Is it generally permissible to email market to old lists of eBay buyers?

No, directly email marketing to old lists of eBay buyers is generally not permissible. eBay's policies prohibit sharing contact information for off-platform marketing, and consent obtained long ago is likely no longer valid under current privacy laws. Furthermore, such lists can contain spam traps and lead to poor deliverability.

How does eBay's policy on buyer contact information affect my ability to email them?

eBay employs strict member-to-member contact policies to protect privacy and prevent off-platform sales. They often provide proxy email addresses like @members.ebay.com to mask actual buyer email addresses, making it difficult and against policy to collect direct contacts for external marketing.

What are the deliverability consequences of emailing old, unmanaged eBay buyer lists?

Using old lists can lead to severe deliverability problems. They often contain inactive addresses, spam traps, and result in high bounce rates and spam complaints. These issues damage your sender reputation, increasing the likelihood of your emails going to spam or getting your domain blacklisted (or blocklisted), affecting all your email campaigns.

What is the recommended approach for email marketing to customers I acquired through eBay?

The best approach is to build your own, new email list with explicit consent. You can encourage your eBay buyers to opt-in through clear calls to action on your independent website or through permitted, compliant messaging channels outside of eBay's platform. Focus on providing value to encourage genuine subscriptions.

Is it permissible to email market to old lists of eBay buyers? - Sender reputation - Email deliverability - Knowledge base

Many sellers, especially those who have been on

eBay for a long time, wonder if they can use their old lists of eBay buyers for direct email marketing. It’s a common question, and the answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no, involving platform policies, legal considerations, and crucial email deliverability best practices.

The core of the issue often stems from historical practices versus current platform rules and evolving privacy regulations. While there might have been a time when directly obtaining and using buyer email addresses seemed more straightforward, the landscape of online marketplaces and digital communication has changed dramatically.

In this article, I’ll clarify the permissibility of marketing to these lists, delve into why it’s generally not advisable, and outline the proper ways to build an effective and compliant email marketing strategy for your business outside of the eBay platform.

eBay's evolving contact policies

For many years, eBay has had strict policies regarding member-to-member contact, primarily to protect user privacy and prevent off-platform transactions. While some long-time sellers might recall a period where email addresses were more accessible, eBay has progressively tightened its grip on this information.

Currently, eBay's policies explicitly state that offering to buy or sell outside of eBay is not allowed. This extends to sharing contact information, including email addresses. Their system often provides buyers with proxy email addresses, such as @members.ebay.com, rather than direct personal emails, precisely to prevent unsolicited communication.

Attempting to bypass these measures, even with what you believe to be historical consent, can lead to severe consequences. eBay actively monitors communications on its platform and penalizes sellers who violate these policies. Penalties can range from listing removal and selling restrictions to permanent account suspension, which could be detrimental to your business.

eBay's current policy on contact information

No direct contact: eBay discourages sellers from obtaining or using buyer email addresses for marketing outside the platform.
Proxy addresses: Many buyer email addresses are now masked with an @members.ebay.com domain to protect privacy.
Policy violations: Using contact information obtained via eBay for external marketing is a policy violation and carries risks.

Even if you believe you obtained express consent from eBay buyers in the past, consent is not permanent. Email marketing regulations like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL require clear, verifiable, and recent consent. An old list, even one that was once opted-in, is almost certainly outdated and non-compliant by today's standards.

Sending to such a list is fraught with risks, not just legal ones, but also significant deliverability issues. Old email lists accumulate invalid addresses, spam traps, and disengaged recipients over time. Mailbox providers see these as signs of poor list hygiene and spamming behavior. This can lead to your emails being marked as spam or your sending domain (or IP address) being added to a blacklist.

Even if you had legitimate consent previously, the passage of time degrades its value. People's email addresses change, their interests shift, or they simply forget they ever interacted with your brand. What was once a willing recipient can quickly become a spam complaint, which is highly detrimental to your sender reputation.

If you absolutely must try to re-engage with a genuinely consented, but old, list, it is crucial to approach it with caution. I recommend a very careful warming-up strategy to mitigate the risks.

Deliverability risks and managing old lists

Sending emails to an old, unsegmented, and unverified list of eBay buyers can severely damage your email deliverability and sender reputation. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and mailbox providers (like

Google and

Yahoo) use sophisticated algorithms to evaluate incoming mail.

