PayPal Clarifies Impact of Policy Change on eBay Sellers

It would seem eBay sellers can breathe a sigh of relief over a new PayPal policy regarding seller transparency.

PayPal updated its user agreement, and one provision going into effect on March 12 requires sellers to publish customer service information:

“We are requiring that merchants publish customer service information, including at least one email address or customer service URL, and a telephone number, which must be readily accessible for review by merchants’ customers.”

A PayPal spokesperson told EcommerceBytes on Wednesday, “To clarify, the ability for a buyer to contact a seller through eBay’s standard processes satisfies the requirement.”

We had pointed out on Sunday that the new PayPal policy seemed to conflict with eBay’s “Contact information sharing policy,” which states, “Publishing or displaying contact information in a listing without the permission of eBay, or except as required by law, is not allowed.”

Interestingly, some sellers said they already included contact information on eBay with no negative repercussions – see this AuctionBytes Blog post.

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/.