eBay may allow minors to set up limited accounts on the marketplace—and it may do so within a year.
Devin Wenig, president of Global Marketplaces, tells The Wall Street Journal that eBay is considering the idea. The marketplace would allow shoppers under the age of 18 to buy vintage T-shirts, jewelry, school supplies and other items on eBay.com, but it would require parental authorization for minors to create accounts.
Wenig adds that eBay would shield young buyers from adult content found on eBay.com.
Currently, eBay members must be 18 years old to have an account, though minors can use an adult’s account with their permission. However, the adult is responsible for “everything done with that account,” eBay states in its Underage user policy.
Wenig says eBay has not made a final decision on the matter. However, he notes that limited accounts could become available in nine months, if they get the go ahead. He says minors already use adults’ eBay.com accounts to buy on the marketplace, and the site wants to take away “some of the anonymity.”
One expert says it make sense to go after young shoppers. “They dictate what the family buys,” Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director of the United States Public Interest Research Group, tells reporters.
