Hello Tal!
MARTIN3030 asked me to drop in...
Sorry if some of what follows is not 100% what you wanted, but I've tried to guess what you need, and can advise as follows:
I think the best strategy would be to re-organise how you do Business on
eBay. Having too many
eBay Accounts can just split your revenues, and so you will struggle to get lower PayPal fees, whereas if you combined them, you may start to see PayPal Discounts that are getting much closer to Merchant Fees that you'd Pay elsewhere.
I doubt you will find one that can accept PayPal from multiple Accounts, they'd all need you to nominate one.
My advice would be as follows, and please note I am not Selling you anything, and I have absolutely no links to either
eBay or PayPal, other than we use both for our own Business:
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1) Concentrate your eBay and PayPal Accounts into one of each, i.e.
One eBay ID linked to
One PayPal Account.
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2) However, keep your Girlfriend's eBay ID and PayPal Account as a fall-back so, if something goes wrong with the main one, you at least have a way to Trade via her Accounts if needed. Don't link hers to yours and vice versa, or else if one gets closed, they'll all get closed.
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3) Consider an eBay Shop, as they have now finally re-jigged things so it is actually worth it. A Featured Shop seems to be the best compromise between Listing Costs, Sale Final Value Fees and Shop Fees. Shops are good in the sense that Listing Fees can be very low, like 2p to 20p per item (can't say exactly, but it's now very, very low). Plus you can List 30 Day Buy It Now/Best Offer, and they get renewed and keep the same Sale Number, so linking Sale Links from your own Web Site stay nice and static and don't change for as long as the item is unsold.
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4) Try and get to PowerSeller Status. Combining all into one ID can help you get there.
Sale Fee Discounts are also good once you get to Bronze or Silver PowerSeller Status, 20% and 25% off respectively, which does make a difference.
However, be very aware that to get to PowerSeller is now hard, and you have to be 100% honest and clean...you have to bend over backwards to avoid any Bad Feedback, as just one can ruin things for you, and a few in a row can mean the end of your Account.
eBay is a hostile place to trade as a Seller, as the penalties for failure are far harsher then when selling via one Web Site etc. That is no joke, and despite all of the valid criticism of eBay, the fact now remains that to be rated as a good eBay Seller is very hard to manage now.
Your Sales must be 100% honest, with good Images and good descriptions. If you think something is dubious, then either don't List it, or make it clear what is wrong with it and charge a fair Price.
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5) Once consolidated, work on your branding and appearance, and get all of your Sales to look more polished and professional. Then copy that Template for every Sale.
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6) In PayPal, you need to request lower PayPal fees, they don't give them to you automatically. But, once requested, you'll get lower Fees whenever your Monthly Turnover goes above the Threshold. I think it's £1,500 per Month, but the Fees are much better than standard, something like 2.9% against 3.4% etc.
Even a Merchant Card Facility will charge you 2.5%+ for Cards, so 2.9% is getting close to the fees you'd Pay anywhere else.
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7) Once all the above is ticking along, you can then apply to PayPal for one of their higher level Merchant Accounts, such as PayPal Virtual Terminal, which is an on-line System that allows you to take Card Payments directly via Phone or Fax. For example, if someone sees something on your own Web Site, and wants to Buy it from YOU and not via eBay, you can make the Sale, take their Card details, log-in to PayPal Virtual Terminal, and process the Card as if you had a real Merchant Card Machine sat on your desk, hence the word Virtual.
Getting PayPal VT is not that easy, as they will inspect your PayPal and eBay History in detail, and will inspect your own Web Site to make sure you are fully compliant with standard on-line business. They will ask you to make changes to your own Web Site if they cannot see a clear match to the eBay/PayPal information, such as email and Telephone Contact details.
The good news about PayPal VT is once you get that, then upgrading to PayPal's higher-end Payment Systems is then mainly just a Cost Upgrade. IOW, you can then consider Shopping Cart Systems and integrated PayPal Payments from you own Web Site.
There are many others apart from PayPal, so do look around. There is a cost for everything, and getting any form of Merchant Facilities these days is not easy. You will need to demonstrate that you are a genuine business.
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8 ) Once established with eBay/PayPal, consider getting your own Web Site. Initially, it can just act as a Portal for your eBay Images. It can be just a pretty Web Site that says who/what you are, and provides details like Customer Services Contact points, Returns Policies etc.
But with your own Site, you can then host your own Images, and link them to your eBay Sales. Later on, you can start to develop your own Web Site to start Selling from there directly, until the stage where it can stand on its own two feet and give you the option of staying with eBay and Selling from both, or dumping eBay and Selling from just your own Web Site.
By then, you should be in a strong enough position to look around for any Merchant Facility that you want, i.e. to find one that is not 100% PayPal. But PayPal may be the best one to let you grow to that stage.
To stress, I have NO links with PayPal or eBay, this is just feedback from my own experiences using both.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
BRW
merchant account alternative for paypal 
