Buyer messages answered within the hour

AssistBPO's Etsy virtual assistant answers your buyer messages within the hour, handles cases and cancellations, updates listings and keeps your shop stats healthy, and does the same across eBay and Walmart Marketplace, in your hours. One named assistant who learns your products and your tone, a trained backup and a team lead, working inside your own seller accounts.

  • E-commerce & ops
  • Employed, screened, managed
Get a staffing plan Book a 20-minute call

Get a staffing plan

A named person replies within 1 business day

A short call sizes the desk faster than email. We call only if you leave a number.

  • A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
  • A person replies, not a bot
  • Details stored only to reply. Privacy

What is an Etsy virtual assistant?

An Etsy virtual assistant is a remote assistant who handles the daily running of an Etsy shop and, often, a seller's eBay and Walmart accounts too: answering buyer messages, managing custom order requests, cases, cancellations and refunds, updating listings and tags, responding to reviews, and keeping the shop within each marketplace's policies and response targets. At AssistBPO the assistant is an employee of the group working inside the seller's own accounts.

· Reviewed by Issabela Masters

  1. Marketplace messaging: what we do and how it runs

    An Etsy virtual assistant is a remote assistant who handles the daily running of an Etsy shop and, often, a seller's eBay and Walmart accounts too: answering buyer messages, managing custom order requests, cases, cancellations and refunds, updating listings and tags, responding to reviews, and keeping the shop within each marketplace's policies and response targets. At AssistBPO the assistant is an employee of the group working inside the seller's own accounts.

    01 / 06

  2. What it is

    An Etsy virtual assistant is a remote assistant who handles the daily running of an Etsy shop and, often, a seller's eBay and Walmart accounts too: answering buyer messages, managing custom order requests, cases, cancellations and refunds, updating listings and tags, responding to reviews, and keeping the shop within each marketplace's policies and response targets. At AssistBPO the assistant is an employee of the group working inside the seller's own accounts.

    02 / 06

  3. What you get

    Buyer messages, cases, reviews and listings on Etsy, eBay and Walmart handled daily

    03 / 06

  4. How it runs

    Replies within each marketplace's response window, in your voice, from your account

    04 / 06

  5. Match

    A 20-minute discovery call on your marketplaces, message volume, products and tone. Within 72 hours we propose a named marketplace assistant who has worked Etsy, eBay or Walmart inboxes in a similar category, plus a trained backup.

    05 / 06

  6. A named assistant, a backup and a team lead

    In your hours, inside your tools, with a reply from a person within 1 business day. Call +1-657-777-0006 or ask for a staffing plan.

    Get a staffing plan 06 / 06
Self-playing walkthrough built from this page's copy, about 36 seconds. Static storyboard under reduced motion; every scene is readable without pressing play.

Who is the marketplace messaging desk for?

Etsy makers and small brands
Custom order questions, personalization details and shipping queries answered fast so you can stay at the bench.
eBay sellers with volume
Offers, best-offer replies, item-not-received cases, returns and feedback handled within eBay's windows to protect seller status.
Walmart Marketplace sellers
Customer messages, escalations and return requests answered within Walmart's targets, with listing fixes when items get unpublished.
Multi-marketplace brands
One inbox rhythm across Etsy, eBay, Walmart and Amazon so every buyer gets the same answer in the same tone.

What does the marketplace messaging service include?

These 12 tasks are what AssistBPO's marketplace messaging desk handles as standard for an e-commerce operator.

  • Buyer message replies within each marketplace's response target
  • Custom and personalized order details confirmed before production
  • Cases, disputes and item-not-received claims answered with evidence
  • Cancellations, refunds and partial refunds within limits you set
  • Return requests approved and tracked to resolution
  • Review and feedback responses in your voice, within policy
  • Listing edits, tags, attributes and photos updated across marketplaces
  • Best offers, promotions and sales set up to your rules
  • Shipping profiles, processing times and holiday settings maintained
  • Shop policy, FAQ and announcement upkeep
  • Weekly report on response times, cases, reviews and sales by marketplace
  • Monthly QA scorecard on accuracy, tone and policy compliance

Deliverables and KPIs

AssistBPO reports 6 measures on the marketplace messaging desk: what lands on your desk, what we count, and how often you see the number.

