How to effectively avoid the risk of eBay seller account association and account suspension

Every seller is eager to conduct transactions on eBay in a safe state, but account association issues have seriously affected many people’s operations. Whether it is eBay or other e-commerce platforms, account association may lead to account closure, causing huge losses to sellers.

Definition and impact of account association

Account association means that the e-commerce platform can identify that the same individual or company operates multiple accounts at the same time based on algorithms, and therefore identifies these accounts as related. eBay will monitor the seller’s backend operations and use various related factors to determine the ownership of multiple store accounts. Once the system detects a link between accounts, multiple accounts involved may be at risk of being banned.

Main factors associated with accounts

Sellers need to pay special attention to the following related factors when registering and operating accounts:

1. Registration information:
   When registering an eBay seller account, you must provide the company name, name of the person in charge, address, email address and credit card information. If some of this information is repeated, it is very likely to be determined to be related. Therefore, it is important to set different registration information for each account.

2. IP Address:
   eBay has strict restrictions on the use of IP addresses. You cannot log in to multiple seller accounts under the same IP, including the email address associated with the seller account. If you use the same computer to log in to multiple accounts, even if the IP address changes, eBay can still detect it through the IP segment and port. If multiple accounts utilize the same MAC address and remain the same, the system will recognize the association.

3. Software environment:
   Regularly clearing your browser’s cookies and reinstalling the system when necessary can reduce the risk of being associated. Using local virtual services and anti-correlation software can also help strengthen protection measures.

4. PayPal Link:
   Since PayPal is often tied to multiple eBay accounts, once one of the accounts is restricted or blocked, all associated eBay accounts will also face scrutiny. To reduce risk, each PayPal account should be bound to only one eBay account.

5. Other factors:
   Human operations and accidental machine factors can also lead to account correlation. Therefore, it is recommended that sellers establish an anti-correlation system in advance and regularly check the operating environment.

How to avoid eBay seller account association

In order to reduce the risk of accounts being linked, sellers need to follow the following suggestions:

• Independent registration: The information required when registering for each account must be completely different to avoid using the information from the previous account.
• IP address independence: Ensure that the IP addresses used by each account are relatively independent and avoid sharing the same IP.
• Clear browser data: Clean your browser’s history and cache regularly.
• Product differentiation: When listing the same product in multiple stores, ensure significant differences in details and prices to prevent the platform from identifying it as the same seller.
• Behavior in the early stage of operation: After registering a new account, try to operate as an ordinary small seller. Do not distribute goods on a large scale in the early stage to reduce the possibility of being suspected by the mechanism.

By understanding the risks and handling methods of account association, eBay sellers can better protect the security of their accounts and avoid account suspension problems caused by association.