Casual seller, banned years ago, recently moved to Germany

wsmith1884 · #1 01-30-2019

So, it's been a while since I've visited these forums. I joined back in 2015 after being banned by ebay for not shipping a couple of items that I sold. I read the book, asked for help, setup my account/paypal/phone/etc, but never got around to actually selling as life got busy with other things. Fast forward a few years, and I'm now living in Germany on a work visa. I'd like to start selling on ebay again -- just casually for random household things and maybe some modded Game Boys that I do as a hobby and sell on the classified sites (1 per week at most). I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.

I have a VPN service am familiar with Virtualbox, so I think I'm okay with the technical side of things.

My concern lies mainly with the address and bank account. I've been using my banned ebay and paypal accounts over here with my german address (but not bank account), which in hindsight was really dumb. I probably could have made things easier on myself if I thought to create new accounts immediately upon moving here. I’ve used my new address in my newly created German PayPal account with a new email address (I created this a few months ago for a reason unrelated to Ebay, can’t recall why). This new PayPal account has my new German Mastercard and bank account linked to it. Of course it has my real name, and unfortunately it’s been used from the same IPs here as my banned account (many times).

I don’t really want to pay for a post office box here because I wouldn’t sell enough to make it worth the cost. Not to mention, from my experience.

Finally, I should mention that I don’t want to do ANYTHING that could get me in trouble with the German authorities and jeopardize my visa.

What do you think? Am I out of luck? Or do you think there is someway I could sell a few things here and there and fly under the radar? If so, would my best chance be with ebay.de, ebay.com, uk, etc? And is that new Paypal account toast, or should I give it a go?

Thanks in advance for the help!

ddm50 · #2 01-30-2019

You'd only get in trouble with German authorities if you had a stealth account with your real name, only if you had negative balance.

wsmith1884 · #3 01-30-2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddm50

You'd only get in trouble with German authorities if you had a stealth account with your real name, only if you had negative balance.

I would 100% not let that happen. Just looking to run a regular low-volume personal account on the up-and-up. I would definitely prefer using my real name.

Nyco · #4 01-30-2019

sorry but if you log into that account... YOU'RE STILL BANNED ! they're more strict in your country. Ive lived there a few years back lol

phaz0rz · #5 01-30-2019

I'd just start selling and accepting payments into the new German PP. You using the same IP doesn't really matter since they won't try to link your two accounts unless one of them gets into trouble.

Use that, and make a new eBay with your real name and real German address. Then you would have a new "real" account.

phaz0rz · #6 01-30-2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyco

sorry but if you log into that account... YOU'RE STILL BANNED ! they're more strict in your country. Ive lived there a few years back lol

You can move down the street and use that address to create a new eBay, and it won't be linked to your old eBay.

Moving to a new country is definitely enough to prevent any linkage.

wsmith1884 · #7 01-30-2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nyco

sorry but if you log into that account... YOU'RE STILL BANNED ! they're more strict in your country. Ive lived there a few years back lol

Yes, I understand there is no hope in getting the banned account back active. I plan on creating a new account.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

I'd just start selling and accepting payments into the new German PP. You using the same IP doesn't really matter since they won't try to link your two accounts unless one of them gets into trouble.

Use that, and make a new eBay with your real name and real German address. Then you would have a new "real" account.

So I logged into my banned ebay account, and unfortunately it looks like I have used my new german paypal account and Master Card from that account to buy. I've also linked my german mobile number (I put it in once a while back so it's in my account, but I always choose "Later" when paypal and ebay try to confirm it on login so they're listed as "unconfirmed", if that even matters). Damnit. I definitely should NOT try to use either of those with the new ebay account, correct? I could get another prepaid mobile card. Or is there a google voice or some virtual number that works these days? I hope I can create a new paypal account. Maybe if I change a couple letters in my address that would work (eg. instead of "ß" put "ss")? I think they use a service for name and address confirmation though.

Really wish I would have thought about all of this when i moved here. :/

wsmith1884 · #8 02-03-2019

Update: Good news. It looks like I actually did successfully setup a stealth ebay and paypal account back in 2016 before I moved to Germany. It totally slipped my mind, as it was during a hectic move, but I made 4 sales on that account (all good feedback), and transferred that money from paypal to my bank account. That bank account has since been closed, and the phone number that I used to verify both accounts is no longer available, but as far as I know these accounts are "clean".

The physical address used on the ebay and paypal account is a US address (UPS mailbox) that I still have active and someone checks for me.

The name I used for the accounts was fictitious.

So I think I'm in pretty good shape? I do have a couple of questions...

1) How do I go about selling from Germany? I will be shipping from my home here, so I obviously need the item listings to show that. Would it be best for me to login to ebay.de with my clean account, and proceed through there? Or is there a way I can change my location Country in ebay.com? I checked it out by starting to create a listing to see if it would let me change the location, which it did, but only to change the zip code -- not the Country.

2) If I do sell some things, how do I get the money out of PayPal? Is it risky to transfer (or "pay") my other paypal account which has been used with my suspended ebay account? Or is that just asking for them to get linked? Would it be better if instead of transferring, to just use that money for purchases on ebay, etc.? If I do that, is there a risk of having things shipped to my home address here in germany, which I've used many times for purchases on my suspended ebay account?

Edit: On 9/19/2018 I receive the "your money is your choice" email from PayPal where they said I needed to confirm my info to be able to keep a balance, send money, make purchases, etc. I guess that answers question #2. :( I'm assuming there's no way to confirm my info since it's a fictitious name, huh? That really sucks you can't even make purchases. According to the email, I'm left with either transferring to a debit card or bank account. I guess I could...

A) Since the bank account I used to verify the account has been closed, I could open a new savings account at BofA (my other US accounts are with them), but the name won't match, if that matters.

B) I have a debit card debit card for my business checking account that I could use. However, I would prefer not to get that involved for accounting purposes. Also to note that the checking account itself is used by my business paypal account, but this debit card is not.

What do you think?

Thanks!