Ebay posts my home address on every listing as public knowledge. Any way to stop this?

[pokemonbooster]

As I'm technically a business seller but not an actual business so the only address I have is my home address. As a business seller I have to legally have my business address as public knowledge on every listing to anyone who views any of my listings. 
Is there any way to change this or remove this or even just have it as my town/city?
I tried contacting ebay customer services but they just kept saying if I want to sell with ebay I have to have it listed as public knowledge

[papso22]

It's a requirement of  consumer law that a  business has contact details available to buyers before they buy.

[padanpcparts]

I think you can have a registered address for contact. i.e. A solicitors P.O.Box. 

In honesty, I wouldn't worry about it. Only had 2 unwanted visitors from E-bay in 10 years, one was an astoundingly beautiful woman (twice as surprising considering what I sell), the other was a problem I have to admit. A guy returning items who stepped in to my house the second I opened the door. I bodily threw him back out again. 

[sheba-knows-best]

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@padanpcparts wrote:

the other was a problem I have to admit. A guy returning items who stepped in to my house the second I opened the door. I bodily threw him back out again. 

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Blimey... even once in ten years is too much. I think you prove the OP point.  Imagine if you'd been an astoundingly beautiful woman...

[therenewalworkshopltd]

You can only have a registered address, if your a Ltd or a partnership.

As a sole trader, you are able to have a trading address, but that will only work if you actually have premises!

I can honestly say though, I've not had anyone turn up in all the time I was using my home address.

These days however, I have premises anyway, so not such a big deal.

I don't how people can be so pushy though.  I'd have done the same with someone like that.  I suppose there are always the outsiders....

[5216elisabeth]

I've been quite uncomfortable about that too.  Fortunately I don't sell very expensive items which probably reduces the risk.  I don't have premises as such but I do rent a unit, does anyone know if it's legal to use that address as the visible one on eBay?  I haven't managed to find a clear answer to that when searching for info.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Yes, of course it is. 

That is your trading address.

Obviously, you need to be able to receive mail there etc, but otherwise, it should be fine.

So you really need to be able to receive any returns etc at that address, or you might as well just keep the address your currently using, as customers will have that anyway.

[5216elisabeth]

Thank you very much for that information.  I will look into that as I would feel much more comfortable not having my home address plastered on the internet especially as I am looking to open a ws as well shortly.  Presumably the same would apply with that.

[papso22]

The address that is visible to buyers needs to be one where they can actually contact you, you can have a different address for returns as that is a separate field on ebay.

[4_bathrooms]

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@5216elisabeth wrote:

I will look into that as I would feel much more comfortable not having my home address plastered on the internet especially as I am looking to open a ws as well shortly.  Presumably the same would apply with that.

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The relevant regulation requires the identity of the trader to be disclosed prior to the sale. Where your own website is concerned - and as you're a sole trader - you can use any address where you can be contacted via post.

eBay is different, however. As eBay handles payments between buyers and sellers they are required to perform anti-money laundering regulations checks to verify a seller's identity once their sales cross some unidentified threshold. These checks are performed against the information shown in the "business information" section of your eBay account which are also the details shown in the "business seller information" section of your listings. eBay used to have a separate field for the publicly displayed address in the "public business info" section but the fields to enter a separate publicly displayed (trading) address were removed some time ago.

As far as I can tell there is nowhere a business can enter a trading address that differs from the details recorded in the "business information" section of their eBay account. As this is information is used for AML regulations checks the publicly displayed business information on listings will always show a sole trader's home address. That is, unless someone can advise where a business can still enter a separate trading address within their eBay account. 

[crg_music]

Pretty sure you can request for ebay to hide it if its your personal address.

It will still be visible to actual customers but there really is no reason anyone needs to see it unless they are a customer.

A friend of mine got his hidden so it is definitely possible.

[4_bathrooms]

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@crg_music wrote:

Pretty sure you can request for ebay to hide it if its your personal address.

It will still be visible to actual customers but there really is no reason anyone needs to see it unless they are a customer.

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The (main) regulation concerned is Regulation 10 from the Consumer Contracts Regulations which states:

"Information to be provided before making an off-premises contract

10.—(1) Before the consumer is bound by an off-premises contract, the trader—

(a)must give the consumer the information listed in Schedule 2 in a clear and comprehensible manner"

As per Schedule 2:

"(b)the identity of the trader (such as the trader's trading name);

(c)the geographical address at which the trader is established and, where available, the trader's telephone number, fax number and e-mail address, to enable the consumer to contact the trader quickly and communicate efficiently"

Note the "geographical address at which the trader is established" is not an optional piece of information.

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@crg_music wrote:

A friend of mine got his hidden so it is definitely possible.

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Are you able to go to one of their listings and click the "Seller contact information" link? I know there was a glitch with some business accounts about a year (or maybe two) back where some business seller's "About" pages were displaying incomplete information. This wasn't something they requested it was simply an eBay glitch but it has been a long time since I have seen a UK-established business seller missing any of the requisite details. 

[crg_music]

He definitely used to have it visible then asked them because it was his home and they hid it. 

Notice it does still show his contact details, name and geographical location just not full address.

See here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/365461027013

[4_bathrooms]

Well, that's bizarre! I've never known eBay to do such a thing.

It may be coincidental or not but your friend would have been one of those with an account that was affected by the glitch I mentioned. There were/are two types of account depending upon when the account was registered. Those registered before about 2006 (IIRC) were/are in the "old" account format whilst those registered later were/are in the "new" account format. It used to be possible to tell which type of account you had by whether one of the early versions of "seller hub" was available or not (to the best of my knowledge it is no longer possible to tell). It was the "old" accounts that were affected by said glitch.

My gut instinct is when your friend requested their full details to be obfuscated the CS rep was able to override whatever was set. If a seller tried to manually alter their business details it would trigger eBay's AML checks which would cause a verification failure until the details were corrected.

I've also just noticed something else weird that is affecting all business accounts. In the "Seller contact information" link on listings it states "Company name" instead of "Business name" even when the business is not a company (which is a distinct type of legal entity). The trading/business name is correctly displayed as "Business name" in the "About" section of a business seller's profile, however.

[5216elisabeth]

Thank you for all that information.  I will have a good look at the sections and see what might be possible.  

[padanpcparts]

I was super shocked when I opened the door and this guy just tried to walk straight in! I was like King Leonidas in the film '300'....'THIS IS SPARTA!!!'. Hahahaa. 

[pokemonbooster]

Thank you everyone for the helpful replies and any information given. 
I had seen a lot of business accounts like the one you mentioned where it just gave the Town/City and not the full street address and this is what I've been trying to get for mine too. I'm more worried in case someone turns up and I'm not in (which isn't too often but still) as I live with my elderly Mother and it's for her safety too.

I will try contacting Ebay CS again when I have some spare time and keep you updated if they're more helpful this time around