Is Upgrading to a Business Account Really Worth It?

[Anonymous]

Is Upgrading to a Business Account Really Worth It?

I'm planning to start selling on eBay and am considering subscribing to a store plan. However, I want to make sure I fully understand the differences before making a decision.

From what I understand:

• Private sellers get 300 free listings per month, and any additional listings only incur a one-time £0.35 fee but can be relisted indefinitely under GTC (Good 'Til Canceled).
• A Basic Business Store costs £27 per month, but only includes 250 free listings. On top of that, GTC listings count toward the monthly free allowance, meaning they reduce the number of new listings I can create each month.

If my understanding is correct, then why would I upgrade to a business account and end up paying more for fewer free listings? Am I missing something?

Would love to hear insights from experienced sellers!

[jorgani-com]

Hi, yes is exactly like that and I would like to raise a concern about the fee structure for business sellers. It seems that once you upgrade to a business account, you are required to pay significantly higher fees. Just a few weeks ago, I was registered as an individual seller (and already paying taxes as self-employed). Due to a mistake, my account was converted to a business account. Since then, my total selling fees have increased to 32%, compared to just 15% previously (including promoted listing fees).

In addition, I am now required to pay £35 per month for a shop subscription. For example, in August, I only managed to sell 8 items, all with free postage—making it extremely difficult to justify the increased costs. This fee structure puts a substantial burden on small business sellers like myself, especially when sales volume is low.

To make matters worse, I have discovered that it is not possible to revert my account from business back to individual. As a result, I am being forced to create a new individual account just to avoid the high business fees, which is both inconvenient and inefficient.

I urge you to reconsider the business fee policy or offer more flexible options for small-scale sellers. The current setup feels unfair and discouraging, making it hard for businesses to grow. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[jorgani-com]

see below the fees before being a business and after 

before for a sale of £40 I paid £5.26 in fees, including the promoted listing fee

Now as a business for a sale of £14.25 I have paid £4.6, including the promoted listing fee plus other fee that did not existed before. All this plus £30 every month for the shop and I have free postage!! This is outrage. bringing these goods into the country from USA I paid tax + duty + shipping this is madness

[leadhills_scot]

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@jorgani-com wrote:

Hi, yes is exactly like that and I would like to raise a concern about the fee structure for business sellers. It seems that once you upgrade to a business account, you are required to pay significantly higher fees. Just a few weeks ago, I was registered as an individual seller (and already paying taxes as self-employed). Due to a mistake, my account was converted to a business account. Since then, my total selling fees have increased to 32%, compared to just 15% previously (including promoted listing fees).

In addition, I am now required to pay £35 per month for a shop subscription. For example, in August, I only managed to sell 8 items, all with free postage—making it extremely difficult to justify the increased costs. This fee structure puts a substantial burden on small business sellers like myself, especially when sales volume is low.

To make matters worse, I have discovered that it is not possible to revert my account from business back to individual. As a result, I am being forced to create a new individual account just to avoid the high business fees, which is both inconvenient and inefficient.

I urge you to reconsider the business fee policy or offer more flexible options for small-scale sellers. The current setup feels unfair and discouraging, making it hard for businesses to grow. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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As you are selling brand new items you should be registered as a business otherwise you are breaking the  consumer rights law. I no longer sell on ebay due to people like you who set out to undercut registered businesses by pretending that they are just a private seller.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Given this has been suggested on another thread - I think this should become the official thread to discuss businesses on private seller accounts.

Roll up where you can...

- Show how easy it is to break consumer law!

- Not offer returns!
- Rub your low low fees in the face of other businesses!

[spence0175]

Sadly EBay cannot see the wood for the trees. Even if it is against the law to be private when you are a business, what real incentives are there to encourage people to come to be a registered business….none that I can see….if you get the same as a small shop for free why would you want to become a business.

The same people posting the same thing,,,,if you are selling XYZ , you are breaking the law etc…..we all know that but nothing is going to change unless EBay make some changes

I see EBay have approached HMRC to raise the selling threshold for I presume private then why can’t EBay raise the threshold and a better incentive for small business, to encourage more people to become a business. EBay really needs to up its game…

Even just to raise the basic shop to 500 listings a month would surely   generate more sales …would make so much difference to the small time business seller… 

[jonatjonatjonat]

Some good points there. BUT maybe, just maybe if we can get a thread to a few thousand posts eBay might do something about it.

