Ask Me Anything about selling on eBay

[PapyrusMan]

the other question i have 4 you is how can i get a 100% anonymous bank account to attach to my paypal account? please do not say payoneer because that does not work anymore with paypal at least 4 me.

Back, if you want to make a bank account, there's some posts and guides that have a few recommendations. To which: You could form an LLC and create a bank account under it's purview.

 

[Imma_Noob]

Would it be better to have an anchor store or several smaller stores and why?

 

[toml3030]

Would it be better to have an anchor store or several smaller stores and why?

Lower the risk you have of getting banned, the fewer eBay accounts you should run.

 

[backstreet boys]

since anon bank accounts are highly illegal and can land you jail time, I don't recommend going that way at all

ok thx for your reply but what about buying bitcoins using paypal? i know people buy bad things from the internet using bitcoins and they dont get caught becuz it does not leave a money trail.

i dont really know anything about bitcoins and i wanted to ask you some questions tomtom becuz you seem like a smart guy and im sure your a bitcoin guru.

my first question is i see on localbitcoins.com there are limits determined by the seller to how much $ you can do in 1 transaction for instance $25-$100. lets say i want to buy $2,000 dollars worth of bitcoins can i do 20 transaction at $100 a pop with 1 seller in the same day? or is that not allowed on the site? or almost no seller will do that much in 1 day with 1 seller for reasons i dont know about?

second question is once i have bought the bitcoins is there a bank account that i can attach to localbitcoins.com? can i just withdraw the bitcoins to my bank account? or do i have to then sell the bitcoins after i buy the bitcoins with paypal?

the third question is how are ways i can withdraw funds from localbitcoins.com once i have an account there and i have purchased bitcoins using paypal?

4th question is localbitcoin.com on the hunt for people making multiple accounts in different names? is localbitcoins.com cruel like paypal can be on making other accounts? do they record your ip and cookies everytime you login?

my last question is how can i protect my self against getting scammed out of bitcoins on that site from someone? i know to examine there feedback with a fine tooth comb but if i do get scammed is there any insurance or any kind of reimbursement?

 

[pressrelease]

Hi.thanks for this amzing AMA.
I am a seller on eBay and trying to sell hand made woolen and crochet clothes for woman and kids,but its close to 6 month and no sale.my products are relly good and offline i was able to sell them.can you point where i need to workout.

 

[PapyrusMan]

Hi.thanks for this amzing AMA.
I am a seller on eBay and trying to sell hand made woolen and crochet clothes for woman and kids,but its close to 6 month and no sale.my products are relly good and offline i was able to sell them.can you point where i need to workout.

Have you tried Etsy? I feel like they would eat that up

 

[toml3030]

ok thx for your reply but what about buying bitcoins using paypal? i know people buy bad things from the internet using bitcoins and they dont get caught becuz it does not leave a money trail.

not a big fan of bitcoin, as using something that is inherently deflative as money seems totally retarded to me

my last question is how can i protect my self against getting scammed out of bitcoins on that site from someone? i know to examine there feedback with a fine tooth comb but if i do get scammed is there any insurance or any kind of reimbursement?

There is no protection of any kind once you send bitcoins. Untraceability is supposed to be one of bitcoin's virtues, remember?

 

[toml3030]

Hi.thanks for this amzing AMA.
I am a seller on eBay and trying to sell hand made woolen and crochet clothes for woman and kids,but its close to 6 month and no sale.my products are relly good and offline i was able to sell them.can you point where i need to workout.

1. Try etsy.

2. Have you checked out the competition to see that what you're selling for isn't being undercut by the chinese?

3. Are to taking good pictures? Pictures are crucial when selling stuff like this.

4. How are your feedbacks? As I said before you keep getting higher placement when you keep building feedbacks

 

[password01]

Hi Tom,

What are your views on stealth LLC accounts being linked. Put all the usual linking methods aside. I'm asking specifically about linking via official filed company documents. Will eBay link eBay accounts of LLCs based on shareholders and/or directors?