DeliverableKPI we reportCadence
Messages answeredMedian first reply inside your window, every business dayDaily, in the end-of-day report
Cases handledOpen cases with next action, aged under two daysDaily
Seller metrics protectedResponse rate and case rate within each marketplace's targetsWeekly
Reviews respondedPublic replies to reviews within two business daysWeekly
Listings updatedEdits completed against the weekly listWeekly
Reply quality QATeam lead score on a sample of messagesMonthly

KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement in the weekly review. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement, not on this page.

How does the marketplace messaging desk work?

  1. Match

    A 20-minute discovery call on your marketplaces, message volume, products and tone. Within 72 hours we propose a named marketplace assistant who has worked Etsy, eBay or Walmart inboxes in a similar category, plus a trained backup.

  2. Onboard

    You grant access to Etsy, eBay Seller Hub and Walmart Seller Center under permissions you set, and share product details, personalization rules, shipping times and return policy. We build a reply guide with approved answers to the top 30 questions, escalation rules and refund limits. The first week's replies are reviewed by you daily.

  3. Daily rhythm

    The assistant opens each marketplace inbox in turn, answers messages, confirms custom order details, handles cases and returns, responds to reviews and works the listing edit list. The end-of-day report shows messages answered by marketplace, cases open, refunds issued and anything waiting on your decision.

  4. Weekly review

    Twenty minutes with the team lead over the weekly report: response times, case causes, review themes, listing changes and sales by marketplace. Reply guide updates are agreed on the call. Monthly, the team lead scores a sample of replies on the QA scorecard for accuracy, tone and policy.

Hours, coverage and models

AssistBPO staffs the marketplace messaging desk on 3 models. US Eastern to Pacific, UK and Canadian business hours from the group's two offices; Australian Eastern shifts available on request. Weekend inbox checks as an add-on to keep response rates up.

  • Dedicated marketplace assistant, 80 or 160 hours a month
  • Shared e-commerce pod, 20 or 40 hours a month for lower message volumes
  • Peak-season pod for Q4 and holiday custom orders

See what is staffed in your zone on the coverage clock.

What are the terms on the marketplace messaging desk?

The card, the contract terms and the marketplace messaging desk's own numbers, in one place.

SpecificationWhat you get
Essential, 10 hours a week$400 a month, 40 hours
Focus, 20 hours a week$800 a month, 80 hours
Dedicated, 40 hours a week$1,600 a month, 160 hours
Managed Pod, three seats or moreFrom $4,800 a month
Evening, weekend or overnight coverTier rate plus 20 percent
DeskE-commerce & operations desk
Standard scheduleDedicated marketplace assistant, 80 or 160 hours a month
CoverageUS Eastern to Pacific, UK and Canadian business hours from the group's two offices; Australian Eastern shifts available on request.
Tools9 platforms, including Etsy, eBay, Amazon Seller Central
KPIs reported6 measures: daily, weekly, monthly
Setup feeNone
Minimum termMonth to month, no lock-in
Notice30 days, to stop or to change hours
If the fit is wrongTrained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge
ContinuityOne named assistant, one named backup, one team lead
Who does the workEmployed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors

These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. The rate card carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.

How much does marketplace messaging cost?

Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

What moves the plan

  1. Hours a week and whether the desk is dedicated or shared
  2. Phones: live answering needs a receptionist profile and a backup
  3. Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours, weekends or 24/7
  4. Tools and access to set up
  5. One person or a pod with a lead

What the market publishes

Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.

MarketPublished rangeSource
United StatesPayScale average $19.45 an hour for virtual assistants with a $12 to $30 range; managed offshore assistants $7 to $15 an hourPayScale via Wishup 2026 Industry Report; Wishup and Cherry Assistant cost guides, 2026
MarketplacesUpwork median around $13 an hour for one-off tasks; turnover of a freelance VA costs 2 to 3 months of salary in lost productivityZedtreeo, Catalyst Outsourcing and Nacho, 2026
United KingdomPayScale employed average £15.33 an hour; UK-based VAs £25 to £45; offshore full-time £900 to £2,000 a monthPayScale UK, Time etc and Teambuild Consultancy, 2026
AustraliaOffshore managed agencies A$8 to A$35 an hour; onshore VAs A$39.90 to A$65 an hourVirtual Coworker, DotVA and Smart Staffing published rates, June to August 2026

Get a staffing plan How we build a plan

Proof

Case study

One engagement on this desk, anonymized. Numbers appear only once the owner has verified them.

