UK seller needing a quick and easy fix.

[ghettotige]

Long story short we got suspended from ebay 2 months ago and although ebay was not our biggest concern it was worth a couple of grand a week in sales, so did sting a bit.
I downloaded the stealth guide last night and read through which was an excellent read by the way..
But christmas is coming so I am going to have to move fast to get the most from the xmas rush and waiting for Ebay to lift selling restrictions on new ebay accounts will not be ideal.. So was thinking of purchasing from sellers on this forum some aged and unrestricted accounts to get things moving quickly.
A couple of things that I feel are going to be tricky is keeping track of windows accounts and switching the IP address.. If it was just me doing it then that would be fine but I have staff who just will not get how to do this and it wont be long before someone makes a mistake and logs in using the wrong account or IP address.

Im thinking of having 3 ebay accounts to start with (dont want to put all my eggs in one basket again), and think it would be safer to use 3 separate laptops for each of those 3 accounts..

But what would be the best way to handle the IP addresses for each of those laptops? Top of my head would be 3 new phone lines with 3 new broadband suppliers, not the most cost efficient but at least all 3 ebay accounts can be worked on at the same time with 3 staff..
I guess the second safest and a bit cheaper would be 3 x mobile 3g dongles..

I don't think I could somehow get 3 routers into the single fibre optic but if that is possible let me know.

[Callidus]

3 dongles would be cheaper, not always quicker - you still need to track IP's as a cover to make sure you don't run on the same IP that has been previously used. Add the IP address document to the network and each member of staff adds the new IP to the document, saves and closed etc. 3 landlines would be a 'safer' bet especially when you're letting staff loose on the account - entirely down to what you wanted to spend with regards to internet connections.

[Efftech]

You don't necessarily have to use 3 different laptops, you can make a bootable OS and put it on a USB drive.

[Geegee83]

I use the Huawei MiFi unit, you turn it off / on and it gives a new IP address.

As for the staffing issue, can you not make yourself in charge of printing off the order forms and they just prepare the order and pack it? That's how I would have to do it, couldn't trust the staff to do it right.

You can get laptops for £180 if you want, or just open 3 different user ID accounts on your computer.. log in, print orders, log out, and then go on to your next account, whilst changing the IP between the accounts.

[jeffweico]

I know I'm from the US, but I use a similar system.

1 PC for each eBay/PayPal/Amazon combination.
1 separate internet connection for each PC.

I use USB broadband modems. I have a different provider for each. They are plentiful here in the US, I don't know how many different providers you have in the UK.

My system costs more, but it keeps everything separate without the need to worry about tracking IP addresses and make it more difficult for human error to wreck an account. I RARELY lose accounts, but I also don't sell high-risk items. I mostly sell rare books, but I DO sell stuff imported from China (but no brand names or copyrighted material). So, they tend to leave me alone. If I were selling fitness programs, DVD's, designer apparel, or other things of that nature, I'm sure my experience would be different.

[ghettotige]

WHAT, ME DO THE WORK NOT STAFF?
I prefer the idea of keeping it all separate like jeffweico, not that my staff are stupid but, "you pay peanuts you get monkeys"
For what 3 laptops would cost and if it can help generate an extra £2k in sales per week I think it would be a worthwhile investment.. I will even try and simplify it further so that each pc has the "keep me logged in feature active" or at least the remember passwords set so that the staff will not need the passwords that way they should not mistakenly log into the wrong account with the wrong pc..
IP wise i still think I would prefer 3 new telephone lines with different internet providers just for the extra security of avoiding staff or my own error for that matter, problem is Ill probabiliy be looking at 2 to 3 weeks to get those lines installed and active, but I imagine dongles will just mean a quick visit to the stores tomorrow. I can still order the phonelines as that would be a better long term solution and there not a total waste of money as we should really have 3 phonelines where I work, one for calls, one for red care alarm, one for card processing ect..

[ghettotige]

Is there a preference on UK dongles, do you have to do all the credit check thing with them or is there such a thing as prepaid, buy over the counter and gone in 5 minutes..

[stevebills]

buy 3 business accounts as u can start with 100 or £3500 and get 3 dongles easy peasy
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