EBay

EBay

Basic information
Founded	1995
Type	Public
Industry	E-commerce
Official website	http://ebay.com/

eBay Inc. (formerly known as AuctionWeb, 1995-1997) is an American multinational e-commerce corporation based in San Jose, California, that enables users to purchase or look at products via retail sales on websites and online marketplaces in 190 markets around the globe. Sales happen either via online auctions or "buy it now" immediate purchases, and the firm makes commissions from sales made by sellers.

Anti-consumer practices

User Agreement Update to Arbitration as of 4/17/25

As of 4/17/25, eBay has changed its "Agreement to Arbitrate" section in the User Agreement:

• eBay users are required to waive their right to a jury trial for disputes:

If you do not opt out: (1) you will only be permitted to pursue claims against us or related third parties on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action or proceeding; (2) you will only be permitted to seek relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) on an individual basis; and (3) you are waiving your right to pursue disputes or claims and seek relief in a court of law and to have a jury trial.

• A new section regarding this has been added:

Waiver of Jury Trial

YOU AND EBAY HEREBY WAIVE ANY CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY RIGHTS TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A TRIAL IN FRONT OF A JUDGE OR A JURY. You and eBay are instead electing that all Disputes shall be resolved by arbitration under this Agreement to Arbitrate, except as specified in Section 19.B ("Agreement to Arbitrate").

• eBay has also added a clause requiring users to submit to informal dispute resolution, a 45 day period before arbitration can even begin:

If a Dispute arises between you and eBay, eBay is committed to working with you to reach a prompt, low‐cost and mutually reasonable resolution.

You and eBay agree to participate in good faith informal efforts to resolve Disputes before starting an arbitration or initiating an action in small claims court ("Informal Dispute Resolution").

To initiate Informal Dispute Resolution, a party must give notice to the other party in writing in a valid Notice of Dispute ("Notice"), which may be downloaded at this link. Such Notice to eBay should be sent by email to [email protected] or regular mail to our offices located at 583 W. eBay Way, Draper, UT 84020.

eBay will send any Notice to you to the physical address we have on file associated with your eBay account; it is your responsibility to keep your physical address up to date.

To be valid, you must personally sign the Notice and complete all information on the Notice form, including a description of the claims you are asserting, the specific relief sought, and the user name, email address and phone number associated with your account.

The Informal Dispute Resolution process lasts 45 days and is a mandatory precondition to commencing arbitration. The statute of limitations and any filing deadlines shall be tolled while the parties engage in Informal Dispute Resolution.

• eBay has also added a new section on confidentiality which states that all materials exchanged during arbitration are not to be shared outside of the parties’ attorneys, accountants, or business advisors:

Subject to the NAM Rules, the arbitrator may direct a limited and reasonable exchange of information between the parties, consistent with the expedited nature of the arbitration.

You and eBay agree that all materials and documents exchanged during the arbitration proceedings shall be kept confidential and shall not be shared with anyone except the parties’ attorneys, accountants, or business advisors, and shall be subject to the condition that they agree to keep all materials and documents exchanged during the arbitration proceedings confidential.

• Another new section on Fees and Costs introduces new terms which may disadvantage individual claimants and the introduction of "sanctions" for filing "frivolous" claims which may be effective in deterring users from seeking arbitration for even legitimate claims as it could carry the risk of being responsible for all arbitration and legal fees for both sides.

Payment of all filing, administration, and arbitrator fees will be governed by the applicable NAM fee schedules (the "Fee Schedules"), but may be reapportioned between the parties in accordance with this Agreement to Arbitrate, as follows:

if you complied with the Informal Dispute Resolution requirements in Section 1 of this Agreement and the value of the relief sought in the Dispute is $10,000 or less, at your request eBay will pay all filing, administration, and arbitrator fees associated with the arbitration.

The parties shall bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator finds that either the substance of the Dispute or the relief sought in the Demand was frivolous or was brought for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)).

To the extent, following a presentation on the merits, on its own motion or a party’s, and after affording a reasonable opportunity to respond, an arbitrator determines that a party who commenced arbitration did not bring its claim(s) consistent with counsel’s Certification and the standards set forth in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b), the arbitrator may, as part of its award, impose sanctions by ordering that the initiating party reimburse the responding party for all arbitration costs and arbitrators’ fees the responding party incurred under the Fee Schedule.

• eBay's new terms introduce Batch Arbitration, where similar individual demands are grouped together with a single arbiter assigned to review and make a decision for the entire batch at once. While eBay and NAM position Batch Arbitration as a way to increase the efficiency of the process, it's important to note that batching claims in this way significantly reduces transparency and visibility into the details of any specific individual claim:

To increase the efficiency of administration and resolution of arbitrations, you and eBay agree that in the event that there are 25 or more individual Demands of a substantially similar nature filed against eBay by or with the assistance of the same law firm, group of law firms, or organizations ("Claimant’s Counsel"), within a reasonably proximate period of time, for example, a 90 day period, NAM shall:

(1) administer the arbitration demands in batches of 100 Demands per batch (or, if between 25 and 99 individual Demands are filed, a single batch of all those Demands, and, to the extent there are less than 100 Demands remaining after the batching described above, a final batch consisting of the remaining Demands); (2) appoint one arbitrator for each batch; and (3) provide for the resolution of each batch on a consolidated basis with one set of filing and administrative fees due per batch, one procedural calendar, one hearing (if any) in a place to be selected by Claimant’s Counsel or, if Claimant’s Counsel does not have a preference, by the arbitrator, and one final award, which will provide for any and all relief to which the arbitrator determines each individual party is entitled ("Batch Arbitration").

NAM shall administer all batches concurrently, to the extent possible.

All parties agree that Demands are of a "substantially similar nature" if they arise out of or relate to the same event or factual scenario and raise the same or similar legal issue(s) and seek the same or similar relief.

• The only way to opt out of this is through physical mail:

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO OPT OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE ("OPT OUT") BY MAILING US A WRITTEN OPT-OUT NOTICE ("OPT-OUT NOTICE"). THE OPT-OUT NOTICE MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE AMENDMENT OR 30 DAYS FROM THE DATE YOU FIRST ACCEPT THIS USER AGREEMENT.

YOU MUST MAIL THE OPT-OUT NOTICE TO EBAY INC., ATTN: LITIGATION DEPARTMENT, RE: OPT-OUT NOTICE, 583 WEST EBAY WAY, DRAPER, UT 84020.

For your convenience, we are providing an Opt-Out Notice form. You must complete, sign, and mail that to us to opt out of this Agreement to Arbitrate.

You must sign the Opt-Out Notice for it to be effective. Any Opt-Out Notice will be effective only if you send it yourself, on an individual basis, and opt-out notices from any third party purporting to act on your behalf will have no effect on your or eBay’s rights. This procedure is the only way you can opt out of this Agreement to Arbitrate.