PayPal and EBAY cookies - crossing from one browser to the other?

[Modee]

I run Macintosh, but that should not have anything to do with this issue.

I use ONLY Firefox to log into my PayPal and EBAY accounts, and firefox is set to delete cookies on every restart (which is often)! As a good measure, I also set it to delete authenticated sessions on every restart.

What I have noticed is that when I fire up Firefox and log into PayPal, if I go to Safari, there are PayPal cookies there!

Same happens when I log into EBAY.

Only thing is, when it comes to the EBAY cookies that appear on the Safari side, the cookies are of the "nonsession" variety - the kind you see when you view an EBAY page but do not log in.

On the PayPal side, the cookies seem more extensive, connected to the PayPal account I just logged into specifically.

To summarize:

1. Clear all cookies on both your Safari and Firefox browsers.
2. Log into Paypal or EBAY on the Firefox side.
3. You will see some PayPal and EBAY cookies on the Safari side!

FURTHER ANALYSIS:
3. The EBAY cookies on the Firefox side, where I have logged in to the EBAY, are of the ebay.com, ebay.rtm and main.ebayrtm.com variety. I assume that the .rtm are of the type that associate with the account itself. The cookies on the Safari side that pop up are of the ebay.com type only, and seem to be associated with the "nonsession" (not logged into EBAY) variety only.

3. The PAYPAL cookies that "mirror" onto the Safari side from a firefox log in are much more complete than the minimal ones that mirror over after an EBAY log in, and include most of the PayPal cookies. On the firefox (log in) side, the PayPal cookies are of the paypal.com , stats.paypal.com and paypal.112.2o7.net variety. All but the 112.2o7 variety carry over to the Safari side.

3. PAYPAL COOKIES appear on the Safari side after an EBAY only log in on the Firefox side! (None appear on the Firefox side, crazy!), and I have not even yet logged into PayPal!
TEST:
I cleared these PayPal and EBAY cookies on the Safari side -
AND logged into PayPal on Firefox.....
RESULT: Now PayPal cookies and EBAY cookies appear on the Safari side!
This is further proof that EBAY and PayPal together try to track you - their cookies are coming at you from both ends, together always!

Final test:
I quit Firefox - to delete all cookies - yes they did disappear on the firefox browser, and when I fired it back up, they were gone.
BUT the cookies remained on the Safari side!

Summary analysis:
1. When you log into PAYPAL with one browser (in this case Firefox) almost complete PayPal cookies appear onto another (in this case Safari) browser.
2. When you log into EBAY with one browser (in this case Firefox) at least "nonsession" EBAY cookies appear onto another (in this case Safari) browser.

I'd like to see more tests on this.

[Modee]

I am not sure if the "browser" is placing cookies across the way - I cannot say what the mechanism is.

All I tested is that when you log into EBAY or PayPal with Firefox, EBAY and PayPal cookies appear in Safari. Also that logging into JUST EBAY or JUST PAYPAL on Firefox makes BOTH EBAY and PAYPAL cookies appear in Safari! Which is all bad enough, however it is happening!

Maybe you can try the vice versa for me (log into Safari see what happens on the Firefox side).

[Modee]

Once you get all your bookmarks and files and images and email clients like Entourage (the MAC equivalent of Outlook Express) and all that set up it isn't as easy as all that to just log in and out of users and do what you need to do with multiple EBAY accounts.

Sure it's safer, but anyone on here doing some serious volume on EBAY and running multiple accounts knows what a pain it is to keep track of everything, AND have all your tools at your disposal.

Does anyone on here realize how POWERFUL a program like Entourage/Outlook Express is for our purposes? Why, I could do seminars on how this program suits those of us who wear multiple hats. I run twelve different POP and IMAP accounts on one program, and I have Rules set so that each email goes into the appropriate IN or OUT box. I also have TEMPLATE boxes for standard emails to copy, paste and email content in seconds. It would take hours to accomplish what I do in seconds if it were not for programs like Entourage.

Getting back to the issues with changing usernames/computers, for example if you use Dreamweaver or the like to create your auction listings it is easier said than done to transfer all the bits and pieces you need from one user to another. And unless you are solely web email based, which is like living in the dark ages, then you have to go through some rigamarole to get your emails from one user to another.

So yes...this "bleeding over" of cookies is somewhat of an issue. BUT my advice is to use ONLY Firefox set to delete everything on each restart for ALL EBAY and PP logins. If you do that, and are careful to delete flash objects and change IP address, you can still run multiple EBAY accounts without the need to change users or computers.

[Modee]

ALSO be aware that when you log into your EBAY account, especially if your EBAY and PayPal are linked, that PayPal LSOs (flash objects)
Recognizing your computer via cookies? IP? Flash Objects (LSOs)? - Free EBAY, PayPal, Business and Law Forums - Ebay Suspension, PayPal Limited
will be deposited as well.

Repeat: when you log into EBAY, not only will EBAY LSOs be deposited, but also PayPal.

[Modee]

The solution to this is an easy one - use Firefox ONLY for your Ebay and PayPal accounts, set to delete at least cookies and authenticated sessions on each restart.

[MrPippo]

Does it matter which Firefox version you use? Does it matter if you use the latest version 3.5?

Thanks Modee.

[Modee]

Yes it does matter, because FF 3.5 does NOT currently work with Objection, which you need to delete flash objects.

[Dr.Yes]

Can you use the "better privacy" add-on for Mozilla? Objection works great, but sometimes it doesn't work with newer versions of objection. With the mozilla add-on you can set it to eliminate flash at your discretion, intervals, or under certain circumstances.

[Modee]

For a variety of reasons, I prefer Objection. For one thing, Better Privacy must be set to retain flash objects for a certain period of time, and there is no real way to force it to maintain flash objects past that period of time other than constantly resetting the interval.

For our purposes here - we want to be able to retain flash objects or delete them - period - with no intervening factors or time cutoff points.

[Dr.Yes]

In that sense then, it works just like objection. I go in manually to delete them every time.

I wouldn't recommend setting it on autopilot. However, I've had objection several times not work with new versions of Mozilla.

[Modee]

Objection does not work with FF 3.5, which is why you should not update to it.

[Modee]

Stick to Firefox set exactly as noted in the Short List, with Better Privacy set exactly as noted in the Short List, and you will be fine.