Can eBay sellers get your personal email - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 04:40:57 pm
content: I bought an item, used ebay to contact seller about a problem, and received a partial refund.Many months later, I get an email advertisement to buy the same or similar product at a discount. The email goes like, you bought this from us before and we have more stock at reduce price...There is a gmail address and phone number in the email, and a Shop Now button that will take me to an ebay store. The seller apparently has a second account or changed their name. It's the same seller.The email contact info says it came from a gmail account. How? Are sellers able to contact and spam all their buyers?

author: KrudyZ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 04:43:22 pm
content: Was there enough information in your shipping address to figure out your e-mail somehow?

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 04:46:42 pm
content: Not that I can tell. Not the email name or provider - although my ebay user name is similar to my email. Not identical, but how would they also figure out the domain?Could they still be using the ebay site to send a communication and ebay forwards it as from their gmail account?

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 04:48:22 pm
content: Or perhaps it came from paypal...

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 04:51:13 pm
content: Quote from: metrologist on February 16, 2018, 04:48:22 pmOf course it did.

author: CNe7532294
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2018, 09:41:09 pm
content: Quote from: metrologist on February 16, 2018, 04:48:22 pm^this very easy to get your email once you buy something from them using paypal. Ebay itself I'm not aware that they can. Try credit card next time if you're concerned.

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 12:26:28 am
content: I wasn't really concerned, just a bit flustered at first because all correspondence with ebay sellers has always been through the ebay network. Took a few minutes to think of paypal. I use my cc for paypal, but still not sure what is exposed to sellers. I've never sold anything on ebay.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 06:24:14 am
content: Not only can they get your e-mail address from the Paypal transaction, they can also obtain your phone number registered on ebay.At the top, next to the search bar, click:Advanced > Find Contact Information > Enter their user ID and recently sold item number(see attachment).The other parties' contact details will then be e-mailed to the person requesting it (and vice versa).There are a few restrictions however, this only works for recent transactions between you and another person (either as a buyer or seller) and the transaction has been finalised (i.e.: you or the buyer has paid).This is one reason why I don't provide any legitimate personal information on websites such as ebay. Even my delivery address is a work address which is not accessible to the public.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 07:37:04 am
content: I do some work with an eBay seller - and I can tell you this with absolute authority.As soon as you win an auction or commit to a Buy It Now, your email address is immediately visible to the seller. With the view that they normally use to manage sales,there is no hunting for it- it appears next to the buyer's eBay Id.Here is an (exceptionally blurred) screen shot of a portion of alivescreen. This is a typical presentation showing the eBay Id of the user (underlined in red) their email address (underlined in green) as well as details of the item they purchased.

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 01:41:57 pm
content: eBay sellers having access to all your contact information is fair enough. I've rarely had follow-on spam e-mails - mostly just solicitations for reviews (e.g Trustpilot, etc), if anything.But on a couple of occasions eBay seller behaviour has really ticked me off. Twice I have had sellers use my contact information to create an account for me on their own otherwise separate e-commerce website. The only clue I had that this had happened was that I got an 'order despatched' email directly containing a link to track the package which took me straight to their website and requested I change 'my' account's password before proceeding!

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 01:50:04 pm
content: Now that's just plain rude.

author: JoeO
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 01:55:28 pm
content: Quote from: HwAoRrDk on February 17, 2018, 01:41:57 pmDid you notify ebay?

author: HwAoRrDk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 03:19:30 pm
content: Quote from: Brumby on February 17, 2018, 01:50:04 pmIndeed it is.I was conducting my business with them through eBay, not their own website, which shouldn't enter into the equation. I also don't appreciate havingyet anotherusername/password to keep track of forced upon me.In both these cases, I suspect they were funnelling all their eBay sales through their existing e-commerce facilities for convenience, as they probably didn't have a separate back-end system for managing customer orders.Quote from: JoeO on February 17, 2018, 01:55:28 pmNo, couldn't be bothered. In the first case, their website surprisingly actually had a facility to delete the account, so after I received the order, I simply used that facility and went about my day. In the second case, it was slightly ironic because I was planning to buy from that company anyway through their website, but I spotted that their eBay listing price was, albeit a couple of pounds higher, with free shipping, whereas once you added shipping to their website price, it was more expensive overall. So I would've likely ended up making an account there anyway. Still unwarranted, though.

author: TK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 03:59:10 pm
content: Quote from: metrologist on February 16, 2018, 04:40:57 pmThe buyer email shows up in the order details page (as well as the phone number), so yes, sellers have access to your email. They also use the email when creating the shipping to notify buyers.

author: ZomBiE80
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 07:16:47 pm
content: eBay themselves sells your e-mail address to advertisers. With your search history.

author: IanMacdonald
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2018, 07:21:46 pm
content: Yes, unfortunately they can. Reason is that PayPal works via email addresses. Spamming buyers is actually against Ebay rules and could lead to the seller being disciplined, but this has been going on quite a lot lately.