eBay

2013fitzp · ‎03-06-2023

Hello- desperate for anyone with more brain cells than ebay CS. I own a business, selling 51% of it. Buyout includes ebay sales- question- why can I not update an EIN without closing a long standing business with ebay and forcing a new account?

rugerskick · ‎03-06-2023

Because you can't transfer your personal ebay seller reputation/identity to someone else. They didn't earn it by proving they were a reliable buyer or seller - you did. You aren't allowed to sell your own reputation.

Think about it. A total scammer could buy a highly reputable seller account and then proceed to scam a bunch of people. Likewise a scammer could buy a great buyer profile, and then proceed to scam a bunch of sellers. Neither scenario could go on forever but there would be considerable damage done, and it would undermine confidence that you are really dealing with the person whose good profile it is.

These are the reasons why. And they make total sense.

redmodelt · ‎03-06-2023

"Buyout includes ebay sales" I see that as the main focus of the question. The tax ID would in my opinion be secondary because it you can't change ownership, changing tax ID would be a moot point.

If you can't sell or give your account to someone else, how would you change the tax/SSI number to someone else. I don't see anything in the question about taxes or reporting sales, just change to someone else tax ID and moving the current account to a different party.

angelno10 · ‎03-06-2023

@2013fitzp wrote:
Hello- desperate for anyone with more brain cells than ebay CS. I own a business, selling 51% of it. Buyout includes ebay sales- question- why can I not update an EIN without closing a long standing business with ebay and forcing a new account?

You are essentially selling your eBay account to another party.

"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."

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/selling-ebay-account?id=4134

rugerskick · ‎03-07-2023

To use another analogy, its the same reason why banks will not allow you to sell your personal credit rating to another person. Its not their rating. You earned it. Its yours.

dbfolks166mt · ‎03-07-2023

To use another analogy, its the same reason why banks will not allow you to sell your personal credit rating to another person. Its not their rating. You earned it. Its yours.

True but a bank will allow me to add other people to my bank account although for tax purposes the account is still tied to one SSN.

luckythewinner · ‎03-07-2023

@dbfolks166mt wrote:
To use another analogy, its the same reason why banks will not allow you to sell your personal credit rating to another person. Its not their rating. You earned it. Its yours.

True but a bank will allow me to add other people to my bank account although for tax purposes the account is still tied to one SSN.

Perhaps, but a bank account is not a credit rating or an eBay account. All it carries with it is a bank balance.

2013fitzp · ‎03-07-2023

Hello, OP here. Thanks to everyone for their insightful and helpful answers. Whomever suggested to contact ebay via social media, thank you. Much improved experience. After 5 hours on the phone and 6 CS agents, I finally spoke with someone that speaks English and understood the situation.

It's a business, my employees ran the ebay account, and they are the ones I am transferring the biz to. It is merely my name and EIN as I was the sole proprietor. The intention is to sell the remainder of the company to them in one year. The analogy someone used, what happens when a spouse dies and you are not on the account was the closest analogy that fit.

Alas, ebay will not transfer the EIN- in my humble opinion, this is a problem ebay should fix. It is not as simple as it was 10 years ago to start an ebay selling account- and I feel the people that have been running my account for a decade should not be treated as new sellers. Again, just my opinion.

Adding a stakeholder does not solve the EIN problem. I understand why ebay does not allow one to sell their account, however, not every situation is the same.

Thanks again to everyone.

soh.maryl · ‎03-07-2023

Just curious, and this has nothing to do with the question at hand, but how could any buyer have anything EXCEPT a great buyer profile?

retro_entertainment_collectibles · ‎03-07-2023

Frankly you don't want whomever transferring you're account, waters can flow all ways towards their activities even back to you. Maybe employee's are family or friends, maybe it's payment arrangement, "You pay me $1000 a month until paid up." Any number of circumstance can swim back you're way such as they find deal on cases of some merchandise that turns out be counterfeit or hot, you want that steaming into you're life?

eBay didn't just state "We don't allow for it to protect buyers," they said sellers to as there are numerous circumstances that can and do arise and eBay has surely saw every single one imaginable. You're not selling them you're operation, you're selling them you're inventory and even at that you want make sure you've all of that inventory documented and they sign off on it, literally, signature. That way be it associates, friends, family should they "Ooops" and happen buy a case of watches which happen to have 'fallen off a truck' that they then bought accidentally don't come back haunt you.

"Oh, well he sold it to us when we bought em' out!"

Even though you didn't doesn't matter as the rubber hits the road per se so you want everything documented along with an "As is" on every single line item. Usually such transfers you want have a legal council draw up as does the recipient(s), you're not seller a used car, you're selling inventory that's going to be resold to the consumer public.