Selling an ebay store business

[bigfootedalien1]

Has ebay or will ebay ever do anything for long term sellers to help them sell their ebay business?  22 years of full time selling - i see no real avenue to sell and keep my business going on ebay.  Ud think theyd have an extensive program set up to help long term sellers to help sell there store/business to keep $$$$$$$ flowing into ebay.  Any ideas out there?

[farmalljr]

The only way you could sell it, is if you were set up as a corporation and there were authorized managers. If the account is connected to an individual in any way, you can't sell your account. 

Same over at Amazon.

You would have to be a pretty big seller (like Best Buy or the like) in order for this to be able to happen. No real advantage for someone to come buy you out and run your store. Anyone can do what you did. There is no monetary value in an account like these. 

Unless you are the large seller I already spoke about, the value your business has is in the inventory. You could make money selling "courses" or something to teach people, but your business itself doesn't actually have value. It's a glorified job, to be blunt. Contracts give a business value. A client list gives a business varying value. You have neither of those here. 

Solo operators are only "building" a job. Without employees and a building, you are just creating an income stream, not a sellable business. That's hard for some to hear, but it's a fact. I'm a solo operator, and I realize this, but am accepting of it. 

[refdef]

Selling a business is complex.  If a corporation or LLC is involved, an amendment to the articles is necessary, or dissolution in the jurisdiction of the seller and establishment  of a new entity in the buyer's state.  A new EIN is advised.  New business bank accounts in the new owner's name.  Business and tax receipt licenses, new leases for office/storage space.  Clearing potential liens on the business.  Etc, etc.

None of that is eBay's responsibility.  You may be able to get a bank to help you with some of it, but they'd probably forget or miss something.  Ultimately, it is down to the due diligence of the seller and buyer to work out what is required to sell/buy a business.

[albertabrightalberta]

You CANNOT sell your business. It's against ebay rules. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/selling-ebay-account?id=4134&st=3&pos=1&query=Selling%20an...

"In the interest of protecting our buyers and sellers, and maintaining a safe marketplace, you can’t sell your eBay account or change its ownership." 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@farmalljr wrote:

The only way you could sell it, is if you were set up as a corporation and there were authorized managers. 

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@refdef wrote:

 You may be able to get a bank to help you with some of it, but they'd probably forget or miss something.  Ultimately, it is down to the due diligence of the seller and buyer to work out what is required to sell/buy a business.

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Both of the above posts are incorrect. ebay accounts cannot be transferred.

[reallynicestamps]

I wonder how eBay handles women sellers who change their names on marriage or divorce?
I wonder how eBay handles sellers who change banks or renew credit cards or change credit cards?

I wonder how eBay handles sellers who move from one house to another. Or from one country to another?

None of those transfer the business but do make substantial changes to the financial records.

[shipscript]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:
I wonder how eBay handles women sellers who change their names on marriage or divorce?
I wonder how eBay handles sellers who change banks or renew credit cards or change credit cards?
I wonder how eBay handles sellers who move from one house to another. Or from one country to another?
None of those transfer the business but do make substantial changes to the financial records.

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https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/setting-changing-automatic-payment-method/up...

1) The SSN will remain the same when a person changes legal name.

2) Bank account must be changed to match the new name. Add a new bank account with the new name and make it primary. Ditto with credit cards.

3) Moving is easy. Change the address. International moves are more difficult for sellers because new identifying documents are required for each country. Best to close account and open a new one for the new country.

[johnrj1226]

Can't  predict what the future  will bring - but  here is eBays   current policy that  has been around for many years -

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/selling-ebay-account?id=4134&st=3&pos=5&query=Selling%20an...

[johnrj1226]

One more thing to remember this venue is eBays, they are the landlord that developed the site and set the policies and sellers have no ownership or equity - they are just renters and  pay the various fees  - FVF, store subscriptions..

[slippinjimmy]

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@johnrj1226 wrote:

One more thing to remember this venue is eBays, they are the landlord that developed the site and set the policies and sellers have no ownership or equity - they are just renters and  pay the various fees  - FVF, store subscriptions..

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Good analogy! It's like a commercial (or residential) lease, if you sell your complete business the new owner can usually take over the lease. If you close your business you cannot sub-lease your space to a new but unrelated business.

[luckythewinner]

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@bigfootedalien1 wrote:

Has ebay or will ebay ever do anything for long term sellers to help them sell their ebay business?  22 years of full time selling - i see no real avenue to sell and keep my business going on ebay.  Ud think theyd have an extensive program set up to help long term sellers to help sell there store/business to keep $$$$$$$ flowing into ebay.  Any ideas out there?

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eBay does not generally allow a seller to transfer his reputation to another seller.

Because the seller who is buying the account did not earn that reputation.

The opportunity of fraud is simply too great.

[toysaver]

If you're trying to sell a business with inventory IMO the standard would be to pay at least 50% or less on the retail price.

Why not just offer everything on sale at 50% off?    That may be your only option.

[firejake2003]

You don't "own" an ebay business.  You simply use ebay as a platform and pay them a subscription fee to sell your products and a fee to process the money you receive for your products.  You can't sell your "portion" of the platform.  That's the case with all of us.  Your business is selling things for a profit.  How it's done is up to you.  In this case, you're "renting" ebay for your business space.  It's the same whether you sell on ebay, amazon, or your own website where you pay fees for hosting, your web dashboard, credit card processing, electronic postage providers, and other digital services to keep your business running.  You can't sell those things to someone else.

To "sell" your business is to sell your products to someone else who can create their own ebay account to sell what they obtain from you.

I am also an ebay seller but am a business owner that uses all the mentioned services above.  It's simply operating costs.

[sapphire_studio]

Yeah I got a message from someone else that sells beauty products telling me that they're closing down their eBay business and they had a coupon for $500 off of $1,000 of their products. However 50% off retail of what I could get on eBay is not even close to being profitable for me. Plus this is stale inventory that's been sitting there for them so it wasn't at all tempting. Possibly 80% off but even then I will probably would pass.

[bigfootedalien1]

SO ur saying theres no way to sell all ur listed inventory & keep those listing running on ebay to the new buyer?   I have a chat I copied from an ebay rep saying that I can but it was 5-7yeas ago