eBay announced yesterday that it will ban User IDs that consist of an email address. According to eBay, such accounts are four times more likely to have their account stolen compared to other accounts. The company said that due to the risk of such accounts being stolen, it will require that all members transition to a non-email User ID.

Inactive members (members who have not had any buying or selling activity in the last 12 months) who have an email address as their User ID will be assigned a non-email User ID automatically starting the week of August 11, 2003. Active members who do not have a non-email User ID will be automatically assigned a non-email User ID by January 2004.

Members who are assigned temporary User IDs will not have a Change ID icon appear on their feedback page. However, if the temporary name is changed, a Change ID icon will appear for the standard 30 days.

eBay will also eliminate the ability to sign in to eBay using an email address if a non-email-based User ID exists. In a few weeks, these members will no longer be able to sign in with their email addresses.

Last month, eBay limited the ability to look up accounts by email addresses in Search lookup boxes, also citing security concerns.

http://www.ebay.com/eumfaq.html