The messaging system enables you to contact other users within the protected environment of Aupair World. Your contact information is never passed on to third persons. Naturally, you are free to give your telephone number, Skype or e-mail address to the au pair/host family. However, you decide when and with whom you exchange these data.

Aupair World's messaging system is based on the so-called "ping-pong principle". This means the messages (standard messages or personal messages) are basically written in alternate order:

• first the host family (or au pair) writes a message,
• then the au pair (or host family) sends a reply,
• then the host family (or au pair) writes another message,
• etc.

As soon as you have become a Premium Member, you can use the function "Write once more". This function enables you to send one more – now personal – message to each au pair whom you have already sent a standard message before becoming a Premium Member. After you have used the function "Write once more" within a conversation, the ping-pong principle applies again.

All messages that are exchanged between an au pair and a host family form a conversation. Conversations are shown in the folders "Received", "Sent" or "Archive".

In order to be able to exchange personal messages, either the host family or the au pair must be a Premium Member. As a Premium Member you can always write and read personal messages, no matter whether the other person is a Premium Member or not. You can continue these conversations even after your Premium Membership has expired.

Normally, the host family becomes a Premium Member, rendering an exchange of personal messages possible.

Help for host families: How to contact au pairs through Aupair World.

Once you have received a reply or new application, you can find the related conversation in the "Received" folder.

You can do the following when you receive a message:

1. send a positive reply (continue the conversation) or
2. send a negative reply (close the conversation).

Once you have sent a message, you can find the related conversation in the "Sent" folder.

Please note that you are only allowed to send a limited number of applications. An application is the first message sent to an au pair or a host family.

Once you have sent a message to an au pair or a host family, you can easily see whether your message has been read. This is indicated by an opened envelope in the "Sent" folder. If your messages in the "Sent" folder are in bold and include a closed envelope, they have not been read yet.

Once you have read or sent a negative reply, the conversation is closed. You cannot continue or restart a closed conversation later.

Therefore, closed conversations are automatically shifted into the archive after reading or sending.