Ebay forces upgrade to Business due to new HMRC regulations

[sportex-uk]

Hi All.

I've received an email from ebay forcing me to switch to business account due to the volume of my recent sales. Customer service explained that I exceeded £1800 in one month, so they act in line with new HMRC regulations. The email is a bit threatening: "We need you to make these changes to your account within the next 21 days. If you don’t, your selling privileges may be blocked. This includes listings ended and loss of selling history."

However, As I'm not ready to go business and I consider my increased activity as temporary, Customer Service advised that if reduce my sales volume, I can stay private. Has any of you passed through this process?

Also, what happensto your existing promo listings if you switch to business? Are they allowed to continue on promo terms and with 'no returns accepted' until they sell or end?

[sportex-uk]

Well said. Time spent complaining here on private sellers and typing endless messages would be far better spent on developing own business and finding new routes. When I said that last year, I was almost eaten.

No sympathy for crocodile tears. Adapt or die.

[craze_chris]

I have been asked to register a a business at first their “customer service’ told me I had breached Hercules annual sales 9 my annual sales of unwanted person items actually amounted to just £725 ! One item an old iPhone was £250 of this total

 Then when I re contacted they said it was because I was selling only household items !!! When I asked them to suggest something that fell outside of this catorgry they put the phone down on me .. having been selling with them for 21 years and now my account is blocked   I bothered to write a letter of complaint a week ago to them will await their reply with 

I haven’t even sold an item for almost 4 months I hope someone at eBay picks this up and sanity is restored is restored 

[craze_chris]

Customer service have not suggested that a reduction in my selling items means I can stay private  (£727 sold all last year and nothing for past 4 months)

[the_book_seekers]

Customer services seems to be justifying a bad decision by their systems. 357 sales over 21 years on ebay isn't a business.  Which customer service team are you speaking to? I'd be trying to get hold of someone from the Dublin team, who can be more helpful. Request a callback weekdays around 9am and you might get lucky.

[craze_chris]

Many thanks


Chris

[leadhills_scot]

I think death is preferable to competing with unregistered businesses. Left this rubbish place in December last year after my sales fell through the floor due to them. Occasionally look through the business seller board to see what is going on but won't be back as seller ever.

[shopping-ferret]

Ebay have not initiated this - they along with all other selling platforms have to comply with new regulations and report all income to HMRC.  As it only started recently, from what I understand, they will only be reporting sales over the past 12 months - not sure when the start date would be.  So if you sold over a certain number of goods and over a certain value in this period, this might be the reason they would consider you are operating as a business.  If a whole year has not passed yet, then they may be calculating by pro rata.  Look at your sales over the past few months.

[craze_chris]

Much appreciated

Not sold anything since October !!


Chris

[4_bathrooms]

---

@craze_chris wrote:

I have been asked to register a a business at first their “customer service’ told me I had breached Hercules annual sales 9 my annual sales of unwanted person items actually amounted to just £725 ! One item an old iPhone was £250 of this total

 Then when I re contacted they said it was because I was selling only household items !!! When I asked them to suggest something that fell outside of this catorgry they put the phone down on me .. having been selling with them for 21 years and now my account is blocked   I bothered to write a letter of complaint a week ago to them will await their reply with 

---

This isn't the first post I've seen from what appears to be a genuine private seller being forced into "upgrading" to a business account. Looking at your selling history there is absolutely nothing to suggest you were trading - is this the only eBay account you have?

I have no idea what criteria and/or thresholds eBay are using when they target private sellers in this way but whatever they are using it is clearly creating a few false positive results. Despite what you have been told by eBay's customer service representatives HMRC does not have an annual threshold for selling personal items; as you have discovered the eBay reps will tell you any old rubbish just to get you off the phone.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any means to appeal - eBay seem to insist on the user "upgrading" their account by some deadline then restrict the user's selling privileges until they do. I suspect your letter of complaint will quickly end up in the grey filing cabinet (i.e. the waste paper bin). There have been anecdotal reports on these boards of eBay representatives engaging with aggrieved users and resolving their issues via Twitter/X so it might be worth trying to contact eBay that way.

[shopping-ferret]

But it depends on what period they are assessing you on and may not even be the full 12 months as they only shad to start the reporting from last month I believe.  It may have been for say 6 months prior to that, or the 12 months from Jan 2024.  If there are more than 30 transactions, it will be reported to HMRC - it does not only depend on the sales values.  Maybe Ebay are just going through past sales histories of all private accounts to warn those sellers to register as a business to avoid the possible future repercussions and get ahead of the game.

[papso22]

They are only reporting this year on accounts that registered for selling in 2024.

The reports cover Jan 24 to Dec 24 inclusive.

Even if sellers are trading on private accounts (incorrectly), it currently has no legal implications for ebay.

[sheffieldsvintage]

So old ebay accounts registered before 2024 are exempt from being asked for tax details etc?

[papso22]

Ebay will be asking for those this year and reporting sales from Jan 24.

It was an HMRC concession to prevent ebay imploding by having to get data from all sellers in the first year.

[moldosgifts]

---

@sheffieldsvintage wrote:

So old ebay accounts registered before 2024 are exempt from being asked for tax details etc?

---

No its is not registered accounts in 2024 it is sales figures in 2024, reporting in 2025. Starting with newly registered accounts, This is a mammoth task.

HMRC (not ebay) will be asking for anyone that peaks their interest going back years that is how they work. 

[sheffieldsvintage]

So anytime throughout this year you mean, they will be asking for our NI numbers etc? We could have left ebay or the country by then 😅

[moldosgifts]

---

@sheffieldsvintage wrote:

So anytime throughout this year you mean, they will be asking for our NI numbers etc? We could have left ebay or the country by then 😅

---

Yes but they don't need your NI number to catch you out, it just makes it easier for them. 

left ebay or the country by then, eBay wont matter they know who you are,  country when you return even for a family visit they will catch you and if enough is owed they may issue an international arrest warrant for avoiding tax after all it is a criminal offense.

But lets face it if your avoiding tax you already know you are so best keep your head down with all these changes and its not just eBay.

[sheffieldsvintage]

So funny.....isn't it,  getting caught out, being arrested at the airport, having to hide from Ebay and the tax man just for selling a few old jumble sale items 😅

[moldosgifts]

It's not me that needs convincing it's the tax man or woman.

[sheffieldsvintage]

I wasn't aware we were convincing anyone......

[papso22]

---

@sheffieldsvintage wrote:

So anytime throughout this year you mean, they will be asking for our NI numbers etc? We could have left ebay or the country by then 😅

---

I think leaving the country is unlikely, but leaving ebay is an interesting thought.  I believe the Regulations refer to 'active sellers in the reporting year' which should mean they report on a closed account that exceeded the thresholds, as well as live ones.  The issue is how do they get the TIN in those cases if they haven't collected it already?