-off quote request when you have follow-up questions or want to work out details.

Starting a conversation

You'll need a free account. On any published vendor's profile, choose Message this vendor. Your messages live in one place — the Messages area, reachable from the chat icon in the header and from your dashboard. When a vendor replies, you'll see a badge on that icon and get a "New message" notification.

While you're chatting

The conversation updates on its own while the page is open, so you'll see replies come in without refreshing. A small Read mark appears under your messages once the vendor has seen them. Messages are text-only.

Keeping it private and safe

Conversations are private between you and the vendor — no other users can see them. Please keep messages on-topic and respectful; our Community Standards apply here too.

If you'd rather not hear from someone, open the conversation and choose Block. Blocking stops messages in both directions and hides that vendor from your search results. You can Unblock from the same conversation later if you change your mind.

Messaging vs. a quote request

A quote request is a quick one-way "please get in touch." Messaging is the ongoing conversation after that. Either is a fine place to start.