I've been a proud member of eBay for 18 years. That's nearly two decades of buying, selling, and enjoying everything the platform had to offer. But today, I'm deleting my account – and here's why.
eBay has recently changed its age verification policy. To buy an item considered an "adult item" (like a bladed article), you must now own and use a credit card to verify your age.
Let me break down why this is a serious issue:
1. Not everyone has a credit card.
2. Not everyone can get a credit card.
3. Not everyone wants a credit card.
This includes many people with disabilities, people on low incomes, or people who simply choose not to have a credit card for personal or financial reasons. Credit cards aren't free – they come with risk, interest, and for some, rejection due to poor or no credit history. That shouldn't be a barrier to verifying your age.
Yet eBay has offered no alternative – no option to upload a passport, driving licence, or other legitimate ID. No facial verification system. Nothing. Just a single path: credit card or nothing.
And under the Equality Act 2010, that's a big problem.
Services must be inclusive, fair, and non-discriminatory. Forcing people into a single verification method that’s inaccessible to many is a clear failure in inclusion. It's not just unfair – it may be unlawful.
This move feels like the start of a worrying trend. I've heard other companies are moving toward credit-card-only verification, and it’s hard not to wonder if it’s a way to push financial products (like their own branded credit cards) onto people. As a consumer, I say: No thanks. I don’t want a credit card. I don’t need one. I have my own money, and I manage it responsibly – without debt.
eBay, I wasn’t born yesterday. You can see I’ve had my account for 18 years – clearly I didn’t open it before I was born! So if the concern is about fake or underage users, surely there are better ways to verify age than pushing financial products on people.
Yesterday, I tried to buy something I urgently needed and couldn’t – simply because I don’t have a credit card. That was the last straw.
So after 18 years of good memories on eBay, I’m saying goodbye – not by choice, but because I’ve been excluded, discriminated against, and left with no option.
I hope eBay rethinks this policy before it loses more long-time users like me.
Until you change ... Good bye !
