eBay sent an email to its customers to announce new terms and posted the revised agreement on its website. In June, when eBay spun off PayPal, both companies changed their user agreements-and heard from the New York attorney general. They wanted to make automated calls to collect payments or get feedback, but such "robocalls" could be illegal in New York State.
This time, the guidelines aren't making many waves. One highlighted change is about contacting users by phone: eBay says it "updated some of the language." Another indicates that reductions in fees won't be communicated in advance. Other changes focus on listings and international shipping arrangements.
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Hi Amy,
At eBay, we strive to make our policies clear and our services easy to use. As part of that commitment, we're writing to you today to announce some changes to eBay's User Agreement.
Our updated User Agreement will take effect on September 14, 2015 for new users and on October 28, 2015 for all other users. The updated User Agreement was posted on www.ebay.com on September 14, 2015.
Key updates to the eBay User Agreement:
- Simplification: We simplified and reorganized some of our policies to make them clearer and easier to understand.
- Fees: We clarified that when we make a change to seller fees that result in reduced fees, we will not provide advance notice.
- Listing Conditions: In light of our introduction of the eBay Seller Hub, we updated this section to reflect that we may display information about the commercial performance of your listings to other sellers. Learn more about how the eBay Seller Hub works here. We also added language in this section to indicate that we may remove metatags and URL links included in your listing to improve third party search engine results.
- International Buying and Selling; Translation: We added language to this section to indicate that we may automatically translate member-to-member messages into local languages where those translation services are available.
- Authorization to contact you and record calls: To make our existing policy clearer, we updated some of the language regarding when we may contact you using autodialed or prerecorded calls or by text message. We also updated this section to let you know how to change your communication preferences if you don't want us to contact you.
- Returns and Cancellations: We updated this section to let you know that eBay sellers who choose to offer returns may now enjoy a single, customizable returns process by creating automated rules for returns, refunds, and replacements. When you automate your returns, we'll send an eBay-generated return shipping label to your buyer for you. We also clarified situations where you are responsible for the cost of an eBay-generated shipping label.
- Global Shipping Program: We added language to reflect that we will now provide a way for buyers to contact eBay's customer service directly when they have a question about the services overseen by our global shipping provider, such as international shipping, customs clearance, or delivery to the international buyer.
Thanks for being a part of the eBay community.
Sincerely,
The eBay team
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Discussion Starters:
- Assess the message organization. How does eBay use bullets, and do you find them effective?
- What's your view of the other changes? Which do you think could upset users?
