How many sellers are closing their shops or running down their account in 2024?

[ovleisure]

We have been a seller on here over a couple of our accounts for many years now.   Over this time we have seen a reduction in sales from a max of £13k pcm to £60 pcm.    We have been through mass seller culls, more and more control over the seller/buyer relationship, the forcing of managed payments, increases in fees and requirements to use promoted/advanced promoted and now bid for clicks, to the point where ebay is taking an unsustainable percentage of profit.  

This in turn has lead to such search manipulation as to be virtually impossible for any of our listings to be shown unless we implemented all of the additional promotions, and even then since everyone is in the same boat, it makes little difference.   Search has been broken as a result of all this, and whereas in the past, if your product met the search terms, you could get your item to show, this is now not much short of a miracle!

Maybe you could argue some of it is the economy, but when your listings barely get any visibility unless you pay through the nose for it, it becomes a weak argument at best.

We have closed our shop and have halved our listings, and will be running down all of the stock we do have via other marketplaces.  

I'm just curious what other peoples plans are in 2024, are you bearing with ebay in the hopes of better times, or moving on?

[cobwebcottage]

'Now they have implemented get paid two days after delivery, buyers protection tax.'

You have stepped in to the lions den as these changes do not affect Business Sellers and you are commenting on the Business Seller Board.

You are breaking Consumer Law as you state in your bio that you are upcycling items to sell. You should be registered as a business and by law, offer returns and display your name and address on each listing.

We have sympathy for genuine private sellers with all the changes but you are not a genuine private seller and I doubt that you will find any business seller on here to agree with your moans.

[headphoneharbour]

Why am I not a geniune private seller how have you reached that unfactual conclusion?

[cobwebcottage]

81 sets of headphones sold and 29 for sale.

Your bio says ' determined to put great items on your ears, passionate about up cycling tech.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Firstly, I didn't make any accusation at all.

Merely observations.

However, you are not correct.  Whether you pay taxes or not is immaterial as to whether or not you are showing on Ebay (or indeed any other site), as a business seller.

The laws you are breaking by not doing this are consumer law.

ie. not displaying business address etc.

Not offering the standard warranty, change of mind and so on.

So no, I would suggest that you go read up about it.

By selling as a private seller, when you are in fact a business, IS breaking the law.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

lol, I hadn't read the bio, but your spot on!  🙂

[headphoneharbour]

I was never asking for sympathy I was mealy stating facts about a subject matter I and others feel is a mistake.

[cobwebcottage]

There are many threads on the sellers boards about the changes which apply to private sellers but you are running a business and not paying any fees to Ebay when you sell so your facts are irrelevant and a kick in the teeth for genuine private sellers who are affected by the changes.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Why is it, that so many cannot see when they are in fact a business?

I get that people are "doing things on the side".  But why the actual surprise when their earning are reported and their ability to sell is restricted?

Yes, people have done this kind of thing for years and got away with it!

But the rules have been in place for just as long.

Maybe they just think that it's a "right" now and don't have to actually be self employed as well as holding down a job.

[headphoneharbour]

I fully understand that and I take your points onboard.And I feel for you but it doesn’t subtract from my initial point.


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[therenewalworkshopltd]

Do please explain how as a private seller, it makes any difference whatsoever for ebay to hold your money for a week or two?

After all, you are not buying things to resell and making a living doing so.

You are merely selling off your own personal possessions, nothing more.

Why should Ebay be financially viable for a private seller.

The whole point of Ebay in regard to a private seller, is to sell off their own possessions.  It's not about making a profit.

So yes, the fees etc will matter, but at the end of the day, whether you sell an item for the same as it cost, or less than, you are getting money back for said item.  Which is exactly the point of selling it on here.

[discountdeals_365]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

But that's the problem on eBay PRIVATE SELLERS selling as a business with over 300 listings of new items  ie not playing by the same rules and fees or paying taxes.

GOOD ON EBAY AND GOOD ON HMRC

Sent from Android device

[moldosgifts]

I've largely ignored this topic, until now, the only advice i can give is if you are running a business best thing to do is keep your head down. Do not comment on anything on these boards.

Because the first thing we do is check out your profile.

Any indications are your are running a business and the earlier comment about taxes confirms it.

So your clock is ticking i am afraid business sellers will no longer put up with it, and now there are zero fees for private sellers enough is enough.

Any private that is actually running a business will get reported, genuine private sellers have nothing to worry about, in fact they will get all the help they need from the great posters on here but you are NOT one .

[headphoneharbour]

Thank you that confirms I will be ok then 👍

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[exponential_developments]

Me...........

[mirotra24]

So business sellers aren’t affected? I wonder why as we all pay shop fees and other EBay costs and postage etc. Wether a business or private seller we are both selling for a reason- to survive . I’m not looking for a large profit, just surviving, otherwise I wouldn’t be selling on any platform.

Sent from my iPhone

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I suggest that you understand what was actually being commented on, before commenting on something different.

The answer was in regard to the specific changes made with private sellers.

In which case, those changes are not relevant directly to Business sellers.

They most certainly have (in this context) nothing to do with shop fees etc.

If you are selling for a profit as you have just stated, then why are you selling as an individual, when you are defining yourself as a business?

[headphoneharbour]

They call this place (ebay community)When it should be called business sellers only.I would like to take this opportunity to thank the business sellers for there supportive comments towards any other sellers on eBay.I can’t believe the response from some of you on here.


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[cobwebcottage]

They call this the Business Boards.

And you are not paying any fees as you should be.

[headphoneharbour]

Here we go again, if you’ve got such a hang up with the layout of what you are doing then design your own website and dont pay any fees.Stop blaming others for something you have opted into.It’s your business take some responsibility.


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[cobwebcottage]

Er, how much do you know about my business enterprises?

You haven't a clue so you cannot give me business advice.

Carry on with your free listings, no fees, no returns, until the day you will become accountable.

Sleep well.