Ebay Terms of Service Net 303 - Online Policy Primer by Rumbie

Nhongo Image by Getty (2011)

What is Ebay?

(What is Ebay, n.d.) Image by What is Ebay (n.d.) & Image from Microsoft Clipart

An online venue for people to trade

You can buy and sell anything

Joining and bidding is free

Selling incurs a fee

Uses feedback for open & honest trading

It has applied self-service where customers choose

what they sell, the price & how to sell it . It is for

customers by customers because the guidebooks

are elaborated by other customers and product

recommendations are written by customers.

(Moscoso, Lago & Castro , 2011) Image from Microsoft Clipart

Ebay has a reputation system where members rate

each other after a transaction and this is reflects the

trustworthiness judged by the eBay community

(Bonatti, Duma, Fuchs, Nejdl, Olmedilla, Peer & Shahmehri, 2006)

Trusting Ebay

Image from Microsoft Clipart

We believe people are basically good.

We believe everyone has something to contribute.

We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in

people.

We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual.

We encourage you to treat others the way that you want to be treated.

EBay's Five basic Values:

(Community , 2003) Image from Microsoft Clipart

Are you ready to be a member now?

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Wait a second there are a few

rules and policies you need to go through

Image from Microsoft Clipart

1. User Agreement

2. Trust and Safety Tutorials

3. Rules about Feedback

4. Rules for Everyone, Buyers, Sellers,

Listings

5. Prohibited and Restricted items

6. Rules about Intellectual Property

(Rules & Policies Overview, 2003)

Hmm that’s a lot huh?

Let me summarise for you...

Image from Microsoft Clipart

So what is required to be a member

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Be over 18 years old

YOU control YOUR account

Use caution and common sense

YOU bid YOU buy (retractions exceptional circumstances only)

Describe sell item accurately and truthfully

(User Agreement, 2003)

Can you choose to stay anonymous?

Image from Frontview (n.d.)

Even though

The User Agreement states

that they cannot and does not confirm

each member’s ‘real’ identity.

You cannot misrepresent your identity

Must provide valid information & email address

Might require financial information (PayPal, credit card) to verify billing details

Information about you may be disclosed to the government

(User Agreement, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

YOU are responsible

for...

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Any obligations to other members

Enforcing your rights if obligation has been breached

Your information, must not be harmful to eBay & 3rd

party

Conducting lawful listing, bidding & selling

Not copying, altering & creating derivative works

Not publicly displaying content without permission

(User Agreement, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Ebay only provides an online platform in

which YOU are responsible for what you do, NOT THEM.

Ebay is not responsible for:

The safety, quality or legality of content posted

Offering insurance or seller protection

Any transactions & interactions

Liability in any court cases Ebay

(User Agreement, 2003)

Image from RTImages (n.d.)

The Up side PayPal users can receive eBay Buyer Protection for

free for almost all purchases

If you use another way to pay they will still try to help

even though PayPal is the recommended secure

service

(Buyer Protection, n.d.)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Step by Step

(Buyer Protection, n.d.)

1.Contact seller and try to sort the issue out, can’t resolve it?

2.Contact eBay and they will investigate for you

3.They can also speak to the seller and try to resolve it

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Unfortunately eBay does not have any other

way to handle inappropriate behaviour

besides alerting the police, banning the

offending member and they will not reimburse

you when defrauded. (Duh, Jamal & Sunder, 2002)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

What about your Privacy?

Image from Microsoft Clipart

“One way to summarize

eBay’s privacy policy

would be to say “there

is no privacy on the

Internet.”

(Duh, Jamal & Sunder, 2002, p.8)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

The URL you came from

The URL you go to next

What browser you are using

Your IP address

Tracked information include:

(Privacy Policy, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Ebay uses “session” cookies to monitor and

collect information, you can decline them if

your browser allows you but you will lose

access to a few features.

(Duh, Jamal & Sunder, 2002)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

They maintain a file of personal information including:

Your bidding, buying & selling behaviour

Comments about you in the feedback area

Feedback you leave for others

Information you post in cafes, chat rooms

Ebay collects:

(Privacy Policy, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

To resolve disputesTo ensure safe trading To enforce User Agreement

But Why you ask?

