eBay account restricted indefinitely, associated PayPal account any good still?

[iphone_seller]

Hi folks my main 11 year old eBay account was restricted indefinitely from selling, but has not been suspended. Can still buy and bid - but not sell.

Would rather not go into the reasons it was restricted, as it was so specific eBay may read this and know it is me lol. I am not really looking to contest the decision, I have accepted my fate on this particular eBay account.

Anyway our associated Paypal account is also as old (11 years) and we take in about £30k a month on it (or did prior to this) , no limits or issues with withdrawing etc.

Am I correct in assuming this PayPal account is effectively useless now, in so far as it being connected to any future eBay (stealth) account?

I have already read the stealth guide. Its just I have read several conflicting bits of info on this forum, some say if you unlink the PayPal account in timely manner from the eBay account, you can still use it in the future with another (selling) eBay account.

Obviously it would be an easier equation if I could just attach my existing good PayPal account, with a new stealth ebay selling account.

Can anyone clear this up? I am still a noob at this. Would buying an aged eBay Stealth account (UK, need at least 10k per month) be my best option?

Or should I sack eBay off completely and try my luck at Amazon lol?

Interested in your thoughts guys! Like I say probably going to need to put my hand in my pocket at some point re buying an aged stealth eBay account at the very least.

Best wishes

[phaz0rz]

If you've been booted from eBay then you would definitely get booted from Amazon, lol. eBay is exponentially less strict about policy enforcement compared to Amazon.

You can try changing the email address on your Paypal account but frankly I don't believe it would work long-term. All EB and PP accounts have internal account ID numbers which can't be changed by sellers. You can find your (internal) eBay ID by going to one of your eBay selling fees invoices and looking at the top left of the page. I believe your Paypal ID can be seen in your PP account settings. The account ID's are why I don't think it would last long. I personally would start with a new Paypal/eBay and use the old Paypal for invoicing customers. Paypal gets your email so they can send you details about transactions, but eBay/Paypal accounts are linked (not the bad kind of linked - two eBay accounts linked and suspended) on their servers by account ID.

I think what would happen is eBay quickly realizes you're using the same Paypal account as a restricted user, link your new eBay to your old eBay, and apply the same restriction to your new eBay. That's just what they do when they link accounts, lol.

[iphone_seller]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

If you've been booted from eBay then you would definitely get booted from Amazon, lol. eBay is exponentially less strict about policy enforcement compared to Amazon.

You can try changing the email address on your Paypal account but frankly I don't believe it would work long-term. All EB and PP accounts have internal account ID numbers which can't be changed by sellers. You can find your (internal) eBay ID by going to one of your eBay selling fees invoices and looking at the top left of the page. I believe your Paypal ID can be seen in your PP account settings. The account ID's are why I don't think it would last long. I personally would start with a new Paypal/eBay and use the old Paypal for invoicing customers. Paypal gets your email so they can send you details about transactions, but eBay/Paypal accounts are linked (not the bad kind of linked - two eBay accounts linked and suspended) on their servers by account ID.

I think what would happen is eBay quickly realizes you're using the same Paypal account as a restricted user, link your new eBay to your old eBay, and apply the same restriction to your new eBay. That's just what they do when they link accounts, lol.

Great answer thank you - I agree with you its looking like a new new Paypal/eBay is the way to go.

Just seems a shame that both accounts become redundant if only one gets the boot. Great idea re invoicing customers still using the old one.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by iphone_seller

Great answer thank you - I agree with you its looking like a new new Paypal/eBay is the way to go.

Just seems a shame that both accounts become redundant if only one gets the boot. Great idea re invoicing customers still using the old one.

Yeah, unfortunately sending invoices would be the only real use for the Paypal at this point. I'm assuming you have a bank account attached though so at least you have a strong/very aged Paypal account you can use to receive money.

Recently I tried what you were contemplating, but the other way around. My PP was limited and my eBay is still in good standing. After adding a merchant account to my eBay and realizing a merchant account causes you to lose 90% of the sales you had with PP, I tried adding a new PP to my eBay. The Paypal went down the same week it was created, though it may have been because I received way too much money too quickly. They first put a payment reserve (or whatever it's called when they give you instant access to $**** per month and hold the rest for 3 weeks). Then literally within an hour of that happening the account was linked to my old one and limited, leaving me with about $1500 I have to wait 6 months to withdraw. I'm assuming the reserve limitation triggered a manual review of my account and then it was easy for them to see the link.

