TheQuestion
Newbie
- Jan 7, 2011
- 13
- 16
Getting back on ebay the LEGIT way
Stealth accounts are great for small sales, however to truely compete in high end markets you need an account registered with verifiable information and a solid history of legitimate feedback.
With little work You can easily get one of these accounts every month, however before you proceed there are two important things to keep in mind:
1) You cannot operate any type of illegal business on these accounts. These will be registered under a business of which you are the propietor. For canadians, some replicas are quite low risk but I would stay away if you live in the united states or if you are selling high end replicas like gucci etc.
2) you will spend a bit of money getting this account going, however, you will definately make this back with ease if you are selling the right products.
Now, on to the steps. I will not go into too much detail on the first few things because the information has been posted here and on the aspkin forums before
First, you are going to register a Limited Liability company. The instructions on this are fairly simple, but as they differ area to area I suggest consulting google. For the address, you have 3 options. You can use your home address if you have never used it on ebay before. If you have used your address, you can either borrow a friends address or rent a place. When renting a place, you will only need it for a month and you can usually find a short term office rental for 500$ a month.
Next, Go to your bank of choice and open a business chequing account. Deposit 500$ into this account. Apply for a prepaid credit card. Once it has been recieved, deposit 100$ on the card and you can proceed to open your ebay / paypal account.
The last thing you need before opening the ebay account is a fresh, virgin IP address. If you are on a DSL line with a dynamic IP, simply reset your router and verify that you have a new IP. Failing that, you can buy one of those internet sticks for like 25$ a month and use that.
You MUST be on a computer that has never been used for ebay, OR you can reformat and change your HWID / MAC address. You can also load ebay from within a virtual machine with vmware. If you need help with that part post in this thread and I will give you some instructions.
ON TO OPENING THE ACTUAL ACCOUNT:
this part is actually really easy. Just register for paypal first, then ebay using the same information as your LLC. Then recieve the message on a new phone number (either VOIP or a prepaid cell) and activate your account.
Getting the account used:
I age the account for 60 days, during that time I take the following steps:
1) get 25 buyer feedback of items 10$ minimum. This accounts for 250$ on the 500 you invested in the account. I like to fund my purchases from both the bank and from the prepaid visa to get a good spread in my paypal account.
2) Get 25 seller feedback. This is where the other 250$ goes. I invest 250$ into items I can resell. Generally I make at least my money back.
What should I sell????
ANYTHING! Find something unique and make it your own. Sell some old things around the house. Do a pawn shop run or go garage saling. But since this is a pretty generic answer, I will give out my products which have both made me money and fetched me much feedback:
VINTAGE AUDIO GEAR!
this stuff is all over, and much of it is worth a pretty penny. Amplifiers, 70s era speakers (small for shipping reasons) and open reel tape decks all sell quite well if you have the right models/brands.
My suggestion is to check all the local pawn shops for these things, and either write down the model numbre and do your own research or and bring your smartphone with you and do it on the fly.
this wraps up how to register, age and establish a new account. This is the exact method I have used for opening over 20 accounts during the past 5 years and I have made a modest but comfortable income while being at university full time. I HAVE used stealth accounts, but I find you just can't get away with as much as you can on this account.
If you want some tips on listing questionable items, or just a general guide on what to do with your account once you have gotten it established check out my other thread (which I am in the middle of writing)
and etc.Now I'm lazy to relist all my items back.Need some time to figure what the heck I'm going to sell.