Child account

Question

I am the parent of the account holder. I recently became aware that my 13-year-old child created this eBay account without my knowledge or permission and entered an incorrect age.

I understand that eBay requires sellers to be 18 or older, and I want to address this properly before any identity verification is submitted. No documents have been uploaded yet.

My child has completed one sale, and I would like guidance on the appropriate next steps â€” whether that means canceling the transaction and refunding the buyer, transferring the sale to my name, or closing the account in compliance with eBay policy.

mr_lincoln · Answer

Hi @lin_211711

As you know, each account needs a checking account to send the payout funds to with separate email addresses. You cannot transfer transactions from one account to another.

The potential issue with violating eBay Policy is that through your shared IP address, street address and other means your two accounts are "associated" as far as eBay is concerned. If your daughter's account winds up being suspended, and worse case it could be permanent, then your account can suffer the same fate.

Did your daughter provide her SSN and a checking account when she started to sell? eBay makes it easy to get signed up and selling but not necessarily set up to receive payouts.

If it were me I would definitely ship the item she sold to the customer. You definitely do not want the account to risk Negative Feedback or a bad Out of stock cancellation strike.

I would also End all of the Listings on that account.

Once the item is delivered you can consider closing the account, the money may be a write off or eventually turned over to your state and recovered through your state's Escheatment process. A closed account does not mean she could not open another one in the future once she turns 18. Closing your account | eBay

The other approach is to try and reach out to eBay but that could be the kiss of death since they adhere to some of their policies rather staunchly and may be unyielding. If you DID decide to go this route I would ask to speak to the Trust and Safety Department, they are the ones that deal with accounts that have restrictions and other issues ... but keep in mind, they typically only speak to account owners so you would be calling about YOUR account but wanting to ask about a hypothetical situation where an under ages family member opened an account and sold an item and then see what they say.

I sincerely hope this can work out well for you guys and please let your son know that I am impressed with his initiative and being able to open an account and sell something ... to me that is positive ... it's only eBay's policy that prevents him from building a business at his age ...