Has my account been cloned/hacked?

[rorybtc]

Hello all - i recently recieved an email on my gmail account thanking me for setting up an ebay account. This wasn't me. I've got two tier security on my actual ebay account, and i did recieve on my mobile phone a couple of texts with verification numbers to get into my account that i hadn't requested. I have not followed up either the tex messages or the emails to my gmail account as i suspected them both to be a phishing attempt. My concern now is that i'm recieving emails on gmail relating to my actual activity on my genuine ebay account - even though my gmail is not registered at all with my ebay account (all email from that come to a different email account) Anyone got any ideas whats going on? Have i been hacked, or is my two tier security still safe? Many thanks - Rory

[captain*obvious]

Yes Rory, it's fairly simple, you made the same mistake a lot of us have made since eBay made it easy for us to make it.

Have a look at the eBay sign in page - note the continue with Google button?

If you accidentally click that when attempting to sign in, and you're on a device that is permanently signed into Google, eBay open an account for you.

They don't ask you to pick a user name, nor do they ask you to fill in any personal information.

To test the theory, sign out of your account, go to the sign in page, click continue with Google - et voila, one brand new account that was set up without any contact information or payment methods (granted they do ask for those when you first bid or try to list).

You can close it immediately, or keep it for a rainy or surprise present day.

PS - I spent twelve hours arguing with my brother that I'd never hit the continue with Google button, turns out I had 

PPS - the sign in with Facebook button does the same thing.

[arkwebus]

This is a brilliant response @captain*obvious. Ideas - no doubt with the best of intentions - seem to have unexpected consequences.