Registering as an eBay Member

Let’s look at how to register as an eBay member—whether buying or selling, the initial process
is the same.
1. On the eBay home page, click the Register link near the top of the page.

Visit the eBay Learning Center for audio tours and tutorials about selling through eBay. See
http://pages.ebay.com/education/.

2. The registration form appears. Enter all your information, and then click the Continue
button at the bottom of the page.

3. The Choose ID & Password page is displayed.

The User ID that eBay suggests is likely to be a combination of your name and a number. It
won’t be particularly memorable or distinctive, so we suggest you devise something better.

4. eBay will offer a number of IDs from which you can choose, but we suggest you click
the Create your own ID option button and type the user ID of your choice.

5. Type a password; make sure you use something you can remember (write it down
somewhere safe, or use a password-protection program). Don’t use anything obvious that
someone can figure out.

6. Select something from the secret question drop-down list box. This will be a question
that eBay’s staff may ask in order to identify you.

7. Type the answer to the secret question in the Secret answer box.
8. Click the Continue button.

9. eBay now sends you an e-mail message to confirm the account; doing so ensures that
the e-mail address you provided was valid and accessible by you. (If you entered a bad
e-mail address, click the Change your email link to correct it.) You can check your e-mail
within a few moments since the confirmation should arrive pretty quickly.

10. Click the Complete eBay Registration button in the e-mail message. (If the button
doesn’t work, as it may not in some e-mail programs, use the link and the confirmation
code eBay provided below the button.)

11. You’ve created a basic account. You can now buy, but in order to sell you need to
continue. Click the Start selling link.

In this step, you’re going to need your credit-card number and checking-account information
(routing number and account number). eBay uses this information to confirm who you are
and to charge seller’s fees.

12. On the page that next displays, click the Create Seller’s Account button to see the Enter
Credit or Debit Card page.

13. Enter your credit-card information into the page, and then click the Continue button.
The Enter Checking Account screen appears.

14. Enter your Bank name, Bank-routing number, and Checking-account number. Be
careful to enter the routing number and account number into the correct fields.

eBay saves money if you pay your fees from your bank account, so they encourage you to do
so. Currently they will reduce your seller’s fees by 1 percent for a couple of months if you
agree to use your bank account.

15. On the next page, you select which account you want to use in order to pay your selling
fees, either the bank account or the credit-card checking account. Select the appropriate
option button, and click the Continue button.

16. If you selected to pay from the bank account, you’ll see a Direct Pay Authorization form,
giving eBay permission to access your bank account. Click the Authorize Checking
Account button once you’ve read the information.

That’s it. You’ve created your account. You’re now approved to sell on eBay. You can
continue to set up an item for sale, if you wish, or build an eBay store, but there’s no need to do
so at this point. In fact, you’ll probably want to set up a PayPal account, which is what we’ll be
covering in the next section.