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.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

i paid taxmAN LAST YEAR .33.800 TAX.

You are either adding in VAT to that, or you must be earning over £110000 per year!

I tend to think your including VAT.  In which case, it will be nothing like that.

And quite the exageration.

[tribalgiftsuk]

I am sick of the masqueraders but i am laughing so much at some of the comments on the seller central board at the moment. Many of them are showing their true colours after the new fee announcement and proving they are business sellers whilst using a private account. Hat's off to all of those calling them out! 

Whilst i dont agree in principle with the way Ebay is dealing with this fee it is bringing them out of the wood work and hopefully many will change to business accounts. I have about 10 private seller masqueraders whose items are promoted under my listings and i will be so happy to see them either increase their prices (or Ebay will) or they will actually become business sellers. Some of them 'advertise on Instagram and Tik Tok'  as well. Clearly not private and i have reported some of them but not all of them as nothing was happening.

With the delayed payments kicking in as well i really look forward to seeing some change to business accounts in the coming months. So whilst i dont want to see buyer fee's  for private sellers it is helping us all to see the true colours of the non genuine private sellers and identify them further and the payment holds should help to make them trade legally.

At first i was shocked by this move from Ebay although we kind of knew it was coming but the reaction has proved that it was actually more of a cunning move from Ebay than we first thought 😁 Lets hope that  they are reading the comments and acting accordingly.

I do feel for the genuine private sellers however who probably feel betrayed by this but they really dont need to worry. No buyer who really wants something especially if it is in a certain size/colour/style that cant be found elsewhere is going to be put off by a £2 - £3 extra charge on an item.

[mar-yaxl]

How dare people try to make money and do what is best for them? If you dont like the ebay then blame ebay. ebay could make all accounts business accounts or they could give better incentives to become a business account

[therenewalworkshopltd]

It's not about whether people are trying to make money and doing it what is best for them.

And it's also not about blaming Ebay for this.

The biggest single fact here, is that if you are a business and are trading on a private account, you ARE breaking the law.

To say that is ok to do, is like putting your hand in a fire because someone told you it was ok.

Yes, Ebay have some responsibility in regard to this.  But at the end of the day, it is the individual operating that private account as a business, that is ENTIRELY responsible for breaking the law.

There is simply no valid ethical or legal reason why you should hide your trading as a private individual.

Whatever way you look at it, the person doing it, is at the very least, unethical.  And in real terms, a lawbreaker.

And I, like many others on here WILL report said people to both Trading Standards and Ebay.

There is no excuse for breaking the law.

[santlache_sales]

The biggest single fact here, is that if you are a business and are trading on a private account, you ARE breaking the law.

No you aren't......

As long as you declare what you sell to HMRC and pay any tax due on it, HMRC won't give a damn if it came from an eBay Private or a Business account.

If you don't declare it, then you are breaking tax laws.

I do fairs and pay in large amounts of cash to my account, I write down what I sell but HMRC don't ask me what I've sold and never have, or where it came from. Same with my eBay account sales, it's just logged down as business income as far as HMRC are concerned.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I would suggest that you read the rest of that.

If you believe that, then I'm afraid you haven't got a clue.

I never even mentioned HMRC on that post.  But it's about BREAKING CONSUMER LAW!!!!!

Which every single business that trades on private account is doing.

[whf-southampton]

We also, are sick of business sellers masquerading as private sellers. 

We have run an upfront an honest ebay business account for 20 years now. This is the nail in the coffin for us and we have taken the decision to run the shop down over the course of this coming year with a view to closing at the end of 2025.

The fees we are paying for a total lack of seller support in general from ebay  these days is bad enough, but now that there is no longer a level playing field, which has been willingly gifted  by ebay to  less scrupulous as ripe for exploitation, it's the last straw for us.

In the words of Anne Marie ebay. 'Chiao, adios, i'm done.'

[santlache_sales]

Yes you are right, but who is going to pursue all the Businesses selling as Private who maybe breaking consumer laws ?

You could report hundreds, even thousands and nobody has the manpower to do anything about it. This is a problem created by eBay and so far their limp attempts at redressing this amount to nothing.

Don't get me wrong I am annoyed and furious as any business seller how eBay have totally screwed it up, and as several others have noted and it was even suggested to me once, CS staff actually tell you to go and open a private account.

That's is how useless eBay have been at addressing this problem.

The way they should have gone is made it a level playing field across the board, with say fees of 5%. That would have been reasonable and wouldn't have hacked off nearly so many people. But it is eBay we are dealing with here and like all these big tech companies they have no reverse gear, someone high up made the decision and it is their reputation at stake, so they would rather see carnage than back down.

Which is exactly what we've now got

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Again, you are taking what I said and responding about something else.

Who said anything about reporting them? And the problems that can entail?

Aside from which, whether there is sufficient manpower or not, ignoring these kind of lawbreakers is not accomplishing anything either.  Or do you really think that it's a good idea to do so?

This is NOT all down to Ebay at all.

This is a personal choice that sellers make.  Whether it's actually advantageous to sellers or not to sell as private individuals, is a moral and legal issue.  You cannot just blame Ebay.

Yes, they can certainly improve things, by policing this kind of thing better.

As to charging everyone 5%, that is a complete and utter oversimplification of the issues here.

That does not solve the problem of hiding behind private accounts, to avoid returns and so on.

The only way that could be changed, is if Ebay where to force every seller to show the name/address, provide change of mind returns and so on.  Which is completely unfair on those real private sellers.

