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The advantage to being legit
 

I've been out of the scene a few years now.. thinking about playing on ebay again.. I had some stealth accounts from '08 that i might fire back up, but i'm not going near ebay till i get all my ducks in a row...

some questions...

if i've never used my real info with ebay, is there any advantage to doing so and trying to be legit? I deal in older collectable type stuff and never had to worry about vero or name brand issues.

How is ebay handling taxes these days? Are they reporting now?

are there selling limitations in effect for verified identity with ssn?

thanks for bringing me back up to speed guys

..BOE

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

using real info is just too risky.

being that you were out for so long, it may be best to do stealth for the time being until you established a solid feel on the 'new' ebay/paypal monster.

The accounts that have been sleeping may start with the 10/1000 simply due to the inactivity.

Ebay and paypal are doing the whole taxes thing. A certain amount and you will need EIN for each account getting to that limit.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

I thought i could recall being able to withdraw $500/week from pp back then.. has that now been changed to $500/month?

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

There are selling limits for everyone now but as a more solid/legit account it will be easier to up your limits by calling in and requesting increased limits. A legit account is always stronger and has fewer problems but as BigCJ mentioned I suggest stealth first to get you up to speed with the new eBay. :)

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

Let's not forget that this forum was built with the corpses of "Legit" Stealths that died!

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

I can see how it could possibly benefit in the US, but in the UK it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Legit details : 200 limit after 1000 feedback account is 5 years old, but didn't start selling properly until 12 months ago.
Stealth details : 1200 limit after around 100-150 feedback and 4 months of first sale.

both accounts same products.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

you will always hit a brick way when it comes to eBay, go LLC with EIN if your volume is high, otherwise the only way to play is stealth. :thumb:

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

This sounds like a pretty good idea... actually a really good idea... stick with good stealths and get my feet wet again and up to speed..

I think in the long run i may try to get llc/ein going.. but from what i've read here paypal still wants a ssn for business account?

My big issue with multiple small stealths is it's incredibly tedious and time consuming for me. my inventory consists of thousands of unique items posted weekly.. think of like a huge baseball card shop... it really helps to be on one seller with a pro looking store front.. know the conversion, scale up the active listings to however much work i can handle in the "shipping dept".. etc..

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

You will hit the wall with just a few accounts if you volume sold, 200 transactions or 20k is when they pop you for tax id or ein number, also they do it by estimate wither you'll hit it or not so take that into consideration.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

Standard default is not to use any old info - now given that, if you use your real info...what will you do if 1) eb asks for ID - you feel comfortable providing all your real info? and then 2) if you are banned, realize that your real info is held for a very very long time....and cant be used again

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

MM78 could not have said it better. Perfect!

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

I don't get the question. Stealth accounts are normally legit unless you use bs info. I think what you are asking is more like in the lines if you should use your personal information instead of stealth and the answer to that question would be to go stealth to protect yourself.

There is nothing not legit about using a DBA name or EIN number to protect yourself from eBay/PayPal.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

There is no advantage to being legit.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

Correctly created, the account should never be asked for the SSN.

It appears to come down to the method of making the account from scratch.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

i've done some searching here with a lot of mixed opinions on this topic. can you direct me to a thread with good information on properly setting up a business account or just lay it out here for me? i have the book but it doesn't seem covered well enough to the point that it's the main strategy..

are there limitations for a business account at all? how much information do they need to get up and running? just a couple of invoices where the inventory came from? what else?

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

How I've done it is still going for a personal eBay acc and premier account.
I only turn them to business when they ask me to.

IMHO, going stealth first like Aspkin said and use that account to sell would give you the experience first hand.

But in the mean, it doesn't mean you shouldn't create an account that has all your true info, just don't use it for selling yet. Have it on the side while your stealth accounts are being used so that when you do want to use the real account, you have confidence on
how to using it the right way.

The downside of real account is that if you happen to mess it up, they have all your info and they'll use it against you.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

if you list items and ship the next day, does anything matter? i mean of course there must be some issues that require more attention and some returns.. not all buyers will be nice or just don't want what they purchased anymore.. but in the big scheme of things, what else is important to ebay these days?

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

As long as they see a working # within 24 hours of payment received, and the buyer leaves you a positive feedback for fast shipment, they'll be happy.

product as described is another big thing. I would say these 2 are some of the most important things in buyers and eBay's eyes.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

what is a working #?

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

Working Tracking #

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

It read like a working (phone) number.

Re: The advantage to being legit
 

Is there such thing as a business account on eb? pp has business account option.. what are the limitations to this type of account with ein? higher than a personal account with ssn? they must offer options for an entity that wants to conduct business but cannot be restritcted to 10/1000 a month or similar.. and it's crafts/collectable stuff, not name brand or vero stuff.