Reversing Account from Business to Personal
Summary: lowo_85 has been experiencing issues with eBay holding funds due to an accidental switch from personal to business status. When contacted, eBay informed them that reverting the account was not possible without a business license. lowo_85 is seeking advice on resolving the issue before considering legal action. lacemaker3 suggested using 'Sole proprietor' as the business type to manage payments without a business license and explained that unclaimed funds will eventually be sent to the state, where they can be claimed by proving ownership.
So for over a year plus now Ebay has been holding funds from items sold, this is due to my accidental switch from personal to business status on my seller profile which Ebay was more or less pressuring me into by threatening to revoke my selling privileges due to low performance or something ridiculous. I spoke with an agent about this over a year ago and was told there was nothing that could be done about reversing my account and I should be glad my funds were only 15 bucks and not significantly higher because without uploading a business license which I dont possess as I'm strictly an amateur seller, that accessing those funds for payout or purchase will be impossible. Basically cut my losses and start a new account. Im finally trying to sort this out once and for all as Ebay wont even allow me to use the funds towards a purchase. Has anyone remotely faced or heard of anyone dealing with this very specific and unique situation? I could use some help to try and resolve this before pursuing this through legal means, which are probono incase anyone wants to balk at the cost of legal fees versus the amount of funds I'm being denied.
lowo_85
lowo_85
OP
lacemaker3
·1 month ago · EditedHi @lowo_85
You can't "downgrade" a business account to a personal account. You can only go the other way.
https://www.ebay.com/help/account/creating-account/creating-ebay-account?id=4191#section5
But you don't need a business license to have an eBay business account. Just choose "Sole proprietor" as the business type. Then you can sign up for managed payments and use your home address, SSN and checking account to receive the payouts.You may need to open a new checking account, I'm not sure if a Sole Proprietor has to use a business checking account or not. But many sellers prefer to have a different account just for eBay purposes.
If these are funds that buyers have already paid, and the items have been delivered to the buyers, then if you don't register for managed payments, the funds will eventually be sent to your state as "unclaimed funds", according to the legal requirements and time line set by your state. You will be able to get the funds from there by proving that they are yours.