How Many eBay Accounts Can I Have?

eBay officially lets you manage multiple accounts, as long as you don’t use them to overcome restrictions or list the same items. However, these accounts will be linked – if one goes down, all other accounts will be suspended with it.

How to Create an eBay Stealth Account in 2024

If you’ve gotten suspended on eBay, want to safeguard yourself from the possibility, or simply feel like your business isn’t growing fast enough, that’s exactly what stealth accounts are for. This article will answer the questions you may have about eBay stealth accounts and show you how to create one safely.

If you prefer video, we have one as well:

What’s an eBay Stealth Account?

Let’s begin with the ABCs – what is an eBay stealth account? In brief, it’s a second (or third, or fourth…) account which you can use beside your main account without linking the two together. It may sound simple, but that’s actually easier said than done. We’ll get to why shortly.

Why Would You Want One?

It’s no secret that eBay is fine with one person managing multiple accounts – this is written in black and white in the platform’s multiple account policy. You can use additional accounts to separate product lines or enter new niches.

However, there’re several important catches:

Though they do require different emails, the accounts are otherwise linked: by your personal details, bank account number, or even the Wi-Fi network you connect to at home.
You can’t use the second account to duplicate listings or overcome sales limits. Knowing that a new seller can have a ceiling of as little as $500 per month, you may find this very restrictive.
If your account goes down, all linked accounts go with it. All the hard work you’ve put into, gone. Just like that.
What’s worse, even if you had just one account to begin with, once banned, you can’t return to the platform! There’s no recourse or option to start over.

Considering the above, I can list several good (and by saying good, I really mean it) reasons to use a stealth eBay account:

You want to grow your business faster by avoiding restrictions or having several items on eBay’s first page.
You’re afraid to lose your business on eBay’s whim. With the platform’s arbitrary rules and no options for reinstatement, these things unfortunately do happen.
You were already banned and would like to start anew. Everyone should deserve a second chance.

Does eBay Allow Stealth Accounts?

No. Expected a more elaborate answer? Sorry, this is as simple as it gets. By creating a stealth account, you’ll be breaking multiple policies, which will get you banned if caught. Hence, the term stealth.

By writing this, I don’t mean to dissuade you. Just be aware that some risk of a block will always remain, no matter how careful you are. But with proper measures, you can minimize it.

Requirements for Creating a Stealth Account

Let’s assume you’re persuaded that a stealth account on eBay may be a good idea. How do you go about creating one?

There are three important elements to consider: account information, different IP addresses, and anti-detection software. Let’s go over them one by one.

Tips for Account Information

When making a stealth eBay account, you obviously can’t use your own information, whether that’s your address, ID, or payment details. What should you do, then?

One way is to provide fake credentials and hope they stick. I don’t recommend this method – it’s finicky and hard to pull off with all the data eBay now requires from sellers. Neither should you use an SMS verification service – it can get you blocked.

The second method is to ask a colleague, friend, or family member to use their information. That is, of course, if they agree and have no seller accounts of their own. It’s safer and leaves fewer loose ends. You can get creative and, for example, rent a PO box for an address.

Note that personal and business eBay accounts require different information. A personal account will let you pay fewer fees, but it has stricter selling limits.

Does eBay Track Your IP Address?

It does, and this is one of the ways the platform links your accounts. If you’re not perfectly sure how IPs work, they’re basically sequences of numbers that identify devices connecting from the same network – such as your home Wi-Fi. An IP address also reveals information like your internet service provider and approximate location.

Proxy servers help to avoid account linkage by giving you different IP addresses to connect through. This way, eBay will identify your stealth account as belonging to a different person.

There are several types of proxy servers you can get. The most suitable ones are called residential or static residential proxies. It’s because they’re associated with home devices that real people use in everyday activities. A VPN or datacenter-based proxy will raise more suspicion, and we don’t want that.

You can find a list of residential proxy services we recommend here.

Completing Your Disguise with Anti-Detection Software

Aside from your information and IP address, eBay can also link accounts based on something called device fingerprint. It consists of many details about your computer’s software and hardware configuration, such as the languages you use and your monitor’s resolution.

