Buying an existing eBay store? Good idea???

[Sollid]

I am new to this forum, and am working my way through the eBay and Amazon guides. I am also working with a vendor on here to buy some new accounts. I have seen some existing eBay stores/accounts for sale on eBay and was wondering what the veterans on here think about the idea of buying a store with a long history, good feedback, and lots of inventory?

[MM78]

Buying an established account with merchandise, tons of feedback, etc...sounds like a great idea but I would ask myself, why are they selling the store? surely not because they are so rich they don't need the cash.

I'm sure some people do have very legitimate reason for selling but in my opinion...they are selling the store because it's not making much cash. Also remember, they may be selling you the store with merchandise, what about their supplier? what do you do when you sell all the stock at hand?

I would say that if you do intend to buy a store, make sure you ask a ton of questions.

[invince]

Buying an existing business usually requires a premium.

Alternatively you can build businesses and sell it for that premium.

The value added will be much more.

[An0nym0u$]

To me, a new stealth account that you have control over & you know everything about from the beginning is far more valuable than any aged existing account.

An aged account may have an MCXXX violation a year or so ago that you don't know about. I'm not saying that is true for all aged accounts.

Yes, a new account takes a couple months to become established and you have selling limitations right off the bat, but at least there are no uncertainties that come with it.

[JamesNorth101]

Buying a premade account has got both positives and negatives.

The positive is that you can hit the ground running, increased limits, feedback already in place and potentially already have a customer base

The draw backs the spring to mind is that its not a good was to learn stealth, it would be better to learn how to stealth before you spend money on an account that you may loose though inexperience. You also don't know the full history of the account until its yours, although I am sure forum sellers would have no adverse history as they are carefully screened.