To promote ethical and legal business practices, eBay requires that all Affiliates comply with the requirements in this Code of Conduct ("Code of Conduct").
Contents
Promotional Methods
Prohibited Promotional Methods
Software Applications
- Promotional Methods. Subject to the licenses granted in Section J of the Agreement:
- Links. eBay may provide you with Links to promote eBay Wesite and its content. You may not modify a Link unless it is specifically designed to be modified, and then only in accordance with the stated modification parameters provided by eBay. If the Links you use are not dynamically updated, you must update the Links upon notification from eBay.
- Promotional Content. eBay may provide you with pre-approved Promotional Content. You may not modify any of this Promotional Content without obtaining eBay's prior written approval. If you wish to create your own Promotional Content, you must first obtain eBay's prior written approval. If eBay requests, you must stop using any Promotional Content. All Promotional Content that you create must comply with the Agreement and this Code of Conduct.
- Promotional Tools. eBay may provide you with Promotional Tools for creating your own Promotional Content; for example an API platform. You agree to:
- Obtain eBay's prior written approval if you create new tools and applications using the Promotional Tools.
- Use any Promotional Tools only in a lawful manner and only in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and any additional terms applicable to the Promotional Tool;
- Use any Promotional Tool only for eBay Website and its content for which it is intended. You may not use any Promotional Tools to drive transactions for any other sites or content;
- Not corrupt, modify or disable the Promotional Tools; and
- Not sell, redistribute, sublicense or transfer the Promotional Tools.
- Prior Consent. All Promotional Methods are subject to eBay's prior written approval. You agree that you will immediately terminate any Promotional Method at any time, with or without prior notice or cause at eBay's request. eBay's approval of any Promotional Method shall be limited to the Program for which it was approved.
- Clear and Not Deceptive. All Promotional Methods you use must be clearly recognizable as an advertisement for eBay Website and its content and not deceptive. You must also secure permission before using any materials protected by third parties' intellectual or proprietary rights (including without limitation copyrights, trademark rights, patent rights and rights of publicity).
- Examples. Promotional Methods may include:
- e-mail, instant messaging, Internet Relay Chat ("IRC") channels or other electronic communications;
- downloadable software;
- incentive programs including vouchers or coupons;
- distribution of Promotional Content via distribution partners or ad networks;
- promoting eBay Website and its content by placing Links in paid search results;
- Promotional Content created by a developer's program tool or API; or
- holding in-person trainings and classes.
- Prohibited Promotional Methods: You may not engage in the following Promotional Methods and behaviors:
- Promotional Content placed on an eBay website itself (for example, in your listings, your "About Me" page, your store or the eBay message boards).
- Promotional Content that promotes listings or behavior that violates the applicable laws, including but not limited to Advertising Standard Codes and the Competition Act, 2002 and the rules and regulation made thereunder.
- Redirecting end users from the eBay sites and services to an Affiliate's website where the end user could click a Link back to the applicable eBay site or service via a Link.
- Non-Bona Fide Qualifying Transactions. You may not cause Qualifying Transactions to be made in bad faith, including but not limited to using invisible methods to generate impressions, clicks or transactions that are not initiated by the affirmative and genuine action of an end user, or using any cookie, device, program, robot, iframe or hidden frame, pop-up window or any other operation or process that interferes with eBay's ability to properly identify and track transactions. Any method that artificially generates clicks, impressions, or activity is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, clicks or impressions generated when you or your Agents click on your own Promotional Content containing Tracking Code, automated clicking tools or traffic sources, robots, or other deceptive software. To be considered valid, clicks and conversions must result from genuine user interest. eBay will use its sole discretion to determine instances of invalid click activity, which may come in different forms and may include activity not due to any deliberate action on your part. eBay is not obliged to disclose details about the functioning of eBay's fraud detection systems. Because eBay needs to protect its proprietary detection system, eBay may be unable to provide you with all information about your account activity, including any web pages, end users, or third-party services that may have been involved in fraudulent activities.
