eBay

EBay

Basic information
Founded	1995
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Business, E-commerce
Also known as
Official website	https://ebay.com/

eBay Inc. (formerly known as AuctionWeb, 1995–1997) is an American multinational e-commerce corporation based in San Jose, California, that enables users to purchase or look at products via retail sales on websites and online marketplaces in 190 markets around the globe. Sales happen either via online auctions or "buy it now" immediate purchases, and the firm makes commissions from sales made by sellers.

Consumer impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of the product (if applicable):

• User freedom
• User privacy
• Business model
• Market control

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Incidents

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the EBay category.

Successful pressure campaign

Impossible battery capacities

Impossible battery capacities are a common sight when one is looking for cheap rechargeable batteries. Readers may be familiar with this due to the Deep Cycle Systems coverage in ~5 of Louis Rossmann's YouTube channel videos.

A consumer was successful in pressuring eBay to remove entire sub-categories of 100% fraudulent battery products from its site - e.g.

• Rechargeable AAA batteries (NiMH) with a claimed capacity of 1800 mAh+ ,
• Rechargeable AA batteries (NiMH) with a claimed capacity of 3000 mAh+ and
• Rechargeable 18650 (Li-ion) batteries with a claimed capacity of 4000 mAh+ (example of expert testing of a "10000 mAh" one).

The categories were taken down and the fraudulent products were often unavailable on eBay for several years.

Readers are encouraged to emulate the activity shown - contact eBay via the periodic public community chats where it's hard to avoid the spotlight.

Due to the basic chemistry of NiMH and Li-ion batteries, often, claimed-capacity advertising claims can be clearly identified as false without seeing the product - just based on the ad content alone, when the size of the battery makes the energy storage claim implausible.

According to expert opinions (e.g. on sites like HKJ's lygte-info.dk) no one (including the world's best Li-ion battery manufacturers) even make 18650 Li-ion batteries that are truly > 4000 mAh. The best AAA NiMH batteries in the world top out around 1100mAh (and ~3500 mAh for AA NiMH's).  One can see this if you visit specialist testing sites, e.g. see HKJ's lygte-info.dk site.

The major name brands/manufacturers never claim anything close to 1800 mAh for AAA batteries. e.g. 1000 mAh AAA's.  Real rechargeable AAs (see an archive of AA's shown on Sony's website) are 2100, 2500 and 2700 mAh. Fakes claim 3800 mAh.

Sadly fake memory is still being sold on eBay and Amazon and more egregiously, eBay has even resumed allowing listing these readily identifiable categories of 100% fraudulent batteries.

User agreement update to arbitration (April 2025)

Main article: EBay updates User Agreement with forced arbitration clause

On April 17th, 2025, eBay updated its User Agreement to include a Forced arbitration clause, wherein any user of the platform would waive their right to a jury trial as a means of dispute resolution.

eBay AI opt in by default (April 2025)

Main article: eBay opts-in users for AI training

In April 2025, eBay also updated its privacy policy to allow its users' personal data to be used for machine learning purposes by both the company and third-parties.

User agreement update to arbitration (February 2026)

As of 20 February 2026, eBay has changed its "Agreement to Arbitrate" section in the User Agreement:

• The option to opt-out has been removed for existing users. Now, only new users can opt-out:

Old version:

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO OPT OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE ("OPT OUT") BY MAILING US A WRITTEN OPT-OUT NOTICE ("OPT-OUT NOTICE"). THE OPT-OUT NOTICE MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE AMENDMENT OR 30 DAYS FROM THE DATE YOU FIRST ACCEPT THIS USER AGREEMENT.

New version:

IF YOU ARE A NEW USER OF OUR SERVICES, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO OPT OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE ("OPT OUT") BY MAILING US A WRITTEN OPT-OUT NOTICE ("OPT-OUT NOTICE"). THE OPT-OUT NOTICE MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN 30 DAYS FROM THE DATE YOU FIRST ACCEPT THIS USER AGREEMENT.

Required log-in for "sold" item searches (May 2026)

Around May 2026, eBay has started to mandate log-in to user profiles for price referencing by viewing a list of recently sold items defined in a search query. Users which choose to use the website without signing in to their account and avoiding the surveillance are barred from accessing the information. Aside from the effects of profiling and recording user activity for item recommendations, this creates a suitable environment for price manipulation and scalping, especially for items which don't have their historical price data available through other means. This also walls off bots from recording this data creating a further worsening of the ability of manipulation. It also forces workaround methods like creating "burner" accounts, which could potentially further complicate matters by risking a total ban and putting greater stress on the servers.

See also

• Forced arbitration