They are also, rightly or wrongly, changing things to be very similar to the way that the likes of Vinted works.

Customers will very quickly get used to this as that is how it is elsewhere. 

I do think that they could have done things a lot better than they have done.  But you also have to allow for the fact that this is a big company and it really isn't that easy to change things overnight.

So many things need to be accounted for and changed, you have no idea. 

Whether that be new training for staff, new infrastructure, new IT systems and so on.

[the_book_seekers]

but who is going to pursue all the Businesses selling as Private who maybe breaking consumer laws ?

The government could make ebay responsible for sellers complying with UK laws as the Germans have done. The problem would very quickly disappear.

[santlache_sales]

Nothing is going to be done and it is a problem created totally by eBay.

Free Sweets for children under 15 !

How many 16 and 17 year olds would try and get them free too ?

Loads is the answer and when the temptation is there people will take advantage of it, and in this case eBay free listings is no different. People do it primarily because you either pay a large whack of your sale in fees, or nothing.

And who put that temptation there ?

eBay did, so to try and say it isn't their fault for totally screwing it up is stretching it somewhat.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Oh for pities sake.  Why are you comparing sellers to children?

The fact of the matter is, that you need to be an adult to use Ebay.

If you are an adult, YOU are responsible for your actions.

Saying otherwise, is frankly irresponsible.

Just because something is possible or tempting, does not mean that it is the right thing to do.

It's like saying that because a shop puts a stand outside in the street, they are asking people to just take from that stand?

They are putting temptation in front of the children.....

Or are people no longer responsible for their actions?

[santlache_sales]

Or are people no longer responsible for their actions?

Apparently not, or at least not where money is involved and yet you seem surprised.

Do you think all those sellers from the Far East who say they are in the UK will play ball and use business accounts ? Of course they won't, they'll have multiple Private accounts already I've no doubt, and then when one takes too much money and eBay harass them to become a business account, they'll close it down and open another, under-cutting UK sellers each time.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Apparently not, or at least not where money is involved and yet you seem surprised.

Tell that to all those who have been put in jail for fraud.....  

Or better yet, insurance fraud.  Didn't you know, that's victimless?

And just to clarify, at no point have I expressed surprise about any of this.
You like to put words in others mouths.

In any case, I'm not going to engage with you any further.

You have ignored 99% of what I have said every single post.

Stop blaming Ebay for all of your issues.  Take some responsibility yourself.

If it's not working, do something different.

[jokers_toybox]

You know you mention being a retailer yourself in a reply to your feedback right? Not sure that's the smartest move on a "private" account

[jonat_broad]

one thing eBay could do is remove the ability for Private Sellers to sell using the condition Brand New.

technically anything a private seller is selling, given it’s their own personal belongings, would not be new in the dictionary definition 

If they have unopened products, then eBay need a condition that is unopened or used like new.

this is how Amazon approach it and though Amazon have other problems, they seem to a handle on businesses being businesses.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

If they have unopened products, then eBay need a condition that is unopened or used like new.

That's been said many times on here.  Though to be honest, it wouldn't really fix the issue, but it probably would help.

I think a lot of these sellers are selling second hand goods anyway, as that actually is what Ebay is good at.

As to how Amazon approach it, I don't really think that you can compare.

Amazon is and pretty much always has been geared to the business seller.  And you have to jump through multiple hoops to prove who you are.   

Being a private seller on Amazon these days, is nigh on impossible.  

[dch2112011]

I really do not think that business trading on personal accounts is dividing business and private sellers it is in reality uniting genuine personal and business sellers to one cause and that is to press ebay to find a permanent solution to barring businesses from trading on unequal terms on private accounts.

What is apparent is the scale of the problem !

[jokers_toybox]

You're right, I don't give 2 flying figs how people sell their stuff or under what pretence.

What does bother me is the unlevel playing field, I can combat that at events I attend as it's simply a case of pricing right, everyone has paid the same to be there.

I see one of the other people that attend these events, selling here as a private seller, their username has ltd in it , they have a shop, and yet somehow they're freely selling under a private account. 

It's one of the reasons I downgraded my shop to the basic one, I used to list everything and keep it here, but now I just keep that stock for shows because it's no longer possible to be competitively priced on ebay when up against people able to do that.

But who who can blame people who want to save that money and put it in their back pocket when it's simple enough to do with little to no ramification.

[porsche1980]

I can see why some  business sellers are up in arms against private sellers that are actually businesses.  I do know of two individuals selling low priced items that technically should have business accounts these days, but when discussing this with them last Christmas they said the fees for having a business account make selling here a "pointless exercise", to quote them. One sells greetings cards, the other costume jewellery. The latter makes hers at home in a workshop in her garden. For a business a/c I see they'd each have to pay £x per month up front to eBay and on top of that pay listing fees per item. Presumably there's a final value fee too?!

My old (defunct) ebay a/c was active in eBay's early days around 1999 and things were much simpler then, and I don't recall ever seeing anything about business versus private accounts. I used to sell model cars, some of which I bought to re-sell, and there was no problem with that back then. I guess things have changed since and this would now require me to have a business a/c, which frankly if I only sold maybe five a month I can see where the sellers are coming from. It would actually cost me money to list here - and that is the argument put to me even though I pointed out that they should be complying with selling laws. Am not sure when these consumer laws changed for eBay sellers but it looks a right mess.