Listing Items on Separate eBay Accounts

a person pulling up eBay on tablet

pressureUA/Getty Images

 

According to eBay's official rules, sellers can have multiple selling accounts. They can be used simultaneously, and there are several reasons and benefits to maintaining separate accounts or stores. There are also policies in place that sellers should be aware of should they decide to set up multiple accounts.

The Advantages of Having Multiple Accounts

Listing items separately allows sellers to organize items more efficiently. For example, if someone specializes in clothing, she may want one account for that and a separate account for everything else. Or, a seller may want to separate items purchased for resale from their own personal items.

Compartmentalizing the bookkeeping can also be advantageous. Keeping the accounting separate makes it easier to track sales, profitability, and expenses, more than if all the merchandise was commingled.

Having a backup store can also be useful for sellers to help keep business going if one account receives too much negative feedback in a short period of time. This sort of thing can happen with eBay's detailed seller ratings (DSRs), a review system in which buyers are able to rate the seller specifically for the benefit of other buyers, and buyer feedback is critical to a seller's success. 

eBay's Multiple Account Policy

Though selling using multiple accounts is allowed, there are some important things to understand about eBay and the use of multiple accounts:

  1. Identification Must Be Separate: Each eBay account must have a unique seller ID and email address. 
  2. Cross-Referencing Isn't Permitted: Under eBay rules, sellers may not cross-reference their accounts in listings, meaning sellers may not promote one store using another account. Sellers may link to items or categories within the same store or on the same account.
  3. Multiple Accounts Are Not a Suspension Remedy: If you've been suspended, don't simply register a new account in hopes of getting back into business. This is why you should establish a second account before you ever get into trouble. eBay's proprietary systems and data are very good at linking related accounts together, and you'll find that your new account is quickly also suspended if the problems with your old account haven't been resolved. Registering a new account during an existing suspension as a knee-jerk reaction will get you into more trouble than trying to resolve the issues on your one existing account.