I ask this because I have a plan to scale my business this year via multiple LLCs all operating their own eBay account.

I'm also wondering about how legal that would be. For example, if you get some stupid ban on eBay for something and they link and ban your other accounts. I mean they are operating as two different entities and the fault of of one company can hardly be probably cause to eliminate the other also. Surely the argument that they have the same director would not stand up.

I'd like to hear your opinions on this. Because in my opinion people just accept a lot of the garbage carry on of eBay and personally if I got multiple LLCs banned for some crappy reason like that i'm pretty sure I would sue eBay. Obviously i'd need to comb through their terms of service etc first.

Thanks.

 

[toml3030]

What are your views on stealth LLC accounts being linked.

Not a very high risk of that happening, unless you're doing shady stuff involving lots of money.

Put all the usual linking methods aside. I'm asking specifically about linking via official filed company documents. Will eBay link eBay accounts of LLCs based on shareholders and/or directors?

Well since some states don't even require filing of list of directors for multi-party LLCs, and all you have to provide is a contact name and address (for which you can list your as your agent with thousands of other businesses listing the same address and agent) if you do it right there's no way they can link you.

I'm also wondering about how legal that would be. For example, if you get some stupid ban on eBay for something and they link and ban your other accounts. I mean they are operating as two different entities and the fault of of one company can hardly be probably cause to eliminate the other also. Surely the argument that they have the same director would not stand up.

1. It's not illegal to give false information to eBay, it's illegal to give false information without consent of the person whose information you're giving to eBay, or trying to use false information to commit fraud.
2. As I said above, you can keep information of who owns the LLCs anonymous.

I got multiple LLCs banned for some crappy reason like that i'm pretty sure I would sue eBay. Obviously i'd need to comb through their terms of service etc first.

Unless you have millions in stake here, why sue eBay? Just create more accounts and sell more. Remember, eBay WANTS you to sell more, as long as you're not doing anything shady. There's a reason why eBay is not way way way more strict on shutting down stealth accounts even though it's technologically possible for them to do so. eBay may be incompetent sometimes, but they're not malicious assholes who gather information on you to ban you later when it suits them like Amazon. Stay under the radar and don't sell fakes and generally follow eBay policies and it's not that difficult to get up and running again.

 

[password01]

Not a very high risk of that happening, unless you're doing shady stuff involving lots of money.



Well since some states don't even require filing of list of directors for multi-party LLCs, and all you have to provide is a contact name and address (for which you can list your as your agent with thousands of other businesses listing the same address and agent) if you do it right there's no way they can link you.




1. It's not illegal to give false information to eBay, it's illegal to give false information without consent of the person whose information you're giving to eBay, or trying to use false information to commit fraud.
2. As I said above, you can keep information of who owns the LLCs anonymous.



Unless you have millions in stake here, why sue eBay? Just create more accounts and sell more. Remember, eBay WANTS you to sell more, as long as you're not doing anything shady. There's a reason why eBay is not way way way more strict on shutting down stealth accounts even though it's technologically possible for them to do so. Stay under the radar and don't sell fakes and generally follow eBay policies and it's not that difficult to get up and running again.

Cheers mate, all good advice.

While I was curious, I did forget to mention that, as you say, they probably won't bother linking LLCs unless there's something real shady going on, in which case the authorities would probably be involved at that point anyway.

In any case, i'm going to be operating completely legitimately so I shouldn't have any real worries. Thanks.

Edit: Btw:: I'm in the UK, i'm not sure we have the same access to anonymity.

 

[toml3030]

While I was curious, I did forget to mention that, as you say, they probably won't bother linking LLCs unless there's something real shady going on, in which case the authorities would probably be involved at that point anyway.

