VPN Usage

[trejo402]

Are you allowed to use a VPN on eBay? Thanks

[bimm_corp]

@trejo402 

>Are you allowed to use a VPN on eBay? Thanks

I believe so. There are caveats.

1) You will have to go through the "captcha" thing every time you log in.

2) You will likely have your account blocked at least once a month. eBay will give you a link to reset your password, but it will most likely not work. The you have to contact a CS rep and get them to send a reset password email to your registered email address. That will usually work to get you going again.

That being said, I don't think using a VPN will be of much help to you as your feedback is working against you.

[downunder-61]

Wow

[rosszonebricks]

I use a VPN nearly every day.  (Not specifically FOR eBay, just to be clear.)    You will get annoyed by CAPTCHA or even having to do two or three just to get logged in, but I've NEVER once got my account 'banned' in 5 years of being a daily VPN user.

My only thought on that is I am a USA seller and still choosing a VPN 'location' that is still in the USA.  So I am not attempting to spoof my country or anything like that.

[certifiedcitynet]

Why would you even want to use a VPN? You are just creating problems for yourself. If you are concerned about security, simply change your password every few days. It will require less work than dealing with Ebay/Google security procedures. And make the passwords as long and complex as possible. 

[farmalljr]

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@trejo402 wrote:

Are you allowed to use a VPN on eBay? Thanks

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After looking at your feedback, I know why you want to use one. Let me say, this is a really dumb idea. You can't hide all of your information without committing identity fraud. eBay has ALL of your information - Name, SS#, address, IP, all of it. If you are thinking about opening a new account, you would need to use ALL totally different information, and hence, would be committing identity fraud. 

Identity fraud is NOT a victimless crime. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     There is a good probability that a lot of the scammers are using VPN's but they are also using multiple accounts and simply move from one to the other. The use of the VPN thwarts any effort to tie IP addresses to one or more scammer accounts. For a seller I am not sure why you would want to utilize a VPN unless your account was suspended and you are trying to open a new one. 

[luckythewinner]

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@trejo402 wrote:

Are you allowed to use a VPN on eBay? Thanks

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If you are asking whether eBay has a policy against using a VPN to access the site, the answer is of course not. 

I'm not sure how else you would use a VPN "on" eBay. 

[powell-memorabilia]

Dude would be better off putting time into being a decent seller - not in trying to cover his tracks.

[bimm_corp]

@rosszonebricks 

>My only thought on that is I am a USA seller and still choosing a VPN 'location' that is still in the USA.

I regularly use VPN locations from all over the world and it doesn't seem to matter to eBay. Domestic or foreign location, eBay will still harangue you with "Looks like someone logged into your account" and block access necessitating a password reset.

[bimm_corp]

@certifiedcitynet 

>Why would you even want to use a VPN?

Password security is not the main benefit of using a VPN. Yes, a long, complex password helps as does using eBay's text-based 2FA (which is not the best for security, but better than none).

Blocking your ISP from tracking your activity is what I value most from a VPN. Most internet users would not believe how much of their private doings are tracked, recorded and sold by your local ISP.

[dogchow747]

Say you use a laptop from a different hotel room many nights of the year?

Not much different than a VPN with dynamic IP address.

Say someone uses a strict ad-blocker and clears their cache often. You will be prompted to

use their captcha thing to log in.

There are other identifiers other than a IP address.

It is common.

[bimm_corp]

@dogchow747 

>There are other identifiers other than a IP address.

Yes, that's quite true. Like your device's MAC address, which is not hard to change regularly. Clearing your browser's cache, cookies and other info COMPLETELY will keep the tracking sites somewhat at bay. Even changing your computer name (in Windows) often will help.

[rabites-n-chocobos]

Yes, you can use a VPN. A VPN just changes your initial point of internet contact. If you don't log into Ebay at your current location, and then you move to another location a few miles away...that's kinda the same as a VPN.

[bimm_corp]

@rabites-n-chocobos 

>that's kinda the same as a VPN.

That's not entirely correct.  Moving your location and/or changing to another provider does nothing to stop whatever ISP you are using from tracking, recording and selling your private online activity.