Whether you’re buying or selling on eBay, there are plenty of good reasons to see a transaction summary. They can give you a reminder of the things you purchased, how much you paid for them, and how much money you saved or, where applicable, pay additional taxes or get relief. Another benefit many people forget is that a purchase history can help you catch unauthorized purchases, whether by a significant other, family member, or even a hacker if your account was compromised. These all provide great motivation to learn how to recover eBay purchase history. So, let’s jump straight into it.
1. Recover eBay purchase history from the Account panel
Keep in mind that eBay stores purchase history for up to 3 days. Furthermore, purchase history before the year 2013 is not available. With that said, here are the steps to recover eBay purchase history directly:
- Sign in to your account on eBay.
- In the top right corner, hover over My eBay, then select Purchase History in the drop-down list.
- Tip. You must tap on My eBay when visiting the page on mobile. Alternatively, you can visit the Purchase History page directly.
- You’ll see your latest purchases displayed for the last 60 days, sorted by categories.
- To go back for up to 3 years, tap or click on The last 60 days in the top right corner (next to See orders from:), then select a year.
- Tip. If there are too many purchases, you can use the Filter by: drop-down list to narrow down the search.
What to do if some purchases are missing?
Because eBay doesn’t allow you to delete purchases, you must’ve hidden them. You’ll need to click on the empty circle in front of Show hidden items under each category.
2. Recover eBay purchase history via PayPal
Although it might be a little more complicated to distinguish purchases from sales because they’re all listed under transaction history, it’s worth the effort. For tax purposes, PayPal is usually required to keep a history of transactions for up to 7 years. Furthermore, the data will be formatted nicely, and available in multiple formats. So, follow these instructions to recover eBay purchases using PayPal:
- Sign in to PayPal.
- In the top menu, click/tap on Activity.
- Tap/click on Statements in the top right corner.
- Select Transaction type and Date range.
- Under Format, you can choose Quicken, QuickBooks, CSV, TAB, or PDF. We recommend choosing PDF.
- Click on the Create Report button.
- eBay will start compiling the report. They will send the download link to your registered e-mail address.
3. Recover eBay purchase history through Customer Support
Like with eBay account recovery, if you need assistance or suspect a purchase is missing, you can reach out to Customer Service. Here’s how it works:
- Visit the eBay Help page.
- Scroll down and select Contact us
- Choose the type of issue you’re having.
- You’ll be connected to a representative via webchat. Alternatively, you can call within business hours.