As I said, there are lot of things they could be doing right now to shut down all the stealth accounts selling legit stuff if violation of eBay policy in itself was such a big deal to them. My guess is that they WANT people who get shut down for minor violations to learn their lesson and come back and make them more money. They're trying to balance between having as big base of sellers as possible vs. getting their asses litigated into oblivion by rights holders. Don't rock the boat, just make your money and shut up, and don't act like an ass in general and eBay will pretty much leave you alone. Just read this board and see how many people moan and complain about eBay/Paypal because they're trying to sell fake or unauthorized stuff.

 

[password01]

As I said, there are lot of things they could be doing right now to shut down all the stealth accounts selling legit stuff if violation of eBay policy in itself was such a big deal to them. My guess is that they WANT people who get shut down for minor violations to learn their lesson and come back and make them more money. They're trying to balance between having as big base of sellers as possible vs. getting their asses litigated into oblivion by rights holders. Don't rock the boat, just make your money and shut up, and don't act like an ass in general and eBay will pretty much leave you alone. Just read this board and see how many people moan and complain about eBay/Paypal because they're trying to sell fake or unauthorized stuff.

Yea true that. The amount of people wishing to sell fake stuff is ridiculous, especially when they complain for getting banned after. eBay isn't the place for that, there are other sites for shady sales.

Do you use eBay File Exchange at all? Having an issue with it right now.

 

[toml3030]

Do you use eBay File Exchange at all? Having an issue with it right now.

no, I do not give ebay anything more than absolutely necessary to do business there. I will not use any eBay apps, addons, or anything else

 

[password01]

no, I do not give ebay anything more than absolutely necessary to do business there. I will not use any eBay apps, addons, or anything else

Lol, well your answer definitely says you don't use it as you clearly don't know what it is LMAO.

File Exchange is a really useful service for bulk editing listings. You can create, revise etc listings by managing a CSV file in Excel. When ready you then upload it to eBay servers and they process it.

It is so god damn useful if you manage a lot of listings.

 

[toml3030]

File Exchange is a really useful service for bulk editing listings.

As I said, I refrain from using eBay anything. Remember eBay is the company that puts beacons on its emails so it can trace IPs. I don't trust eBay to not have anything that spies on me on anything.

 

[password01]

As I said, I refrain from using eBay anything. Remember eBay is the company that puts beacons on its emails so it can trace IPs. I don't trust eBay to not have anything that spies on me on anything.

Oh ok, well this is a bit safer anyway as it can be done via API. Not to worry.

 

[JoeleTech]

Hi,

On good standing paypal stealth accounts with EIN & LLC attached, how much money can you pass through paypal on each month before they ask for SSN or does paypal doesn't ask for SSN at all? Is there a limit you recommend to stay below just to be safe? What is your experience on this?


Thanks for your help in advance

 

[password01]

Hi,

On good standing paypal stealth accounts with EIN & LLC attached, how much money can you pass through paypal on each month before they ask for SSN or does paypal doesn't ask for SSN at all? Is there a limit you recommend to stay below just to be safe? What is your experience on this?


Thanks for your help in advance

Well imho EIN is the same as an SSN. So if you are trading as a company and PayPal ask for SSN, you just give them the EIN.

That will be ok because an LLC is a legal entity in itself.

 

[JoeleTech]

Well imho EIN is the same as an SSN. So if you are trading as a company and PayPal ask for SSN, you just give them the EIN.

That will be ok because an LLC is a legal entity in itself.

I think its a bit more complex then that. SSN should match a person first and last name otherwise paypal will get a false response back from when they check the numbers. The EIN should match the business name. Maybe if an the llc is a first and last name then maybe it would work. I don't know for sure since i never tried it.

I heard from other users on other forums that $15,000 a month is a safe number for a paypal account with EIN attached. And if you start go over paypal's magic number then they'll put a hold on your account asking for SSN even though you already supplied them your EIN.

I was wondering if it could go higher. If so, that means less paypal accounts are needed to run stealth with legitimate sales. Hopefully tom can answer with his experience.