Audience: Sellers and buyers on the Marketplace.

Short answer: Yes. When someone messages you about a listing,
you'll get an email + push notification (and a count on the bell
icon). Tap the push and you land on the exact thread the
message came from. Replies are real-time, with read receipts and
typing indicators — same as a regular chat.

What you'll see

• Push notification on your phone the moment a buyer messages
  you.
• Email as well, in case the push is missed.
• Unread count on the notification bell at the top right of
  the site, alongside chat unreads.
• Tap any of the above to jump straight to the conversation.

Inside a Marketplace conversation

• Real-time — messages appear instantly on the other person's
  phone, no refresh needed.
• ✓ Seen mark on your last message once the other person reads
  it.
• Typing indicator (three dots) when they're typing.
• Reconnecting… banner if your phone briefly loses signal —
  goes away when the connection is back.
• Background reconnects during long conversations — when a
  session token rotates, the thread reconnects in <1s without
  interruption.

Notes / gotchas

• Tap deep-links to the right thread. Sellers with multiple
  active buyer conversations on the same listing land in the
  thread the message came from, not a generic inbox.
• Account handles stay private until you message. Your Venmo
  / CashApp etc. only appear on the listing in masked form; full
  handles surface in the conversation when you choose to share.
• Saved listings (♡) and Messages are two separate things
  — Saved is your wishlist; Messages is the conversation thread
  with the seller.

Video

• File: videos/23-marketplace-messaging.mp4 (to be
  recorded)
• Suggested length: 45–60 seconds
• Suggested script:
  1. Buyer taps Message Seller on a listing (5s)
  2. Cut to seller's phone — push lands, tap, deep-links to thread
  (10s)
  3. Live exchange showing typing indicator + ✓ Seen (15s)
  4. Brief signal drop → Reconnecting… banner → recovery (10s)
  5. Back at home screen, show notification bell with unread
  marketplace count (10s)