How to close your eBay account permanently

By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed 22 August 2026 · What this means

Settle everything first. eBay will not close an account with active listings, unpaid selling fees, open disputes or in-flight transactions. Sellers especially: outstanding fees are still owed after closure and can be pursued.

Before you close

• End or let expire all active listings, and make sure you have no open bids on anything.
• Complete open sales and any returns, cases or payment disputes.
• Pay outstanding fees and confirm your available funds are at zero — including any payout still being processed to your bank.
• Cancel all your subscriptions, an eBay Store included. eBay lists this as a requirement, not a suggestion.
• Save purchase records if you need them for warranties.

Close your account

1. Go to Settings → Account.
2. Find the close-account option.
3. Select a reason and confirm.

Delete, close, cancel or deactivate — which is it?

eBay calls this closing an account, and there is no separate "delete" or "deactivate" option to look for. Searching for how to delete, cancel, shut down or remove your eBay account all lead to the same place: the close-account request below.

There is no temporary deactivation either. It is closed or it is open.

How long it takes

eBay emails a status update within 24 hours of the request. Closure then generally takes 14 days — or up to 60 days if you have had any transactions, payments, claims or disputes in the previous 30 days.

During that window you can ask eBay to reopen the account, provided it is in good standing and not restricted or suspended.

What you lose

eBay states plainly that closing means you lose your feedback, and your purchase and sales history, and can no longer sell or access My eBay.

Years of seller reputation cannot be transferred to a new account. For anyone who has sold regularly this is the single biggest cost of closing, and there is no way to rebuild it other than starting from zero.

It takes your other eBay businesses with it. eBay closes everything that relies on the same identity — the eBay Partner Network among them. If any part of your income runs through EPN, closing the buying account you no longer use will shut that down too.

After it closes

eBay emails you once the data is deleted and the account is shut. Two things people do not expect:

• You have cleanup to do. eBay asks you to clear cache, cookies and history in every browser you signed in from, and to delete the app from your phone.
• They may still contact you. eBay keeps what it is legally required to keep and says it may get in touch after deletion to settle an outstanding balance or send tax information. Closing the account does not end that.

If your account has active restrictions, or does not meet minimum seller performance standards, you cannot close it yourself — you have to contact eBay.

Buyer protection ends with the account

The 14-to-60-day closure window is not the only clock that matters. Anything you have bought recently is still inside its money-back-guarantee period, and that protection is exercised through the account.

• Wait for every item to arrive and be checked. Not merely marked delivered.
• Let the protection window run out on the most recent purchase before requesting closure.
• Finish any open case rather than abandoning it — closure forfeits your position in it.
• Confirm refunds have landed in your bank or original payment method.

Save proof of purchase for anything under warranty. Closing takes your purchase history with it, and a manufacturer asking for evidence of when and where you bought something is not interested in the fact that eBay deleted it. Download or screenshot the order pages for anything expensive or still guaranteed.

Feedback: what goes and what stays

The asymmetry catches sellers out. Your own feedback profile — the score people judged you on — is destroyed and cannot be transferred to a new account. But feedback you left for other people generally remains part of their profile, because their reputation is not yours to withdraw.

So closing removes your standing while leaving your contribution to everybody else's. That is the right design and it does mean deletion is less of a clean exit than it sounds.

If your reason for closing is a bad feedback score, closing does not solve it in the way you want. eBay links accounts by identity and payment details, and starting again from zero feedback is its own penalty — new sellers face limits that an established account does not.