How to Delete an eBay Account (Buyers and Sellers)

To delete an eBay account, first finish every open order, return and dispute, pay any seller fees you owe and let your final payouts arrive. Then sign in, go to your account settings and follow the option to close your account, which eBay’s help pages also link to directly. eBay reviews the request and won’t close an account with money or transactions still outstanding. Closing is permanent, and eBay keeps some records, including feedback you left for other members, after the account is gone.

Closing an eBay account takes more preparation than most, because it’s a marketplace with money moving in both directions. This guide walks through the checklist for buyers and for sellers, then the closure itself.

Close the account or just step back?

Before you close, consider whether a lighter option does what you need.

What you want	Option
Stop the emails	Change your communication preferences and unsubscribe from marketing
Stop selling for a while	End your listings, or use your store’s time-away setting if you have one
Hide an old username	Change your user ID in account settings
Remove saved cards and addresses	Delete them in payment and address settings
Leave eBay completely	Close the account

Changing your user ID is worth knowing about if your worry is a username linked to your real name. Your feedback history moves with the new ID, although eBay may briefly flag that the ID changed.

Before you delete: if you buy on eBay

1. Let open orders finish. Wait until everything you’ve bought has arrived and you’re happy with it. Once the account is closed, opening a return or an eBay Money Back Guarantee request becomes difficult or impossible.
2. Close out returns and cases. Make sure every return, refund and case is resolved and the refund has landed.
3. Pay for anything you won. An unpaid item can stop closure and can count against your account.
4. Save your purchase history. If you need order records for warranties, insurance or tax, download or screenshot them from your purchase history first.
5. Check linked accounts. Remove saved cards and any linked PayPal account from your payment settings.

Before you delete: if you sell on eBay

1. End all listings. End active listings and cancel any scheduled ones, so nobody buys something after you’ve decided to leave.
2. Ship and complete every sale. Fulfil all outstanding orders and wait for returns windows and any buyer requests to resolve.
3. Pay your seller fees. Check your account for any fees or charges due, including final value fees and advertising costs, and pay them. eBay won’t close an account with a balance owing.
4. Wait for your payouts. Make sure all sales proceeds have been paid out to your bank account and that nothing is on hold. Money still held by eBay for a pending order or dispute needs to clear first.
5. Cancel your store and subscriptions. If you have an eBay Store, promoted listings or other paid tools, cancel them. A store subscription can keep billing until it’s cancelled.
6. Download your records. Save sales reports, payout statements and tax forms eBay has issued. You’ll want these for your tax return, and they may be harder to get after closure. eBay also lets you request a copy of your personal data through its privacy center.
7. Tell repeat buyers how to reach you if you’re moving to your own website or another marketplace, within eBay’s rules on sharing contact details.

How to delete your eBay account

eBay changes its menus and help pages from time to time, so these steps are general.

1. Sign in to eBay on a web browser. Closure is usually easier to find on the website than in the app.
2. Go to your account settings. Look for the option to close your account, or search eBay’s help center for “close account”, which links to the request.
3. Read eBay’s checklist of what will stop you closing, such as open orders, unpaid fees or held funds.
4. Choose a reason and confirm that you want to close the account.
5. Watch your email. eBay confirms the request and may contact you if something is still outstanding.

eBay reviews closure requests rather than closing instantly, and it may keep the account open for a while if there’s anything left to resolve. Keep an eye on the email address on the account until you get confirmation that it’s closed.

What stays after you close

• Feedback you left. Feedback you gave other members generally stays on their profiles, because it’s part of their trading record. It no longer links to an active profile of yours.
• Records eBay keeps. eBay’s privacy notice says it keeps personal data where it needs to for legal, tax, fraud-prevention and dispute purposes, including transaction records. Sellers’ tax reporting data may be kept for as long as the law requires.
• Your PayPal account. PayPal is a separate company. Closing eBay doesn’t close PayPal. If you want to leave both, see our guide to how to delete a PayPal account.
• Old listings in search. Search engines and price-history sites sometimes show old listings for a while. These usually fade out once the page is gone, and our guide to removing outdated content from Google covers stubborn ones.

Closed eBay accounts generally can’t be reopened. If you might sell again, it may be better to end your listings and leave the account dormant than to start again from zero feedback.

If you can’t sign in, or someone else is using your account

Use eBay’s password reset and its official customer service only. If you see purchases or listings you didn’t make, changes to your payout bank account or a new email address on the account, treat it as a takeover. Change your email password first, then reset eBay, contact eBay’s customer service and check your bank. Our my account was hacked guide has a step-by-step checklist. Don’t close a compromised account until you’ve secured it and dealt with any fraudulent orders, or you’ll lose the ability to dispute them.

Be wary of emails or messages claiming your account will be “closed” unless you click a link and sign in. That’s a common phishing trick. Go to eBay directly instead.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Colette sold vintage clothing on eBay for several years under a username that includes her full name. She’s moving her small business to her own website and wants the eBay account closed.

1. She ends her remaining listings and ships the last orders.
2. She waits until the return window on her final sales has passed, and handles one return in that time.
3. She cancels her eBay Store subscription and pays the fees that were due.
4. Once her final payout arrives, she downloads her sales reports and tax forms for her accountant.
5. She changes her user ID to something without her name, so it’s no longer attached to her profile while the closure is processed, and then requests closure.
6. eBay confirms by email. A search of her name a few weeks later shows her new website rather than old listings.

Common mistakes

• Closing with a balance owing. eBay won’t close an account with unpaid fees, and the debt doesn’t disappear if you walk away.
• Forgetting the store subscription. Cancel it yourself so billing stops.
• Losing tax records. Download sales and payout records before closing.
• Assuming PayPal closes too. It doesn’t; close it separately if you want to.
• Closing too soon after a sale. Leave time for returns and buyer protection claims.
• Stopping at eBay. If you sold on several marketplaces, our guides to deleting an Etsy account and an Amazon account cover the others.

If a buyer dispute or old listing has turned into a review or post that follows your name or business around, our ecommerce reputation management work covers online sellers.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I close my eBay account?

Usually because something is still open: an order, a return, a case, unpaid seller fees or funds on hold. Resolve those and submit the request again.

How long does it take to close an eBay account?

eBay reviews each request and closes the account once nothing is outstanding. It confirms by email, and its help center lists current timeframes.

Does closing eBay delete my feedback?

Feedback you left for others generally remains on their profiles. Your own profile and its feedback page are no longer available once the account is closed.

Can I reopen a closed eBay account?

Generally, no. If you think you might sell again, end your listings and leave the account inactive instead of closing it.