Moral of the story : It sucks starting with a fresh account but it's really the only way to get another strong account.

[phaz0rz]

I see you're new here so, by the way, DO NOT ever start a new account selling iPhones. You may have already known that since you said you've read the Stealth Book. But I would hate to see you come back in two weeks saying your new stealth account got limited/restricted/suspended, so I thought I would point that out lol.


Good luck getting back on!

[iphone_seller]

Great answer again. Just out of interest you sound like you have experience with selling on amazon. I have only got experience with selling on eBay.

Do Amazon accept as their proof of source of our inventory (of items to sell) like purchase invoices of goods from eBay purchases (eBay purchase emails, and PayPal receipts/invoices).

90% of our stock we re-sell is purchased from other eBay sellers, I am just concerned that Amazon will not accept that as traditional enough "proof" of source of inventory. Ebay and PayPal do accept this as sufficient proof FYI.

[iphone_seller]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

I see you're new here so, by the way, DO NOT ever start a new account selling iPhones. You may have already known that since you said you've read the Stealth Book. But I would hate to see you come back in two weeks saying your new stealth account got limited/restricted/suspended, so I thought I would point that out lol.


Good luck getting back on!

Thanks, yes pretty much accepted I will need to start off by selling crappy accessories and stuff at first. Then hopefully get the account to a point where selling phones is a possibility again.

[phaz0rz]

Absolutely not - which is one of the many reasons I don't sell on Amazon. Amazon purchases millions of $'s worth of inventory each year from legitimate suppliers so they have a huge distributor database. They know where legitimate/not counterfeit merchandise comes from. If you can't prove you're buying your inventory from reputable/established distributors then AZ will not accept your invoices and they will not ungate the cell phone/Apple category.

Cell phone accessories - specifically Apple accessories - are also relatively risky due to all the counterfeits on eBay, and Apple's very hard working brand protection team. And trust me, Apple has been on a warpath lately with listing takedowns. If you were to list Apple accessories and have the listings taken down via an Apple VeRO agent, you would be jeopardizing your new account. Safest way to start a new account is either by selling generic crap or dollar store stuff (UK equivalent) - for at least the first few (5-8 has always worked for me) sales.

[phaz0rz]

It won't take as long as you may think. Just get past the first 90 days and then slowly start mixing phones into your listings. Don't start selling exclusively phones at first, if that's what you do. Looks too much like a scammer trying to steal money and run off with it.

BTW I get the impression I've cleared up some things for you. I would sincerely appreciate if you could thank my posts!

[iphone_seller]

Wow so looks like the Amazon route is out of the window (as really sourcing from other eBay sellers is the only way we can flip phones for a profit). You cannot buy iphones from an official outlet i.e. Apple at RRP and sell them for a profit believe it or not lol.

Buying a new PP and eBay account defo looks to be the way to go.

God the process of selling bits of £1 tat for 90 days seems awful. We've gone from £30k per month in high value electronics to having to do this. Guess thats the position that most of us on this forum find ourselves in at some point hey.

Thanks for the warm welcome and useful replies btw. Its tricky to find such a source (again from a noob's POV).

[phaz0rz]

Yeah man (woman?) that's why we all ended up here at one point or another. If I were you I would work on setting up multiple stealth accounts over the next couple of months, so you have backups if this ever happens again. I know it's kind of hard to have multiple business accounts in the UK (due to VAT I believe?). But at a minimum, as a seller who is heavily involved with one of the most risky categories on eBay, you should have 3 or 4 accounts ready to pick up the slack if you ever lose your "main" account.

Just be careful with that new lifetime limit recently introduced in the UK to help curb tax evasion. It wouldn't take very many iPhone sales to reach that limit on a non-business account.

