Why You Need Multiple ebay Accounts

Many people are unaware that ebay will allow you to have more than one account.  All you need to do is set each one up under a different email address.

Why would this be to your advantage?  There are four reasons I’ll suggest; the first two are “offensive” business strategies, the second two are “defensive” business protections.

1.     To keep your niches separate

One of the many advantages of niche marketing is that you are perceived as a “specialist” or “expert” in a particular field. This gives customers confidence to buy.

On the other hand, if you only have a single line of products and sales begin to slow, you may regret having all your eggs in one basket.

Many successful ebayers like to have two or three different niches. By using a different account name for each niche you are able to keep it nice and simple for your customers. They don’t have to wade through a page of listings of another line you sell in order to get to the products that they’re interested in.  In addition, their perception of you as a specialist is reinforced. You’re the “go to” guy or gal for what they want.

Are you an ebay Store owner? Having separate accounts gives you the additional option of opening a Store for each niche. You can build your own ebay “empire” of stores.

2.     To advertise multiple domains

There’s a very simple little (perfectly legal) “trick” that many ebay sellers employ to get some free advertising for themselves. When choosing a user ID on ebay, they align it with their off-ebay web site. So, for example, they might use **explodingbiz.com** or www_explodingbiz_com  (ebay will not allow you to use the regular http address line as is, but these alternatives are suggestive enough that people get the message easily).

By having multiple accounts you can advertise and get a little extra exposure for several domain names that you own.

3.     To protect your positive feedback rating

Most ebayers work very hard at building a good feedback rating. The goal, of course, is a high number of transaction and 100% positive comments from customers.

It’s frustrating when you work very hard to build that feedback only to have your score reduced by just one or two unreasonable customers. I’ve even heard stories of sabotage by a competitor who buys your cheapest line item just to return it and leave a negative. I believe that’s very rare, but it’s a possibility.

You can always appeal to ebay to have negative feedback reviewed (although they never will never remove the actual comments), but having multiple accounts with a growing positive feedback score means that if, for some reason, one rating should be compromised you can consider switching over to do business under another account that you own.

One strategy that is particularly worth considering is setting up a separate ebay account just for buying. If you have a very bad experience with another seller on ebay, you might feel the need in good conscience to leave a negative comment in order to warn others. After all, that’s a big part of the reason why the feedback system was established. The problem is that most sellers wait until you’ve left feedback before they respond with feedback for you. Inevitably, if you have to leave a negative, you can be quite sure you’re going to receive “revenge” feedback.

Keeping a separate account just for buying on ebay means that anything like that can be kept away from your selling accounts where a negative will hurt you far more.

4.     To insure against a misunderstanding with ebay

ebay reserves the right to “suspend” or “terminate” your account at any time if they suspect you are not abiding by their rules.

All of ebay’s rules have been set up with two purposes. Firstly, to protect everybody who uses the site (which we all appreciate), and secondly to look after their own business interests (which we all understand).

The problem is that the application of these many rules is not always entirely consistent. ebay is notorious for “interpreting” their rules in changing ways. And let’s face it, it’s their site and they can do what they like.

I’ve heard some horror stories about sellers unintentionally breaking one of ebays rules and finding themselves shut down. After discussions to sort out the misunderstanding between the two parties, the accounts are often reinstated, but it takes time.

If you’re trading on ebay as a hobby that might be only a minor inconvenience, but if it’s your livelihood you could be “out of business” for days or even weeks until you can get it sorted out.

Again, having multiple accounts can save your bacon! It might allow you to keep trading while you’re in negotiations to clear your good name.

So, there we have it.  Four good reasons to maintain multiple ebay accounts.

Some suggestions for setting up your additional accounts.

We’ve already talked about how a good feedback score is coveted among ebay sellers. There’s no question that it increases sales. So one reason a seller may be hesitant to list items under a brand new account they’re trying to establish is that, without their good rating they might not get as many bids and therefore they might not realize as good a selling price. They’re all the way back at the starting gate again!

Well, I suggest several things that should help.

• Begin by using the new account to buy some things on ebay, and gain some positive feedback that way.
• List a bunch of very cheap items for sale – buyers are less nervous if they’re spending just a dollar or two on baseball cards or e-books than if they were buying larger items.
• Add a line in every one of your listings that lets bidders know that you have an established feedback rating under another account name. Say something like, “I am not a newbie on ebay. You can see the very positive feedback score I have (over 1200 transactions and counting!) under the user ID mymainaccount.”

By employing these few techniques it shouldn’t be too long before your new secondary account is established in its own right.

What’s stopping you? Go sign up for that additional account today!