- Cookie Stuffing. You may not stuff cookies or other tracking tags on an end user's computer without any affirmative action by the end user. End users that are only viewing your website, Promotional Content or advertisements or while your applications are merely active or open have not taken any affirmative actions.
- Improper Influence. You may not make your own advertising claims. You may not interfere with or seek to improperly influence the referral of an end user to eBay Website and its content. You may not mislead or trick an end user in any way into clicking on a Link. It must be clear for end users where they are being directed at all times.
- Misdirection, Redirection and Framing.
- Without the prior written approval of eBay, you may not make any express or implied representations, or otherwise create an appearance that a visitor to your website and/or Promotional Content is visiting eBay Website and its content, for example, by framing or wrapping a site in any manner. You may not design your Promotional Methods in a way that, in eBay's sole discretion, creates a likelihood of confusion with the eBay website or emails sent out by eBay.
- The URLs to which the Links direct end users must appear in the address line of the browser.
- The back button of the browser must be activated.
- You may not attempt to intercept or redirect traffic from or on, or divert compensation from, eBay Website and its content or any other Affiliate.
- Middle Servers and URL Cloaking Services. You may not redirect any traffic to middle servers for the purpose of masking your referring source of traffic. This includes the use of URL shortening services (such as tinyurl.com, short.to, and cloakedlink.com) with the exception of URL shortening services offered by Stumble Upon, Twitter and Google.
- Direct Linking. You may not direct traffic from Promotional Content or Links served by ad networks or their agents directly to the eBay sites and services. Similarly, you may not place Promotional Content or Links in any paid search results from any search engine, including but not limited to Google.com, Bing.com or the parallel domains for those properties, or from any of their content networks (such as Google AdSense), if it links directly to an eBay domain.
- Unacceptable Placements.
- Your Promotional Methods not incorporate any topics that eBay in its sole discretion considers to fall in any of the following categories:
- sexually explicit materials
- violence
- firearms or weapons
- illegal goods, services or activities
- gambling or betting
- discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age
- libel or defamation
- content aimed at children
- content that is otherwise misleading, obscene or hate-oriented
- sniping functionality (meaning the act of including Links in software or a service that automatically places bids or makes purchases via Buy It Now on behalf of eBay members)
- malicious functionalities, such as malware or spyware
- belongs to another person and to which you do not have any right to;
- grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatever;
- harm minors in any way;
- infringes any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights;
- violates any law for the time being in force;
- deceives or misleads the address about the origin of such messages or communicates any information which is grossly offensive or menacing in nature;
- impersonates another person;
- contains software virus or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer source;
- threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relation with foreign states, or public order or causes incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or is insulting any other nation.
- Your Promotional Methods may not engage in misleading activities with respect to title and page description, search engine manipulation, the unlawful use of meta-tags, or otherwise in any manner that eBay in its sole discretion would consider to fall within any of the following categories:
- typo-squatting
- domain-parking
- banner-farming
- comment-spamming
- Your Promotional Methods may not:
- serve a pop-up or pop-under for eBay Website and its content in connection with other pop-ups or pop-unders.
- contain dialers or any software that is automatically downloaded without express consent from the end user.
- Incentive Programs. Your Promotional Methods may not directly or indirectly offer any reward or incentive (including vouchers or coupons) for any Qualifying Transaction without eBay's prior written approval. Any subsequent change to an approved incentive program also requires eBay's prior written approval.
- Search Engine Optimization Guidelines: Your domain name, title and description of your website and the metatags you use are relevant to the Promotional Content and your website must only appear in a search engine's result when the content of your website relates to the applicable search query. Your search engine optimization methods must comply with guidelines or best practices published by the applicable search engine.
- Electronic Communications. You may not promote eBay Website and its content using email or other forms of electronic communication (for example, SMS, instant messaging, or IRC) without eBay's prior written approval. If you are permitted to use such electronic communications:
- They must comply with the requirements of Applicable Law, including but not limited to Advertising Standard Codes, the Competition Act 2002 and the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the rules and regulation made thereunder as in effect at any given time.
