eBay User Agreement Updates Details

eBay has updated its ‘eBay User Agreement’ for new and existing users but also included confusing language in the mail it sent to existing users that seemed to suggest the new terms are effective now. That is not correct and eBay’s User Agreement page makes this more clear.

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“This User Agreement is effective upon acceptance for new users, and from March 11, 2022 for existing users. The previous amendment to this User Agreement was effective for all users on October 8, 2021.”

In other words, new users are signing up according to the new agreement, while existing users operate under the “old” agreement until March 11.

This gives existing users time to make adjustments to comply with any changes or close their eBay account if they do not wish to agree to the new terms. Staying with eBay past March 11 automatically means users have accepted the new terms. No action is required for existing users to accept the new terms.

In the email, eBay provided highlights of the changes. We took a look at the changed wording using a tool that compares two documents. While there are a number of small updates and clarifications spread throughout the document, here is what we found based on the sections eBay highlighted in its email.

• eBay’s new payment terms to now reflect the company’s migration to managed payments. It seems they mostly cleaned up language and made it simpler to understand (see Section 14).
• The company also advised sellers that it may publish and promote their listings on platforms belonging to other eBay corporate family members and/or third parties, including usernames and user feedback. Here is what they added, “eBay may publish and promote your listings, including related content such as username, product reviews and feedback on the websites or in the applications, services and tools of other eBay Inc. corporate family members or cooperating third-party operators of websites, applications, services and tools.”
• “Ways eBay can use personal data have been brought in accordance with our User Privacy Notice,” the email said. This also looks more like language clean-up and doesn’t seem to materially change anything in the agreement.
• eBay updated the transaction terms regarding eBay’s Authentication Guarantee programs which now suggests it may add options for buyers. The new wording in the agreement is, “We charge sellers for the use of our Services. In some cases, where a buyer receives supplemental Services such as authentication Services for items in certain categories, we may also charge the buyer for such supplemental Service.”
• And for the last item in the email, eBay made a change to no longer allow users to share personal login credentials with third parties. Users who need to allow employees or vendors access to their account now must use the Multi-User Account Access program for that purpose. The feature was launched in 2019.

eBay User Agreement Items Not in eMail

In addition to items in the email, the company made a few other changes we thought are noteworthy as they could impact some sellers.

• eBay added wording that said users may not “circumvent any technical measures used to provide our Services.” This seems to suggest they are trying to combat the use of third-party services that may access the site without using its API. Possibly some “rogue” seller tools could fall into this category.
• And in the international section (Section 8), eBay added, “Given the nature of eBay’s global marketplace, listings may be viewed and purchased by, and shipped to, buyers around the world.” This is a bit of a strange clarification in this section which may suggests eBay plans to allow buyers in other countries to make purchases that ship to a US address for forwarding (ie Global Shipping Program) even if the seller blocked selling internationally.

As always, we recommend you read the entire document to ensure there are no surprises that may impact your business on eBay. Here is the link to the new eBay User Agreement (US). User in other countries should consult their eBay User Agreement pages for any changes that may have been made.