- Everybody Does It: Filling Out eBay's Registration Form
- Setting Up Your Payment Options
- The Costs of Using eBay
- Getting Started
- The Absolute Minimum
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Setting Up Your Payment Options
If you intend to sell items on eBay, you'll need to give eBay either your credit card number or your checking account number. (You can pay eBay fees by check or money order, at least theoretically; it's a hassle to do, and not encouraged.)
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If you're a buyer, you might also want to register your credit card—not that eBay requires it, or will charge anything against it. Registering your card allows you to access eBay's adult areas and sets everything in place in case you do want to list items for sale in the future.
When you set up your eBay account for credit card billing, eBay bills your credit card once a month for all the fees you incur in the previous 30 days. When you set up eBay to debit your checking account (called eBay Direct Pay), you authorize eBay to automatically remove funds from your account on a specified day each month.
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I recommend you go with credit card billing. I don't like the idea of eBay (or any other company) having automatic access to my checking account; who knows if I'll have enough funds on tap the day they decide to make the automatic withdrawal? Credit card payment is easy and just as automatic, with few (if any) hassles.
To set up your eBay account for credit card billing, follow these steps:
Go to the Site Map page and click Place or Update my Credit Card on File with eBay (in the Seller Accounts section of the Services section).
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When the credit card submission form appears (see Figure 3.2), enter your user ID or e-mail address, password, and credit card billing information, and then check the I Would Like to Use This Credit Card to Pay Seller Fees option.
Click the Submit button.
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Figure
3.2 Entering credit card information for your eBay seller's account.
Your credit card information will be applied to your eBay account within 12–24 hours—at which time you'll be able to participate fully in everything eBay has to offer.
NOTE
If you'd rather pay via automatic checking account withdrawal, go to the Site Map page and (in the Seller Accounts section of the Services section) select Sign Up/Update eBay Direct Pay for Seller Fees.
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eBay automatically assigns all new users a $10 "credit line." That means that you can immediately start listing items for sale, as long as the listing fees total less than your $10 limit. If you want to list more items, you definitely need to set up your account for credit card billing or eBay Direct Pay.