Which email providers are still best?

[JackNoMore]

It's been a while since there was any talk about this subject and things have been changing right and left at ebay. Which email addresses seem to be better for avoiding unnecessary blocks--like asking for more information than others? I remember ebay was more forgiving to some and less to others. For a while there AOL seemed the best, in some cases not even requiring a credit card, but has that changed? What about gmail? For a while yahoo and hotmail were bad choices. Is that still the case? Probably any free service would.

List your best email choices based on ease of registration to ease of use on ebay and paypal. I'm thinking maybe between the big providers like AOL, MSN, and possibly Gmail. Any others I should consider? Which ones do you find give you less hassle? Thanks

[coopster72]

I still use gmail. Mostly for the fact that they do not display web beacons. You can also choose plain text in Yahoo too. It's just not the defaut. I think any mail service is fine as long as you're not viewing any pictures.

Possibly different rules for different parts of the US and world though. That seems to be the case for alot of things.

[JackNoMore]

Ah. I'd forgotten about the old web beacon debate. That's a good point. Whether they do or don't, it's something to think about. I was mainly thinking about the other things -- the trust factor they give certain clients in listing items which has been mentioned on the forum.

[spike1]

right now i am using AOL. i have used gmail in the past with no problems. i don't think it really matters that much.

[coopster72]

Yea, I can remember having to use a "real" email address for Paypal a long time ago. I guess they wouldn't take my Yahoo address at the time. I think they have eased back on the email policy as it's just as easy (and anonymous) now to get a $6 domain name with a free email account as it is to sign up for gmail.

[JackNoMore]

My main concern is ebay right now, choosing a provider that is going to be more "trusted" in ebay's eyes for a new user/change of email situation. Although it might be a moot point. I was planning to switch out email addresses when I found that one account had the same email address as the username on another account. Just got them mixed up I guess. I forget, will ebay allow you to use a previously used email address if it's not currently associated with another account, or could that "link" the accounts? Neither one are suspended. Just don't want to cause both to go down if one happens to be axed.

[spike1]

don't use that same email!!!

if you are worried about the ebay points go with MSN or AOL. i don't think they like gmail that much

[coopster72]

I don't think the bots can catch you, but if your account was flagged and an Ebay employee was researching it, he/she may uncover the connection.

[AndreasF]

I use Yahoo as before.

Very easy to create a new addy and getting trusted by EB for every account I created with them.

Cheers

[JackNoMore]

spike - yeah I was thinking that might be a little risky. I mean neither account is in any danger. They're just fine in fact. But after thinking about it some more, I realized the simple fact these two users are supposedly in two different locations and yet somehow ended up with the same emails might look a tad bad if they ever track them. I'll probably just change the provider and keep the name address the same. Thanks everyone. :-)

[JackNoMore]

By the way you use it, you'd think verbose was a dirty word.

Forgive me. It was early. I wasn't thinking clearly.

Short enough for ya?

[JackNoMore]

Alright, in a similar vein...I can't find any information on whether ebay keeps a running archive of all the emails you've had. Trust me, I've done the search and came up empty. If you change your email, does ebay keep that other email forever or is it written over by the new email address?

This one's right up tcho's alley.

[x2ruff4u]

I use aol addreses just cause there easy

[spike1]

yeah where is tcho?

i would like to hear what he's says about it all.

[Chris Hanson]

He just lurks now and reports back to his superiors.

[spike1]

man i hope not.