eBay UK User Agreement Update For March 17, 2025 Takes Aim At Illegal Content
Just a few short days after previous User Agreement update went into effect, eBay UK is making more changes, primarily aimed at tackling illegal content on the site and preventing fee avoidance.
The new update was posted today and goes into effect March 17th for existing users.
As always, sellers are encouraged to read the entire updated terms carefully, but Value Added Resource has you covered with a side by side comparison highlighting some key changes.
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.
Most of the changes are centered around describing ways in which eBay may check listings to detect illegal or prohibited content (including AI) and how policies against illegal and prohibited content will be enforced.
For example:
Old Version:
While we may provide pricing, postage, listing and other guidance in our Services, such guidance is solely informational and you may decide to follow it or not. eBay does not review users' listings or content.
New Version:
While we may provide pricing, postage, listing and other guidance in our Services, such guidance is solely informational and you may decide to follow it or not. Except for certain checks, including those designed to verify that listings do not include illegal content (as described in the Illegal content section), eBay does not review users' listings or content.
Old Version:
In connection with using or accessing the Services you will not:
post, list or upload content or items in inappropriate categories or areas on our sites;
breach or circumvent any laws, third-party rights or our systems or policies;
sell any counterfeit items or otherwise infringe the copyright, trademark or other rights of third parties;
New Version:
In connection with using or accessing the Services you will not:
post, list or upload content or items in inappropriate categories or areas on our sites;
breach or circumvent any laws, third-party rights or our systems or policies;
upload illegal content or use the service in the facilitation or commission of a criminal offence;
sell any counterfeit items or otherwise infringe the copyright, trademark or other rights of third parties;
These two entirely new sections about Illegal Content and Appeals about Illegal Content that did not previously appear in the old version have now been added in the new version:
Illegal Content
Our algorithms (including AI) evaluate key words, images and other criteria during the listing creation process to identify items that are illegal, non-compliant and/or fail to comply with the Prohibited and restricted items policy.
These algorithms will either flag listings for review by eBay investigators or in some cases automatically block them from being published. We also conduct manual and AI sweeps on existing content.
If content is determined to be illegal, non-compliant or otherwise to violate eBay policy, it is blocked or removed and the user is notified with an explanation as to why. eBay has also developed robust measures to help stop bad actors and deter repeat policy violations, with penalties up to, and including, permanent suspension.
We implement these safeguards in a way which we consider to be proportionate to the risk that listings might pose to other users of the Services – for instance, by undertaking more regular sweeps for certain categories of listing.
Our safeguards are also designed to minimise the length of time for which illegal content is present on the eBay site. This includes terrorism content, child sexual exploitation and abuse content and other illegal content.
We will swiftly take down content where we are alerted to or become aware of the presence of any content on the eBay site which we believe to be in breach of our policies (including illegal content prohibited by our policies).
Content may be taken down automatically if our algorithm flags the content as being illegal; where content is flagged for review by an eBay investigator we will prioritise review of content that is likely to be of most harm to users.
You can report content on the eBay site which you consider to be illegal using the Report content functionality.
Registered authorities can report non-compliant listings via our Regulatory Portal. Law enforcement authorities can request eBay customer data via our Law Enforcement eRequest System. Learn more.
Appeals about Illegal Content
If eBay takes one of the measures referred to in the Illegal Content section, the affected users can clarify the facts and circumstances underlying such a measure electronically by filing an appeal (free of charge) with eBay. Please note that you can make one appeal per content type. You can also request clarification through this appeals process if you have reported content that you consider to be illegal, but eBay has rejected this report.
You can lodge an appeal for a period of six months starting with the date on which eBay took the measure or informed you that your report has been rejected.
eBay will handle these appeals in a timely, non-discriminatory, diligent and objective manner. eBay will reverse the contested decision or measure, as far as this is technically possible and reasonable, without undue delay if we conclude that the appeal is justified.
And a new section has also been added notifying users of their legal rights if content is removed in a way that breaches this User Agreement.
If we take down or restrict access to any content you generate, upload or share on the eBay site, or suspend or ban you from accessing or using our Services, in a way that breaches this User Agreement, you have a right to bring a claim against eBay for breach of contract.
