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Do I upgrade to business account or get new business account
 

I have been studying the threads here, but can not seem to find an answer to my issues. I am currently a long time Platinum Powerseller in good standing 99.9% feedback and 5.0 DSR's. I also have a Paypal Premier account in good standing as of now. I know Paypal has mandated that we upgrade to business account when we get close to the $20,000/200 sales limit. The problem is the Paypal account has always been in my girlfriends name with her SSN. Ebay is in my name. She does not want IRS to get 1099 in her SSN because taxes have always been filed under mine. If I add my LLC to her Paypal account for the business upgrade then IRS will see this new LLC as having previous years of sales. I would rather set up a new Paypal account under the LLC and close her Paypal account so no 1099's come out of it. I do not need to do anything stealth, I have all legit information for verification for a new business account, ie bank, debit card, EIN, separate address, separate phone. I am just sceptical if Paypal will allow me to open a business account from this computer as long as my current Premier account is still open (which operates from this computer). I will also need to link my 10 year old Ebay selling account to my new Paypal business account. Any ideas or help is greatly appreciated. And I have been reading these forums for 3 days straight now, so my post here has not been out of laziness for the info. Thanks to all

I think as long as everything is legit, and you have nothing to hide, just close one account, open new account, link to ebay, and you should be ok.

I really appreciate the reply. I am just so sceptical about contacting Paypal regarding changing accounts. Obviously the debit cards will be gone from the previous account and the new business account will only have EIN connected to it. Is it still possible to get debit cards on that account with a brand new LLC with no credit history and no SSN attached to it. I want to verify it with new bank info and EIN not my SSN. Thanks again

EIN shouldn't be a problem. Not sure about new debit cards though.

You mention "close one account" and "open new account" This seems logical but the current account is 10 years old and has a great track record with no limits on it. I will not use it to sell any longer but hate to throw it away. It will be like starting all over again with nothing. Any suggestions how I can keep this account and open the new business account, maybe downgrading it to personal is an idea. The problem is that the new business account will be operating at times on the computer that currently runs the premier account (same MAC address & IP). i just worry that a new business account with no history will get flagged for the 1000 sales and $40,000 per month that will pass through there as soon as it is opened. Too bad a real person at Paypal can not look at the situation and give the new account the same status as my old account. Thanks for your thoughts.

EIN shouldn't be a problem. I operated for years without supplying my EIN but finally they limited me until I gave it to them. Just be prepared for that. And be prepared for PP to send you through all the crap again since it is a new account. Not sure how you are supposed to "take it slow" with a big powerseller level account...I think calling them would be good. I always call them before I do something I don't normally do. This seems to help a lot.

You could call and tell them you need to create a new paypal account because of an ownership change in the business. That's essentially what you're doing anyway so that's the best thing I can think of.

**update**
I hope some of you find this helpful. Paypal sent the business upgrade note at $16000 a few days ago. They only are allowing me to click "upgrade to business account" to start the process. So this looks to be the magic number they are using.

And to upgrade or open business account, they required copies of State business license, EIN form from IRS, Articles of Organization filed with state, suppliers, physical address.

A new business account was opened recently to get it ready to receive the sales when I close or downgrade her account. I have been working with a Paypal rep to make the transition and stop my girlfriend from getting 1099K by Paypal from my sales. It seems Paypal is helping. She advised that I send in all the faxes of life history (above info) prior to accepting sales and she also has noted the new account with the last Paypal account performance as very low risk and 0 problems. I am the one paying the taxes not my girlfriend. So her account will be down-graded to personal or closed and my new business account will now be the payment account for my Ebay site. This transition was advised by Paypal as opposed to upgrading her account.

My question now is "do I need to upgrade my Ebay account to a Business account" or is this even necessary to do? Will Ebay want me to send them all the info Paypal has now.?

I just realized a few weeks ago that I have a personal ebay account but a business paypal account. I didn't have to send in any docs but I started the pp account off as a business account. Now when my main PP account was setup, I don't even think there was such a thing as a business account. I'm not sure if it can be changed but I don't think I'm going to touch it now.

Thanks for the update!! I appreciate hearing about it