Sick of businesses registered as 'private' sellers

[nsa.ltd]

Anyone else fed up of seeing businesses masquerading as private sellers? I've reported around 40-50 of these accounts to the 'ebay for business' facebook account, and I always get told that they've then reported it from their end but nothing ever changes.

I mean look at this account, 3.6k items sold, and a private seller, or Hartmore Trading, they even have "Trading" in their name, 2.4k items sold, 1600+ items for sale, and a 'Private' seller. Absolute joke.

[pillarboxred]

If you have the energy, you can report these abusing sellers directly to HMRC. Make sure you have facts and not opinions nor hunches.  Remember, it is not the number of items listed but items sold that matters. I am sceptical that there are a lot of people making packets secretly on eBay at least not in the Secondhand Collectables/ Secondary Market however you style what I try to sell. 

[the_book_seekers]

Found several today and it wasn't difficult. I was researching books and was looking through some of the listings. In one instance I noticed two sellers with new copies of a particular book using identical title layout, identical pictures, identical description, same post code location and other similarities. The same seller two different private accounts with a total of 9k in sales. 

[edwardian-dreams]

That’s ebays problem ie why do they not sod it hmmm

[dan-myers]

people will have the account that best suits them. if you want ot be  mad then be mad at ebay for making business accounts so undesirable.

[papso22]

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@dan-myers wrote:

people will have the account that best suits them. if you want ot be  mad then be mad at ebay for making business accounts so undesirable.

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People should have the account that makes them trade legally on ebay.

Whether trading legally is too costly, or undesirable for any other reason, is not something that should impact someone's decision on whether to break consumer law or not.  

If they can't, or won't, sell legally on ebay then they should not sell on ebay.  

Ebay is at fault for not going in harder on these sellers, nothing else.

[silver_revival]

"people will have the account that best suits them. if you want ot be  mad then be mad at ebay for making business accounts so undesirable"

I couldn't agree more with your statement. I have to pay more in seller fees (jewellery category), more for my shop and unless I sponsor my items, and give greedy guts eBay even more of my profits, I am practically invisible to the buyer.

People in the UK are currently struggling for money and as prices go up people are simply looking for ways to survive, pay their bills and feed their families. 

Don't blame other sellers (private or otherwise) blame the real villains.

[books-from-sharon]

I usually grumble and move on when I see 'private' accounts that are clearly businesses.  However,  I was recently having A REALLY BAD DAY when I came across another book seller with over 3,000 brand new listings and a private account.

On this occasion I emailed my local trading standards office and supplied the ebay account name and a link to one of her listings.  A few days later, TS replied that they would be looking into it.  I didn't really expect anything to happen and several weeks went by with nothing and then suddenly the ebay account disappeared.

I don't know whether ebay were involved in this or if trading standards contacted the seller to point out the error of their ways - I don't really care who did what, I'm just delighted that they are gone.

[txt.ltd]

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@btr.style wrote:

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@txt.ltd wrote:

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@btr.style wrote:

it's of no benefit as I already get close to the vat threshold and have to shut the business down for around 2 months a year. 

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Who's making you shut the business down for around 2 months a year? The way you write it seems like you're forced into doing it.

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Well of course I'm forced into doing it. From what I understand of VAT, exceeding the threshold is a case of go big or don't bother exceeding it. 

It's the same way we are forced to pay eBay fees. Either pay them or don't bother selling on eBay. I don't want to not sell on eBay but equally I don't want to pay such high fees so I'm forced to pay them to sell on eBay. 

With VAT registration comes more money to pay out, that's how it is. Either it's then passed on to the customer with increased prices (considering there's so many private businesses who pay no fees, it would make it much harder to compete), or I take the hit. 

My choice would be to keep the business running all year round. Yet that would mean having to pay out more money being VAT registered. So I am forced to close the business down to avoid exceeding the threshold. 

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No, you're not forced to close for 2 months. You choose to...

[jokers_toybox]

Closing one day more a week was advice from my accountant too at one point as you have to nearly double takings in a year to be earning the same when you go VAT registered, seemed odd advice but at the time I didn't have the capital to do it buy buying more.

It does seem a bit weird there's a middle ground where you get punished for success 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Must be very small margins to have to double to get past the threshold?

But to be fair, your looking at it the wrong way around.

The threshold is there, to allow smaller business's to grow without the pressure of VAT.

Not as a punishment for success.

It's not like you need to make an extra 20% to make it worth while, as you are claiming on your purchases etc, which does reduce the overall cost.

I've never quite got the point of staying under though.  I would far rather grow well beyond it as by not doing so, you are limiting your growth significantly.  And VAT is not that difficult to process etc.

[jokers_toybox]

Yeah it was small margins, plus the area I was in had huuuge overheads, just wasn't in a family situation solid enough to take a drop in what I was taking home for a year because I couldn't grow quick enough. it would have worked over time, but then covid hit and changed the landscape for me drastically anyway so it was for the best at the time 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Fair enough.  Maybe it's worth looking at now instead then.  🙂

Covid had the opposite affect on me.  Massive uplift in sales.  But then at the time, I was selling white goods and that first weekend of lockdown was absolutely insane.  The amount of freezers I sold over that weekend was crazy.  More that what I would have normally sold in a year.  

[jokers_toybox]

One of my main sellers is Pokemon, currently there's another bubble which is great for sales, getting stock is a nightmare though, I'm getting my orders cut from wholesale by up to 80% because all of a sudden everyone wants it again.

when I can order 200 and make a tenner on each item, great, 2k in the bank, when I get that cut to 40, all of a sudden that's a staff members wages gone for the month

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Time to expand your range then?  

But why not look at things that will sit alongside?  Just add one or two each month and before you know it, you have grown a fair bit.

It's why I don't just do the clothes.  It can be so slow with them a lot of the time, no matter how many you have listed.  

[jokers_toybox]

Yeah been doing that this year