Running US Eb accounts from UK...

[bigbill]

Have been seraching the forums for the past hour and a half at work but can't seem to find any previous threads on this subject - I am sure I have read some posts about it in the past.

At the moment I am selling about 50% of my items on ebay.com using a UK eb accounts.

I can see that there are benefits from having US accounts, VBA being one and also negatives the SSN.

Has anyone from UK or even other countries had any success registering and running US accounts from abroad? Please could anyone give me a brief guide on what I would need to do regarding IP address/phone numbers from UK etc or maybe send me a link to a previous post where this has been mentioned.

Thankyou very much in advance.

[GrannyT]

Ditto that

[GreenBean]

[rsot]

Brief guide eh? Sounds interesting - no knowledge here but looks decent.

[oompaloompa]

I know the theory but not the practice, it can be done with unique/non-detected VPN and set up correctly as not to require ssn, eg. ein or someone that doesnt have ssn like foreigner.

[GrannyT]

I am very interested - would appreciate pm

[bigbill]

If you could CC me into the PM or send me a copy would be much appreciated too. Cheers.

[oompaloompa]

and cue full inbox!.......no I said I know the theory and just the outline from reading between lines on forum.

I would not try it myself, firstly cos there is too much business to handle here, but also EIN is hard to get for non US residents, but possible, EIN must be made with real details. The other route of not having ssn, would be short-lived I expect but for that you need to provide proof that you do not/could not have ssn but still prove your identity, eg a visitor ...and that is ALL I am saying, because that is basically all I know...

[bigbill]

Thanks for the info oompa.

I thought that it was possible to run US accounts without SSN as long as you receive under a certain amount per year or am I wrong in saying that?

As for the VBA's can money be transferred internationally via bank transfer with these and and are there any limitations with these?

[oompaloompa]

yes there is a threshold, but if limited they could ask for ssn, so I read..

vba and IBT? how do you mean.....

[bigbill]

Not sure I have got my head around how the US VBA's work, I was under the impression that they are an online bank account which you can use to register with US PP and withdraw US PP funds to.

What I was not certain on is how you can withdraw/transfer the money from the US VBA in the UK - I was wondering if it is possible to send the funds via IBT to UK bank account...

[vany]

what i know about vbas is that you use them to verify the pp but can't use them for transfer or withdraw. You can't even get the 2 small deposits on them, remember, they are virtual...
To withdraw, you would need a real bank account and same to transfer

[bigbill]

Ok, so really you would not be able to withdraw the funds directly to a bank account if running US account from abroad, you would only be able to pay for stock etc.

Does anyone know what would have to be done about the IP address?

[SUVE]

and cue full inbox!.......no I said I know the theory and just the outline from reading between lines on forum.

That made me laugh lol!

[biggunn]

This could work, just not the easiest thing in the world. I could setup a computer at my house (or a friend/relative of yours in the US) and let you remote desktop into it... Eb/pp wouldn't be the wiser. You could also get a VPS in the US as long as eb and PP do not already have the VPS hosting provider or IP address range red flagged.

[kabatzas]

It can be done...but its not easy.

Here are some of the things you need to do.

You will need a good but not too popular VPN that hides your IP in Http, https and ftp modes, and also does not reveal its DNS or uses openDNS. A VPN changing its IPs range regularly will be even better as long as the DNS is not traceable.

You need to set the system time and settings to the one of the target country.

Stop the browser from transmitting your Mac address, including that of the surrounding WIFI access points. (used for geolocation API by google, microsoft etc)
Also if using a mobile or a dongle, stop or ⊗⊗⊗⊗ the browser transmission of the towers cell ID and device IMEI (also used in geolocation API)

Ideally ⊗⊗⊗⊗ your geolocation position in the browser instead of disabling it.

If I was you, I would use an Ethernet cable, spoof my mac address, use a VPN as above, and disable the wireless card.

It may also help if you can make your system fingerprint unique for every paypal account.
This is much easier to do than making it too common and hide in the crowd.

[GrannyT]

What a clever bunny you are - If I get divorced will you marry me?