Selling on eBay.com from UK

[Ewingsales]

Hi Guys

I was hoping for some guidance on selling on ebay.com whilst being based in the UK.

My plan is:

Buy a Stealth USA package from 1 of the sellers on the forum, set up a US proxy IP & go from there

I was wondering about the following issues:

1) What are my options for a bank account as I'm UK based so opening a US bank account is challenging? I do have a tranferwise account with US bank details but I'm not sure if that'll work?

2) If I intend to ship from the UK but the address on the US Stealth would obviously be a USA address how would this work in regards to delivery times? I've not used the US website so I don't know if there is an option to list on ebay.com as items being shipped from outside the US.

3) Is there any issue with SSN or EIN as I'm a UK citizen? (again this would be a purchased Stealth package)


Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Papapad]

Hey
1) transferwise works fine, you won't have any issue.
2) you can put the item's delivery from UK, On the item's listing settings.
3) if you are requested to sign up for managed payments in the future you'll need ssn which is impossible.

[Pandoras_box]

Why complicate matters with US accounts when you intend to ship from the UK.
Just get a UK account with a UK IP and turn on Global Shipping Programme.

[Bigblackdog]

Originally Posted by Pandoras_box

Why complicate matters with US accounts when you intend to ship from the UK.
Just get a UK account with a UK IP and turn on Global Shipping Programme.

My accounts are .co.uk and I have no problem listing on .com seperate to .co.uk - why complicate it?

[Pandoras_box]

Originally Posted by Bigblackdog

My accounts are .co.uk and I have no problem listing on .com seperate to .co.uk - why complicate it?

Exactly what I was wondering. Not sure why OP want to go through soo much hassle when he can sell on other domains from the UK.
Perhaps there some unsaid reason that OP did not include in his first post.

[Ewingsales]

Thank you very much for the guidance

To answer the question about complicating things:

3 reasons:

1) Diversification of stealth accounts. I’ve found it difficult lately to keep UK accounts going. I have 3 running at the moment in the UK with different items listed. I simply don’t want to rock the boat by using those accounts to login in on eBay.com and list on there and maybe “overload” the accounts.

2) I thought that by being registered in the US on the new proposed eBay.com account/s that it might be more attractive to US buyers to see that we’re registered in the US

3) Diversification of Bank accounts: If I can add a couple of transferwise US accounts to a couple of US stealth’s that would be helpful

Please tell me if I’m crazy or if the above logic is flawed maybe

Thank you

[Pandoras_box]

Certainly not crazy but an overkill.
If you think you're pushing it with the accounts you have at this time, spawn other stealth accounts.
As regards banking, we use no more than two savings accounts per bank. That's conservative compared to other folks on this forum. That's a lot of accounts if you're only looking at high street banks. I don't suppose you're dealing with a bottleneck in that area yet, are you?

[Ewingsales]

That does sound like me lol.. overkill

No banana skin yet in regard to UK banks. We haven’t maxed out banking from that point of view although I do find it messy with stealth’s and opening/closing bank accounts.

We are building 3 uk stealth accounts atm but just thought maybe 2 US accounts also would add to that.

@ pandoras_box: Do you agree with papapad that transferwise is ok to add to US PayPal?

[magina]

Originally Posted by Ewingsales

That does sound like me lol.. overkill

No banana skin yet in regard to UK banks. We haven’t maxed out banking from that point of view although I do find it messy with stealth’s and opening/closing bank accounts.

We are building 3 uk stealth accounts atm but just thought maybe 2 US accounts also would add to that.

@ pandoras_box: Do you agree with papapad that transferwise is ok to add to US PayPal?

Just get a Fully Verified USA ebay and paypal accounts, that are ready to be accepted MP to register and you should be good. It's useless to get USA new accounts if you cannot register/enroll them to the Managed Payment system.

[Ewingsales]

Originally Posted by magina

Just get a Fully Verified USA ebay and paypal accounts, that are ready to be accepted MP to register and you should be good. It's useless to get USA new accounts if you cannot register/enroll them to the Managed Payment system.

Ok, thanks but how is this possible if I’m a UK citizen and need SSN for MP registration?

Surely the only option I’ll have is to run it until I get invited to MP and then setup a replacement stealth (or have 1 aging)

[Pandoras_box]

Originally Posted by Ewingsales

That does sound like me lol.. overkill

No banana skin yet in regard to UK banks. We haven’t maxed out banking from that point of view although I do find it messy with stealth’s and opening/closing bank accounts.

We are building 3 uk stealth accounts atm but just thought maybe 2 US accounts also would add to that.

@ pandoras_box: Do you agree with papapad that transferwise is ok to add to US PayPal?

If you use saver accounts, you shouldn't be too worried about opening and closing accounts a little more often than the average user.

1. They do not run a credit check when you apply for these and 2, there's less scrutiny.

You can use Uaccount as a buffer to strengthen PayPal until your accounts are rock-solid before adding a high street bank. Personally, I don't add a high street bank until I've sold some and I'm sure the account is here to stay.

Whatever the number of accounts you're happy to run concurrently, you should aim to multiply that by 2 or 3 and arrange your accounts into tiers.
Tier 1 = your three active accounts.
Tier 2 = two accounts being groomed with light sales. 2 - 3 auctions monthly should be alright. Accounts in this tier are waiting to replace any accounts you lose from tier 1. The ongoing sales history will make it easy to bump up sales when it moves to tier 1.
Tier 3 = dormant accounts waiting to move to tier 2.

Personally, I'd never use an Electronic Money Institution such as Transferwise if I had a choice.

[Ewingsales]

Thanks for your wise words @pandoras_box

I’ll take that on board going forward

I guess my biggest concern is building accounts, adding banks and then MP hits but everyone is in that boat stealth wise I guess..

Tier 2 accounts there for example. Spend months building them with low sales and then getting invited to MP and no way to get registered as its stealth