[iphone_seller]

Originally Posted by phaz0rz

Yeah man (woman?) that's why we all ended up here at one point or another. If I were you I would work on setting up multiple stealth accounts over the next couple of months, so you have backups if this ever happens again. I know it's kind of hard to have multiple business accounts in the UK (due to VAT I believe?). But at a minimum, as a seller who is heavily involved with one of the most risky categories on eBay, you should have 3 or 4 accounts ready to pick up the slack if you ever lose your "main" account.

Just be careful with that new lifetime limit recently introduced in the UK to help curb tax evasion. It wouldn't take very many iPhone sales to reach that limit on a non-business account.

Good advice about having multiple stealth ebay/PayPal account (not too hard to have multiple bank accounts here in the UK tbh).

And i am male I can confirm! Just re-reading the stealth guide now to paint a picture. Its a brilliant guide.

When I lost my main account this week I seriously was (and still am) considering packing the whole online selling thing in, and getting a proper job lol. Which seems a shame given I have all the other skills to make money in this role - just now without a stable account!

Are you guys telling me that its possible to keep alive and kicking one way or another. By having backup accounts etc. I mean have some people on here successfully done this for years?

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by iphone_seller

Good advice about having multiple stealth ebay/PayPal account (not too hard to have multiple bank accounts here in the UK tbh).

And i am male I can confirm! Just re-reading the stealth guide now to paint a picture. Its a brilliant guide.

When I lost my main account this week I seriously was (and still am) considering packing the whole online selling thing in, and getting a proper job lol. Which seems a shame given I have all the other skills to make money in this role - just now without a stable account!

Are you guys telling me that its possible to keep alive and kicking one way or another. By having backup accounts etc. I mean have some people on here successfully done this for years?

I've been selling full-time for roughly 4 years now and sold part-time with a day-job for a year or two before that. But I've only been running stealth accounts for about 2.5 years. Almost all of my accounts are over 2 years old and considering that I've been running most of them since I started with stealth accounts, I'd say it's a fairly stable way to trade on eBay. In USA we can buy a stealth account and later upgrade it to a business account, so it's a relatively official/non-stealth once we upgrade and give Paypal a tax ID. Only inaccuracies are the stealth info the account seller created the account with, which only rarely becomes a problem. The majority of the time we pay taxes for our businesses (and not the stealth "person") and our accounts live to sell another day

It's said (typed) on this forum at least once per week in one form or another that having multiple accounts is the only way to be successful with eBay in the long-run, and I wholeheartedly believe it. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of stories on Aspkin about sellers who lost their seller account to no fault of their own - for doing nothing wrong whatsoever. Sellers can lose an established account after being defrauded by buyers, even though the seller did nothing wrong. You never know when an account will go down. A business has to maintain cash flow so it's urgent to have multiple accounts ready to sell, or selling at all times.

By the way, please let me get at least one thanked post. I've spent a lot of time explaining this to you today haha. It's simple - just click the box that says "thanks"!

[phaz0rz]

Oh I forgot to address the other part of your last post. It's my honest opinion that being in business for yourself is the only way to truly reach your full potential in life (financially also!). I know it's sometimes necessary when you're broke to work for another man but I hate to even think about doing that. It's just too easy to sell from a dozen or so eBay accounts and make a good living while sitting on my butt on a laptop every day.

[iphone_seller]

Brilliant info once again, apologies just seen the thanks option - didnt know that was a thing! Thanks again!

I think I am beginning to see the light re having multiple accounts. I really need to do some homework though still.

[phaz0rz]

Originally Posted by iphone_seller

Brilliant info once again, apologies just seen the thanks option - didnt know that was a thing! Thanks again!

I think I am beginning to see the light re having multiple accounts. I really need to do some homework though still.

If you feel like learning about virtualization, "VMware" is the most helpful piece of software I've ever used in regards to running multiple eBay accounts. Or Virtualbox, Oracle's open source/free virtualization software, though you can easily torrent a copy of VMWare Workstation in less than 20 minutes.

