eBay

justforfun.2010 · ‎11-26-2018

When I search for an item on ebay such as a Thomas radio, a few hours later a Thomas radio for sale shows up on my MSN account front page under sponsered. This outside spy may also have my ebay password.

eburtonlab · ‎11-26-2018

@justforfun.2010

I'm not an expert in ads -- I avoid them all by using an adblocker -- but I believe in this case the ad on your MSN account page is actually sponsored by eBay (or one of its affiliates). eBay, of course, does have access to your searches -- you tell eBay what you are looking for, and eBay does the searching -- and then eBay uses this info to serve up ads for things you have searched for or looked at.

If, as I suspect, this is part of eBay's AdChoice program, you can find some info here, including how to opt out:

https://www.ebay.com/help/account/adchoice/adchoice?id=4648

Or you can install an adblocker and enjoy an adless internet experience.

justforfun.2010 · ‎11-27-2018

I tried to opt out and ebay does not allow it. It keeps asking to sign in and opt out page will not come up. ebay is unbelievable. ebay also will change my listing to 50% off without me making the change.

eburtonlab · ‎11-27-2018

@justforfun.2010

There does seem to be a problem with the links on the AdChoice page.

Luckily there is another way to change your preferences:

"You can also change your AdChoice preferences from My eBay. Here's how:

From Site Preferences, find Advertising Preferences under General Preferences, and select Show.
Select Edit.
If you'd like to continue receiving customized ads, select Yes, please use my information to show me relevant ads on eBay and other sites. If you don’t want to receive customized ads, uncheck the box and select Save.

If you opt out, you'll still see ads with the AdChoice link and icon, but the ads won't be customized for you."

Here's that site preferences link:

https://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay&CurrentPage=MyeBayPreferences

you also write:

ebay also will change my listing to 50% off without me making the change.

I believe that eBay will set certain defaults if you use the Quick listing tool which may include adding "best offer" to your listing or possibly even lowering the price if it doesn't sell. For more control over your listings, you may need to use the Advanced listing tool. The helpful folks over at the Selling discussion board can provide more details.

justforfun.2010 · ‎11-28-2018

Thanks and it worked. Why does ebay have the defalt as wanting this ad choice? Shame on ebay.

Now, if I can find a way to stop ebay from discounting by listings 50% without me choosing that option. Have to constantly search my items for sale and revise them.

eburtonlab · ‎11-28-2018

@justforfun.2010

Thanks and it worked. Why does ebay have the defalt as wanting this ad choice? Shame on ebay.

Glad to hear it worked. I remember when I first ran into one of those ads on another site and seeing items I had searched for -- it was very disconcerting. I had temporarily turned off my adblocker, and I was glad to be able to turn it back on. eBay probably makes a few pennies serving those ads to each user.

Now, if I can find a way to stop ebay from discounting by listings 50% without me choosing that option. Have to constantly search my items for sale and revise them.

Are you using the Quick listing tool or the mobile app to list items? I think if you use the Advanced listing tool you can prevent that from happening. You might be able to revise your current listings with that, but I'm not certain of the details.