eBay to Launch Anti- Hijacking Phone Verification For Sellers

[Kristijntje]

***A Message from John Canfield – eBay Security News***

Hello…I’m John Canfield, Senior Director for Trust & Safety policy management. My team specializes in working to keep the site safe and protected against fraud. Much of the company’s work around safety happens behind the scenes, but some of our efforts are also public-facing. Masking and protecting our Community’s identities on all bidder IDs on auction-style listings, the PayPal Security Key, our work with Yahoo and other domains to block email from unauthenticated addresses, and encouraging safer payments – each of these address a particular aspect of security and is making a dramatic difference in the overall security and safety of the marketplace and consumers’ confidence in shopping online. Our technologies – those that exist today, as well as those that we are designing for tomorrow – are helping to make the internet safer every day.

I’d like to tell you about a new safety initiative that launches on April 14th.

Trusted Selling with Identity Confirmation
One of the ways criminals attempt to defraud people on eBay is by gaining access to member accounts with well-established reputations which they then use to set up listings in that person’s name. They gain this access often through a phishing email that convinces an unsuspecting member to click a link and enter their User ID and password.

To protect the Community against this type of fraud, beginning today, eBay will start noting which computers members typically use to conduct their buying and selling activity. After our data collection phase, sometime in June eBay will begin verifying our sellers when they list an item to ensure they are logging in from the same machines they have successfully used previously – usually a home or business computer.

If you are a seller, and you attempt to list an item from a different computer – for example, from a PC you are borrowing in a hotel or library – eBay will make an automated call to the phone number you have registered with us to confirm it is really you. We may also prompt you to verify your identity in other ways.

Initially, this identity confirmation process will only be applied to selling, although we may be extending this to other high-visibility activity in the future.

Sellers, please update your registered phone numbers
Now more than ever, having a current phone number on file with eBay is vital to the safety of the Community and to your business. A wrong or outdated phone number may delay your ability to list items or respond to your customers, if eBay cannot verify your identity.

Have a cell phone? Registering it could save you time and money
If you carry a mobile phone, we encourage you to add this number as a secondary phone number in your registration details, so that we can reach you when you are away from your business or residence where you normally use your trusted computer. Your secondary number will not be shared with other members and will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Please take a minute to update your contact information. Update eBay Registration Information.

Online Workshop
Members of the Trust & Safety team will be hosting a workshop about Trusted Selling with Identity Confirmation on May 6. The team will be going over this initiative in more detail and answering member questions. (Please stay tuned for more details on the General Announcement Board.)

There is no single “silver bullet” solution to security, so from time to time, I’ll be back to tell you about new areas of innovation. We strive to make security as automatic and seamless as possible, but there are a few important areas where you can help. By joining together, we can accomplish far more in terms of safety than we can alone.

From Auctionbytes:

Now eBay will store information about which computers users are logged into when conducting buying and selling activity on eBay...

Questions that come to mind include:

Is it troublesome that eBay is storing this kind of data on individuals, or is it no big deal? And will it share the information with its ad partners?

Will this data also help eBay detect shill bidding?

Might eBay share this information with LiveWorld to help monitor users' posting activity on its Discussion Boards?...

full article: http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blo...02724.html

[regic]

If you are a seller, and you attempt to list an item from a different computer – for example, from a PC you are borrowing in a hotel or library – eBay will make an automated call to the phone number you have registered with us to confirm it is really you

IP based verification is out due to dial-up and AOL so I'm assuming the verification is cookie based.  Isn't eBay the company that tells its users to "clear their cookies?"  I see many problems ahead.  ;D

[FiberGuy]

As discussed here:
http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?t...2000552481&start=0

Post number *nine* is especially spot-on  , not to mention the entertaining response from a daft hobby seller.

[bargainbloodhound]

a daft hobby seller.

I hope she's a hobby seller  and isn't relying on her eBay sales to pay her bills because there's no friggin' way she's turning a profit selling $3 items with free shipping :blinkie: on eBay

[FiberGuy]

Total Value Sold:  $393.34

Minus Sold Item Fees:  $69.62

Minus Unsold Item Fees:  $209.43

Minus eBay Store Fee:  $15.95

Minus Free Shipping:  ???

Minus COGS:  ???

Profit (ahem!):  $98.34 (assuming she gets her stuff free and ships with a *free service*)

NOTE:  Yes, I've had some time on my hands this morning.

hehe

[sneakymagenta]

ships with a *free service*)

Gougle Contextual Shipping Label Ads  is running a limited time promotion for Ebay sellers. Receive FREE ground shipping on Label A*  and FREE overnight shipping when you use Label B with Contextual Insert**.

*Label A - Contextual text ads for other companies are printed on the shipping label.  Targeting is based on the products listed on the shipment's packing slip.
**Label B with Contextual Insert - Full color logos of other companies are printed on the shipping labels. Targeting is based on the products listed on the packing slip.  Shippers are required to include a Contextual Insert in the package.  Inserts contain full color ads for other companies products and targeting is based on the merchant's most shipped products list which is automatically compiled by Gougle Contextual Shipping Label software

:twistedevil:

[amy]

Profit (ahem!):  $98.34 (assuming she gets her stuff free and ships with a *free service*)

minus PayPal fees

Gougle Contextual Shipping Label Ads

available only when your buyer pays with Google Checkout.  ;D

[bargainbloodhound]

Total Value Sold:  $393.34

Minus Sold Item Fees:  $69.62

Minus Unsold Item Fees:  $209.43

Minus eBay Store Fee:  $15.95

75% of every sale goes to eBay...and that's not counting PayPal fees :

[mandy]

[quote author=regic link=topic=17700.msg69156#msg69156 date=1208368548]
I'm assuming the verification is cookie based. [/quote]

Cookies and flash objects to be exact.

From today, we'll start noting the computers you regularly use when buying and selling on eBay. We'll use a combination of cookies and Flash objects to link your user ID with the computer you're using. This data is encrypted and can only be read by eBay. It doesn't include any contact information or details of eBay transactions.

the UK announcement: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200804210855122.html
more info: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/...ation.html