How to Create an eBay Seller’s Account

By Corbin HartwickUpdated on March 14, 2022

Tech Life Unity independently reviews everything we recommend. When you buy something after clicking on a link to another website, we may earn a commission. Learn More

Once you’ve planned out what you’re going to sell on eBay and how you’re going to sell it – taking into account the costs that you might incur – it’s time to actually start the process! The first thing you’re going to need to do is set up an eBay account (if you haven’t already), making sure that it’s seller-ready. That means verifying your personal information, setting up an automatic payment method to cover any fees that you’re charged, and partnering your account with a PayPal account.

This tutorial will walk you through it all, step-by-step!

Getting your eBay selling account started

Part 1 – Create a buyer account, or log into your existing one.

You don’t necessarily have to have an account on eBay in order to buy things. But if you want to sell, then having an account is a must. You can learn how to make one in our tutorial on how to create an eBay account.

Pro Tip

You may be asked to provide a phone number when creating your eBay account. This is optional and is mainly used if you need to reset your account password. However, you’re probably going to need it anyway as contact information for when you’re buying or selling, so go ahead and enter it. Click the button below and to the right of the phone number entry box to switch between entering a mobile phone number or entering a landline phone number.

If you already have an account, though, you don’t need to create a new one. You just might need to make a few changes to your existing account. If that’s the case, simply log into your account and move on to the next section.

Part 2 – Verify that the personal information about you on your account is correct.

Before you start selling, eBay will need to make absolutely sure that you’re a real person who is selling legitimate merchandise (as opposed to an automated computer program trying to defraud people). That means they’re going to need to know some verifiable information about you. You may have already provided some if you already have an account and have bought something before. Just in case you haven’t, though, here’s how to do it.

1. Go to www.ebay.com in your web browser and log into your account (if you’re not logged in already).

2. Move your mouse cursor over your name in the top-left corner of the home page, and then select Account Settings from the drop-down menu that appears.

3. Once you’re in your account settings, click Addresses in the “My eBay Views” box, and then click Change beside “Registration Address.” As a security measure, you will be asked to provide your account log-in credentials again.

4. On the next page, you will be able to enter or correct the personal information associated with your account.

Click in each of the text fields and drop-down menus in the box labelled “Enter Your Registration Information” and fill in your name, address, city, state/province/territory, mailing code, country, and gender. If you wish to change the email address, user ID, or phone number associated with your account, click the respective links on the right side of the box and follow the directions from there. When you’re finished, click Change Registration Information.

5. On the next page, review your registration information to ensure that it’s all correct. If it is, click Submit. If not, click Cancel to go back to step 4 and make further changes.

Part 3 – Change your buyer account into a seller account.

Once you have your information verified on your account, you can start the actual process of creating a seller’s account. It’s a bit tricky to find out where to begin, though, so we’ve provided a shortcut for you.

Visit the eBay seller account creation page.
You will be asked to confirm your phone number. As you already added it to your account in the last section, it should already be there for you. Simply click Call Me Now to have eBay call your phone with a code that you need to input. When you get the call, click in the box labelled “Enter PIN” and type in the code that you hear. Then click Continue.
Next, you’ll need to add automatic payment information to your account in order for eBay to have somewhere to send any fees or other charges you may incur while using their services. You are given three choices for how to do so: “PayPal,” “Credit Card,” or “Bank Account.”If you choose “PayPal,” simply click Continue and follow the on-screen instructions to finish setting up automatic payments from your PayPal account to your eBay account. If you choose “Credit Card” or “Bank Account” instead, click in each of the text fields and drop-down menus that appear and fill in the requested information. Click Continue when you finish.

Part 4 – Link your verified PayPal account to your new seller’s account.

PayPal is the default method through which you’ll get paid for your sales. Therefore, unless you want to open an Internet merchant account with your bank, the easiest way to get paid is to create a PayPal account and link it to your eBay account. In addition, if you plan on purchasing an eBay Stores subscription, then your PayPal account must be “verified” (i.e. have a complete profile).

If you aren’t on PayPal yet, we can teach you how to set up a PayPal account here. Also, if you chose “PayPal” as your automatic payment option in step 3 of the previous section, you’ve probably already done this part, so you can skip it.

1. Go back to your Account Settings on eBay.

2. In the “My eBay Views” box, click PayPal Account. Then, in the main window of the page, click Link My PayPal Account. You will be asked to provide your account log-in credentials again, as a security measure.

3. You will now be asked to log into your PayPal account in order to complete the link. Click in the box labelled “Email Address” and type in the email address associated with your PayPal account. Then, click in the box labelled “Password” and type in the password that you picked to protect your PayPal account. When you’ve done both of these things, click Log In.

4. Once your information checks out, click Return To eBay on the next page and you’ll be all set!

Alright! You’re all set to start selling on eBay now! If you ever want to take your selling game to the next level, check out our next tutorial on how to open and design an eBay Store. Until then, if you want to just jump straight into selling, head over to our article on how to list items for sale on eBay.