Buisness sellers

[choughed-to-bits]

When is Ebay going to crack down on business sellers registering as private sellers?

I have seen accounts selling the same type of things as I do, they are registered as private accounts but have 300 plus listings and sometimes multiple accounts.

[pg_kicks]

They'll only stop it when they are fined for allowing accounts to break the law on such a mass scale. They will close 10 accounts a year and ask us to police their own site for them by using the broken reporting system which does not even understand its own policy but until its hitting them in the pocket they wont do more than pay lip service to the issue.

I'd suggest bringing it up in the weekly chat (2pm today) if you want an official copy and paste answer from the team.

[jow1995]

Hopefully the new Digital selling laws may put a stop to this, drives me nuts that Ebay know and allow this to continue. Problem being they still get the income and are not worried about UK distant selling laws. It  is not in their interest to clamp down on such sellers. 

"hobby sellers" pretending to be "private sellers" is another bug bear to genuine buisness sellers trying to earn a living. Rant over.

[btr.style]

They don't even have the correct report option to report these accounts. People are told to report it under something like "business fails to display correct contact details". It's not "business trading on private account". If you look at the wording its for the contact details being wrong, so if a business had an address of "Mickey mouse, Disneyland, Florida" or email address was something like theking@buckinghampalace.co.uk which obviously aren't the correct contact details and they business might be forced to change them. 

When people use this option to report businesses trading on private accounts, likely the CS agent sees it's a private account so no business details to display and so it's case closed with no action taken. 

eBay need to limit free listings and stop/only occasionally (once every 6 months) have that fee promo. 

They've shot themselves in the foot with the unlimited 100% off fees current promo because there will be 1000's of private account business sellers sticking 2 fingers up at them laughing at how stupid eBay's head office are to give them all that extra money for selling 100's of items of stock from their warehouses and storage units. 

[cobwebcottage]

We have been banging on about this for so long, our heads are black and blue from hitting a brick wall. 300 plus is the tip of the iceburg. I have seen accounts with over 2000 items for sale and over 12k sold.

Yes, it is not fair and Ebay do not enforce their own policies or care that an obvious trader is breaking distance selling laws. They just take the business fees from those of us who are correctly registered and give everyone else discounts and promotions.

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

we wonder when most here will get the message ?

 any amount of moaning ,scrutinising,  interrogating  ,makes no differeance and is numbingly boring

[missdollydaydream]

If eBay charged everyone the same fees, there wouldn't be a problem. The buyer could then decide if they want to buy from a business or private individual. There wouldn't be any advantage to a business trading as a private  seller except to try and avoid thier distance selling obligations. That would then be up to trading standards to sort out.

[btr.style]

By all means, I think for private sellers who sell their own stuff for a clear out, the occasional fee promo is fair enough as they'd want to get as much money back as possible on items they purchased ages ago and just no longer have any use for. Private account businesses just misuse this though so it needs to be clamped down on either by eBay pulling their finger out and sorting it, or by only doing a very occasional promo. That way private account businesss can't continuously have 200 listings at any one time with the fee promo applied to them. It might even make them convert to a business account because not listing anything for 6 months until the next promo isn't going to get them much income. 

[cobwebcottage]

Your opinion and your welcome to it.  As I am to mine.

[4_bathrooms]

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@jow1995 wrote:

Hopefully the new Digital selling laws may put a stop to this

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Don't count on it. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations haven't, The Consumer Contracts Regulations haven't, The Consumer Rights Act hasn't...

Enforcing consumer law is Trading Standards' job but they are pretty toothless these days due to how underfunded they are. It really doesn't matter what new laws are introduced if the agency responsible for enforcing them can't do their job.

I'm also not actually sure which new laws you are referring to. The EU introduced their Digital Services Act which makes marketplaces such as eBay responsible for ensuring all published content is legal with the service provider responsible for policing their user's content. The act also means there is a centralised reporting point consumers can use to report illegal content. If this is what you are referring to it does not apply to the UK.  

[4_bathrooms]

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@missdollydaydream wrote:

If eBay charged everyone the same fees, there wouldn't be a problem. 

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Correct.

