Is having multiple eBay accounts a violation?

[Kessel Runner]

Friend of mine has 5 eBay accounts he uses, all with the same PayPal account. He uses one to sell occasionally and all to buy 25-30 items per month (5-6 items per month on each account). He's done this for 4-5 years without issue. I was a little skeptical that this is legit but he's had no problems.

So since he's never been suspended, eBay is fine with one having that many accounts?

[dallis]

I got in trouble for that once, many years back, and was told multiple accounts are a no-no.

As with all EB policies, who the heck can say?

But buyer accounts are under far less scrutiny than seller accounts.

[branesergen]

You can have multiple accounts as long as you dont cross sell or use them maliciously. I've ran 3 before and talked to ebay about all 3 in the same call with no issues. I also recently increased the limits on one of my stealth accounts and the rep asked me if I had more, I said no and asked if that was even a possibility, she said yes as long as you dont do what I stated above. Word of warning tho - if one gets banned, they all get banned.

[Kessel Runner]

Cross sell? Is that selling an item from one account to another of your accounts? Or is it selling the same item to get around limits?

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by Kessel Runner

Cross sell? Is that selling an item from one account to another of your accounts? Or is it selling the same item to get around limits?

Wrong definition of cross selling here - that's when you offer similar or related items to the one a customer is interested in. You can and most definitely should consider cross selling and upselling with your accounts.

Read these.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/i...policy?id=4232

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/l...policy?id=4248

The wholesalers in my niche have sister companies who upsell their other main website like crazy - and it does make it look more appealing.

No problem with multiple accounts. Ebay will actually link and increase your limits to match those of your main.

[rsot]

Welcome to the forum - all the best as you master stealth

[Kessel Runner]

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

Wrong definition of cross selling here - that's when you offer similar or related items to the one a customer is interested in. You can and most definitely should consider cross selling and upselling with your accounts.

Read these.

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/i...policy?id=4232

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/l...policy?id=4248

The wholesalers in my niche have sister companies who upsell their other main website like crazy - and it does make it look more appealing.

No problem with multiple accounts. Ebay will actually link and increase your limits to match those of your main.

Good info, thanks!

[dallis]

Ebay will actually link and increase your limits to match those of your main.

Actually, EB is better known for dividing the limits among all linked accounts. IE, three accounts with limits of 1000, 600 and 200 will be end up being divided into three limits of 600 each.

And if 1 goes down, all three are DOA. I can attest to this from extensive, long term personal experience.

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by dallis

Ebay will actually link and increase your limits to match those of your main.

Actually, EB is better known for dividing the limits among all linked accounts. IE, three accounts with limits of 1000, 600 and 200 will be end up being divided into three limits of 600 each.

And if 1 goes down, all three are DOA. I can attest to this from extensive, long term personal experience.

Sounds terrible being that an account that once had 1000 limit and items listed gets reduced and your GTC listings will end instead of renewing.

[Sunspot144]

Also

[branesergen]

Yeah I meant selling the same type of stuff across multiple accounts. Usually used to get around limits. Books on one account, clothes on another is fine. Books and clothes on both accounts is not fine.

[Kessel Runner]

Originally Posted by branesergen

Yeah I meant selling the same type of stuff across multiple accounts. Usually used to get around limits. Books on one account, clothes on another is fine. Books and clothes on both accounts is not fine.

eBay limits books and clothes? That doesn't sound right.

Also, friend actually had 6 accounts and one got suspended about 3 months ago (he doesn't know why, they simply sent email that said "unusual activity"). But his other 5 were fine. Again, he only has one paypal and all the accounts are set up sequentially like "johndoe1, johndoe2" etc. so eBay knows its him for sure.

So one going down doesn't always mean they all do in every instance I guess.

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by Kessel Runner

eBay limits books and clothes? That doesn't sound right.

Also, friend actually had 6 accounts and one got suspended about 3 months ago (he doesn't know why, they simply sent email that said "unusual activity"). But his other 5 were fine. Again, he only has one paypal and all the accounts are set up sequentially like "johndoe1, johndoe2" etc. so eBay knows its him for sure.

So one going down doesn't always mean they all do in every instance I guess.

Think he means in terms of having too many items (books and clothes) ie 500 of each on an account that can only sell 750 things. If you split them up to one account for books and one for clothes you wouldn't be maxing out the one account.... but doing this is against ebay policy. Quite frankly though they'd have no way of knowing this and you could just say you wanted a dedicated account for each category.

[branesergen]

It's just an example. Chances are they're not going to mess with you unless you're blatant. Ebay does turn a blind eye to minor infractions. It's when you abuse that they crack down. My 1st account went down 7 years ago, my others stayed intact and worked fine. My 2nd account went down about 3 months ago, same thing still fine. When I revived an old account and started selling the same things they shut all my accounts down within 3 days.

To clarify a bit - if you have a 500 item limit and you have 500 items, all books and clothes, and you create another account and proceed to list 500 more books and clothes they will shut you down. But if you convert 1 account to 500 books and the other account to 500 clothes you'll be fine.

It's not black and white. What worked for me may not work for you and what works for your friend may not work for either of us.

[Sunspot144]

Tangent alert -

RL example of upselling you're all probably familiar with - stamps.com

Endicia and stamps are one in the same.. can log in to either with same account.

Endicia sets the bar low for their black stallion stamps.com... and holy $hit it comes with a free scale and $5 postage?! Sign me up! (and Endicia is less per month than stamps but they don't advertise it blatantly) *cough*

Makes the whole deal that much sweeter and entices a viewer into becoming a buyer all the more.

[casper555]

On papers ebay allows multiple accounts when you are selling difference niche on each account. But in reality they are not bothered even if you are selling same stuff on multiple linked accounts. They do not enforce rules evenly.

[yankee]

who cares? This is a forum about stealth accounts. This forum is all about NOT linking accounts together.

[rsot]

Originally Posted by rizwan567

On papers ebay allows multiple accounts when you are selling difference niche on each account. But in reality they are not bothered even if you are selling same stuff on multiple linked accounts. They do not enforce rules evenly.

Forget this idea - not a great way to operate

[accordy2g]

Ebay allows multiple accounts I just spoke with them