Choosing
a good password
Compared to finding a prime parking space during the holidays,
signing up at eBay is a breeze. About the toughest thing you have
to do is type in your e-mail address correctly. When it comes
to choosing your password and User ID, the process is so easy
that you may be tempted to speed right through it without giving
much thought to your choices. Slow down there, partner! Take a
deep breath and think about these two identifiers before you click
that final Complete Your Registration button.
A quick word about passwords
Picking a good password is not as thought-free (but is twice as
important) as it may seem. Whoever has your password can (in effect)
"be you" at eBay — running auctions, bidding on auctions,
and leaving dangerous feedback for others. Basically, such an
impostor can ruin your eBay career — and possibly cause
you serious financial grief.
As with any online password, you should follow these
common-sense rules to protect your privacy:
-
Don't pick anything too obvious, such as your birthday, your
first name, or your Social Security number. (Hint:
If it's too easy to remember, it's probably too easy to crack.)
-
Make things tough on the bad guys — combine numbers and
letters and create nonsensical words.
-
Don't give out your password to anyone — it's like giving
away the keys to the front door of your house.
-
If you even suspect someone has your password, immediately
change it.
-
Change your password every few months just to be on the safe
side.
A not-so-quick word about choosing a User ID
eBay gives you the option of picking your User ID. (If you don't
choose one, then your e-mail address becomes your default User ID.)
Making up a User ID can be a lot of fun. If you've never liked your
real name (or never had a nickname), here's the chance to correct
that situation. Consider choosing an ID that tells a little about
yourself. Of course, if your interests change, you may regret too
narrow a User ID.
You can call yourself just about anything; you can be silly or
creative or boring. But remember, this ID is how other eBay users
will know you. So here are some common-sense rules:
-
Don't use a name that would embarrass your mother.
-
Don't use a name that's too weird, such as scam-man. If people
don't trust you, they won't buy from you.
-
Don't use a name with a negative connotation.
-
eBay doesn't allow spaces in User IDs, so make sure that the
ID makes sense when putting two or more words together.
If you're dying to have several short words as your User ID,
you can use underscores or hyphens to separate them, as in queen-of-shopping.
If you permanently sign in to eBay on your computer, typing those
underscores won't slow you down.
You can change your User ID (once every 30 days) if you want
to, but doing so might not be a good idea. People come to know
you by your User ID. If you change your ID, your past does play
tagalong and attaches itself to the new ID. But if you change
your User ID too many times, people may think you're trying to
hide something or you're in the Witness Protection Program.
Nevertheless, to change your User ID, click the My eBay link
at the top of most eBay pages. From your My eBay login page, click
the Preferences/Set-up tab and scroll to the Change My User ID
link, fill out the boxes, and click the Change User ID button.
You now have a new eBay identity.
eBay also has some User ID rules to live by:
-
No offensive names (like &*#@guy).
-
No names with eBay in them. (It makes you look like you work
for eBay, and eBay takes a dim view of that.)
-
No names with & (even if you do have both looks&brains).
-
No names with @ (like @Aboy).
-
No symbols such as the greater than or less than symbols
(> <) or consecutive underscores ___.
-
No IDs that begin with an e, followed by numbers, an underscore,
a dash, a period, or a dot.
-
No names of one letter (like Q).
When you pick your User ID, make sure that it isn't a good clue
for your password. If you use Natasha as your User ID, don't pick
Boris as your password. Even Bullwinkle could figure that one
out.
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