For US users on eBay.com there is no distinction between private and business sellers; this is likely because in America everyone is a business. In places like the EU and the UK where consumer law makes a distinction between a private and a business seller eBay has chosen to have two sets of fees with businesses paying higher fees. However, eBay doesn't really police what type of account a seller uses unless the seller is approaching the VAT registration threshold - which is high and getting higher in the UK - as the VAT obligations of it's sellers is something eBay are held to account for.

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@missdollydaydream wrote:

That would then be up to trading standards to sort out.

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As I was saying...
 

[wyntersemporium]

Too many of them, spotted a fair few who have 2000 plus listings all brand new items selling as private 

[wyntersemporium]

I  have seen a few that sell women's clothes 2000 plus on provate accounts. 
plus they get some free listings 

[missdollydaydream]

eBay encourage and reward dishonesty from both sellers and buyers. Whilst it's trading standards & other regulatory bodies to enforce regulations, you can't blame them for throwing in the towel when it comes to the likes of eBay! 

[messier44000]

As already mentioned in reply #4 it was finally admitted by Dave on the weekly chat 

there is no option to report business sellers using a private account.

Sums up how concerned eBay are about it

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

With  Ebays discounts and offers to private sellers ,Logic tells us ebay want and need private sellers 

So we suck it up and get on with it

[btr.style]

eBay's promos for private sellers are aimed at those selling unwanted possessions. 

Some 15/20 years ago this promo was occasional. Problem was once the promo had been offered, people only listed when the promo came about so it became more frequent. With this came the abuse of the promo by private account business sellers. 

Sucking it up and getting on with it depends entirely on what the impact of something is. This issue causes a significant advantage to businesss trading illegally and means businesses like mine can be undercut on price because of this unfair advantage. 

The impact is business's like mine can't sell certain lines of stock without lowering the price to match them which is less money for us. I don't mind competition at all, it means working harder to progress further. Yet the fee promo to private business sellers means losing out on money not because we aren't good enough, but due to an advantage someone gained by breaking the rules. 

Money is money, it's extra days out with my family, nice treats as a reward for working hard, being able to retire sooner. So I'll always shout about eBay's wrongdoing from the rooftops when they are causing me to miss out on money, all because we trade legally and do the right thing. 

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

makes no difference 

 if its  a private "business" or a business business

 ebay obviously dont take any notice  of the clamour here

[btr.style]

Basically people try with community team chats for all reasons thinking it might get them somewhere. It always results in dismissing a problem, saying it will be passed on (never is), or will be looked into and updates will be provided (never happens). 

With this issue of private business sellers, it's either sit back and do nothing, or try to do something which may or may not get eBay to take notice. I'll put my neck on the line to speak out to try and get a "wrong" corrected, even if it means a ban of my £84k yearly turnover business on eBay. 

The issue just doesn't sit right for me which is no different to 2 chippy's opening next door to each other, 1 pays full council rates, trade waste collection, etc. The other pays no rates and gets waste collected for free because they pay their council tax (like everyone does). 

[4_bathrooms]

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@missdollydaydream wrote:

Whilst it's trading standards & other regulatory bodies to enforce regulations, you can't blame them for throwing in the towel when it comes to the likes of eBay! 

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eBay only police things when they are forced into doing so.

For example, HMRC holds eBay jointly and severally liable for the VAT obligations of it's sellers. This means if eBay fails to perform their due diligence against a seller who should be charging and remitting VAT on their eBay sales - but isn't - eBay are jointly and severally liable for any unpaid VAT due. So, when a seller is required to provide eBay with a valid VAT number eBay restricts the users ability to sell until one is provided.

More recently, legislation was announced - coming into force this Autumn - that incorporates new rules about online reviews. Under the new rules - which would encompass feedback on eBay - any manipulation of online reviews will be strictly regulated. Businesses found to be engaged in leaving fake reviews or manipulating review scores could be fined up to 10% of their global turnover. Since the announcement eBay have been very reluctant to remove any negative feedback at all including feedback that is demonstrably false - at most they have been removing the comment but leaving the rating. So, ebay do act when they are forced to.

However, there is a glimmer of hope in the new legislation that I initially missed. Due to new powers that have been given to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) where a business is found to be in breach of consumer law the CMA can now fine them up to 10% of their global turnover without needing to take them to court first. So, instead of reporting traders masquerading as private sellers to eBay (who will do nothing) they should be reported to the CMA directly. Maybe if the CMA receives enough reports about the practice they'll eventually force eBay's hand into dealing with the problem.