Selling on ebay under 18 yrs old

[honwa_5647]

My son registered an ebay account, and posted his phone on ebay for sale, and it got sold straight away. Since its a new account, the payment is on hold for 7 days. Just before he was preparing to post/send his phone, he realised ebay asks him to upload passport ID to prove his identity. Then he came to me and I realised that he is not 18 yet, so may not allowed to sell on ebay. 

What should we do in this situation? if he sent his phone to the buyer, but when upload his passport ID then ebay realised that he is not 18 years old yet, would ebay relase the payment to him? or should he just not send the phone so the buyer will get the money back and he doesn't lose his phone?

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

You cannot have an account if you are under 18.Your sons account will probably be removed along with yours.

[honwa_5647]

why mine needs to be removed too?😅 I am over 18 years old

[kidmore_kats]

Because if eBay close down an account for any breach of the trading rules, they very often close any related accounts including family members and people who live at the same address.

[honwa_5647]

oh thanks for your advice, even though this sounds unreasonable, at least for our case, we understand why ebay would do that. never mind, there are many marketplaces where you can buy and sell online.

[*guinevere* · Accepted solution]

Your son should cancel the sale, automatically refunding the buyer.

Ebay will withold his funds indefinitely and he may never be able to access them.

His account will be closed down and as advised, any associated accounts will be treated the same.

[honwa_5647]

thank you! will try to do that, but without uploading IDs he can't even access to his ebay acocunt anymore. love to cancel this order, only if he can access to his account....😣

[honwa_5647]

When my son registered an account, ebay never asked about his age, that's why he didn't even know he wasn't allowed to sell on ebay. I realised 18 is the minimum age only after I searched it up!

[honwa_5647]

ah now its all cancelled! phew, thanks everyone for your advice.

[*guinevere*]

If you can't access his account then the sale will take it's natural course. Ebay will refund the buyer and take the money from your son's account.  But at least he still has the phone and he can sell it elsewhere.

[1956glyn]

Ebay do that because they do not want to take the risk of him using another account in the same household.

[*vyolla*]

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@honwa_5647 wrote:

When my son registered an account, ebay never asked about his age, 

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What did he put in the date of birth field?

[honwa_5647]

it wasn't mandatory to input the date of birth, so he didn't need to, until 2 years after now he sold something for the 1st time, now ebay is asking his ID. He wasn't aware of the age requirement of 18 years old till now, same to me too.

[honwa_5647]

I worked for ebay for 10 years myself and I don't think this is the reason

[honwa_5647]

thank you for your advice 🤗

[papso22]

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@honwa_5647 wrote:

I worked for ebay for 10 years myself and I don't think this is the reason

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You worked for ebay for 10 years and had no idea you needed to be 18 to have an account?  If you didn't know that, how can you know why they would, or wouldn't, suspend connected accounts?

The reason why they suspend any accounts they can link to a suspended one is to prevent the banned person getting round the ban.

[honwa_5647]

I understand your point, my comment is not related to what your point is about.

Anyway, this issue is solved now, thanks for your contribution. 

[*help_no_brakes*]

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@papso22 wrote:

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@honwa_5647 wrote:

I worked for ebay for 10 years myself and I don't think this is the reason

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You worked for ebay for 10 years and had no idea you needed to be 18 to have an account?  If you didn't know that, how can you know why they would, or wouldn't, suspend connected accounts?

The reason why they suspend any accounts they can link to a suspended one is to prevent the banned person getting round the ban.

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eBay also employ janitors & the like.

[emm2005a]

eBay won't close any account unless the law dictates they do so, all they are interested in is the money.

[*vyolla*]

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@emm2005a wrote:

eBay won't close any account unless the law dictates they do so, all they are interested in is the money.

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We see eBay accounts closed on a daily basis here on Seller Central and across the various other boards, not sure why you've bumped an old thread to add this?