This right is subject to the limitation on our liability set out in the Liability section as well as the other terms set out in this User Agreement.
This focus on illegal content is likely being driven by reports the EU could soon be taking action to hold marketplaces liable for dangerous and illegal products sold through their sites and it's notable that eBay has made similar changes and added similar sections to their User Agreements for Germany, France, and Ireland in the last few days as well - but not in the US.
Prarthana Prakash
Buyer Protection Fee Avoidance
Under the heading of Abusing eBay, the following language has been added to the list of activities for which eBay may limit, suspend or take other action against user accounts (additions in bold):
Without limiting other remedies, we may limit, suspend, or terminate your user account(s) and access to our Services, restrict or prohibit access to, and your activities on, our Services, cancel bids, remove or demote or otherwise restrict the visibility of listings, delay or remove hosted content, remove any special status associated with the account, reduce or eliminate any discounts, and take technical and legal steps to keep you from using our Services if:...
...you circumvent, or seek to circumvent, any fees that may be payable when using eBay.co.uk;
you fail to make, or it is evident that you are unable to make, full payment of any fees due for our Services by your payment due date; or
we think that this is necessary in order to protect other users from illegal content being posted or listed on the eBay site.
That first part is due to the fact that just a few days into the rollout of the new Buyer Protection Fee, some clever users discovered a workaround using the eBay.com site instead of eBay.co.uk - a loophole eBay has since warned is a violation of Fee Avoidance Policies which may lead to accounts suspension.
Liz Morton
Other than that, it looks like the only other major change is that for eBay will only be giving 15 day notice, rather than 30 days, for any future changes impacting fees for sellers - but as noted in the previous payment terms of use update, eBay has granted themselves the ability to change buyer fees at any time with no notice required.
Old Version:
Private seller fees for using our Services are listed on our Fees for private sellers page and business seller fees for using our Services are listed on our Fees for business sellers page. The fees we charge for selling vehicles are listed on our Fees for selling vehicles on eBay Motors page.
Fees for using the site and purchasing items including Buyer Protection, where applicable, are listed on our eBay Buyer Protection page.
We may change our fees, or introduce new fees from time to time by posting the changes on the eBay site or via the Messages section of My eBay 30 days in advance or, in the case of fees payable by buyers, without any advance notice.
New Version:
Private seller fees for using our Services are listed on our Fees for private sellers page and business seller fees for using our Services are listed on our Fees for business sellers page. The fees we charge for selling vehicles are listed on our Fees for selling vehicles on eBay Motors page.
Fees for using the site and purchasing items including Buyer Protection, where applicable, are listed on our eBay Buyer Protection page.
We may change our fees, or introduce new fees from time to time by posting the changes on the eBay site or via the Messages section of My eBay 15 days in advance or, in the case of fees payable by buyers, without any advance notice.
Many sellers had hoped this User Agreement update would signal eBay was backtracking on plans to mandate Simple Delivery managed shipping for all eligible items from private sellers, but nothing in that section of the agreement has changed and there have also been no changes in the Simple Delivery policy pages either.
While the current Simple Delivery policy page does say sellers can opt out, CEO Jamie Iannone told investors on the Q3 2024 earnings call in October:
Managed shipping is currently live for C2C pre-owned apparel listing in the UK. In Q4, we plan to expand managed shipping horizontally on an opt-out basis, before mandating the program for eligible items listed by C2C sellers during Q1 of 2025.
Sellers have been asking for more details and a specific date in Q1 when the mandate should be expected to go into effect, but so far eBay has declined to provide any answers.
Liz Morton
There's still quite a bit of Q1 left to go and eBay's policies leave them time to make updates to the policy pages before the end of March, so anything could happen - but it wouldn't be a bad idea for private sellers to familiarize themselves with the current Simple Delivery policies, just in case.
As many of the items I sell are £10 or less, this makes it not worth the bother and I'll probably have to give it away to the charity shop.
Add that to the "buyer protection" fee they've added on - and the costs are making it untenable for people trying to clear the house, or make a few bob from old bits and pieces. Not happy at all and there doesn't seem to be a way of opting out.
The sooner these sleazebags at the top can be got rid of, or some community-run buy/sell/swap sites come up - the better. We don't need ebay.