Ebay asks for Social Security Number

mamamia1982 · #1 11-08-2011

I received a message today saying that I should provide my SSN or they will block my listing. This is not a stealth account and the reason I am not able to offer this number is that I already moved out from States and I did not have one when I was there. What should I do? Meanwhile, Could I provide my husband's SSN? is that acceptable?

TowelKing · #2 11-08-2011

Is Ebay or PayPal asking for the SSN?

I have never heard of ebay asking for it, only paypal.

mamamia1982 · #3 11-08-2011

Well, Ebay asks me to submit SSN or Tax ID to Paypal.

cardfelon · #4 11-08-2011

You can't submit another persons SSN number for your account. Unless you are able to come up with one then there isn't much you can do. Without being a US citizen I don't know how you could obtain a EIN# from the IRS.

GreenBean · #5 11-08-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamamia1982

I received a message today saying that I should provide my SSN or they will block my listing. This is not a stealth account and the reason I am not able to offer this number is that I already moved out from States and I did not have one when I was there. What should I do? Meanwhile, Could I provide my husband's SSN? is that acceptable?

Can you do a screenshot of the message?

Not normal for ebay to do this. Such requests may start to happen as 2012 comes closer & tax requirements must be met.

KingRay · #6 11-08-2011

Yes screen shot would be great. Cant see ebay doing it as they have no concern at all with the 2012 requirements. Not really their business.

If you are a citizen of the US you can get the SSN. If not you will need the ITIN. Not hard to come by, just file for one. Basically the ITIN is just a way for collecting taxes from people outside th US without the ability to get the SSN.

GreenBean · #7 11-08-2011

Wrong. Stop creating an urban myth B4 anything is known or proven.

The OP stated that ebay said supply info Or the ability to list may be withdrawn.....

Let's get that FULLY analysed to determine what may happen.

OP is not longer in the USA. How is filling for other tax ID any use to them?

Dont over feed with info that may be inaccurate as of today

jarmiz · #8 11-11-2011

Hey guys, this happened to me too. They gave me the message when I signed in to go to my eBay. It said that they would block my listings if I didn't submit my tax id/ssn to pp by nov 11, 2011 (today!). I've been trying to get that message again though and I haven't seen it come up. If it comes up again I'll take a screenshot of it. I also had some questions about this myself.

Please keep in mind that I'm just asking questions. What if I entered in someone else's EIN or SSN that didn't match the account information. Would ebay realize it or would they close the account anyway?

hackteck · #9 11-11-2011

i would think they have the capability to match name/ssn

KingRay · #10 11-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenBean™

Wrong. Stop creating an urban myth B4 anything is known or proven.

The OP stated that ebay said supply info Or the ability to list may be withdrawn.....

Let's get that FULLY analysed to determine what may happen.

OP is not longer in the USA. How is filling for other tax ID any use to them?

Dont over feed with info that may be inaccurate as of today

The OP was saying that he didnt have one so can he use someone elses. The easy thing to do is actually getting the ITIN which is for someone like him. I was just answering the question in the simplest way.

If he is out of the country and selling as a US seller then they need the ITIN for taxes. They are still required to file, thats all I was referring to.

I do now see what you mean though. I guess the OP would have to contact ebay and sign up on that countries ebay site or have them switch it all over from the US site.

GreenBean · #11 11-12-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingRay

Yes screen shot would be great. Cant see ebay doing it as they have no concern at all with the 2012 requirements. Not really their business.

Tha was the basis of my post as you did manage to realize

jarmiz · #12 11-17-2011

Hey guys, it ended up happening. I can't list anything, I can't revise anything and soon I'm sure they will pull my active listings. Here's the message they are giving me. This is eBay mind you. Any advice? Do you think my account will ever unlock when the new tax year rolls around?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

ebaystinks1784 · #13 11-17-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarmiz

Hey guys, it ended up happening. I can't list anything, I can't revise anything and soon I'm sure they will pull my active listings. Here's the message they are giving me. This is eBay mind you. Any advice? Do you think my account will ever unlock when the new tax year rolls around?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

Did you reach the $20,000 limit?

guitarca18 · #14 11-18-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarmiz

Hey guys, it ended up happening. I can't list anything, I can't revise anything and soon I'm sure they will pull my active listings. Here's the message they are giving me. This is eBay mind you. Any advice? Do you think my account will ever unlock when the new tax year rolls around?

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

If they haven't already they will remove your active listings. Just got this on my account that I haven't entered SSN info on:

eBay has removed your active listings and blocked your account until you've provided your tax ID number to PayPal. Federal law now requires you to supply a tax ID number to processors of online payment transactions.

Once you've added your tax ID number to your PayPal account, please allow 24 to 48 hours for the block on your eBay account to be removed. You'll then be able to relist your items and continue selling on eBay.

For more information about providing your tax ID number, go to:
http://www.paypal.com/irs

To learn how to relist your items, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/relist.html

Thanks,

eBay

Please don't reply to this message. It was sent from an address that doesn't accept incoming email.

guitarca18 · #15 11-18-2011

Pretty ridiculous really...Amazon is giving sellers until Dec 26th. I tried to call ebay customer support a few days ago on this to try and find out what "blocked" meant and got routed to four different people in the Philippines. They wouldn't transfer me to anyone in the US and kept insisting the pop up was a phishing attempt. Finally I called into the premier power seller customer support (thanks to a buddy for the number). They were super nice (and in the US) but even they said they would only block me from listing new items..which was in-accurate.

Now I'm wondering what happens to my search standings....not to mention are they planning on reimbursing me for the listings they took down..

eBay is such a joke.

FandangoKango · #16 11-18-2011

Are you guys reaching the 20 thousand dollar limit or is everybody going to get this limit now? This is pretty stupid. Ebay will fall if people have to provide a ssn for this!

guitarca18 · #17 11-18-2011

I'm well over the 200 & 20k mark..

guitarca18 · #18 11-18-2011

Update...credits are beginning to show up on my account for the listings they removed...I'm sure I'm screwed on my froogle standings for my listings since the eBay item number is now gone and not coming back.

jarmiz · #19 11-18-2011

I'm also well over the 200 listings and 20,000 mark. Thoughts on shutting down current PP account and linking another one with same info? Or some variation of that idea. Has anybody tried this? Btw eBay finally pulled my listings this morning. I think it's odd, they said they would 3 days ago and finally did now.

FandangoKango · #20 11-18-2011

Well if your over the 20k mark and have not provided ssn then of course you will get the message. Its paypal law for that.