(Privacy Policy, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

As the User Agreement says, membership is a

privilege not an entitlement

Image from Microsoft Clipart

You may get suspended, terminated or restricted if:

Image from Microsoft Clipart

You have outstanding eBay fees

eBay cannot verify the information you give

Listing more than 100 auctions per day (Eizzy, n.d.)

You don't complete a transaction lawfully

Govt informs them of you engaging in fraud

Concern about your feedback or ratings (Privacy Policy,

2003)

TOS’s might change and what you agree on might

be amended and if you don’t like it you will have

to terminate your account, if you choose to stay

then this will be considered to have accepted

them. (Privacy Policy, 2003)

Image from Microsoft Clipart

Now that you have a better understanding, go

ahead, JOIN UP!!

Image from Microsoft Clipart

References Bonatti, P. A., Duma, C., Fuchs, N., Nejdl, W., Olmedilla, D., Peer, J., & Shahmehri, N. (2006).

Semantic Web Policies – A Discussion of Requirements and Research Issues. The Semantic Web: Research and Applications: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4011, pp. 712-724. Retrieved from http://rewerse.eu/publications/download/REWERSE-RP-2006-020.pdf

Duh, R., Jamal, K., & Sunder, S. (2002). Control and Assurance in E-Commerce: Privacy, Integrity and Security at eBay. Taiwan Accounting Review, 3(1), pp. 1-27. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=350663

Ebay. (2003). User Agreement. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/user-agreement.html

Ebay. (2003). eBay’s Community Values. Retrieved from http://community.ebay.com.au/index.jspa

Ebay. (2003). Feedback Policies Overview. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/feedback-ov.html

Ebay. (2003). Buyer Protection. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebaybuyerprotection/index.html

Ebay. (2003). Rules for Everyone Overview. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/everyone-ov.html

Ebay. (2003). Rules and Policies Overview. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/overview.html

Ebay. (2003). Privacy Policy. Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/privacy-policy.html

Ebay. (n.d.). What is Ebay? Retrieved from http://pages.ebay.com.au/ebayexplained/what_is_ebay.html

Eizzy. (n.d.). Suspended eBay Account. Retrieved from http://eizzy.hubpages.com/hub/Suspended-eBay-Account

Moscoso, P. G., Lago, A., & Castro, M. (2011). Putting your Client to Work: A good way to achieve great service at low cost? The European Business Review, pp. 12-16. Retrieved from http://webprofesores.iese.edu/pmoscoso/personal/EBR-client.pdf

Images Ebay. (n.d.). What is Ebay? [Images on Slide 2]. Retrieved from http://

pages.ebay.com.au/ebayexplained/what_is_ebay.html Frontview. (n.d.) Anonymous [Image]. Retrieved from http://

frontview.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/black-fax.jpg Getty. (2011). The History of eBay. [Image on Slide 1]. Retrieved from  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8451898/The-history-of-eBay.html  Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). Money. [Image on Slide 2]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Shopping. [Image on Slide 3]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 08/09/2012). Rating. [Image on Slide 4]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 08/09/2012). Community. [Image on Slide 5]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). Excited. [Image on Slide 6]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 05/09/2012). Shocked. [Image on Slide 7]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 05/09/2012). Stress. [Image on Slide 9]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). Question Mark. [Image on Slide 10]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 06/09/2012). Identity. [Image on Slide 14]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 05/09/2012). Court. [Image on Slide 15]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). Law. [Image on Slide 16]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Thumbs up. [Image on Slide 19]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Steps. [Image on Slide 20]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Thief. [Image on Slide 21]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Privacy. [Image on Slide 22]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 08/09/2012). Private. [Image on Slide 23]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). URL. [Image on Slide 24]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 07/09/2012). Monitor. [Image on Slide 25]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 04/09/2012). Files. [Image on Slide 26]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 05/09/2012). Confused. [Image on Slide 27]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 07/09/2012). Entitlement. [Image on Slide 28]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 08/09/2012). Restricted. [Image on Slide 29]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 07/09/2012). Stop. [Image on Slide 31]. Microsoft Clipart. (Accessed 09/09/2012). Jumping. [Image on Slide 32]. RTimages. (n.d.). Denial [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.minddisorders.com/photos/denial-879.jpg