eBay Faces Potential Privacy Lawsuits Due To Use Of Third Party Trackers
Law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP is seeking to represent users whose privacy may have been violated by eBay's usage of third party trackers on their site.
In a notice posted February 21, 2025, the firm says users may qualify for up to $5,000 if they have an account with eBay and visited www.ebay.com within the past year.
We believe eBay may have installed tracking software on its site that secretly collects data on users, such as IP addresses, information entered into forms, items searched for, viewed, or purchased, and other details of user interactions.
This software is likely developed by third-party companies, including Google and Facebook, and is designed to create user profiles for purposes such as tracking across websites and targeting them with advertisements.
We are representing clients in individual arbitration claims against eBay on behalf of users who visited www.ebay.com and may have been tracked by third-party software without their consent. If you have an eBay account and visited the website in the past year, you may be eligible for a claim under California state law, which provides for statutory damages of $5,000 per violation.
The notice goes on to explain
This case is about online privacy. When a person visits a website with an internet browser, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, many pieces of third-party software are automatically installed on that person’s browser, which promptly begin receiving and sending data to that person’s internet browser.
Some of this software and the data it receives is harmless—indeed, it is necessary—to make the website display and function as the website owners intended. For example, a third-party might install software that tells your browser what the proper images or fonts to display on the website are.
However, some third-party internet software is designed to send and receive information from the users’ browser and their use of the website for other reasons, such as targeting advertisements to the user or tracking the user across different websites that they visit.
When these kinds of third-party software are installed and used without authorization or the user’s knowledge, it may potentially violate certain state privacy laws, like the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”).
Coincidentally, eBay also just recently released an update to their User Privacy Policies which is slated to go into effect April 21st, with new sections about how data may be used and shared for blockchain technology and AI training and development.
Liz Morton
While the information page about this potential lawsuit does not specify where you must be located, several readers who have filed out the form say they believe this may be for California residents only.
Are you concerned about how eBay and/or third parties they use for ads and other services are handling your personal data? Let us know in the comments below!
