It seems we all have to be on the look out for the next online service that’s going to be hacked and get a warning to change out passwords to avoid some nasty person getting into out account. Recently it happened to eBay, a company that I’m sure does its utmost to prevent security attacks. Once again via the news we were told to change our passwords.

I heeded this advice and was using my iPhone when I saw this news and thought better do it now, by the way, do it now not the next time you are using eBay as that may be some time off and your account could be accessed in the meantime.

I thought this would be straightforward, go into the app and find my account settings and there would be an option to change my password. Maybe it is there but after tapping for a few minutes I couldn’t find it. Tried the same using Safari, got the mobile version of the site and even switched to Classic but it kept taking me back to mobile. So it made sense to just do it on my desktop computer.

What happened on my desktop computer when I tried it is that it went through what appeared to be the same process as losing your password and resetting it using the option if you forget it. That makes sense because if someone has hacked your account they could then change your password but if it is emailed to you then that takes that away from them.

So if you are doing it in your iPhone, smartphone, tablet, or even your laptop or desktop just logout if you haven’t done so already and when you login just click in the forgot your password option. There should also be a link on the homepage of eBay but if not then just click the Forgot? link on the sign in page.

Follow the instructions and then it should be safe to shop again.

It’s a good idea to use secure passwords and also change them now and again. There are great apps to help you remember your passwords. Don’t keep them on a piece of paper somewhere where anyone can see it. Click here for one of my blog posts on creating a better password.