CAP PRIVATE SELLERS TO 100 ACTIVE LISTINGS - LIKE IF YOU AGREE - COMMENT IF YOU DONT

[moonspender]

So I lost out on some stock Sunday as was outbid ... a private seller listed them on ebay yesterday.

Ebay lose out on fees as a result

Reported but i dont expect action to be taken even though I could evidence where they were purchased - they didnt want this information ? Baffling

A real genuine private seller only needs 100 active listings ... this is the only thing that will get private sellers who are really business sellers to change to the business account and pay ebay the correct fees

[vinylscot]

Sadly, as always happens on these threads, posters are simply becoming entrenched in their own views (wishes), and hardening their position, instead of considering the facts.

The issue of mixed lots is really pretty straightforward. If you buy a large mixed lot, say 1,000 records, in the full knowledge that you will only keep a few, and you will sell the others, that is clearly trading.

If you find yourself with occasional duplicates, either accidentally, or because you have upgraded a piece in your collection, that would not be seen as trading, as the items were not purchased for the purpose of re-selling. 

You can dance on the head of a pin all you like, but to 99% of sensible people, it's a pretty simple concept, and I'm quite sure HMRC thinks likewise.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

That's not the case at all.

I completely disagree with you that 99% of people see this as trading, and I am a register business seller.

So no effect on me.

As has now been said multiple times on this thread, it's not just about selling the items, but about how often.

Along with what the actual intent is.

You have literally repeated that in different words.

So please explain what facts have not been considered here?

[vinylscot]

You are obviously one of the remaining 1%.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

You have literally repeated that in different words.

It would also be interesting to hear your answer to my question, instead of avoiding it.

[gemini-project]

100 a month is still too much, why so many free listings ???

I see that people seem to have a never ending stream of "private " items to sell especially new or new/other.

[abrahamtoast]

Just be sensible for a minute. Many collectors, legitimately selling off their collections, will have thousands of items to list, many of which will not sell quickly.

Most of this type of sellers are genuine private sellers (including myself), not business sellers in disguise. These sellers, masquerading as private sellers, are the real problem.

I really can't understand why so many posters can't acknowledge this distinction.

[theelench]

Because it doesn't fit their narrative.

The more they can blur the differences between private and "private" sellers the more weight it lends to their demands for more restrictions on genuine private sellers.

Of course they know that private sellers can have hundreds, even thousands of items to sell legitimately on a private account, but they will never admit that fact.  No matter how many times they are told.

What really irks them is that ebay gives private sellers something it doesn't give them.

[spence0175]

I truly get where you are coming from but sadly many ‘private’ have abused the system for too long. There has to be a market for both and a way forward for both to co exist equally..

I see on a daily basis in the category I mostly sell on, “private” hobby sellers buying lots and then they appear individually weeks later for sale, I guess because in their eyes, they don’t see themselves as traders…

As for large collections. In the dollshouse world or dolls, when the collection runs into 100s or 1000s, they usually end up at auction houses which probably would be in my case as there would be no way on earth I sell it off piece by piece on eBay…or my son when I depart…

[crg_music]

It is very odd the sheer volume they are allowed.

Id say that if its used items then the sky is the limit and some get away with it.

For example, and this is a real seller I could go to the account of now.

Private seller: 9900+ listings, 3000 feedback in the last year, 12000 total. Likely listing fees - £0. How can ebay allow this? I know I was asked to upgrade years ago. 

Are you seriously telling me this is a private seller?, they are skipping all legal obligations with zero fees and being left alone to it. Thats a full time business however you see it.

I'm all for private sellers getting a free ride but needs some policing.

[theelench]

So you are talking about a "private" seller  --  a fake.

Is it really that hard to make the distinction by typing two extra characters?

I'm not telling you anything, frankly I don't care one way or the other about an argument between business sellers.

What I care more about is that your argument is used to derail almost every discussion on SC and business sellers turning a blind eye when it comes to other businesses mis-representing themselves by pretending to be private buyers.  That is just as criminal as pretending to be a private seller and is probably just as widespread.

[crg_music]

I'm a bit lost, my point was that by having no limits ebay make it worth businesses trying to beat the system and they do. My issue isn't even really with the sellers, after all it seems most people wont move to a business accounts unless pushed or forced and who can blame them?, why would you when you can list 300 for free every month and unlike a shop subscription those 300 dont even refresh each month. 

Just make it level and fair, I dont care what real private sellers do but give all businesses a level base.

[gemini-project]

I wasn't referring to collectors although that is a grey area and not so easy to spot, is it someone selling off an old collection they no longer want or is it someone that bought something knowing they could sell it on at a higher price making them a business and not a private seller.

[strangelysane]

Genuine private sellers are often hobbyists / collectors that have years' worth of odds and sods cluttering up their homes, myself included.
Also, of course, many private sellers may be acting as executors of wills / helping out a family member after a bereavement.  I've had to do this myself, twice!  You don't appreciate just how many possessions people accumulate in a lifetime until they have to be disposed of.  So yes, private sellers often DO need more than a hundred active listings.

[strangelysane]

For years, private sellers had been paying around 10% on final value and an unfair 10% on postage.  Because private sellers can't get the favourable trade prices on postage, they often ended up subbing the cost of postage to keep prices reasonable and make a sale.

Now, despite eBay telling private sellers that selling on eBay is free, they've slapped an incrementally rising "buyer protection" fee on buyers' purchases.  This has had the effect of making private sellers' listed prices more expensive and uncompetitive.  As a consequence, private sellers are having to reduce their asking prices  to compensate for eBay's fees.  In effect, the sellers are paying the buyer's fee AND the buyer still has to pay a buyer's fee on the reduced price. 

The whole buyer's protection fee is a con anyway.  eBay almost always sides with the buyer when there's a dispute / claim of damaged / faulty goods / not as described / refund request.  In those cases, the private seller's account is held to ransom and funds frozen until the seller caves in or eBay just issues the refund. So what extra protection is eBay giving to buyers?
I'm particularly 'triggered' regarding this policy, having had to pay a refund on a valuable and hard to get electrical testing kit that was claimed to not be working.  In reality the buyer had removed the component they obviously needed for their own tool, and robbed the kit of accessories and a hard drive.  eBay obliged me to pay the refund and postage to discover this.   Since then I've had buyers claim refunds for items they've damaged after they've found an item elsewhere cheaper or suffered buyer's remorse.
Businesses have insurance to cover this sort of loss.  Private sellers just have to take it on the chin.

[jokers_toybox]

As a business, I would NEVER spike my insurance premiums over an ebay refund, I just take it on the chin like private sellers