Direct people here if they think the only solution  is to avoid their legal requirements by being on a private account because it saves them a few bob.

To heck with the customer eh.

but more seriously, maybe some businesses on private accounts can explain why they believe they can list on these accounts. Want to hear their opinions as well.

[spence0175]

i guess there is no real solution to it....i know a number that are hobby sellers just think that.. its a hobby...And it doesnt matter how many people are telling them that they are breaking the law, they do not think it applies to them. The reality is there will always be tax shirkers or consumer rights shirkers...

What about us that do  things the right and legal way....shouldnt the business seller have the edge on a private. im getting the same as them, possibly less and i pay for it....

perhaps the only way to get private to business is to give us a much better deal....

And you last point. i dont think you will get any takers on that....

[jonatjonatjonat]

I agree on additional benefits for businesses.

The business I work for does get access to ebay funded coupons where they fund X% of a discount. I am unsure if private sellers would get that. Though I don't know if that is a service that ebay only offer to businesses of a certain size.

[555njp]

Problem too is other sites offer full business legal compliance (correct registration etc.) but you can still sell for free. WilliamGeorge and Vinted Pro spring to mind. They make their cut from buyer fees. 
The problem with doing that of course is it reduces transacted prices as most auction house buying fees are 20-25% plus VAT which is a hell of a lot higher than eBay, unless you fall for whole promoted listings BS 😁

My point simply being on other sites you can be legally compliant AND sell for free so why sell here with high fees unless of course you can achieve much better prices?

[jonatjonatjonat]

It then becomes a business decision doesn't it. Do I have an audience on ebay at a price point I can sell at. Can I sell at the price I want on ebay as a business?

If you can't, the answer isn't to avoid fees and legal requirements by selling as a Private Seller. Or at least it shouldn't be.

You are paying ebay for the audience they have built up in essence, as well as their day to day running of the site. You might not agree with what you pay of course - but again, business decision. If everyone moves to Vinted Pro, ebay need to look at their fees.

[555njp]

Precisely, on all counts.

[technthread]

Those sites offer full legal compliance on the face of it but when you delve down there are differences in implementation.

For example you can hide your contact information on Vinted Pro, it is in the settings.

(This is how it used to be, I haven’t been on in a while) - You can trade on Depop as a sole trader on a personal account, the business account was for limited companies.

[4_bathrooms]

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@spence0175 wrote:

The same people posting the same thing,,,,if you are selling XYZ , you are breaking the law etc…..we all know that but nothing is going to change unless EBay make some changes

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eBay aren't going to make any changes unless an organisation with some teeth forces them to or legislation is introduced that holds eBay responsible for "upgrading" private accounts when there is evidence the seller is a trader. The organisation responsible for enforcing consumer law - Trading Standards - are pretty much toothless enforcers these days; the only prosecutions I could find for traders masquerading as private sellers were for car dealers or car part suppliers. "Regular" Trading Standards remain offices of a local authority; there is a cross-border National Trading Standards but their priorities are fraud detection rather than enforcing consumer law.

Germany did make online marketplaces responsible for policing the account status of sellers although this was more of an anti-VAT avoidance measure than anything to do with consumer law. A German seller who sells more than €22,000 (~£19,000) - the German VAT registration threshold - in a calendar year is automatically considered to be a business seller and forced to upgrade. That isn't the only consideration - regularly selling the same type of new goods is another. You can read about it on eBay Germany here (use your browser's translate function).

The only way I can see any change happening in the UK is if someone starts a petition explaining the problem, the consumer laws being broken (DMCCA, CRA & CCRs), the impact on affected business's and the negative effects on consumers. They would then need to obtain the requisite 10,000 signatures for a Government response or 100,000 signatures for the matter to be considered for debate in Parliament.

Even if the petition was successful - which I feel is unlikely - any new regulations could be a double-edged sword. eBay will always over-comply with any legislation that has the potential to hold them financially liable for non-compliance; their response to the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations being a good example.

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@spence0175 wrote:

I see EBay have approached HMRC to raise the selling threshold for I presume private

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eBay are requesting the Trading Allowance be raised from £1,000 to £3,000. As the name suggests, it is an allowance (tax emption) for traders, not private sellers.

