We’re unable to verify your identity at this time.

[championofithaca]

Hello,

I've sold only two items on eBay.  I sold both of them prior to when PayPal split off from eBay.  Now I'm trying to sell my 3rd item.  After I press the "List Item" button, I get this message:

Please Create a Seller's Account

Before you sell on eBay, you'll need to open a seller's account for identification purposes.

Create a seller's account at no charge. It's fast and easy.

Click here to create a seller's account.

Then I click "Create a seller's account" and I get this message:

We’re unable to verify your identity at this time. Please contact us and then come back to this page and click . If you close the page, you can always come back by starting a new listing.

I click "continue" and nothing happens.  I've tried FireFox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and iOS.  I've tried doing this on my desktop, my laptop, and my phone.

The credit card on file is expired.  When I click on it to update it, I get the same "unable to verify your identity" message.

I did an online chat with an eBay representative.  She said wait 24 hours and try again.  I did that to no avail.

Then I talked on the phone with a different eBay representative and she said she can't help me.  She said if some other eBay user also reports the same issue with the "continue" button being non-functional, then they will submit a helpline call to the software developers. 

Her only suggestion was for me to create a new account.  This is a sub-optimal solution, because then I'd loose my reputation.

I'm not on Facebook nor Twitter, so using those channels to communicate with eBay are not ideal for me.

If anyone has any suggestions, I will appreciate your help.

Thanks.

[toysaver]

This account has 2 feedbacks for buying from 1 seller.  That is not a reputation worthy of saving.  If you have another account I suggest clicking on your first name at the top of the page.  It says Hi ______.  This will take you to the account settings page.  You need to open a sellers account.  Ebay needs a checking account number  to route deposits and your SS# for the IRS.  Every detail has to match exactly; names, numbers and initials.

[katzrul15]

It is wanting you to sign up for Managed Payments before you can sell again.

Try to keep this account - zero FB sellers are scam magnets.

Go to chat, have them call you - ask for a CS in Managed Payments.  You need to link a checking account to your Seller account.

[toysaver]

This is the account for a zero feedback seller, the scammers will be holding a convention.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Sounds like you didn't even 'Sign In' before doing anything else.....

[katzrul15]

Understood, but even some buying FB is better than zero total FB and trying to sell.

OP needs to go link a checking account and await confirmation everything matches, they can proceed.

[championofithaca]

I didn't mean to imply that my alternative was to sell my item on Facebook.  I meant that I'm not on Facebook at all and I don't want to be.  In some other forum posts, I saw some recommendations to try and contact eBay through Facebook and/or Twitter.  These particular forum posters said that you can sometimes get better service from eBay by using these channels (facebook and twitter).  But I prefer not to use these channels.

katzrul15 - you said i should ask for a CS in Managed Payments.  What does CS stand for?

Also, when I talked to the eBay employee on the phone, she said my bank account was linked.  Given that I likely linked it 18 years ago, I can't recall if I linked my checking account or my savings account.  And I can't figure out where to see this information on eBay.  I would like to confirm for myself that everything is good, but again I can't figure out where to go on eBay to confirm this.

[toysaver]

Also, when I talked to the eBay employee on the phone, she said my bank account was linked.  Given that I likely linked it 18 years ago, I can't recall if I linked my checking account or my savings account. 

The requirement when I linked everything about 20 years ago was it had to be a savings account but that was within the confines of PayPal.  Managed Payments is a new ballgame.  Check your account settings, under your first name at the top of most screen pages.

[jdmbuddyww]

Hey there, I know this is a month old topic, but I have encountered the same issue and it looks like Ebay is deliberately trying to rip off people.

I inspected the page where it says "We’re unable to verify your identity at this time. Please contact us and then come back to this page and click . If you close the page, you can always come back by starting a new listing."

And the "Continue" button that isn't working is programmed to be a fake button, there is no page it would ever take you to.

Just take a look at it - it's ridiculous! 

[championofithaca]

Hi jdmbuddyww,

Wow!  I didn't think to inspect the page.  Maybe I should have thought of it, since I'm a software developer.  But I'm not an expert at javascript.  Are you saying it's a fake button because it is named fakeButton.fake-link or can you tell by reading the code that it doesn't do anything?

Given that it's a fake button, it's interesting that some of the eBay representatives have told me that they can't look into a bug involving the continue button until at least one additional user complains about it.

It's also interesting that they told me to try a different computer and to try different browsers.  One would assume that a fake button would work exactly the same on Chrome as Firefox...

I believe I've talked to seven different eBay representatives.  I've spent maybe four hours on the phone.  My bug report did get kicked up the food chain once and I got to talk to an eBay representative that seemed knowledgeable.  I shared my screen with her and she watched me reproduce the problem.  We talked for maybe an hour and she took copious notes.  She said she would refer the bug to the technical team.  But that was either two or three weeks ago and there is apparently no progress. 

I just called them again just now and confirmed there has been no progress.  The representative said I should expect a call back by this Saturday.  I'm not going to hold my breath.

But I would really prefer to avoid creating a new account.  So I think I'll continue (pun intended) to wait a while longer.  I realize I don't have any feedback as a seller, so my reputation on this account may not be worth much, but maybe my reputation as a buyer has some value.

[jasonp9187]

For what it's worth, I have the exact same problem (including the fake button issue).  It's very frustrating, talking with support does no good, no one ever gets in touch again.

[championofithaca]

I agree it is a very frustrating issue.  I originally reported this problem to ebay in late September.  It is now about two months later and I still have the issue.  Talking to the support team has not done me any good either.  I've called them around 8 or 10 times.  I did get transferred to someone in "Managed Payments" once and she was able to duplicate the problem.  I shared my screen with her and she saw the problem happen for me.

I ask the support folks if this helpline ticket is still open or not and sometimes they say it is open and sometimes they say it isn't.  Sometimes they say they can't help me until another user complains about the same thing.  Sometimes they say that multiple people have indeed complained about this issue.

They never contact me either to let me know if they're working on this.  It's impossible to get transferred to a supervisor.   I ask them what I should do:  1) wait for a week and try again  2) create a new account 3) sell my items on craigslist.  They have no advice.

Just super frustrating.  

[joffee2k]

Same issue, my account is very old and established.  All of the sudden I can't verify my identity. As for the button, just because it doesn't have something directly assigned to it doesn't mean theres not client-side code attached via button id to the click-event.

However, this is annoying that eBay has a broken identification process and locking out good seller accounts, people do have alternatives. I can open an amazon sellers account tomorrow, or letgo, or offerup, or fb marketplace. 

Someone from eBay needs to fix this and get in touch with the people on this thread.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Try this:

Make sure you have completed your profile including send from addresses: https://accountsettings.ebay.com/profile
https://accountsettings.ebay.com/uas/addresses

Be sure you have registered your checking account in order to be paid: https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin/settings It must be a checking account, not a savings or prepaid account, and the names on the Ebay and bank account must exactly match. If you asked to verify micro deposits, you need to do so to verify the bank account. (Micro deposits are two small deposits of less than ten cents that will be sent to your bank account. You will check your bank account, and when you see the deposits you enter the amounts on Ebay. This verifies the account.)

Enter your backup payment method here: https://ppcapp.ebay.com/myppc/wallet/list

Do all of this, then try listing.

[joffee2k]

I had to call. Once you call they'll reset your password, ask you a bunch of invasive identity questions and then have you click around - magically it will start working.

very odd. very poor customer support.