Can't sign up for Managed Payments because Ebay rejects my EIN

[microphone-parts]

I have an EIN for my LLC. I'm trying to convert an 'individual' eBay account to a 'business' account, in order to sign up for Managed Payments, which I'm required to do by January 20. The signup form asks for my EIN, which I have attempted repeatedly to supply... but eBay rejects it. The error message is: "Enter a valid EIN"

I've triple-checked that the EIN is correct; I have the IRS letter here in hand. I've entered the LLC address *exactly* as it appears on the IRS notice (not sure this matters).

Web searches for this error reveal at least one other report, but no resolution.

eBay currently offers no phone support, and no chat support.

Is there a way around this? Or is this a known problem that has a solution?

[mia1215]

Have you found a work around or received your money?  We are in the same boat.  It's been 6 weeks!!!!

[eburtonlab]

If you are having trouble signing up for Managed Payments, there are some good troubleshooting tips to be found in this thread:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Managed-Payments-Registration-Walkthrough/m-p/31092219#M79735

Common issues involve making sure your eBay account type matches your checking account type (personal account vs. business account), making sure your name is spelled exactly the same on both accounts including any middle name or initial, and making sure you are using the correct routing number for your checking account. I believe that you may need to use a street address rather than a P O Box as well.

[eburtonlab]

If you are having trouble signing up for Managed Payments, there are some good troubleshooting tips to be found in this thread:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Managed-Payments-Registration-Walkthrough/m-p/31092219#M79735

Common issues involve making sure your eBay account type matches your checking account type (personal account vs. business account), making sure your name is spelled exactly the same on both accounts including any middle name or initial, and making sure you are using the correct routing number for your checking account. I believe that you may need to use a street address rather than a P O Box as well.

[eburtonlab]

If you are having trouble signing up for Managed Payments, there are some good troubleshooting tips to be found in this thread:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Managed-Payments-Registration-Walkthrough/m-p/31092219#M79735

Common issues involve making sure your eBay account type matches your checking account type (personal account vs. business account), making sure your name is spelled exactly the same on both accounts including any middle name or initial, and making sure you are using the correct routing number for your checking account. I believe that you may need to use a street address rather than a P O Box as well.

[mam98031]

Does the business name on your Ebay account PERFECTLY match the Business name on your Business checking account?  There can't be a single character difference.  Sounds like you are trying to attach your Business account with a business name to a personal checking account.  Is that what you are trying to do?  If so, it won't work.

I have my Ebay account set up under my personal name and it is a business account.  My checking account perfectly matches my name on the Ebay account.  That works just fine.

The names have to match.  There isn't a way around that in which I'm aware of.

[microphone-parts]

There is no possibility of mismatch between my business name and banking info, because Ebay does not have my banking info. I've historically used Paypal for Ebay. 

I would presumably submit banking info later in the Managed Payment sign-up process; that's fine. But it doesn't explain the EIN error now.

If the problem with Managed Payments sign-up was a mismatch in the registered business name with any other copy of the business name, THEN WHY WOULDN'T THE ERROR MESSAGE SAY THAT?! The error message says "Enter a valid EIN".

[divwido]

eBay's Talk to the staff Post is tomorrow at 1:00 pm WDT. That would be a great question to ask.

[divwido]

Or maybe we are on WST.  I cannot keep track anymore.

[lacemaker3]

---

@divwido wrote:

eBay's Talk to the staff Post is tomorrow at 1:00 pm WDT. That would be a great question to ask.

---

The weekly chat is on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm PST. That's Pacific Standard Time.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-Chat-with-eBay-Staff/bd-p/weekly-chat

I don't believe there is a "WT" time zone. The time zone on the Eastern coast is called Eastern time, but the zone on the Western coast is Pacific time.  

And Daylight savings time is most of the year now, but it's centered on the summer time. You would think it would be winter when we need to save daylight the most, but no. In the winter, it's standard time.

[eburtonlab]

@microphone-parts 

If the problem with Managed Payments sign-up was a mismatch in the registered business name with any other copy of the business name, THEN WHY WOULDN'T THE ERROR MESSAGE SAY THAT?! The error message says "Enter a valid EIN".

Ordinarily I would say you should assume that any error message you receive is just a random postmodern string of alphanumerics. Copy the string and paste it into your chosen search engine rather than trying to infer any sort of inherent textual "meaning".

But in this case, try the easy stuff first. Try entering the EIN as numbers only, without any dashes or spaces. Maybe the form does not like dashes.

[microphone-parts · Accepted solution]

OK, problem solved. The solution is simple, and a bit hard to believe.

I finally got through to Ebay's human support, by requesting a callback from here: <https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/create-change-listings?id=4105&from=ContactUs> 

Numerous other attempts to request chat/call had all failed for the past month. I'm not sure why this one went through.

I was routed to the MP department, where a very helpful agent suggested something I thought sure would be useless: don't paste your EIN into the form. Type it. Without the hypen. I did it only to humor her. But it worked. 

There is actually a logical explanation for this. I suspect that the browser was including formatting markup, e.g. font and color information, with the EIN. That stuff was not visible in the form, but Ebay was receiving it and rejecting the EIN as a result. (IMO, this is a bug in Ebay's backend app; it's easy enough to use regex to extract something that looks like an EIN, and that should be standard practice for any robust web app.)

So anyway, if you're copying/pasting your EIN from a formatted document like a word processor, or in my case an entry in 1Password, try typing it instead to ensure that no formatting information is carried over.

To confirm something suggested elsewhere on this thread: it is true that MP won't work if you try to connect to a "Personal" checking account. It only connects to a "Business" checking account. And the names do have to match, according to the MP agent I spoke with. 

[divprosupplier]

After weeks of dealing with this issue, multiple eBay employees telling me they would resolve the issue and failing to get back to me and here I find a quick simple answer. A stupid answer, but an answer that solved my problem.

[rejuvience]

After wasting hours and exasperation on support calls, the answer appears to be when you are registering as a single member LLC that has an IRS issued EIN, you must provide YOUR PERSONAL social security number, not the EIN for the business. All I can do is hope that doing so doesn't create tax problems.

Wish I could send a big pile of stinking poop to the eBay executive team, data architect, UI designer, and author of the support desk protocol for wasting my time and energy. 

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.