I don't know how tech savvy you are (or if you are pro or anti torrents for that matter) but virtualization software allows you to set up "virtual" computers within your computer. It's really cool. Besides running my eBay accounts I also used to use it to have multiple operating systems on my Macbook. I use VMware to set up tiny (<8gb) virtual machines which all run Windows XP. Since they are all setup with XP which uses barely any of the available resources on a modern computer, I can have 5 or 6 of my accounts open (powered on technically, since I'm talking about VM's) at the same time with each connected to their own dedicated VPN. Virtualization makes it possible to have an unlimited amount of IP addresses at the same time since each virtual machine has it's own virtual network adapter.

Phazorz has given you some solid advice.

In your situation, I would use your current ebay acount for just buying.

I would read the forum/guide multiple times then begin your stealth journey. The safest method for you to carry on is to go stealth. I woukd start with one account, then once you are familiar with stealth, branch out in to a few more accounts.

It's much easier than you would think go get setup selling again. As you sell refurbished phones, your biggest issue will be building a solid account that can sell those items again. That's why I belive you will need multiple accounts.

Lastly, you can try and attach your old paypal to a new ebay, But it's not as simple as just creating a new ebay and linking it. There's a few steps you need to do first to give it a chance of working

[iphone_seller]

Originally Posted by just_smile

Phazorz has given you some solid advice.

In your situation, I would use your current ebay acount for just buying.

I would read the forum/guide multiple times then begin your stealth journey. The safest method for you to carry on is to go stealth. I woukd start with one account, then once you are familiar with stealth, branch out in to a few more accounts.

It's much easier than you would think go get setup selling again. As you sell refurbished phones, your biggest issue will be building a solid account that can sell those items again. That's why I belive you will need multiple accounts.

Lastly, you can try and attach your old paypal to a new ebay, But it's not as simple as just creating a new ebay and linking it. There's a few steps you need to do first to give it a chance of working

Thanks for the contribution. Regarding the last part of what you said, is there a particular source of info you can draw me to about trying to attach my old paypal to a new ebay? I do not think this is covered in the stealth guide, best practice is to start new with new (which is what I think I will do).

[iphone_seller]

Also a quick question for anyone really. Is any of this illegal? As in providing a false name address etc to eBay / PayPal?

Originally Posted by iphone_seller

Also a quick question for anyone really. Is any of this illegal? As in providing a false name address etc to eBay / PayPal?

They are a private company, so no need to worry about signing up in false details.

Just make sure you are a legit seller. Don't rip people off, pay your fee's. Etc and all will be well.

[iphone_seller]

Out of interest if I buy say a 4 month old 1000/£10000+ eBay Stealth account, would you still recommend waiting 90 days or so before selling anything? Or does that 90 day wait recommendation only apply to brand new accounts you would make yourself? Not say one you purchase that is already 90 days old? Or do we mean just do not selling anything high value / electronics for 90 days? Start out selling small during those 90 days?

One of my other concerns, perhaps more so given the items that I sell (iPhones), is even after I buy a verified PayPal account + say a 1000/£10000+ eBay account, wait the 90 days etc, is that down the line I would likely to be asked to prove ownership of my inventory.

Once again within my own business model, I source stock to re-sell directly from other eBay sellers, or agreeing a price outside of eBay (without getting caught!) but still paying using PayPal. Either way I therefore have at least a PayPal receipt for my stock purchases, also often the eBay receipt too, if purchasing through eBay.

I had to do this (prove my inventory) years ago for my main account that was actually in my name etc - which therefore was fine, as I just gave eBay and PayPal the purchase emails and invoices from eBay and PayPal - as it was eBay/PayPal where I again sourced the goods, in my own name. Nice and easy.

However as this new 1000/£10000+ eBay account I purchase that I will be using to sell items with, will be in a different person's name / email address etc. The proof of inventory would be difficult as the purchasing would be done in my actual name still (if I went with the plan of using my main account [that is now restricted] to buy stock with - as I can still buy things on eBay using that account).

Or should I just use the new 1000/£10000+ eBay account I have purchased to buy the stock with (from eBay)?

The appeal of using my existing restricted eBay account (that I again can still buy with) would be the fact that I would obviously not have to use somebody else's address or a mail forwarding company.

Just thinking ahead!

[arktech]

If I need a buying account i create new stealth accounts and just buy only .. after about 85 purchases in a year eBay were begging me to start selling and running well now. Most of the stuff i buy is delivered to a uk store for me to pick up.