- eBay's name may not appear in the "from" line of the message.
- Software Applications. You will not promote eBay Website and its content using Software Applications without eBay's prior written approval. Such Software Applications must comply with the additional terms in this Section. eBay reserves the right to immediately terminate any Software Applications at any time, with or without notice or cause.
- Installation Requirements.
- Your Software Application may be provided only to end users who affirmatively consent to install it. Your Software Application may not trick end users into installing it.
- Before your Software Application is installed, you must clearly and conspicuously disclose the principal and significant functions.
- If your Software Application collects or transmits personal information about end users, you must clearly and conspicuously disclose this information in general terms and offer a full privacy policy. After you have made these disclosures, you must request an end user's consent to proceed with installation.
- eBay prohibits Software Applications installed in any type of bundle with other software of any kind without eBay's prior written approval. eBay shall determine in its sole discretion what functions constitute bundling, which may include installation bundling. For example, a function in a web browser software that affixes your company's site as the browser's start page would constitute a bundling arrangement between your company and the browser software.
- Your Software Application must be easy for end users to remove, using standard practices appropriate for the supported operating system(s) or other platform(s).
- Operation Requirements. Your Software Application may send a user eBay Website and its content via a Tracking Code only in immediate response to a user's deliberate and voluntary click (or, for a touch-capable device, tap) on a clearly-labeled Link. Except for any perpetual search box, toolbar button, or similar mechanism that is on screen at all times, your Software Application may not present ads for any other sites, services, Advertisers, or offers when a user visits eBay Website and its content or when a eBay Website and its content is open on a user's computer or mobile device. Your Software Application is prohibited if in eBay's sole discretion it is likely to confuse the end user or trick the end user into thinking the Software Application is part of eBay Website and its content. Regardless, if your Software Application presents an ad for eBay Website and its content, the Software Application must refrain from sending the end user to eBay Website and its content via a Tracking Code on user's computer or mobile device.
- Advance Review and Approval by eBay. Before distributing any Software Application or participating in any Program, you must provide eBay with a complete statement of the characteristics of your Software Application. Before eBay provides its approval, you must integrate your Software Application with eBay so eBay may evaluate the integration and its effect on Advertisers' brand and Advertisers' customer experience. eBay will withhold all compensation for traffic directed through Software Applications not approved by eBay. If a new version of your Software Application makes material changes to your participation in the Affiliate Program, you must provide eBay with a complete statement of such changes for written approval. For purposes of this Section, "material changes" include any change to the methods of installation of your Software Application, the partners who distribute your Software Application, or the circumstances in which your Software Application sends end users to eBay Website and its content.
- Software Application Prohibited Behaviors.
- You may not promote the Affiliate Program through any Software Application that provides, or purports to provide, sniping functionality; that automatically places bids on behalf of end users; or that automatically makes purchases on behalf of end users.
- You may not operate or distribute Software Applications or participate in any Programs through any Agents or other intermediaries.
- Subject to eBay's prior written approval, you may not use pop-ups, pop-unders, sliders, or sidebars to promote any eBay Website and its content, nor may you modify the presentation or appearance of another web site as seen in a user's web browser. eBay may approve such practices if all such modifications are consistent with the user experience disclosed at the time of installation, if all modifications include clear and conspicuous labels disclosing the modification and provide a mechanism for end users to obtain details, if modifications are not likely to confuse end users, and if your offering in eBay's sole discretion genuinely delivers real and significant value to end users.
- Your Software Application may not attempt to evade testing, and may not attempt to conceal its practices. The practices of your Software Application should be consistent when run in a virtual environment, from varying IP addresses, and at varying times of day and days of the week.
- Worms, viruses, and trojan horses are strictly prohibited.
Using Software Applications Provided by Others. If you contract, directly or indirectly, to use a Software Application provided by another person or entity, you are responsible for complying with the requirements of this Section exactly as if the Software Application were your own.