This week I was asked to set up an eBay seller account for a client – easy, I’ve set up a few accounts in the past with no problems.
Unfortunately seemingly insurmountable problems arose, which actually proved very simple to fix – please read on if you’re in eBay “create seller account” purgatory.
To start with the eBay and Paypal accounts were setup and I created a number of new listings in Turbolister. Once they were ready to go live I attempted to upload them to the ebay.co.uk site, only to be greeted with the error:
“we’re sorry before you list an item, you must create a sellers account by submitting a valid credit card through our secure form”
I decided to take the easy option and manually list one item on ebay.co.uk in order to pass the verification test and make the seller account active. Upon trying to make the first listing live I was invited to a one-time verification process, which involves initiating an automatic phone call to our landline, which should provide me with a 4 digit PIN. Enter this PIN in the box provided on eBay’s website and Bingo! the account is live.
I pressed the “call me now” button and waited. After waiting a bit more I clicked the button again and waited. I then asked to be called back in 2 minutes, waited for 2 minutes and then waited some more.
After a short time I started getting an error “Sorry. We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties and are unable to complete the process at this time.” – OK I thought, must be a problem at eBay’s end, time to contact eBay’s online tech support.
Here is the result: (this did not fix my problem.)
To apply for ID Verify, you can either:
Go directly to the ID Verify page at http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/idverify-login.html and click “Sign Up Now.”
You’ll be asked to agree to the $5 fee for ID Verify.
You’ll be asked to verify your registered information and to enter your date of birth and driver’s license number (if you have one).
You’ll review your information to make sure it’s correct, then click “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
You may be asked to answer another short set of verification questions.
Now the ID Verify process should be complete.
Note: Occasionally the system cannot process an application automatically. If that should happen, we’ll help you contact EquiFax directly to complete the verification process.
If the ID Verify process is completed successfully, you will see the ID Verify icon on your feedback page, and a $5 charge on your seller account.
This charge will be credited back to you on your first eBay invoice.
This, I thought, couldn’t fail – so I pressed ahead but was soon thwarted with the error message “your information can not be processed at this time. Please try again later.”
By now, my patience was wearing thin and I again contacted eBay’s online technical support. The story was much the same, but at the very end of our online chat was a nugget of gold:
“I understand your point. Please do the verification process once again, after an hour, as I’m resetting the process now. Further if there is still any trouble,
simply try another phone number for verification process. This should sort the trouble.”
All I now needed to do was to ask a random member of the public member of staff’s mother if we could direct the phone call to their landline and wait to see if they received the verification PIN.
Immediate success, PIN entered, auction live, Turbolister pumping products into the ether. Joy.
This incredibly simple solution was the last resort offered to me by eBay, but it works. If you’re having trouble verifying your eBay seller account, try a different phone number.
I hope this information is of help to aspiring eBayers – please feel free to spread the word.