High bounce rates, low engagement (opens, clicks), and elevated spam complaints are red flags. These metrics signal to ISPs that your emails are unwanted, leading to your messages landing in the spam folder or being blocked entirely. Furthermore, hitting spam traps (email addresses used to catch spammers) can get you instantly added to a blacklist (or blocklist).

Once your domain or IP address is on an email blacklist (or blocklist), it becomes extremely difficult to reach the inbox, even for legitimate emails to your truly opted-in subscribers. Recovering sender reputation is a lengthy and challenging process. This is why managing bounces and understanding the lifespan of an email address is crucial.

Risks of emailing old eBay lists

Policy violations: Risk of eBay account suspension or penalties.
Legal non-compliance: Breach of privacy regulations (GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL).
Damaged sender reputation: High bounces and spam complaints hurt your sending legitimacy.
Blocklisting: Your domain or IP can be added to email blocklists, preventing delivery.
Low engagement: Emails are likely to be ignored or marked as spam by recipients.

Best practices for email marketing

Build a new list: Obtain explicit, verifiable consent from new subscribers.
Maintain list hygiene: Regularly clean your list to remove inactive or invalid addresses.
Segment your audience: Target content to specific interests for better engagement.
Provide value: Send relevant and useful content that subscribers want to receive.
Monitor deliverability: Track your sender reputation and inbox placement regularly.

Building a compliant and healthy list

Instead of relying on potentially outdated and non-compliant eBay lists, the most effective strategy is to build your own email list from scratch, focusing on explicit consent. This ensures that your subscribers genuinely want to hear from you, leading to higher engagement and better deliverability.

You can encourage your eBay buyers to opt into your separate marketing list through various means. For example, include clear calls to action in your packaging inserts or direct them to a signup form on your independent website. Some sellers use post-purchase emails sent through

eBay's messaging system to invite customers to their external mailing lists, but you must be careful not to violate eBay's rules against off-platform sales.

Once you have a clean, opted-in list, focus on consistent list hygiene, including regular removal of inactive subscribers. Provide valuable content, offers, and updates to keep your audience engaged. A smaller, highly engaged list is far more effective and less risky than a large, stale one.

Maintaining a healthy email program

For your email marketing efforts to succeed, you need to understand the fundamental principles of deliverability beyond just list acquisition. This involves technical configurations, content quality, and consistent monitoring of your email program.

Key factors for successful email delivery include proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining a good sender reputation, and avoiding common pitfalls like excessive hard bounces or spam complaints. Your email content should be relevant, personalized, and offer clear value to your subscribers to encourage engagement and prevent them from marking your emails as spam.

Ultimately, sustainable email marketing is built on trust and explicit consent. By adhering to best practices and prioritizing your subscribers' experience, you can foster a healthy email program that effectively supports your business goals, independent of any marketplace platforms.

Views from the trenches

Best practices

Always obtain explicit, verifiable consent directly from subscribers for email marketing.

Segment your email lists based on engagement and purchase history to send more relevant content.

Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive addresses and reduce bounce rates.

Provide clear and easy unsubscribe options in every marketing email you send.

Monitor your sender reputation and deliverability metrics closely to catch issues early.

Common pitfalls

Assuming past consent from years ago is still valid for current marketing efforts.

Using email addresses obtained from platforms like eBay for external marketing.

Ignoring high bounce rates and spam complaints, which degrade sender reputation.

Sending to an entire old list without re-engagement or re-permission campaigns.

Failing to adapt to evolving email marketing regulations and platform policies.

Expert tips

Focus on building a separate, first-party email list with clear opt-in processes.

Consider offering exclusive discounts or content for new sign-ups to incentivize joining your list.

Implement a sunset policy for inactive subscribers to maintain a healthy and engaged audience.

Use email authentication protocols like DMARC to protect your sending domain from abuse.

Understand that platform-specific contact methods are usually not for external marketing.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks says that they are unsure if eBay ever had an e-marketing function, but if it did, it's likely old and deprecated, meaning any permissions gained would be out of date and need refreshing.

2022-01-20 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks says that it is more important to know the time period when the email addresses were collected, rather than whether eBay used to allow it. Permission is not a permanent state, and very old addresses are unlikely to be mailable.

2022-01-20 - Email Geeks