Estate planning as a eBay account holder

An eBay account can represent significant accumulated value: seller feedback scores built over years (directly affecting sale prices and buyer trust), Top Rated Seller status, eBay Store subscriptions with established branding, managed payments balances, active listings, and purchase/sale history. For high-volume sellers, an eBay account with thousands of positive feedback ratings is a genuine business asset.

After a eBay account holder dies, eBay Inc. may transfer accounts to a designated recipient, but this is handled case by case. The outcome depends on the documentation provided and is entirely at eBay Inc.'s discretion.

What happens at death

eBay has a formal process for reporting a deceased member, documented at the help article "Reporting the death of an eBay member" (id=5574) with a dedicated form at ocswf.ebay.com/deceased-account-closure. The form requires a death certificate, contact details, relationship to the deceased, and the member's full name, birth date, death date, and username if known. For release of a positive account balance, eBay additionally requires a court order admitting the deceased's will into probate and/or a copy of the court order appointing the executor, plus the requestor's photo identification (passport or driver's license, with all information displayed). Sensitive fields on the ID (ID number, place of birth, nationality, date of issue, height, eye color, photo, and signature) may be hidden as long as the ID card remains recognizable as a valid form of ID. The same documentation is required to request closure of the account. The only documented outcome is account closure -- not account transfer or continued operation. The User Agreement prohibits transferring an eBay account "(including feedback) and user ID to another party without our consent," but no formal path to obtain consent for estate transfers is documented. Per the Payments Terms of Use, eBay may keep a portion of funds after account closure to cover refunds or disputes and returns unused amounts to the Linked Financial Account within 190 days of account closure, unless the law requires otherwise.