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]

I'll give it a go on a live listing - I have just listed an item 'special order' quantity of 10 and Multi-buy discount is showing on the listing. Have a look at my most recently listed item - literally just listed. I will leave it on for a little while, then I'll delete it.

[vintique*violet]

Yes I can see it - it is there.... I am a private seller but don't appear to have the multi-listing option, which I wouldn't need anyhow. 

[kempseykate]

I can't do the multi product thing - blue widget, pink widget, yellow widget - but I haven't had that option for months. I may have opted myself out of it, as it's not something I ever need.

[cobwebcottage]

That's the variations listing's which I though private sellers couldn't do but apparently they can as I was told on the boards the other day.

I'm confused with Dave's reply that the offending listings may just be taking their course until they end. How does that work with GTC? 

[kempseykate]

I'm confused as well, because it's supposed to be the variations that have stopped.

I think if a GTC has an issue it will stop when it tries to renew automatically after the 30 day cycle. 

[lupo-store]

That is our understanding also

[cobwebcottage]

The private seller ( with Etsy in their name and on all their listings) has just listed 3 new items . All are multi quantity although one listing is for red and the others for blue and purple.

So they can still list multiples but maybe not the variations.

I think we are having the wool pulled over our eyes!

[kempseykate]

From: Benefits for business sellers | UK Seller Centre

 From 20 Jan 2025, access to advanced selling tools like Coupons, Multi-buy and other discount tools will be exclusive to business sellers.

But there is no mention there of stopping variations and/or multi quantity.

[game_raid]

I get this error message on a variation, it's a t-shirt i'm listing on my private account. (I know it's not summer weather 😀) For reference it is a buy it now and I can activate the multi buy discount option.

"Variations are unavailable for this listing. Eligibility is limited to qualifying item categories, Buy It Now pricing formats and other criteria"

I am in the correct category.

I would presume t-shirts should be able to use the variation tool for all sellers? I know you have to activate the setting to show which I did quite a while ago.

**edit, same item on my business account the variation option is there""

[kempseykate]

That is the message I have - but that has been on my listings for months - maybe a year or more. This is why I have never understood why some 'private' sellers have had that option, as it's not been available to me for a long time.

I think a few of us should band together and be employed by ebay to sort this mess out for them. They are obviously incapable.

(I'm removing my listing now, but I do have a screenshot if anyone wants to see it)

[game_raid]

If you click the 3 dots on the right hand side on the main listing page after the title then click settings you get a toggle to activate variations as pictured.

[kempseykate]

Thanks @game_raid  I found it, it showed toggled on, like yours, but I still have the 'not available' notice. So maybe they have finally stopped private sellers using variations. One small step - now they need to sort out my favourite seller with her 1,000+ quantity on a single listing.

[myretrostore-uk]

Had a look at the 6 private sellers I reported 2 weeks ago and nothing has changed.

Not holding my breath any more that it will be fixed anytime soon, or going to bother to keep reporting.

[m.sterry]

How are you reporting businesses using a private account.

I can't find any mention of this on the list of reportable issues.

I have read through this thread but the suggestions given either don't work (dead link) or no longer exist.

[triple512]

Links in posts 309 and 310 still work (just tested them) or follow the directions in post 310.

[gemini-project]

Either method doesn't work , eBay don't follow anything through, the odd report of "eBay removed the item" or made the seller change to a business account is nothing to do with the reporting system, i have been at it for 4 months now and nothing as changed, i only had one  "eBay removed the item" but they didn't.

eBay say that this https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=235929589782&rt=nc&_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l161211&_ssn=g4icd

isn't a business.

[m.sterry]

Thanks

Link in post 309 gives the following message

This feature has been replaced by new reporting functionality and will soon be deprecated. To submit a report, tap the three dot icon and select "Submit a Report", or tap the question mark icon, select "Report Content" and then "Submit a Report".

The instructions given don't have an avoiding ebay fees option. Submitted one anyway but looks like it won't be an option for much longer.

[triple512]

It was discussed in the weekly chat on the 15th Jan. The link came from Marco who said from the link, use the option "The seller has violated one of eBay’s policies" and then "Other", and then enter the seller ID and your description.

I think @gemini-project is right though, eBay just ignore. I’ve reported several from my business account with absolutely no response apart from one where they came back saying they could find nothing wrong.

Ebay will lose out through this. One by fee avoidance and two because fee paying businesses who cannot compete with those cheating the system will leave.

Anyone would think this should be priority fix for eBay?

[gemini-project]

I have had one removed, just the one listing all other remain so they must be a private seller when it comes to them 🤣

[555njp]

Absolutely no change on the seller I reported. In fact they are still listing more!

Spotted another one in the same category today, one listing, brand new, more than 10 lots available, obviously bought to sell as these are multi-size trade boxes. Almost certainly testing the water before listing more.

Decided I may as well give up. No sales in over a week, site seems devoid of buyers which will only worsen from the 4th Feb. EBay CS and community team have no desire to fix the problem which will become a positive revenue stream for eBay from the 4th, so reducing the likelyhood of any follow up.

The only positive seems to be that so far at least, the businesses I’ve reported are only selling in very low numbers too.

Simply no one out there buying at the moment.