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.

[kempseykate]

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@gemini-project wrote:

I think we need an independent forum so we can't be censored  

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Hmmm. So one person comes along with a listing that is in direct competition to them, and everyone else jumps on it and reports it? That would be a bit like those forums/sites where you name a bad buyer/seller.

[gemini-project]

I would say its not the same, usually people have had a bad buying/selling experience and want to get back at the buyer/seller, this is different in the fact that this is directed at a business selling on a private account not paying any fees and undercutting legit businesses and in some cases putting them out of business.

  It proved a point that eBay is not complying with its own policy's and a fact that this forum is edited for its own gain, that seller is a business full stop anyone with a fraction of a brain cell can see that, the same item can be bought from a legit business for £1 more, how can they compete on a low value item, they can't.

[555njp]

Very well put, you beat me to it.

No, this most definitely is not about competition or singling out one seller as that would be wrong, but If you look at said individual they are selling thousands of products across 99 listings, clearly operating as a business and making claims to support that it’s a business.

EBay say this is not allowed, plus of course it’s illegal (consumer rights).

EBay have also told the community via weekly chat forums to report these listings so they can investigate……..we have, and they’ve ignored the facts making them complicit in the illegal trading.

This exercise simply proves eBay are not doing what they said they would, are not complying with the law and are possibly even encouraging illegal practice.

Yes, we could all turn a blind eye and pretend everything is great and that this individual is a very rare occurrence. However,  anyone who has looked for anything on eBay will see it’s endemic.

The practice if not stopped will put legal business sellers out of business and lead to more sanctions on the genuine private sellers. Basically another lose/lose for eBay.

[lupo-store]

For anyone who is interested I have been helping with the below Public Accounts Committee meeting tomorrow into VAT evasion. it’s all about evasion by Chinese on online marketplaces, how they create dummy ‘burner’ companies to evade import vat and duties and subsequently sell on private accounts to evade output vat

https://committees.parliament.uk/event/22391/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/

[brindsey]

So there is now an investigation into how competent HMRC are in their pursuance of undeclared revenue?

And, in the background to the report it states:

" As well as resulting in lost revenue, it can prevent a level playing field between businesses by giving evaders an unfair competitive advantage."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lupo-store]

Yes there are thousands of Chinese companies registered to a block of apartments in Cardiff. I have seen tax demands for under declared duties for just one company of £171k. 

Most of these sell in eBay. There’s mass fraud. I have been helping to collate the info in this for years as the head of HMRC said there’s no proof of fraud.

we are now trying to show how inept they are.

Without myself and 2 other guys who created vat fraud.org they would never have implemented vat taken at source and that’s brought in £6.5 Billion since 2021

[vintique*violet]

I am tired of Chinese sellers on the platform as it just bombards  and was not aware of  how big this issue was regarding VAT and Overseas Sellers ....Well done for highlighting and all the work you have done in trying to make a difference  and hold this accountable... I am looking at your website just now 😉 makes an interesting and informative ( shockingly so)  read. Thank you. 

[lupo-store]

You are welcome.  We are just a collective of 3 guys who tried to make a difference.  One of the guys was the guy who previously solved the Channel Islands issue

[myretrostore-uk]

Yes, used the same method.

Report Item / Listing Practices / Avoiding eBay Fees / Other ways of avoiding fees.

For the past few days I've been reporting 10 items a day and have about a 30% success rate now. Not a lot but maybe eBay they at starting to get the picture now from all the complaints.

Which I could automate the reporting with a script 🤣

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Still seeing no change on this saga, if anything it is getting much worse.

There are sellers in my categories who have saved several thousand pounds in fees since October.

It should be easy to fix this however Ebay cannot be bothered or they are simply not up to the task, either way the whole situation is totally unacceptable. 

I have zero goodwill towards ebay now.

[crg_music]

Funny enough looks like this private sellers feedback dropped off a bit but in what world can this be a private seller?, its vinyl and people are repeat customers + pretty good with feedback lets assume 50% leave feedback. At £1 per sale thats £400 fees evaded that I would have to pay because I'm legal

39K items sold

9999+ items for sale 

1 month 6 months 12 monthsPositiveNeutralNegative

190	1301	2971
0	2	6
0	1	6

Wont name the seller or do I blame him but hes minimum £800 better off in 2 months than I am(and thats conservative). Absolutely no way this hasn't flagged up on ebays systems and there are many similar.

[myretrostore-uk]

It's a absolute disgrace how eBay are screwing business  sellers.

They are fully aware of the problem and do nothing.

[krafty-kreations]

I don't think eBay have any intention in resolving this, and that is why when anyone asks how you report these sellers the stock answer is 

We are currently following this up to get clarification. Once we have more information on it I will share.

They have been seeking clarification for months now, I don't see it coming any time soon!

But no, Instead of fixing the report options and have actual humans look at the reports they choose to implement changes to try and make it less attractive to sell as a business on a private account

Now they just have annoyed business sellers and annoyed private sellers.

[myretrostore-uk]

I think you are right. All my reports are now just being closed.

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.

Unbelievable. This confirms eBay don't give a damn about businesses.

[the-best-uk-deals]

an Ebay rep told me they will not take any action unless you have a letter from Trading standards lol so it is useless reporting people 

[vintique*violet]

Really that is interesting - as they are not even removing  used perfumes and cosmetics... the last 10 I reported  hey removed 3 - all the same seller and yet 7 of them ( part used, 20ml left etc actually described  in the listing and the title)  met with " no violations?" Bizarre! 

[bravergrace]

Here's a slightly rephrased "About Me" page from another "private" seller in one of my categories.

"I have more than 14 years experience in retail.
I have been reselling online for nearly 2 years, (deadstock + returns which I buy from a wholesaler) as it is a job I can do from the comfort of my own home.
"My feedback on Vinted/Depop is  365+ 5 ⭐️.
"My goal is to provide my customers with an excellent sales experience by offering genuine brands items, great prices and excellent customer service."

This seller leaves feedback referring to "my product and my service".

500 sales on eBay, nearly all in the last year.

300 current listings, all brand new items, average selling price £50.

It's quite clear that this seller regards herself as running a business.

But she knows that by trading on eBay as a "private seller", she can undercut the properly registered business sellers because she pays no fees and accepts no returns - and presumably pays no tax either.

Frankly, I'm sick of eBay encouraging and enabling this sort of thing.

[ett1954]

Reporting to eBay is a waste of time.  eBay will be requesting the seller's NINO in the next month or so (if they already haven't done so).  You will have to leave it to HMRC once their sales figures are reported.

If you feel they are not paying tax due to the level they can undercut you then HMRC do have a hotline you can report your suspicions to (Google is your friend there).  HMRC will check (eventually) and will act in accordance to their findings.

With regard to them trading illegally it is a Trading Standards matter - again a waste of time reporting as no action will be taken; hence the reason eBay take no action.  Report the situation to your MP, if possible through a direct meeting at their surgery sessions.  Something I have had a surprisingly good result with although not on a matter such as this.

[555njp]

Well if she isn’t correctly registered with HMRC, they will be all over her early next year (or so we’re led to believe). 
Waste of time reporting to eBay as they’ll do nothing. Suspect Trading Standards won’t care either. 
Maybe we are the mugs still trading legally on properly registered accounts? If we all moved to private and no one promoted anything eBay would have to act or go bankrupt.

[gemini-project]

Open a private account up, worse case they will make you change to a business account but i doubt it, even if you report yourself 🤣