eBay added a new section to its Links Policy to spell out what links are permitted within eBay Stores (http://www2.ebay.com:80/aw/marketing.shtml#2004-09-02173905). The Links Policy is designed to prevent sellers from directing buyers to transact business outside of the eBay site to avoid paying eBay's commission fees.

The Links Policy restricts the links and contact information a seller can include in eBay.com listings, and eBay announced on Thursday it had added similar restrictions for eBay Stores listings and Store home pages.

The revised policy prohibits linking to other eBay Stores without that Storeowner's permission, and limits that number to ten. It also prohibits sellers from listing phone numbers and other contact information on the Stores home page. "Phone numbers that are not specifically tied to customer support for a particular item have the potential to pull a buyer off the eBay marketplace," the announcement explained. Sellers may continue to list phone numbers in item pages, the About Me page, and Store Custom Pages that are not currently set as the home page of the Store.

Sellers may not include solicitations to join a mailing list that is maintained outside of eBay, but may include such requests on their About Me pages. eBay will no longer allow new eBay Store names to be a URL, read the announcement for all changes to the policy.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html