All case studies

Peak season handled without a backlog

Case study

E-commerce Brand Survives Peak Season Support

A direct-to-consumer brand selling on Shopify did most of its year in six weeks. The rest of the year two people cleared the queue comfortably. In peak season the same two people were answering chat, email, Instagram messages and returns at once, first response times stretched into days, and shipping-delay questions arrived faster than anyone could answer them. Temporary hires had never worked out, because training finished about the time the season did. AssistBPO built a peak-season pod on the support desk: named agents with a team lead, trained in October, live from the start of November and stood down in January. The pod worked inside the brand's own Gorgias help desk using macros written with the in-house team. Tickets were tagged by reason so the operations team could see which problems were worth fixing at the source.

Consumer e-commerce

Security and compliance

  1. Background-checked, employed assistants under NDA; never freelancers
  2. Marketplace access through your own account permissions with two-step verification, revocable any time
  3. Refunds and cancellations only within limits you set; larger amounts wait for your approval
  4. Buyer names, addresses and order details stay inside the marketplace, never on personal devices
  5. Payout, bank and tax settings are never in scope

Full control list on the security page and country rules for calls, texts and email on the compliance page. Certifications are listed only when held.

Country rules for this service

AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Assistants never take card numbers. Country rules.

  • Each marketplace's messaging, review and refund policies followed; no off-platform contact
  • UK and Australia: Consumer Contracts Regulations and Australian Consumer Law on returns and refunds reflected in replies

Frequently asked questions

How much does an Etsy virtual assistant cost?

Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. For orientation, PayScale lists US virtual assistants at $19.45 an hour on average, managed offshore providers publish $7 to $15 an hour and marketplace freelancers sit around $13 on Upwork (Wishup 2026; Cherry Assistant and Zedtreeo cost guides). AssistBPO prices a dedicated assistant per person for a block of hours, and most Etsy shops need a part-time block.

Which marketplaces do you cover?

Etsy, eBay, Walmart Marketplace, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Faire, Reverb and Depop, plus Shopify Inbox if your own store is part of the mix. The assistant is matched to your main marketplace first and trained on the others during onboarding, so every buyer gets the same answer whichever platform they use.

How fast do you answer buyer messages?

Inside the window you set, usually within the hour during your business hours and always inside each marketplace's own target, such as Etsy's 24-hour response rate and eBay's case deadlines. The end-of-day report shows median reply time by marketplace, and weekend checks can be added so response rates stay high over Saturday and Sunday.

Can the assistant handle custom and personalized orders?

Yes. The assistant confirms personalization details, sizes, colors and deadlines with the buyer before the order goes to production, records them in the order notes or your sheet, and flags anything unusual to you. For makers this is often the single biggest time saver, because every clarifying message is handled before you pick up the tools.

Do you handle cases, disputes and refunds?

Yes. Item-not-received and not-as-described cases are answered with tracking and photos, eBay cases are worked inside their deadlines, and refunds or partial refunds are issued within limits you set in writing. Anything above the limit, or any case that could affect seller status, is escalated to you the same day with a recommended reply.

Can you also update our listings?

Yes: titles, tags, attributes, photos, prices, variations, shipping profiles and processing times, across every marketplace, from a weekly edit list you approve. Larger catalog builds and migrations sit with the product listing assistant on the same desk, and the two share one catalog sheet so nothing drifts.

Do you claim any status with Etsy, eBay or Walmart?

No. We are a staffing division that provides employed assistants who work inside your own seller accounts under permissions you control. We do not hold your shop, take a share of sales or claim any status with any marketplace. Your shop, your policies and your payouts stay with you.

How do you protect our seller metrics?

By answering inside each platform's response targets, resolving cases before they escalate, keeping processing times and shipping profiles accurate, flagging policy notices the day they arrive and reporting the metrics every week. If a metric slips, the weekly review looks at the cause and the reply guide is updated.

Ask an AI assistant to summarize this page

Next step

Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are.

Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours.

Get a staffing plan Book a 20-minute call

Or call +1-657-777-0006 during US, UK or Australian business hours, or hear our demo receptionist.

  • A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
  • Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
  • Your hours, your tools, your data
Call WhatsApp Staffing plan