eBay Privacy Policy April 2025: Blockchain & AI Tech Enable Digital Authentication & More
eBay has posted an update to their User Privacy Policy, effective April 21, 2025 hinting at new Blockchain technology and AI integrations coming soon!
As always, sellers are encouraged to read the entire updated policy carefully, but Value Added Resource has you covered with a side by side comparison highlighting some key changes and additions.
Disclaimer: comparisons are made using both automated and manual methods and are provided for informational purposes only - no warranty of completeness or accuracy is expressed or implied and users are advised to do their own due diligence.
First, there's an interesting addition referencing eBay Authenticity Certificates in the list of the kinds of data that may be collected about users when interacting with eBay services - we'll see more on this in the section about Blockchain tech.
Old Version:
Data that is generated through your other actions when you use our Services and which is linked to your eBay account (e.g. eBay account numbers, your currency preference, when you place items in your shopping cart, place items on the watchlist, save sellers, searches or interests, follow users, or seek to use the services of third-party partners for payments or otherwise).
New Version:
Data that is generated through your other actions when you use our Services and which is linked to your eBay account (e.g. eBay account numbers, your currency preference, when you place items in your shopping cart, place items on the watchlist, request an eBay Authenticity Certificate, save sellers, searches or interests, follow users, or seek to use the services of third-party partners for payments or otherwise).
In another section about eBay sharing data with third parties and affiliates, the language previously only referenced contracts eBay had with those third parties but has now been changed to reference applicable data protection laws instead.
Old Version:
Publication and promotion of your listings and related content on the websites or in the applications, services and tools of eBay Affiliates or cooperating third-party operators of websites, applications, services and tools. When we share the content of your listings and any related personal data with third parties, we do so only on the basis of an agreement that limits the use of such personal data by the third party to the purposes necessary to fulfill its contractual obligations to us.
New Version:
Publication and promotion of your listings and related content on the websites or in the applications, services and tools of eBay Affiliates or cooperating third-party operators of websites, applications, services and tools.
When we share the content of your listings and any related personal data with third parties, their processing of such data is subject to applicable data protection laws (including statutory security measures) at all times.
There are also changes to allow eBay to decline and/or retry charges to various payment options.
Old Version:
Provision of functions for users that make the processing of transactions easier or more convenient (e.g. administration of several delivery addresses, updating stored payment information from time to time based on information provided by your bank or other payments services providers) or provide users with more information about their transactions (e.g. calculating CO₂ emissions from eBay purchases).
New Version:
Provision of functions for users or activities that make the processing of transactions easier, more cost-effective, or more convenient (e.g. administration of several delivery addresses, updating stored payment information from time to time or retrying declined card details with updates provided by your bank or other payments services providers, reducing overall cost of payments) or provide users with more information about their transactions (e.g. calculating CO₂ emissions from eBay purchases).
Blockchain Technology
eBay acquired NFT (non-fungible token) marketplace KnownOrigin in 2022 but struggled to gain traction as the cryptoart bubble burst and announced they would be winding down on-chain marketplace in July 2024.
Liz Morton
However, it appears the investment may not have been for nothing as the underlying tech and talent from that acquisition is being combined with technology from Certilogo, which eBay acquired in 2023, to create "digital passports" and authentication certificates for proving authenticity of fashion and other luxury items purchased through the site.
This Privacy Policy update doesn't give a lot of detail, but several new additions hint at what may be coming soon from eBay in the Blockchain/web3 space.
For example, when referring to users legal rights to have their data erased, eBay notes that data cannot be erased from the blockchain.
Please note that it is not possible to erase data from the blockchain. Please see section 11. Other important information regarding data protection for further information.
In a new section called Blockchain and Controllership, eBay references tokens, smart contracts and other digital assets like eBay Authenticity Certificates.
Certain features in our marketplace may enable tokens, smart contracts, and/or other digital assets (e.g. immutable tokens for eBay Authenticity Certificates) to be deployed to a public blockchain with your separate agreement to certain terms and conditions.
Please note that notwithstanding other provisions in this User Privacy Notice addressing data controllership, the blockchain is an inherently public and decentralized infrastructure that cannot be controlled by any one person or group and is therefore outside of our ability to control.
For example, details of blockchain-based transactions are immutable and cannot be deleted by any one person or group.
eBay also says that some blockchain data may be handled by Affiliates and makes some interesting references to "digital wallets" which are sure to capture the attention of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
To the extent that certain Services involve personal data processed on eBay websites or applications such as through account or wallet registration, customer service interactions, or marketing activities, one of the eBay Affiliates is responsible for the processing of your personal data depending on the region in which you reside (see section 2. Controller above).
Such eBay Affiliate is also the controller for its independent activities involving your personal data on the blockchain to verify and manage risk involving digital wallets or to enable features for brands, collectors, sellers, traders, or such eBay Affiliate for user engagement or marketing purposes.
By contrast, neither eBay Inc. nor an eBay Affiliate is the controller for activities you choose to conduct via the blockchain, publicly visible digital wallets, or other decentralized networks (e.g. which allow you to engage in transactions on public blockchains and which inherently involve personal data placed on the public blockchain ledger).
