FAO Ebay staff - Reporting businesses trading on private accounts

[howmuchtobid]

To whom it may concern.

It's about time it was made easier for Ebay users to be able to report businesses trading on private accounts in a much more straight forward way.  At the moment there is no obvious option when using the report item option, i.e. there is no business trading on a private account option.

I and many other business sellers/Ebay users have spent a lot of time reporting blatant business sellers on private accounts however we are often wasting our time as all we get is a pointless AI response which simply isn't good enough.

This is something that needs to be introduced urgently as it will help legitimate business sellers survive and hopefully flourish, also in many ways it will be of great benefit to Ebay. It will also help Ebay's image as having so many illegal sellers on the platform is not a good look.

Can someone from Ebay please confirm they have seen this, thank you.

[rainbowtrax]

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@moldosgifts wrote:

Online Customer Service - Report an issue with a seller (ebay.co.uk)

Use this copy sellers name from feedback score then pick other next page pick other.

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Yes, you can do that but it's completely pointless as it has absolutely no effect. For well over a decade, every report made that way has been filed straight in the bin.

[bravergrace]

Just for a giggle, I tried reporting one this morning.

The seller (registered as a private seller) had a user name including the word "BUSINESS".

Their listing is for a single £1 item.  It runs along these lines (I have obviously changed the details and wording to comply with board rules and make sure nobody can identify the seller):

Our hire service offers delicious decorations, fantastic floral displays and nice napery for any occasion in the county of Anyshire.   Please contact us direct with the details of your  special event—the date, location,  and how many items you need.  We always respond promptly to all our customers with a competitive quote.   We can also offer a great selection of furniture, dinnerware, uniforms etc.

It also includes sample price "calculations", including the price for multiple items, plus THREE extra charges for each item - nowhere near the £1 price being advertised, obviously.

So I report it, but the standard response is almost instant:

We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

There's really no point reporting anything, because eBay very rarely takes action on breaches, and doesn't accept that a seller who describes THEMSELVES as a business is probably a business seller...

[nutrafituk]

You report a seller / listing to eBay - they do nothing - you report eBay to relevant authorities over negligence 

[555njp]

Yeah fed up reporting those illegally taking all the business away in my categories too but, if eBay continue to do nothing they are gonna have a huge problem come Jan.

Small businesses are not getting sales because of this malpractice so will either close or go elsewhere. Many already reporting on this thread and others that business is simply not sustainable any more, especially for those who are also paying to promote. The more that leave, less choice for buyers.

Buyers are getting peed off with promoted items coming up all over the item they are looking at, making it so confusing they buy elsewhere.

Buyers are few and far between these days so losing more is a bad news all round, never ending spiral.

Then you have GPSRs kicking in where it's alleged eBay are unaware that a large number of sellers simply won't be servicing overseas sales anymore. Add to that the New HMRC reporting rules that will legitimately remove a good few accounts plus a lot more privateeers that simply won't part with a NINO and I'm wondering what's actually left?

I must get a message daily from eBay on my Private account saying it's free to sell, start selling now.

Well, as a private seller that's all well and good if your having a clear out, but it's encouraging you to buy to sell to at which point you will quickly be in hot water with HMRC. A lot more people who would be buying a few extra bits here and there to make a few quid have realised they can't slip under the radar anymore so that won't be happening.

Also eBay, if I do have a clearout and list stuff it's no longer helping your bottom line...!

So, a perfect storm on the horizon which if eBay don't do something positive to fix the illegal sellers and assist legitimate business sellers that are now paying all the fees, the only possible outcome I can see is bankruptcy?

[gemini-project]

Yes its a complete waste of time reporting these people, the new system seems to be working now but no option to report the tax dodgers.

[krafty-kreations]

So now it works the only three options are

Communication Abuse
IP infringement 

Inappropriate Content 

The fact they are making it so difficult to report tells me they don't care!! 

[messier44000]

It is also a waste of time bringing this up with the weekly chat team.

Unless you want the same intelligence insulting answers 

[krafty-kreations]

Yes, just a waste of time, I have given up, I don't believe for one second they will resolve this

I have just come across a private seller with price cheaper at followed by their website address! 

You really couldn't make it up!! 

[lupo-store]

I have reported the additional phenomena of Chinese sellers creating more accounts with less offers on each with the aim of each to stay below the £1k Pa threshold to the head of HMRC policy for VAT compliance.  He's someone I met with several times when we were fighting vat evasion

[vintage-emporium-jedburgh]

lots of examples of reports being ignored or failed to be acted upon 

 anyone have an example where a report has resulted  in  a private seller being sanctioned for trading as a business ????????

[nutrafituk]

You will not see one for weeks or months... First they need to be approached - whether reported or not that is going to take some time. Then they will be give even some time to either upgrade or close down. After that I guess you are looking at a warning and even more time... I reckon not much wil get done within the next 6 months unless HMRC steps in.

