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eBay Pilot Programs

Occasionally, eBay may test the effectiveness of new technologies or service offerings by conducting live pilot programs (‘pilots’) with a limited number of selected eBay members. During these tests, participating members may be allowed to sell in a manner that falls outside of eBay's standard User Agreement in order to test the technology or offering. However, unless otherwise specified in the pilot program offering, members participating in the pilot must abide by all eBay policies and whatever other guidelines and policies eBay outlines in the pilot.

Note: eBay may elect to end a pilot at any time prior to its designated end time.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

  • Listing cancellation

  • Limits on account privileges

  • Account suspension

  • Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings

  • Loss of PowerSeller status

Some Examples

eBay launches a third-party Product Configurator pilot which violates some Fee Circumvention policies. eBay designates a limited number of sellers who may list with this configurator during the pilot period. Only designated sellers are permitted to list in this fashion.

Additional Information

The following guidelines will apply to all pilots:

  • The pilot will be limited to a set number of days (generally 180 days).

  • eBay will choose which sellers will be eligible to participate in the pilot.

  • Sellers may be required to include eBay-supplied language in their listing clearly stating that they are participating in the pilot and include a link to more information about the pilot.

  • If the pilot proves to be successful, eBay may elect to introduce the new technology and/or service to all qualified eBay users.

Why does eBay have this policy?

eBay often needs to test new technologies and service offerings on the site in real time. eBay will limit the number of users participating in pilots in order to best supervise and evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot.

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