Where that point is, is clear. It all hinges on intent.
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to make a statement.
Intent is what defines most crimes. Not the technology or inanimate object used to commit a crime. With great power comes great responsibility.
A steak knife can be bought at walmart but if it is intended to kill someone it is a murder weapon. It is the intent and use of the object, not the object itself. A knife does not kill, people kill. Likewise a checkbook is legal, but writing a bad check is a form of theft. Putting a fake name on that check is even worse and is fraud.
Stealth accounts alone do not commit fraud by themselves any more than a knife goes around killing people by itself. Stealth accounts are similar in that, anonymity is legal and is even recommended as a safety issue for benign web browsing chatting and surfing. But when an account is deliberately created with a false or misleading identity in order to enter into business contracts then it crosses the line towards intent to defraud. Any stealth account that is used to skip out on an ebay transaction and run with the money or goods is just like a bad check with a fake name on it.
Google: "New Account Fraud", "Identity fraud" and "True Name Fraud" and you will see that when signing up to make an account anywhere you INTEND to do business, you are committing fraud if you misrepresent your identity with a fake ID, or even a synthetic ID. Obviously if you use someone elses identity it is identity THEFT, but Identity fraud is just as damaging to the other parties who believe a crook is who he says he is. Wlking up tot he cash register to pay with a bad check is intention to defraud. There is no way around it.
No matter how evil corporations like ebay are, stealing is still illegal, and I have NEVER heard of anyone who had a stealth account terminated say they went back and paid the fees they owed ebay or followed through with transactions midway.
The fact is, ebay will terminate you if they find out you are not who you say you are. If someone entered my home and lied about who they were I would boot them immediately! Also feebay will err on the side of caution and terminate sellers and buyers who are linked to previous fraud activity or attempts to enter ebay under an assumed identity. Ebay is getting better at linking people to accounts and stealth is getting harder and harder to implement. Some accounts are terminated wrongly for sure, but almost EVERYONE says they were terminated wrongly.
IMO, it is impossible to buy or sell anything with a stealth account and not have it be fraud. The stealth account is legal for browsing and chatting, but when you agree to a contract under a fake ID, it is fraud. Period.
Stealth is legal to a point, and my point is, fraud has been illegal for centuries. With the internet, it has made fraud it so easy and commonplace we forget basic law and we dehumanize other "accounts". Ebay dehumanizes sellers and it is getting really bad. But theft or fraud is not the answer.
Be careful when using stealth, it is too easy to go from benign use to malignant fraud. With great power comes great responsibility!