New eBay User Agreement: Don’t Share Log In with Anyone

eBay users waited a long time for Multi-User Account Access (MUAA). But now that it has been available for some time, eBay is making a change to its policies regarding account-sharing.

As part of its new User Agreement taking effect for existing customers on March 11, eBay is prohibiting sellers from sharing log-in data with third-parties.

There was a dearth of information about the practicalities of the new prohibition – can you not share your user name and password with family members, for example? And what are the implications if you do share your log-in data with third parties? But it does make clear users may not share their log-in data with employees and others, so pay attention, and take action if needed.

Another change to the agreement: eBay spelled out that while it charges sellers for using its services, it may also charge buyers for authentication services in certain categories.

eBay notified users via email of the modified User Agreement on Wednesday, the same day it announced the 2022 Winter Seller Update. The new User Agreement went into effect the same day for new users.

eBay provided a bare outline of what was changing, and the link to “read more” simply led users to the new User Agreement rather than spelling out each change or providing a redlined version showing the language added, removed, or moved.

eBay sent the following email to users (some people received the email on February 9, others on February 10):

At eBay, we strive to make our policies clear and our services easy to use. As part of that commitment, we’re announcing some changes to the eBay User Agreement.

Our updated User Agreement will take effect on February 9, 2022 and you can read the updated User Agreement on eBay.com.

Notable changes:

• Payment terms now reflect eBay’s migration to managed payments.
• We may publish and promote your listings on platforms belonging to other eBay corporate family members and/or third-parties.
• Ways eBay can use personal data have been brought in accordance with our User Privacy Notice.
• Transaction terms regarding eBay’s Authentication Guarantee programs have been updated.
• More details are available on eBay’s policy with respect to sharing credentials.

Something that needs special calling out: in the email, eBay states, “Payment terms now reflect eBay’s migration to managed payments,” but users may think that’s a reference to the User Agreement Section 1 now called “Payment Services.”

However, the eBay User Agreement states that it requires users to adhere to eBay’s Payment Terms of Use – but doesn’t mention that the payment terms are changing in April, although it does include a link to the terms.

Sellers (and buyers) should be sure to understand that the new payment terms take effect immediately for users who go through the Managed Payments onboarding process on or after February 16, 2022, or on April 16, 2022, for all others.

Another area sellers will want to pay particular attention to is Section 13, where eBay is changing the language around returns and cancelations for buyers and sellers and the eBay Money Back Guarantee.

Now for a closer look at some of the changes that jumped out at us.

Section 2 “About eBay”:

• It’s amusing to see eBay change the description that it’s a marketplace that allows users to offer, sell and buy “just about anything,” changing the term to “goods and services.”
• Instead of stating, “The actual contract for sale is directly between the seller and buyer. eBay is not a party to the transaction, and it is not a seller or a traditional auctioneer,” the User Agreement now states, “eBay is not a party to contracts for sale between third-party sellers and buyers, nor is eBay a traditional auctioneer.”

Section 3 “Using eBay”:

• eBay added the following provision: “you will not share your log in credentials with any third parties. If you require that authorized third parties (employees, agents, etc) have access to your account we offer a Multi-User Account Access program for that purpose.”

(More information about MUAA can be found on this page.)

• eBay moved two provisions around, but they aren’t new: it still bans users from posting “false, inaccurate, misleading, deceptive, defamatory, or libelous content,” and it still bans users from circumventing any technical measures eBay uses to provide its services

Section 5 “Fees and Taxes”:

• eBay added the following provision: “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.”
• eBay tweaked the provision addressing situations when a seller’s payment method fails or when their account is past due, and it removed references to PayPal. In fact, eBay removed all references to PayPal in the new User Agreement, including in sections 11, and 13.
• eBay already said it had the right to display third-party ads on any part of its services, but it added language specifically calling out that it has the right to display such ads in sellers’ listings:

“Selling fees don’t purchase exclusive rights to item exposure on our Services. We may display third-party advertisements (including links and references thereto) or other content in any part of our Services, including your listing, in our sole discretion and without consent from, or payment, fee reduction, or other credit to, sellers.”

