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.

[hobbiesncrafts]

If enough sellers report them to HMRC using their username - there is no further information as they do not have to put address etc (because they are private sellers LOL) then ebay will have to do something about it

[moldosgifts]

We all would like it to be resolved as fast as VERO complaints though

One can dream 😀

[messier44000]

With all the options of reporting.

Has anyone thought of contacting the local MP in the area of the private (business seller)

Would get them brownie points with the boss at No10 if they took action with local 

trading standards, UC etc and got them to register for vat if over the threshold and help get some more ££s

in the government piggy bank.

Plus hint to them if they took action you will take this into account at the next election ballot.

Trying not to make this a politics reply. Just an idea that may get results.

[lupo-store]

I have sent a detailed report to the guy who is head of VAT compliance for HMRC. 

through my contacts gained when dealing with VAT evasion on online marketplaces I have filtered through information, which is going to the business minister

[hobbiesncrafts]

Just had a friendly warning from ebay about advising people to complain offsite to HMRC so l guess we are on our own with this one

[howmuchtobid]

It really is a farce, the moderators are very quick to limit free speech and perfectly valid comments whilst at the same time Ebay allows blatant law breaking from businesses on private accounts.

Very much a do as we say, not as we do platform.

Absolutely pathetic.

[kempseykate]

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@hobbiesncrafts wrote:

If enough sellers report them to HMRC using their username - there is no further information as they do not have to put address etc (because they are private sellers LOL) then ebay will have to do something about it

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There are two problems with that:

1) Many of those sellers will be declaring their sales to HMRC anyway.

2) Even if the sellers isn't declaring to HMRC, HMRC will only be interested in getting that seller to pay their dues. They won't care if the seller has a private or business account on ebay.

So, while HMRC might get a little more tax, there is no reason for ebay to do anything. 

[ukantennas]

Absolute waste of time just got this back,

"We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made by a customer service agent. "

I  gave them their website address selling the same items, are they as thick as F or are just not bothered.

[lupo-store]

This is the reason there are so many businesses selling on private accounts. Facebook groups openly buying and selling them.

I have flagged this to eBay. It's time for them to make ID checks on all private accounts as currently it's not working and open to massive abuse. Please see the attached image

[pg_kicks]

I'm probably missing the obvious here, but whats the picture showing? If it just an open request for private accounts they can buy?

[555njp]

I was trying to understand how that works? Surely an account is linked to a person, email, home address and bank account. If sold, it should be very difficult to disassociate the name at least, unless eBay's security is so poor it permits the holder to change them all?

[lupo-store]

You cannot buy and sell eBay accounts

[lupo-store]

My suspicion is that these 'sellers' are harvesting people's info via ID theft.

they then create accounts which are sold. Also Chinese businesses are buying these private accounts to evade VAT.

Individual sellers (one person or a married couple) will need to provide:

• Full name
• Nationality
• Phone number
• Address
• Date of birth
  
  

all that is easy to get. EBay say they may make KCY checks on private accounts, but the assumption is that anyone selling less than £1k is no problem and therefore the Chinese are splitting accounts to fly under the radar

[pg_kicks]

Yeah I know that, but the picture you uploaded, is the original person asking to buy accounts and the replies are all people saying I've got one so dm me to buy my log in, or are they just giving the person access to their account so they commit fraud and then get a percentage of the money made? 

As @555njp mentions you need to phone eBay and send a whole load of info to get names and bank accounts changed (or at least you did) so surely if you are selling an account then all eBay need to do is link the new name (as surely they arent having hundreds of different names/bank accounts) and ban them all. I just dont know what your picture is showing sorry.

[lupo-store]

It is my belief that this FB group (and others) are set up to buy and sell eBay accounts created with false ID, or create accounts to be used to take part if fraudulent trading on eBay.

I cannot think of a legitimate reason for buying and selling eBay accounts

[hobbiesncrafts]

I have had at least 5 people ask to buy my ebay account over the last 10 years. I have always refused as l built my business on good faith and would never allow someone to be dishonest using my name. I have had a warning from ebay about advising people so this will be my last reply. Since l made my first post my sales are down by 80% so l think they have downgraded my account which means the anchor shop will now close at the end of the month. well done ebay, more fees lost

[the-nutwood-collection]

... commit fraud and then get a percentage of the money made? 

Recruiting dormant accounts to act as money mules is the only way I can see the scheme working.  However, rather risky for the mule - what if there's a chargeback?  I can't see the mule herder waiting six months to get their share of the money.

[rainbowtrax]

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@555njp wrote:

I was trying to understand how that works? Surely an account is linked to a person, email, home address and bank account. If sold, it should be very difficult to disassociate the name at least, unless eBay's security is so poor it permits the holder to change them all?

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It is and it does. Once you're signed into an account, you can change all the details. You just go to the personal info section and click edit against what you want to change. Selling ebay accounts has been big business for years, long before the Chinese got in on the act. People have been trading them on sites like aspkin long before it was a thing on facebook.

[thehungrybee]

Print the listings of a few 'private' sellers and send the details to HMRC

[vonchief]

This is not the issue at all.
These "private" sellers are probably correctly declaring to HMRC

The problem is, they are not registered as a business on ebay to avoid the fees and ebay seem to allow this.
No properly registered business can compete with this.

Free to sell for genuine private sellers is a good thing, but there needs to be an easy way to report those who are clearly a business.
Private sellers should be restricted to only sell used items, perhaps a "pre-owned but unused" category is needed.

Unless ebay change something, I can see many businesses taking the attitude "if you can't beat them, join them"