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Protecting Your Privacy

eBay is concerned about protecting your privacy. The eBay Privacy Policy outlines limitations on the use of your contact information. eBay does not sell or disclose your information for marketing purposes. The following is a summary of our Privacy Policy and related policies. If you have questions about any part of this summary, or if you would like more detailed information, we encourage you to review our full Privacy Policy.

Limitations on member-to-member contact

  • eBay will share your personal information only with other eBay members in accordance with our Privacy Policy to facilitate transactions and to allow members to contact you.

  • When you register at eBay, you provide your basic contact information, including name, address, and phone number. Be sure to update your contact information (including email address) immediately if they ever change.

  • Email addresses are disclosed only to members involved in an eBay transaction. Although members may contact one another through the Contact an eBay Member feature, this feature should only be used only to facilitate a transaction.

Limitations on disclosure to third parties

  • eBay will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes and will disclose your personal information only in accordance with our Privacy Policy and/or with your explicit consent.

  • Third parties are not permitted to sell the information we provide to them, to market directly to you, or to disclose it in any other way without your explicit consent.

  • eBay will share your personal information with Internet service providers (ISPs) involving our operations only to facilitate or outsource an eBay service or operation when absolutely necessary and under confidential restrictions.

  • Other eBay companies that have access to your personal information in accordance with the policy are required to protect your personal information at least as strictly as eBay does.

  • eBay discloses limited personal contact information to verified requests by law enforcement and government officials who conduct criminal investigations. eBay requires a subpoena for additional personal information, in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Safeguarding User IDs

  • eBay safeguards your User ID by limiting the display of your bid history information to other members. While bid history, buying activity, and contact information about other members is helpful in evaluating a transaction and promoting a level of trust between users, potential fraudsters can also use the information to defraud members.

  • Other members can't see your member-specific information - such as your User ID - on the Bid History page. When you bid on an item, your User ID is shown to the seller of the item only. Bidders are assigned anonymous names which are used consistently throughout the bid history for an item.

eBay also provides you with:

  • Choices about how you wish to be contacted in the Preferences section of My eBay.

  • Notice of Privacy Policy changes and an opportunity to reject such changes.

  • Convenient ways to change your personal information, so that you can keep it up to date.

  • Safe, secure technology and other privacy protection programs to keep your personal information secure on eBay. Your information is stored and processed on computers located in the United States.

  • Technical and procedural safeguards, including firewalls, encryption, and Secure Socket Layers to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as from unauthorised access and disclosure. eBay employs many different security techniques to safeguard such data from unauthorised access by users inside and outside the company.

  • Privacy Central to help you fully evaluate our practices and answer privacy questions. If you have additional questions, you may send email to privacy@ebay.com.

Related eBay policies that help protect your privacy

  • Spam (Unsolicited Commercial Email) – eBay's spam policy applies only to unsolicited commercial messages sent by eBay members. This page details the types of spam mail that you can report to eBay.

  • Reporting Spoof (Fake) Email – eBay will never ask you to provide sensitive information through email. This page shows how to determine whether or not a message was sent by eBay, and what you should do if you receive such a message.

Contact Customer Support

If you have an additional question about this subject, email us at Customer Support.
If you would like to ask a question on another subject, please use the Contact Us page.


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