Converting boss' wife's account to business account, but business is in his name.

[mormardra]

I've personally sold on eBay since around 2004 but things on eBay have changed since then. I got a new job recently and my boss tasked me with setting up an eBay account for his products. I just can't seem to find full detailed information about what eBay asks during the business setup process.

The issue is that he wants me to convert his wife's personal account (which I see in her settings contains her SS#) to his business account instead of starting a whole new account. Truthfully I think he doesn't want to give me his SS# (him and his wife are on a ridiculously long vacation and won't be back until the end of this month to do any changes themselves.)

To be clear: yes he has permission to use her account. Both of them spoke to me about this and I have access to her eBay account already. I have began creating listings but haven't submitted them yet.

So I guess my question is...is it going to be a problem if I use the business EIN but his wife's SS# is on the account (does the EIN completely replace the SS# when converting to a business)? Or is eBay going to somehow look up that she is not a part of the business and give us a problem?

[lacemaker3]

@mormardra 

Short answer: yes, this will be a problem. It may not be possible to do what your boss wants.

What is the business structure? Is it a sole proprietorship, an LLC, or a corporation? I presume that since they have employee(s) (ie you), and an EIN, that they do have a formal, legally organized business rather than a simple sole proprietorship without any registered organization, but an LLC can be operated as a sole proprietorship or not, so you need to know what the business structure is in order to convert the account to a business account in the correct way to match the business.

If the business is a sole proprietorship (LLC or not), then you would normally provide the SSN of the person who owns it, and the taxes flow through the LLC and are reported on the owner's personal tax return, using their SSN. This is why it matters that the correct SSN is on the account.

If it's a more complicated business structure than that, then you need to provide the EIN for the business, AND the names, contact info and SSNs for the owners or beneficiaries of the business.

With the recent Know Your Customer legislation, there isn't any way around providing the SSNs for the owners of the business.

Technically, and by the letter of the policy, eBay does not allow transferring an account from one person to another. However, in practice, it may be possible to transfer the account from one spouse to another.

[ten_o_nine]

What's the urgency here? they can wait to come back from their ridiculously long vacation to do that themselves.

[lacemaker3]

I would presume that they hired the OP to take care of the eBay business, so they are probably expecting them to be working on this while they are gone.

[luckythewinner]

eBay rules prohibit her from transferring her account to his business. 

eBay does not allow a person to assume the reputation of another seller, even if they account they want to assume gives them permission. 

His business is SUPPOSED to set up a new account.

If her SSN is on the account, the 1099-K will go to her and it will be an accounting nightmare for the business. 

[ten_o_nine]

Just seems odd to me that a boss on a long vacation with wife would do such a request, the OP states it's a new job. Sounds to me this boss is from Nigeria.

[onefootflippers]

I would tell him you can't do it, but you can start a new account under the proper credentials and then you can transfer all the listings with a trial of 3D sellers or similar tool.

[robbie31415]

Idk what people are talking about. You can convert a personal account to a business account using an EIN and change the SSN simply for contact agent/owner. None of the taxes would run under the SSN that's still associated with the account.

[mormardra]

Exactly. I got hired primarily to work on their 3rd party marketplaces since I have the experience. They are gone until November. 

[lacemaker3]

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@mormardra wrote:

Exactly. I got hired primarily to work on their 3rd party marketplaces since I have the experience. They are gone until November. 

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@mormardra, I hope that you are able to contact them in the meantime, by email or phone, so that you can consult with them, because I think you're going to need more information from them.

[luckythewinner]

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@robbie31415 wrote:

Idk what people are talking about. You can convert a personal account to a business account using an EIN and change the SSN simply for contact agent/owner. None of the taxes would run under the SSN that's still associated with the account.

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They are not asking to change a business's personal account in to a business account.

They are asking to transfer a personal account from one person to someone else's business.

That is not permitted by eBay policy:

"Your eBay account has value when you develop a strong feedback rating and satisfy your customers. Feedback is intended to reflect a seller’s performance, so we don’t allow accounts to be transferred "

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/selling-ebay-account?id=4134