EBay shares user data with advertising platforms
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eBay shares user browsing and purchase data with major advertising platforms, disclosing how users browse and buy on the site, along with certain personal information, to companies including Meta, TikTok, Snap, Pinterest, Microsoft and GroupM. Transfers take place through tracking pixels, direct server-to-server sends and offline conversion uploads.[1]
Mechanisms and partners
[edit | edit source]eBay's advertising preferences page operates within the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), a consent standard maintained by IAB Europe that records and transmits users' advertising preferences to participating companies.[2] The eBay is registered under the framework as a consent management platform, with the identification number 125.[3] For each partner it designates as a Framework Partner, the page states what is shared and how. Users can indicate a preference not to share with individual partners by using the toggles in the Framework Partners section.
eBay states it may use and share information about how users browse and buy on the site, along with certain personal information, via tracking pixels and by sending the information directly from its servers, for advertising personalisation, measurement, and content selection, delivery and reporting.[1] Equivalent statements appear for TikTok, Snap, Pinterest, Microsoft and GroupM, some of which receive data through offline conversion uploads as well. Because the server-to-server transfers and conversion uploads are sent from eBay's own servers rather than the user's browser, browser-level tracker blocking does not prevent them.
Non-Framework partners
[edit | edit source]The same page separately lists partners it designates "non-Framework", including Meta, Pinterest, TikTok and Microsoft, for which eBay states that the partners "require you to control how they collect and use your data directly with them".[1]
The page states instead that users can indicate a preference not to share with non-Framework partners by setting the toggles in the Framework Partners section to the "No" position. No individual control for these partners is offered on the page, however. eBay describes sharing with these partners without regard to whether the user holds an account with any of them, and links to each partner's privacy policy rather than providing an explicit consent mechanism.
Platforms have been documented assembling profiles on people who do not hold accounts with them, using data submitted by third parties.[4]
Regulatory context
[edit | edit source]The framework underpinning eBay's consent dashboard has been found non-compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In February 2022 the Belgian Data Protection Authority ruled against the framework, fining IAB Europe €250,000 and finding it acts as a data controller over the consent signals transmitted for individual users.[5] On 14 May 2025 the Brussels Court of Appeal largely upheld these findings, confirming that the framework fails to fully comply with the GDPR, with the fine annulled only on procedural grounds.[6]
Consumer response
[edit | edit source]Individual users on consumer-focused forums have objected to eBay's privacy practices. A thread on r/BetterOffline in October 2026 reacted negatively to an updated User Privacy Notice taking effect 26 November 2026, with commenters criticising the expanded data handling it disclosed.[7]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Advertising and related preferences". eBay. Archived from the original on 2026-09-29. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
- ↑ "Transparency and Consent Framework". IAB Europe. Archived from the original on 2026-10-02. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
- ↑ "Consent Management Platforms list". IAB Europe. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Quodling, Andrew (2018-04-13). "Shadow profiles – Facebook knows about you, even if you're not on Facebook". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
- ↑ Bryant, Jennifer (2022-02-02). "Belgian DPA fines IAB Europe 250K euros over consent framework GDPR violations". IAPP. Archived from the original on 2022-02-02. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
- ↑ Waem, Heidi; Grentzenberg, Verena; Sawatzki, Luca (2025-06-11). "EU: Brussels Court of Appeal rules on IAB Europe and the TC String – Implications for GDPR Compliance". DLA Piper Privacy Matters. Archived from the original on 2025-06-13. Retrieved 2026-10-30.
- ↑ Roseleg (2026-10-19). "FFS. Et tu, eBay?". Reddit. Archived from the original on 2026-10-31. Retrieved 2026-10-31.