Psychological Test Sales and Internet Auctions: Ethical Considerations for Dealing With Obsolete or Unwanted Test Materials

Psychological test publishers have longstanding policies prohibiting the sale of psychological tests to unqualified persons. Psychologists are also ethically bound to maintain test security. The emergence of Internet auction sites, however, poses a heretofore unrecognized threat to test security. This 3-month survey of auction listings on eBay found that both personality and intelligence tests, including test manuals, are available, and that sales to unqualified persons are not always restricted. These findings highlight a need to strengthen the ethics code to specify standards for the disposal of unwanted test material.