How the hell does eBay know what car I drive?

Posted by Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 17 comments

I just accidentally opened the "motors =} my garage section of the eBay app and it has details if my vehicle including registration. WTF? I never gave them that info! How did they get it?

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17 Comments

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creepinghippo@reddit

Have you entered the details into Eurocarparts or something that may store the details and share cross platforms.

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That, or there's a possibility the info is in a cookie. Either way it's a good demonstration of why giving out your data is something we should care about. Today it's eBay getting your reg from somewhere, tomorrow it's your life insurance provider knowing you've just bought a bungee rope off of Temu...

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DigitalStefan@reddit

Wait until I tell you about the service quite a few websites use that tell them where you work and your likely salary range. Can be a bit unnerving when you’re poking around in Chrome dev console and you spot your employers name pop up.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

!answer

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

This is a possibility. Thanks.

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Vast_Ad9484@reddit

email them and ask them wher ethey got the info from

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ebola1986@reddit

You gave them that info when you purchased a part at some point.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

I've never bought a car part on eBay and if I did I would never enter my registration.

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ebola1986@reddit

You gave them that info when you looked at car parts. The relevant part here is that you gave them that info.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

And again no, but it seems a third party may have shared this data with eBay. I wouldn't use eBay even to just search for car parts and I wouldn't knowingly give them any details like that as I don't trust them since the account was hacked.

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juntoalaluna@reddit

At some point you’ve told them, then you’ve forgotten about it.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

Definitely not. The very idea gives me a cold sweat.

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

[OP marked this as the best answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1pjs13h/how_the_hell_does_ebay_know_what_car_i_drive/ntfnevy/), given by /u/creepinghippo. > Have you entered the details into Eurocarparts or something that may store the details and share cross platforms. --- [_^(What is this?)_](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/jjrte1/askuk_hits_200k_new_feature_mark_an_answer/)

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PracticeNo8733@reddit

If you search for certain car parts eBay will prompt you to enter your vehicle reg number so it can look for compatible parts. Are you sure you never did this in the past? Alternatively, companies can sell/share your info if you "consent" to it, so I wonder if you entered your reg number into another retail site (to look for parts) and they shared it.

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Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit (OP)

The latter is possible. I'd never give details like that to ebay as it's the only account I've ever had hacked so I don't trust them or their service in general. Haven't bought through them in years.

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Flaramon@reddit

You gave it to a site, who shared it. Or, you used eBay at one point without knowing it (as a third party). The information had to have come from you at some point - companies share such information freely.

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