Buying Ebay Business

Rules & policies

The advice about creating a brand new eBay account for the business is bogus. I don't know all the details, such as what kind of business it is, how old is their eBay account, how their feedback looks, etc, but it may not even be worth it to purchase the business if you won't be able to get their established eBay account as part of the deal. That is if you plan to use eBay as your main source of selling.

eBay thrives on aged accounts + feedbacks for success. I would not look forward to starting over if I lost my eBay account which I've had since sometime in the 90's. Just that one fact is enough to sell any item for top dollar (that the market is currently bearing) when I put up an auction, when newer sellers' auctions are finishing for peanuts for the same items.

I've seen just about everything that has to do with making money on the internet but surprisingly I don't recall ever coming across this situation where a business was being sold along with the eBay account.

I would certainly get eBay's and an attorney's advice in this matter. I would do everything in my power to legitimately get their established eBay account as part of the deal.

Though expect for your head to bleed for a while when contacting eBay, 'cuz you'll be banging it against a lot of [outsourced] walls. If you keep bugging them enough via phone/email, you'll eventually get somebody with a brain (may take a few weeks) to answer your question properly.

The advice about creating a brand new eBay account for the business is bogus. I don't know all the details, such as what kind of business it is, how old is their eBay account, how their feedback looks, etc, but it may not even be worth it to purchase the business if you won't be able to get their established eBay account as part of the deal. That is if you plan to use eBay as your main source of selling.

eBay thrives on aged accounts + feedbacks for success. I would not look forward to starting over if I lost my eBay account which I've had since sometime in the 90's. Just that one fact is enough to sell any item for top dollar (that the market is currently bearing), when newer sellers' auctions are finishing for peanuts for the same items.

I've seen just about everything that has to do with making money on the internet but surprisingly I've never come across this situation where a business was being sold along with the eBay account.

I would certainly get eBay's and an attorney's advice in this matter. I would do everything in my power to legitimately get their established eBay account as part of the deal.

Though expect for your head to bleed for a while when contacting eBay, 'cuz you'll be banging it against a lot of outsourced walls. If you keep bugging them enough via phone/email, you'll eventually get somebody with a brain (may take a few weeks) to answer your question properly.

Edit: My brother is some sort of an eBay ninja. I'll ask for his input on this and get back to you. PM me if you like so I don't forget.

This is really something that needs the input of an attorney. Contract law, etc. etc.

It MIGHT be possible to take it over by purchasing the company. Then it would still be the same company in charge of the account but new company ownership. Again though, I'm not sure ebay would allow that and an attorney would be advised.

I wasn't even aware that you could buy someone else's eBay business. I don't know if I would though. I'd rather establish my own brand.

I would try to call them and ask them if you can?

Here's the things on buying others businesses. I do it almost every month.

eBay does NOT like to transfer ownership. I've been told this about 50 times by account reps. eBay feels that the trust relationship between the seller is something specific to the person or people that own that account originally, and have picked up on their posting habits. Such as, managing 1000 listings within Womans Clothing (unbranded) and 20 Electronic listings, to going to running 1000 listings in Electronics and 1000 in Womans Designer Bags is a huge jump in trust between the seller and eBay. Theres actually a lot that goes on behind the scenes in which the seller is never contacted until a couple red flags go up.

Account ownership transfers are easiest in the U.K., I think this is because people are able to directly register as a business on eBay, while everywhere else it isn't as direct. It's more common for people to operate under a DBA and/or a LLC in the U.S. and there is a legal process involved in transferring ownership and you Have to present these documents to eBay and they take their sweet time reviewing them. Do they Actually review them? I have no idea, I've bought only a couple eBay Businesses (I'll refrain from saying that I've bought eBay Accounts, which will confuse people the black hat practice of buying accounts to directly disobey eBay's ToS) that were U.S. based. In China, it's a breeze and done over the phone pretty easily.

Theres a bunch of advantages to buying a Business from someone who has actual inventory, an actual place of business, employees, and feedback of 10,000 or more. The best time to buy an eBay business is right around the time eBay makes a big change to their fee structure. Many eBay business owners are beat to death of the fees and paypal disputes and chargebacks... especially the Chinese eBay sellers who face a lot of disputes due to long ship times. They sell their inventory for a fraction of what they paid, and most just want a way out to move on to the next thing.

I'd like to purchase a U.S ebay account. Please PM me with any accounts you have w/ more than 10 feedback.