eBay breaches privacy laws

[cq_tech]

2 days ago I received email notification from eBay that they had divulged my personal details to one of my previous buyers. Now that would be OK if they were currently involved in a transaction, but this particular buyer had purchased an item from me at the beginning of last month, immediately left me malicious and intentional negative feedback (which was later removed by eBay on appeal) and the transaction was concluded just on a month ago.

I immediately rang CS and was told that this shouldn't have been allowed to happen and the rep was horrified and apologised profusely. The rep then lodged a report and started an investigation into both the circumstances under which this had occurred, as well as the buyer concerned because under eBay's own User Agreement she had no right to be given my personal information. I was also told to report any form of harassment by this person, in which case further action would be taken.

I also wrote them a scathing complaint about their appalling lack of security and received this reply (salutations removed)...

Thanks for your email about the message that the buyer is asking for your contact details.

Buyer has the option to ask for your contact information if there's an existing transaction between you and your buyer. It is a common practice for your trading partner to ask for your information since this is an online business.

If you don't want to communicate with your buyer, you can just block the buyer and ignore their messages. If you will receive any harassing  emails from the buyer, please don't hesitate to contact us and we can help you in investigating the buyers account for any eBay Policy violation.

I replied immediately, pointing out once again that the transaction had been concluded a month ago and that they had no right to pass out my personal details to somebody who clearly had no need for them, other than to harass me, and received the following virtually unintelligible response...

Thank you for your email. We make sure that We still be able to hold the request an secure your privacy. We immedeately (sic) take an action. We apologize for inconvenience.

"We apologize for inconvenience" indeed! Well that's pretty bloody big of them, don't you think? As you can imagine, I'm really angry with eBay at the moment and am very much inclined to take the matter further, but in the mean time, I think it's very important that all sellers out there should know that their privacy means absolutely nothing to eBay, and they're quite happy to breach both their own User Agreement and the Australian Privacy Laws.

[cq_tech]

I've no idea why you were asked to go through your facebook page, but when I log on to http://www.reverseaustralia.com/ through my Firefox browser, all I have to do is enter the phone number and I'm immediately given all of the available information, including the google map. I don't even have to log in or create an account. It simply lets me use it as an anonymous user. So much for security there too!

[mbselections00]

Omg, I just went there again (and I use Firefox also) and yep, typed in phone number and up came all my details.  (I didn't actually try the first time, when it said  the bit about Facebook)  Funniest thing was, it gave my address, but on the side where the map is, it said 'Street address is Hidden' please log in - well who cares, it's already told me the address and the map shows my street, just not my property.

[lentradirect]

we had similar situation in March this year a really special buyer.... after he got our phone number from ebay , threatened us by phone with physical violence.... a great experience for a $4 item
Ebay told us that it is standard procedure , so we can work out issue...
They also provide sellers with buyers phone numbers for the same reason.
Will be interested to see how you get on
I will also be looking at the 1800 reverse thing

[cq_tech]

I hope you complained to them in writing, as I have. Unless the transaction is current, eBay have absolutely no right to pass on your private details to another party, as doing so breaches not only their own User Agreement, but also some pretty strict Australian Privacy Laws.

In my case, the transaction had concluded a month earlier and had ended with the buyer maliciously leaving negative feedback, which was removed by eBay on appeal, so it should have been clear to them that any request from that person would only be for purposes of harassment (or worse), especially as once the other party has your landline number, they can see exactly where you live and what your house looks like, etc.

I have now changed my eBay-registered phone number to an unlisted mobile number, and would strongly recommend that everybody who deals with eBay should do the same thing in order to protect their privacy as much as possible, because it's very bloody clear that eBay couldn't give a toss about any of their members.

[lentradirect]

No,  didn't complain to ebay in writing, at the tiem I was more scared than feeling  privacy  violated.  He rang twice and on the second call I told him as I also had his details & would report him to the police he did not realise that we could just as easy get his details. He did not continue.... this was also related to negative feeedback .

will take your advice re phone numbers........ there are some seriously disturbed people out there and those native animals seem particularly nasty

best of luck with it

[cq_tech]

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@mbselections00 wrote:

I just went to the link you posted as I had never heard of it, and amongst other things read the following :-

How does it work?

Simply type in an Australian phone number (including its area code) and hit enter. For example, the numbers 041 510 1141 or 02 9384 1128.

Why do you require me to login with my Facebook account? To protect everyone from anonymous usage of our system, we use your Facebook account to limit abuse to our system and to help law enforcement in the event of any illegal activity. We feel our service is awesome, but we want to protect everyone from abuse!

Hopefully the offending Buyer also reads this !

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It's hard to say. We all know, or at least very strongly suspect, that she had her board privileges revoked as well as her selling privileges, but I checked her feedback earlier and it appears that she's once again selling, so although she's not posted for a couple of weeks, it's entirely possible that whatever exclusion period she was given by Lithium has now expired, which makes it quite possible that she is reading everything that's being posted here.

Anyway, although I live alone, I'm not particularly concerned about my security as I'm an ex-serviceman and I'm licensed to carry firearms, and a lot of competitors and colleagues from my gun club are also police officers and it's not the least bit unusual to see a police car parked in my driveway (which tends to keep my neighbours on side as well). But whether or not I'm capable of protecting myself is beside the point.

It was still unconscionable for eBay to have illegally passed on my personal information to a third party without a lawful reason, and at this stage I'm still inclined to proceed against them for damages, which on its own will ultimately cost them a small fortune in legal fees in an attempt to defend their position, which for all intents and purposes, is indefensible. The next couple of weeks should prove to be extremely interesting for all concerned.

[harley_babes_hoard]

Ok I don't understand. I thought that buyers had the right to gain your details for transaction problems. So what time frame is it not acceptable for eBay to give out those details. With the new money back guarantee time frame isn't this going to be the case that for months afterwards they would still be considered to be in a recent transaction with you?

[cq_tech]

I would personally consider one month after the conclusion of a cancelled transaction to be far too late to be giving out the seller's personal details, and those I've spoken with at eBay agree with me. Unfortunately, somebody screwed up and although they acknowledge that it shouldn't have happened, and have started an investigation into the circumstances, that's of no help to me in the event that there are negative repercussions or any form of harassment involved. Remember, this was a cancelled transaction and no item was actually sold so the buyer has no legitimate reason to be needing my details.

[clarry100]

Well I would encourage you to take this one as far as is legally possible.

I have been sent a harassing and angry message (thru ebay messaging) from the very same buyer and she has never bought anythng from us. I now have blocks in place with at least two user IDs I know about.

She saw a post I put on the boards a while back about a scammer we encountered (which was not her) and has apparently assumed that it was about her. Nobody was named in my post which is in line with boards policy.

I have reported the message to ebay but just got back the standard pre-canned response.

I wish you the best of luck in all this BTW.

[harley_babes_hoard]

I missed the part where you mentioned it was a cancelled transaction. There is obviously more to this story than meets the eye.