ATLANTA and LAKE ORION, Mich. -

Designed to assist consumers who use the site to turn a vehicle, AutoTrader.com announced Thursday it is taking an equity stake in ControlBox.com in support of the launch of its Privacy Shield product.

The sites explained the solution is designed to help private sellers keep their personal contact information private, yet still connect anonymously to shoppers by telephone and email.
 
AutoTrader.com launched the Privacy Shield product which is delivered with ControlBox technology that can put privacy control in the hands of the sellers. Privacy Shield can give private sellers tools to manage their calls and emails, including the ability to selectively block certain individuals from contacting them, as well as providing a record of contacts to help sellers stay organized throughout the process.

Each AutoTrader.com private seller can use Privacy Shield to receive a masked local phone number that can eliminate the exposure of their personal contact information on the Internet.

The site reiterated that shoppers can still connect seamlessly to sellers with the ControlBox telephone system through an interactive voice response system (IVR) and innovative security protocols that detect and block known telemarketers and fraudsters from ever contacting people who are selling their cars on AutoTrader.com.

Furthermore, officials added Privacy Shield also can make the email address of both parties anonymous, providing secure email communication using ControlBox technology systems aimed at preventing email fraud activity.

“Ensuring we provide a safe and effective selling experience for our private sellers is paramount to our business, and we believe investing in an innovative technology company like ControlBox demonstrates our commitment to our customers as industry leaders and advocates for a positive online experience,” stated Steve Greenfield, vice president at AutoTrader.com.

ControlBox chief executive officer Steven McAuley insisted, “We are proud of our association with AutoTrader.com and know that having the largest automotive marketplace as a shareholder will help accelerate our growth and more importantly will allow us to further develop products that improve the experience of AutoTrader.com sellers and shoppers.

“Together with AutoTrader.com we recognized an opportunity for improvement and then built a state-of-the-art technology solution that not only increases privacy and safety for users, but also enhances the selling experience by utilizing our contact management tools hosted by ControlBox as a Messages Tab that resides in the Manage Your Ad center on AutoTrader.com,” McAuley concluded.