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Re-visiting the INFORM Act disclosure: Are seller details becoming more visible?
I wanted to bring this topic back up because I recently noticed the full name and physical address of the seller displayed right in the order details and the order confirmation email for a few purchases I made. Back when the INFORM Act was first announced a couple of years ago, there was some discussion about our contact info being shared, but seeing it appear clearly in these recent transactions caught my attention.
Interestingly, this was not the case for every order I placed, which made me think this might be a new or updated rollout. As a reminder, eBay officially began exposing this info on June 27, 2023, to comply with the federal INFORM Consumers Act. The law requires marketplaces to provide this data for high-volume sellers—those reaching twenty thousand dollars in annual revenue—to increase transparency. While eBay used to keep our contact details private, it is now standard for this information to be included in order details and confirmation emails once you hit that threshold.
When I went to check my own account, I was frustrated by how difficult it is to find these specific settings. I know for a fact that I had previously opted out of this disclosure and requested the residential exception to keep my home address private. It feels like the settings are buried so deep in the sub-menus that it is almost impossible for a regular seller to verify if they are still protected.
We should all double-check our status on these residential address exceptions.
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Where’s this hidden in the settings? Is it more info than what’s on the Sender portion of a shipping label?
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@IndySales: The address that eBay gives your buyers depends on your settings. It might be more information than what is on your shipping labels. See my second post for details and details about how to get to the settings including a link you can click to get there.
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THE POTENTIAL PRIVACY PROBLEM: the federal INFORM Consumers Act
eBay is required to share the name and full physical address of high-volume sellers—those exceeding $20,000 in annual revenue—directly with buyers. By default, eBay uses your primary registered address for these disclosures, which is the same address they have verified against your banking information for payouts and tax reporting.
If you have not opted out or requested a formal exception, your home residence could be sent to every customer in their order confirmation emails and displayed online in their order details. Because your home address is tied to your payout verification, simply having a separate business shipping address is not enough to protect your privacy.
To see the “worst-case” address that eBay currently has on file to send to buyers, go to ‘Account Settings’, click ‘Personal Information’, and look for the ‘Owner name, address’ details in the ‘Personal Info’ section.
SOLUTION: Double-lock your residential privacy with these two steps.
First, set a separate business address for product returns. Under the law, if you provide a specific physical address for returns, eBay is permitted to display that address instead of your registered home address. You can update this by going to ‘Account Settings’ and selecting ‘Addresses’ to ensure your return address is a business location or PO Box.
Second, you must proactively request a formal exception to hide your residential street address entirely. To do this, login to your eBay account and visit the eBay INFORM Consumers Act resource page and scroll well down the page to find and click the link to ‘request an exception’. By certifying that you operate from a primary residence, you trigger a provision that allows eBay to only disclose your state and country to the buyer, rather than your full street address.
Compliance is an ongoing responsibility. Federal law requires you to electronically re-certify that your information is still accurate at least once every 12 months. eBay will send a notification for this review, and you must respond within 10 days to avoid account holds or suspension of your selling activity.
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