In addition, we may engage third-party partners who may act as independent data controllers to assist to facilitate transactions you request, and your interactions with that third-party partner as an independent data controller are governed by the applicable terms of service and privacy policy of that third party.
There have been previous rumors about eBay exploring allowing the use of cryptocurrency on the site - for example CEO Jamie Iannone briefly hinted at the possibility leading up to Investor Day in 2022 but not much official has been said on the subject since then.
Liz Morton
And in 2024, eBay filed an interesting patent suggesting blockchain solutions could help fight fraud and scams on the platform - though again, so far nothing has been publicly said about it since.
Liz Morton
eBay also has a dedicated page for their Web3 initiatives, including digital passports and authenticity certificates.
Whatever is ahead, this Privacy Policy update at least suggests eBay is getting ready to reveal some big news about blockchain capabilities soon.
eBay will want to be very careful with any kind of NFT or digital asset initiatives - the Nike v StockX lawsuit started out in 2022 with Nike claiming trademark infringement related to NFTs and ended up with a ruling holding StockX liable for counterfeit sneakers sold through their site.
Liz Morton
Responsible AI
The other new section in this Privacy Policy updates deal with eBay's use of AI across many aspects of the platform.
It starts with eBay outlining their commitment to responsible AI:
We are committed to developing and using artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly, ensuring that we use AI to enhance the eBay experience and respect the needs of the entire eBay community. To achieve this, we have invested in a robust Responsible AI (RAI) approach at eBay which leverages the RAI principles set out in our RAI Policy. These principles direct the development, deployment, and use of AI at eBay.
eBay then goes on to list various purposes for which they may use AI-powered tools and products, including things like listing generation and image enhancement, AI summaries of product reviews, personalization, customer service, fraud detection, market research and more.
We may use AI-powered tools and products for various purposes, including:
- To improve and enhance our Services.
- To offer you new or enhanced features and products (such as AI-powered listing generation, image background enhancement, and AI assistants).
- To make information about listings and services more accessible, such as by offering AI-generated summaries of product reviews.
- To offer you a more customized and personalized experience.
- To provide you with enhanced customer service, for example, to bring real-time answers to chat, to analyze customer service interactions to improve their quality or to better understand customer pain points, and to help respond to customer queries.
- To support fraud detection, and compliance checks, and to detect suspicious activity on our properties.
- To analyze data for specific patterns (e.g. for market research purposes).
- To support us in our day-to-day work (e.g. to create summaries, to translate text or to generate images).
AI-powered tools and products may involve personal data processing, but this is not necessarily the case. We use both our own AI models and third-party AI models and systems to deliver AI-powered tools and products.
If our use of AI involves the processing of personal data, we rely on the legal bases set out in Section 5. Purposes and legal bases for data processing and categories of recipients above for the purposes mentioned therein. If we use any AI system that interacts directly with you, we will let you know.
The policy goes on to explain how users' personal data may be used in AI development and training, including the fact that eBay may combine personal data they collect on their users on site with data from external, publicly available sources.
Where permitted under applicable law, we use personal data collected from our users to train, test, validate, and align our own AI models as well as third-party AI models and systems that we use for the purposes outlined in this User Privacy Notice.
This may include the personal data set out in Section 4. What personal data we collect and process. We may combine personal data from our users with data from external sources (e.g. from publicly available sources). The use of personal data for AI development and training is based on our legitimate interest to achieve the objectives outlined under "Use of AI" above.
When training, testing, validating, and aligning AI models, we take appropriate steps to mitigate potential privacy impacts (e.g. through filtering, data masking, differential privacy techniques).
Where applicable, our steps are based on data protection impact assessments and the legitimate interest assessment that we carry out. These take into account the purpose of the model, the need and suitability of certain training data, as well as measures that can be reasonably taken during training and thereafter.
It also says users have the right to object to the use of their personal data for AI training, and can use the eBay Privacy Center contact page as detailed in Section 8 of the policy to make any data privacy requests.
You have rights with regard to your personal data. See Section 8. Rights as a data subject above for more details. Your rights also include the right to object to our processing of your personal data for AI development and training purposes.
You can also access the settings specifically for AI development and training preferences here, though it notes it is intended for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom and Switzerland, so it's not clear if these settings will also apply for US users.
It's disappointing that it appears eBay has automatically opted all users into having their data used for AI training, requiring those who wish not to participate to have to find the link to turn it off while still potentially having at least some of their data used during whatever time they may have been unaware the setting even existed.
If eBay really took their "responsible AI commitment" seriously, the default should have been to have it turned off, with users having to take proactive intentional action to sign up to "teach" eBay's AI - maybe even with a little incentive added in for those willing to be early adopters/guinea pigs, like Final Value Fee discounts or a free store subscription.
What do you think of eBay's use of blockchain and AI technologies? Do you trust eBay to handle your personal data in these areas? Let us know in the comments below!
Weigh is this vs 13.5% fee on postage and final value fee + vat on both + listing fee