An example: we reported one few days ago - just to receive almost instant response 'no problem here' - dealt with by an agent. Obviously sent via 'do not reply' message. So we got back to CS and tried to explain how useless the whole experience is, and how obvious it was the account was opearating as a business. Not just that, the account breached 2 different ebay's policies at several points... The all are just playing dumb and do not even make it a secret. Just not sure how come they can think it is ok and ebay will get away with that?  Acting like there have no responsibilty or there is no law above them. Th ebest example is the new reporting tool (working eventually) where you cannot even report a private account for avoiding fees, and so on... All business sellers should stop promoting their listings and cease any marketing to send a message but obviously ithis is not going to happen.

[lupo-store]

I kept a spreadsheet of ones I have reported and two of them on now showing as a business

[555njp]

No, once you report to eBay, they investigate and will "if required take necessary action".

I think they also state something along the lines of "If any action is taken against this seller, you will not be notified" followed by "there is no need to report this seller again and doing so may slow down the investigation process".

Ive seen one competitor on a private account disappear (no longer a registered user) but that coincided with the HMRC rule change announcements. So I don't know if it was the barrage of reported listings that we filed over several weeks or the HMRC announcement , or that they'd sold out and moved on to something else?

[555njp]

I'm still wondering if the EU will take eBay to task on this issue as business sellers on private accounts can, and no doubt will, circumvent the GPSR requirements.

I can't see the EU leaving that loophole open somehow?

[hobbiesncrafts]

Having received a reply from ebay stating there was nothing wrong with a seller who has 4800 listings, way more than me and is a private seller l have gone straight to HMRC and done a report with all the details. Not what l would normally do but this is getting stupid now and the private sellers are just raking money away from legitimate business sellers who pay their taxes to society

Sue Hallam

Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email.

[moonspender]

The deadline of the 13th December makes sense also there are implications I would have thought around the following -

Distance selling laws in the UK

Laws around fair traiding

Consumer protection laws

If ebay fails to deal with this private seller businesses that are so blantant and allow these people to contuinue to trade after being reported could ebay themselves be liable ?

I reported a couple today both undercutting business sellers by 25% on listings ... ebay have to act as they are getting no revenue from these sellers and looking at these 2 they are getting the sales rather than the business sellers who pay their fees.

Also we have the backing of the shareholders, they simply will not allow ebay to ignore this revenue so probably a bumpy ride for a little while but light at the end of the tunnel.

Whilst the messaging from the weekly chat continues to fob us off ( no mention of the 13th December ? )  i believe the consierges are taking it seriously.

[555njp]

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@hobbiesncrafts wrote:
Having received a reply from ebay stating there was nothing wrong with a seller who has 4800 listings, way more than me and is a private seller l have gone straight to HMRC and done a report with all the details. Not what l would normally do but this is getting stupid now and the private sellers are just raking money away from legitimate business sellers who pay their taxes to society

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I suspect someone blatantly selling so much could be legally registered with HMRC for tax and are just using a private account to avoid fees?
Pretty silly if not though.

A good few years ago (2012 ish), HMRC ran a well advertised campaign to catch online tax evaders, stating that if anyone was suspicious, all they needed was an eBay user ID and they'd investigate.
A few months later the initiative was withdrawn due to HMRC staff cuts.
I assume they didn't recover sufficient revenue back then to pay for the extra resource.

[pg_kicks]

Issue with this is you don't know if eBay forced an upgrade (unlikely) or they were offered the free subscription, free to sell, pro trader reward for 3/4 months. I know of at least 2 sellers who do what I do who only upgraded because of the reward, that's after months of being told their account would be closed down.

also with regards to concierge telling you they are working. Through them, sadly it seems either the illness of telling you whatever you want to hear to get you off the phone and got into Ireland or the 4 agents and manager  (all concierge) I spoke to don't know about the actions they are taking as none mentioned it.

I spoke to a manager today who asked for a list of illegal accounts and he will phone me every day and we can keep up to date with them, I was promised call backs 4 times and none came so he got an ear full but he has gave me an email and said he'll ring back daily for updates. My trust in eBay is at an all time low as evidence proves they are liars but I won't give up, even if we get free to sell as it's still not right.

[messier44000]

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@555njp wrote:

"there is no need to report this seller again and doing so may slow down the investigation process".

Yet the weekly chat team disagree and tell us to keep reporting.

[howmuchtobid]

This whole situation is an absolute shambles. I have reported a seller approximately twenty times however they keep listing on a private account. They are nearly up to 1900 listings and their sales total many thousands of pounds in value each month, I would estimate Ebay is losing around £500 - £1000 in fees from this dishonest seller each month, that is one seller out of many, many thousands.

When I report I just get a pathetic A I response.

Does Ebay care? They don't seem to.