eBay Playbook Privacy & Cookie Notice

Effective: November 18, 2024. 

2. Controller

Depending on the region in which you reside, one of the following eBay Affiliates is responsible for the collection and processing of your personal data in connection with the provision of our Site. Your region of residence is determined based on your account registration address (as a registered user) or your location (when not registered): 

  • USA: eBay, Inc., 2065 Hamilton Ave, San Jose, CA, 95125, USA 
  • EU: eBay GmbH, Albert-Einstein-Ring 2-6, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany 
  • United Kingdom: eBay (UK) Limited, 1 More London Place, London, SE1 2AF, United Kingdom 
  • For all other countries: eBay Marketplaces GmbH, Helvetiastraße 15/17, 3005 Bern, Switzerland 

3. Data protection officer and contact

We have appointed data protection officers in several countries to oversee the protection of your personal data. If you have any questions about this Privacy & Cookie Notice or would like to learn more about data protection at eBay in general, please visit the eBay Privacy Center. Furthermore, if you have any questions or complaints regarding this Privacy & Cookie Notice, our global data protection principles (see section 6.1 Data transfers to eBay Affiliates under section 6. International data transfers below) or our handling of personal data, you can also contact the eBay Privacy Team or the controller who is responsible for the processing of your personal data at any time (for further information, see Controller above). This applies regardless of whether we have appointed a data protection officer in your country or not. 

4. What personal data we collect and process

We collect your personal data when you use our Site, create or access your partner account, provide us with information via a web form, or when you otherwise interact with the Site or correspond with us. In total, we collect the following personal data: 

6. Cross-border data transfers

Some recipients of your personal data are located outside your jurisdiction or have offices in jurisdictions where data protection laws may provide a different level of protection than the laws in your jurisdiction. When transferring personal data to such recipients, we provide appropriate safeguards. 

7. Storage duration and erasure

Subject to possible restrictions under national law, as a data subject, you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability with regard to your personal data. In addition, you can withdraw your consent and object to our processing of your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests. You can also lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

Your personal data will be stored by us and our service providers in accordance with applicable data protection laws to the extent necessary for the processing purposes set out in this Privacy & Cookie Notice (see section 5. Purposes and legal basis for data processing and categories of recipients for more information on the processing purposes). Subsequently, we will delete your personal data in accordance with our data retention and deletion policy or take steps to properly render the data anonymous, unless we are legally obliged to keep your personal data longer (e.g. for legal compliance, tax, accounting or auditing purposes). In Europe, the retention periods are generally between 6 and 10 years (e.g. for contracts, notifications and business letters). As far as legally permissible or required, we restrict the processing of your data instead of deleting it (e.g. by restricting access to it). This applies in particular to cases where we may still need the data for the execution of the contract or for the assertion of or defense against legal claims, or where such retention is otherwise required or permitted by law. In these cases, the duration of the restriction of processing depends on the respective statutory limitation or retention periods. The data will be deleted after the relevant limitation or retention periods have expired. 

The specific retention periods for personal data are documented in our regional data retention guidelines. How long we retain personal data may vary depending on the Site we provide and on our legal obligations under applicable national law. The following factors typically affect the retention period: 

  • Necessity for the provision of our Site This includes such things as maintaining and improving the performance of our Site, keeping our systems secure, and maintaining appropriate business and financial records. Most of our retention periods are determined on the basis of this general rule. 
  • Special categories of personal data If we store special categories of personal data (i.e., personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic or biometric data which is being processed for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person's sex life or sexual orientation) , a shorter retention period is usually appropriate. 
  • Consent-based processing of personal data If we process personal data on the basis of consent (including consent to the extended storage), we store the data for as long as necessary in order to process it according to your consent. 
  • Statutory, contractual or other similar obligations Corresponding storage obligations may arise, for example, from laws or official orders. It may also be necessary to store personal data with regard to pending or future legal disputes. Personal data contained in contracts, notifications and business letters may be subject to statutory storage obligations depending on national law. 

8. Rights as a data subject

Subject to possible restrictions under national law, as a data subject, you have the right to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability with regard to your personal data. In addition, you can withdraw your consent and object to our processing of your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests. You can also lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. 

9. Cookies and similar technologies

When you use our Site, we and authorized third parties may use cookies and similar technologies (which we will refer to collectively as “cookies”) to provide you with a better, faster and safer user experience. Cookies are small text files that are automatically created by your browser and stored on your device when you use the Site. You can find detailed information about our use of cookies and similar technologies and your choices in our Cookie Notice.

10. Data security

We protect your personal data through technical and organizational security measures to minimize the risks associated with data loss, misuse, unauthorized access and unauthorized disclosure and alteration. To this end we use firewalls and data encryption, for example, as well as physical access restrictions for our data centers and authorization controls for data access. You can find further information on our data security in our Security Center

11. Other important information regarding data protection 

This section contains important additional information about the protection of personal data in connection with the use of our Site, including whether you are required to provide personal data. 

12. California Privacy Notice

For additional regional disclosures for residents of certain U.S. states, including California, please review our State Privacy Disclosures page.  

This California Privacy Notice supplements this eBay Playbook Privacy & Cookie Notice and provides additional information to California consumers required by the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) (collectively, “California Privacy Laws”). We reserve the right to change this California Privacy Notice from time to time. Changes shall become effective on the date they are posted.  

If you are a California resident, this California Privacy Notice applies to you subject to the following exceptions: this Notice does not apply to the personal information we collect from employees, alternative workforce, job applicants, owners, directors, or officers of eBay that are California residents. If you are an employee, former employee or alternative workforce at eBay, please review or contact us for our Personnel Privacy Notice, and if you are applying for a job at eBay, please see our Talent Privacy Policy

 If there is a difference between the User Privacy Notice and this California Privacy Notice, the California Privacy Notice will control.