Section 6 “Listing Conditions”:

• Where eBay had written, “Metatags and URL links that are included in a listing may be removed or altered so as to not affect third-party search engine results,” eBay removed the last phrase so it now reads: “Metatags and URL links that are included in a listing may be removed or altered.”

Removing the reference to third-party search engine results gives eBay greater latitude.

• eBay added the following language to Section 6: “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.”

Section 8 “International Buying and Selling; Translation”:

• eBay added, “Given the nature of eBay’s global marketplace, listings may be viewed and purchased by, and shipped to, buyers around the world.”
• eBay added the words “or listing” to a paragraph (“If you sell an item on an eBay site that is different from your registration or listing site,…”) that spells out that sellers who list internationally are subject to User agreements and applicable policies of those international eBay sites.

Section 11 “Holds and Restricted Funds”:

• As noted above, eBay removed all references to PayPal in the new UA, including deleting the following paragraph: “If you receive transaction proceeds to your PayPal account, eBay may instruct PayPal to temporarily restrict access to funds in your PayPal account based on certain factors, including, but not limited to, selling history, seller performance, returns, riskiness of the listing category, transaction value, or the filing of an eBay Money Back Guarantee case.”

Section 11 of the new UA states only: “To protect eBay from risk of liability for your actions as a seller, eBay Payments Entities may restrict access to your funds as described in the Payments Terms of Use.”

Section 13 “Additional Terms”:

eBay made numerous changes to this section covering the following:

• Returns and cancellations for sellers
• Returns and cancellations for buyers
• eBay Money Back Guarantee

As noted above, eBay removed references to PayPal in Section 13. eBay changed a paragraph under Returns and cancellations for sellers to now read: “When an item is returned or if a transaction is cancelled after payment has been completed, eBay may issue a refund to the buyer on the seller’s behalf and charge the seller for the amount of the refund.”

eBay also changed the situations under which it may charge sellers for the cost of return shipping labels and/or other reasonable fees from sellers – be sure to read over the section very carefully.

eBay also changed language in Section 13 around the time buyers have to request a cancellation, removing the restriction of “one hour after their purchase or commitment,” instead saying it must be “within the time period and as provided in our Order cancellation policy.”

You can find the Order cancellation party on this page of the eBay website. (Note that there, eBay instructs buyers, “If it’s been more than an hour since your purchase, you need to contact the seller and ask them to cancel it for you.”)

Finally worthy of mention in the Money Back Guarantee section of Section 13: Rather than spelling out how it may collect reimbursements for buyers under the Money Back Guarantee, eBay simplified the language and pointed to the Payments Terms of Use (which as we previously noted, are changing in April).

Section 14 “Payment Services”

• eBay changed the section heading from “Managed Payments” to “Payment Services.”
• It tweaked this section, but the major gist is that users must agree to the Payments Terms of Use, so make sure you understand that, in eBay’s words: “To receive payment for an item sold using our Services, you must accept and comply with the Payments Terms of Use, including the requirements to provide to eBay Payment Entities information about you, your business, and the financial account you will use to receive payments.”

And, as previously noted, eBay Payments Terms of Use (detailed separately from the User Agreement) are changing in April – links below.

Summary

eBay last made changes to its User Agreement last fall. We wrote about the changes in this September 14, 2021 Newsflash article.

As always, you should read all of the terms to which you agree – here’s a link to the eBay User Agreement. For your convenience, here’s a link to eBay’s Payment Terms of Use, which goes into effect on April 16th for sellers who successfully completed the onboarding process before February 16, 2022. The current (soon to be previous) version is available here.

It took an excruciatingly long time for us to review the changes to the eBay User Agreement. Some caveats: we aren’t lawyers (neither are users who must abide by the terms), nor should you rely on this analysis as a complete assessment of what’s changing. But if you got this far, you can see there are some significant call-outs. (We only focused on what is changing, not the terms that are remaining in place.) If you find additional points or would like to comment on what’s changing, please leave a comment below.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.