2 min article

Closing your account

If you close your eBay account, you'll no longer be able to buy or sell with this account, or access My eBay. You'll also lose your Feedback as well as your purchase and sales history.

Before closing your account, consider contacting us first. We don't want to see you go, and we'll do everything we can to sort out any issues you may have.

If you still want to close your account, make sure:

  • You don't have any active listings, or any purchases or sales still in progress (e.g. bids on an item that hasn't ended yet, offers awaiting response, items that haven't been paid for or that need to be posted)
  • You don't have any transactions awaiting resolution (e.g. returns in progress, payment disputes)
  • All your fees and other selling costs are paid
  • You don't have any outstanding payouts to be processed to your bank account, and your Available, On hold and Processing funds are all at zero
  • You've cancelled all your subscriptions

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If you have any active restrictions on your account, or if your account doesn't currently meet our minimum seller performance standards, you'll need to contact us in order to close your account.

What happens after requesting to close your account?

Within 24 hours of receiving your request, we'll send you an update on its status to your registered email address and eBay Messages. Generally, it takes 14 days to close an account from the date we receive a request, though it may take up to 60 days if you've had any transactions, payments, claims or disputes in the previous 30 days.

After this period your account will be permanently closed and your data will be deleted. If you change your mind during the time it takes to close your account, you can contact us and ask to have it reopened, if your account is in good standing (not restricted or suspended).

  • Closing your account will also result in the closure of all eBay businesses associated with that account which rely on the same identity – for example, the eBay Partner Network (EPN)
  • If you'd like to use eBay again, you'll need to create a new account - opens in new window or tab

Data deletion

When we close your account, we'll delete all personal data that we are legally obliged to delete.

Personal data is deleted using approved methods such as direct deletion, anonymisation, pseudonymisation and aggregation. You'll need to clear your cache, cookies and history from each browser you used to sign into your eBay account and delete the eBay app from your mobile devices.

Once your data is deleted and your account is closed, we'll let you know by sending an email to your registered email address.

What data is retained?

After deletion, we retain a record of your request and our response. We also retain some personal data that we are we're legally required or allowed to retain in order to:

  • comply with eBay's financial and legal retention obligations
  • detect and resolve issues related to security or functionality, including to protect against fraudulent or illegal activity
  • exercise the right of freedom of expression and information
  • exercise or defend against legal claims
  • provide goods or services requested by you or otherwise perform a contract between eBay and its users
  • resolve any balances owed to you or to eBay
  • provide you with tax-related information
  • inform you if there is a public health issue

We'll only use personal data retained to fulfil these purposes and we will delete the data when we no longer need it. Please note that we may contact you after deletion if we need to resolve an outstanding balance or provide you with tax information.

Close account

If you need help closing the account of a deceased eBay member, please contact us instead.

Once you've submitted an account closure request, you won't be able to access your account or use it to buy or sell on eBay.

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