[technthread]

It makes more sense for the business seller to be charged insertion fees / shop fee equivalent at the back end of the sale. That way the seller doesn’t feel hamstrung by listing limits.

I know it doesn’t make sense for eBay as they can’t lose the guaranteed fees and won’t want the site flooding with millions of extra listings but the flip side is those listings are on the other sites instead so buyers have to go there to find them.  

[jonatjonatjonat]

Anything to add? I'm happy to post it if only to know I tried. I accept even a 100 signatures would be a significant hurdle to climb.

Headline (80 characters max)

Ensure eBay enforces business accounts for commercial traders

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Description (300 characters max)

Commercial traders on eBay are selling under private accounts to avoid legal duties. This denies consumers their statutory rights and creates unfair competition. Parliament should require eBay to enforce business account use in line with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and related regulations.

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Why Parliament should act (500 characters max)

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, consumers are entitled to clear trader information and the right to returns. Many eBay traders circumvent these obligations by using private accounts while trading commercially. This undermines consumer protection and disadvantages compliant businesses. Despite repeated concerns, eBay has failed to act. Parliament must require online marketplaces to enforce proper account designation, ensuring compliance with UK consumer law and safeguarding fair competition.

[4_bathrooms]

Those character limits are a right pain. Whenever a poster asks which law is being broken I point to Schedule 20 Paragraph 25 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act which makes it a specific criminal offence for a trader to masquerade as a private seller. Most offences committed under the CRA and CCRs are either-way offences, i.e. they can be treated as criminal or civil. However, "the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act" alone takes up a whopping 50 characters - 10% of the final box's allowance! 

As I couldn't word it any better without falling foul of the character limits I'd say it is fine as it is. The character limits are clearly intended to keep the petition focused on a single point so emphasising the fact consumer rights are being breached is definitely the way to go. The one change I would suggest making is changing "selling" in the description to "buying and selling" as the DMCCA works both ways even though it isn't mentioned in the petition.

[cabletie555]

With respect to various mentions of the legal aspects, they seem to ignore the £1000 trading allowance:

https://www.streets.uk/about-us/news/selling-online-and-paying-tax/

Although other laws may also be applicable in some instances, eBay's rule about what constitutes a business seller isn't aligned with what HMRC says. You can buy or make goods as a private individual and sell them  in any situation that permits it so long as that aspect of your income is below that figure.  Also if you are doing your own taxes then you'd know you can earn a lot more than that tax free, you just have to declare it properly to HMRC which is very simple to do online, although you should check carefully what applies to you as there are numerous other factors. Contrary to expectations you might find you want to declare as much as you can though, because if you earn more you're now taxed less in some circumstances, and often eligible for various government handouts too which are not available to the poor, so I doubt there are many trying to hide their income from HMRC by claiming they are private sellers, it's just that in most cases that would be what they are described as.

[darth_baggins]

Looks like OP has gone. The post is now from 'Anonymous' with no link to their profile.

[plpmr]

that happens when a member loses their account.

[555njp]

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@technthread wrote:

It makes more sense for the business seller to be charged insertion fees / shop fee equivalent at the back end of the sale. That way the seller doesn’t feel hamstrung by listing limits.

I know it doesn’t make sense for eBay as they can’t lose the guaranteed fees and won’t want the site flooding with millions of extra listings but the flip side is those listings are on the other sites instead so buyers have to go there to find them.  

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That would be ideal for me (listing fee only if sold). I’m a part-time, well into retirement, just keeping the grey matter working, seller. So no shop and usually less than 50 items listed.
Often I have items that are worth selling (£5-£10) but to a very limited market (unique part for a specific lawnmower as an example).

When I list these, margins are already tight so having to possibly list 4 or 5 times before someone needs that part eats so far into the profit I’m better off just scrapping them, which is a real shame.
If I could list those for free I would keep them on knowing they’ll eventually find a buyer.

As you say, downside is eBay could be jammed up with slow moving stock which isn’t what they want.

Maybe eBay could give us a free listing allowance of say 20 items per month?
Or make it free (or nominal 5p or something) if your BIN price is under £10.

It’s not much but would make a big difference to small business sellers like me and discourage those from just pushing those items through a private account.