A 3Dsellers Helpdesk Auto Responder can now answer new buyer messages with an AI reply written from one of your AI Prompt Templates and send it on its own, instead of a fixed text. Buyer messages about refunds, returns, cancellations, compensation, discounts, damaged items or anything that needs your approval are never auto-sent: the AI's draft is saved as an internal note on the ticket and the ticket is tagged AI review so you answer it yourself. You turn this on per responder with the new Reply with choice in the responder editor. It needs the Helpdesk Professional plan or a trial.
⚠️ An AI responder sends real messages to real buyers without you reading them first. Start with one eBay account and a prompt template you have tested with Reply with AI, and check the AI review tag daily, because held messages wait for you.
In this article:
What does an AI auto responder do?
Until now the 3Dsellers Helpdesk had two separate things: Auto Responders that send a fixed text automatically, and AI tools (Quick suggestions, Reply with AI, AI Prompt Templates) that write a draft you still had to send. An AI auto responder joins them. When a buyer message matches the responder's rules, 3Dsellers builds a reply from your prompt template plus the conversation, the order and the item, runs a safety check, and either sends the reply or holds it.
The reply uses the same prompt template, dynamic fields (such as the buyer's name or the order total) and conversation history that Reply with AI uses, so test the template there first.
In the ticket, a sent reply shows the sender AI Auto Responder (responder name) with the auto-responder avatar, so you can always tell it from your own replies.
Everything else about the responder stays the same: its account scope, business hours, the "not replied within N hours" delay, message filters and whether it can be used with other responders.
How do I set up an AI auto responder?
Create the prompt template first on the Helpdesk AI Prompts page, and try it on a few real tickets with Reply with AI until the answers read the way you want. See AI Prompts for CRM & Helpdesk | 3Dsellers.
Go to Helpdesk > Auto Responders and click to create a responder, or open an existing one.
Under Reply with:, choose AI reply from a prompt template. The default is Fixed message, which works exactly as before.
The message box is replaced by a prompt list. Pick the template. Manage prompts opens the AI Prompts page in a new tab if you still need to create one. Save stays disabled until a prompt is picked.
Set the rest of the responder as usual: the eBay accounts it applies to, when to send (always, business hours, after a delay) and any rule exceptions.
Click Save & Activate, or Save and turn the responder on from the list.
To go back to a plain text responder, open it, choose Fixed message, type the message and save. Duplicating an AI responder keeps its prompt template.
Which messages are held for my review?
Before anything is sent, 3Dsellers checks the buyer's latest message twice: a word list and an AI check. If either says the message needs a person, the reply is held. Held messages include anything about:
refunds, money back, chargebacks, disputes or claims
returns, replacements, cancellations
compensation, discounts or coupons
damaged, defective, broken or wrong items, or items not as described
anything that asks for your approval or authorisation
The check errs on the safe side: a message such as "I just returned from vacation" is held because it contains "return". A few other cases are held too: the AI could not produce an answer, the answer is longer than eBay's 2000-character limit, the answer contains a link on eBay, the buyer message has no text, or the prompt template was deleted.
⭐ The word list is in English. A refund request written in another language is held only if the AI check recognises it, so keep an eye on non-English tickets in the first weeks.
How do I handle a ticket tagged AI review?
In the Helpdesk, filter or search by the tag AI review. 3Dsellers creates the tag the first time a message is held.
Open the ticket. An internal note from 3D AI reads AI reply held for review, the reason in brackets (for example buyer mentions "refund"), and the full draft the AI wrote.
Reply yourself. You can copy the draft from the note, use Reply with AI, or write from scratch. Nothing is sent until you click Reply.
Remove the AI review tag once you have answered, so the list only shows tickets still waiting.
How do I see what the AI sent?
Every auto-sent reply appears in the ticket thread like any other message, from AI Auto Responder (responder name). Because it is treated as an auto responder message, it does not mark the ticket as replied by you and does not reset the buyer's unread state, so the ticket still shows up in your queue the way an auto responder reply always has. There is no separate log page; the ticket thread is the record.
What the AI auto responder does not do
It does not send replies about refunds, returns, cancellations, compensation, discounts, damage or approvals. Those are always held.
It does not answer eBay return requests or eBay inquiries (the cases eBay opens). Those are skipped like before, for every responder.
It does not send more than one reply to the same buyer message, even when eBay delivers the message twice or the buyer sends several messages in a row.
It does not work on the Helpdesk Starter plan. The AI reply from a prompt template option is disabled without Helpdesk Professional or a trial.
It does not let you edit the AI's wording before it goes out. If you want to approve every message, keep using Reply with AI instead.
Troubleshooting
Save is greyed out in the responder editor
With AI reply from a prompt template selected, Save and Save & Activate stay disabled until a prompt template is picked. If the list is empty, click Manage prompts and create one first.
The responder shows "The prompt this responder used was deleted. Pick another one."
The prompt template behind this responder no longer exists. Pick another template and save. Until then the responder cannot be saved, and incoming messages are held with a note instead of answered.
A buyer got no reply although the responder is on
Open the ticket. If there is a 3D AI note saying the reply was held, read the reason: the message touched a held topic, the answer was too long, it contained a link, or the AI could not answer. If there is no note at all, check the responder's rules the same way as for a fixed-text responder: account scope, business hours, the delay, filters, and whether another responder already replied.
I can't select AI reply from a prompt template
The option is disabled on plans without Helpdesk AI. It needs the Helpdesk Professional plan or an active trial, the same requirement as the AI Prompts page.
FAQ
Does the AI auto responder send refund or return answers?
No. Messages about refunds, returns, cancellations, compensation, discounts, damaged or wrong items and approvals are held: the draft goes into an internal note and the ticket is tagged AI review for you to answer.
Can I use a different prompt template per eBay account?
Yes. A responder is scoped to the accounts you choose, so create one responder per account or group of accounts, each with its own template.
Will buyers know a reply was written by AI?
The buyer sees a normal message from your account. Inside 3Dsellers the sender is shown as AI Auto Responder (responder name) so your team can tell.
Does it respect business hours and delays?
Yes. The AI reply is just a different message body; the responder's business hours, delay and filters apply exactly as they do to a fixed message.
Can I switch an existing responder to AI?
Yes. Open it, choose AI reply from a prompt template, pick the template and save. Switching back to Fixed message clears the template and shows an empty message box to fill in.