Even if you create a new Chrome or Firefox profile for each account, eBay will still be able to link them together by comparing their fingerprints. Some guides suggest running a virtual machine – this will work, but it’s not exactly simple, and it requires a lot of computer resources.

Instead, we recommend getting an antidetect browser. It’s very much like a regular web browser, but:

it makes it simple to manage multiple profiles (even share access remotely with others), and
it ensures that the profiles can’t be linked back to one another.

Antidetect browsers usually cost money. But you can find options that are free for small business use. For our demonstration, we’ll use Smartproxy’s X-Browser, which comes as a complementary add-on to the provider’s proxy servers. Given that they’re among the best in the market, it’s a pretty good deal.

How to Make an eBay Stealth Account with X-Browser

Here’s a brief demonstration of how creating stealth accounts with X-Browser (or any other antidetect browser – they’re pretty similar) works.

Step 1. Set up the browser.

X-Browser uses a standard installation procedure, so there’s nothing exciting here. After installing the app, you’ll have to log in with the provider’s credentials to proceed. In the end, you should see the following windows in front of you:

Step 2. Create a new profile.

This is where you should start taking notes. A new profile will require filling or selecting multiple fields.

First, you should name it. Then, you’ll need to configure the proxy settings. Most of the heavy lifting is done on the provider’s dashboard, so here you’ll only need to select the proxy type, location, and session type.

Assuming you have residential proxies, you’ll want to choose the country or city you’re in and set the rotation to 30-minute sticky sessions. eBay doesn’t like it when your IP address changes often.

Note that with residential proxies, 30 minutes doesn’t mean you’ll keep the same IP for the whole duration. That’s because the source device can disconnect at any time. You shouldn’t find it too problematic; but if you do, consider getting ISP (static residential) proxies, which are more predictable.

Finally, you’ll have a few other options like the OS (choose the one your computer uses), language, and screen size (selects yours, if possible). That should do it.

Step 3. Browse around eBay and the web!

One frequent mistake people make is they rush to create a stealth account. Be patient – it will pay off. Go to eBay first, browse around different products, maybe even visit other websites. This will give you a browsing history and cookies on the platform.

Then, close the profile and leave it to sit. Carry on with the browsing for a week or two. This is called warming up. Now, you’re ready to create your account.

Step 4. Create the stealth eBay account.

Complete the registration procedure as you normally would. Done? Congrats – you’re in!

How to Manage Stealth eBay Accounts without Getting Suspended

Even after successfully getting an account approved, you’re not in the clear yet. There are some guidelines to follow if you want to keep it alive.

Don’t list products using the same information: same images, descriptions, titles, categories, or pricing. Change the wording and treat your stealth account as a separate brand (in a way, it is!).
Don’t start adding huge numbers of products from the get-go. You should start with one item per day that costs $50 or less.
Be careful with trademarked products or brands in the Verified Rights Owner Program. eBay gets much more vigilant once they’re involved.
Stay consistent with your browser fingerprint. Try not to change the settings unless necessary, always use proxies in the same location, and keep an account isolated to the same profile.
Don’t dive straight in – dip your toes first. As you’ve noticed, managing stealth eBay accounts has many moving parts, and it may take some time until you get the hang of things. In the meantime, keep the stakes low and risk only what you’re not afraid to lose.

Is It a Good Idea to Buy a Stealth eBay Account?

You may think, ‘Wait a minute: can’t I just buy an aged account and be done with it?’ You can, and you’ll be sure to find multiple sellers at your service. But be very careful with such accounts.

Why? First, you won’t know if they were created taking all the necessary precautions. You wouldn’t want to pay $200 or more, only for the account to get banned once you list the first time, right?

Second, even if the account looks aged and solid, it may have an undesirable history that can cause issues for your business.

And third, the account you buy can even turn out to be hacked! That’s one can of worms you don’t want to open.

Of course, I’m sure there are people that have happily bought accounts from others. But I wanted you to be aware of the possible issues you may encounter with purchased eBay accounts.