EBay Rule to Help Curb Off-Site Trading

EBay Inc. announced a rule to help prevent off-site transactions, which deprive the largest Internet auction company of fees that make up the bulk of its revenue.

New members registering to use the site won’t be allowed to use e-mail addresses for their user names, the company said. Current members using e-mail addresses as user identification will be allowed to keep the names, the company said.

EBay has been trying to keep sellers and buyers from finding each other on the site, then completing transactions on their own. In December, it warned users that trading off-site might result in suspension. In May, it banned sellers from linking their sales pages to other sites where transactions are finalized.

The new policy will prevent sellers from using EBay to collect e-mail addresses for unsolicited sales pitches, also known as “spamming.”

Shares of San Jose-based EBay fell $3.24 to close at $61.72 on Nasdaq.