Time for a Level Playing Field...

[collectablecats]

Let's call a spade a spade. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of 'private' sellers  on ebay who are trading. And the number of their listings is ballooning as they get rolled over for free every month.

I often check other listings before deciding whether to list a card I have, and its not unusual to discover 'private' sellers with many thousands, even tens of thousands of sales, and hundreds or thousands of free listings that roll over for free every month, meaning their 'shops' get bigger and bigger, slowly making business listings harder to find. Just yesterday I discovered a 'private' seller in my category with 26,000 sales and 2000+ listings - all sitting there free of change and paying no commission when they sell.

There is no way to address this effectively without LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD  and giving all sellers the same deal when listing and paying commission. This is what happens in the USA an in Australia, where you also get a huge number of 'free' listings when you pay for a shop compared to here in the UK.

Sure, give private sellers 20 or 30 free listings a month - who, listing things they want to get rid of, would honestly need more -  but include the monthly roll-overs in that total so they have to decide whether to keep those items running, just like businesses do.  And charge them commission on sales. 

Ebsy likes to call itslef a 'community' - but when the community leaders make businesses pay through the nose to allow their competitors to have everything free, it doesn't feel like a community for many legitimate businesses on here. Especially when they are then invited to pay even more to 'promote' items, so they have a better chance of being seen among the vast sea of 'private' listings they have been subsidising.

One hopes eBay will one day place 'community' values at the heart of their 'community' and treat businesses fairly by reintroducing a level playing field. 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I would love to know what the "magical listing" experience is?

[collectablecats]

I understand it

[cobwebcottage]

It's 300 listings per month x 12.

If a PS already had 4,000 listings before the changes, they can have 7,600 now.

There is a regular PS who comments on the boards with around this amount of listings.

[collectablecats]

As I understand it, it’s something to do with taking a photo of your item and AI then tells you what it is and describes it. I’m not sure whether it suggests a price as well. 

I haven’t heard anything about it here, so perhaps it’s just an idea for the future or being offered elsewhere.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

It's an actual real thing then.  I thought it was just the AI making stuff up!  :

Found this, which is interesting, though whether or not it's usefull as a tool is something else .

https://innovation.ebayinc.com/stories/magical-listing-tool-harnesses-the-power-of-ai-to-make-sellin...

According to that, 95% of those using it, used the AI description.
Which I would be more likely to call lazy....  

From the various AI descriptions that I've seen, they are useless and cannot be relied on at all.

Can they not see, that all they need to do to make listing quicker and simpler, is to remove all of the various extras that require us to use?  Everywhere else seems to manage without them, why on earth can't ebay?

[the_brick_lodge]

Hope it works better than the image search, usually it brings up random stuff that sort of looks like what you've taken a photo of so then you go to Google Lens which finds the exact correct thing, usually with the first result being an eBay listing. 

[maarsy]

actually it is legal , ebay themselves state that you can have a private and business account . and i still have a level of personal items that i should not have to pay fee's on when i want to sell them 

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

One of the many issues these days is the categories items need to be listed in, years ago it was quite easy now it's a massive problem. 

In the past if I was listing a Clarice Cliff bowl or a Royal Worcester vase there were categories that matched, i.e. there was a Royal Worcester vases category, now it's just a mess and it's a struggle to know which category to put things in.

There are so many easy changes Ebay could make for quick wins however they don't seem interested or they lack any knowledge whatsoever in terms of categories. The categories are a shambles for many items. 

[technthread]

I had a look at eBay Live for sellers in your categories and there didn’t seem to be much competition. 0% fees, it might be worth watching a few sellers’ streams to see how they are getting on.

I’m going that way but on another platform, I’m building up the stock and seeing how others do it to give it a go myself. 

[british-ceramics-and-paintings]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate it however Ebay live isn't something that appeals to me.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Yes of course you can have a private and a business account.
But that comes with a big "if".

ie.  if you are selling things on your private account that should be sold on the business, then you are actually breaking ebay T&C's and consumer law.

A private account is ONLY, for selling your own personal goods!

[collectablecats]

Yes,  it should be for personal goods.

But the kind of ‘personal goods’ people have amassed and now need to sell can be very puzzling.

Like the private seller of large flags who has shifted over 700 of them, and still has more of the same flags on offer. The poor guy must be getting tangled up and tripping over big flags every time he tries to get to the bathroom!

And spare thought for the poor private seller who, having already sold 5000 paintings, has 70 odd in his shop and is still adding more each week. Hopefully he is now getting close to the point where he’s got a space for his telly on the wall!

[fribblecollectables]

I feel sorry for the private seller trying to shift pallets of natural mineral water.

He can't be storing them in the little drawers under his bed as there probably isn't room, what with the 60 or so brand new duvet cover and pillow case sets he probably has in there.

[collectablecats]

Maybe that’s Del Boy and Rodney selling Peckham Spring?

[cobwebcottage]

Who would want to buy a frozen cooked smoked spicy chicken from a private seller?

Although they are a take away shop.....

[fribblecollectables]

Maybe the same people that would buy Freshly Baked  Fish Rolls from a private seller with less than 30 feedback.

However, their AI description does say: "With a hint of gluten and fish allergens, these rolls offer a delicious and unique option for your snacktime."

Yum !

[cobwebcottage]

One of the fishy roll sellers is a private seller with a limited company! Described as selling 'Other human health activities'.

If AI can pick up nail scissors, forks, spoons etc why can't they pick up these accounts?

We could find dozens within half an hour!

[emsgems2025]

Absolutely and even private buyers have been buying my items then splitting them up and listing again for 6 times as much! 
I really think there should be a tab under report a seller for trading as a dealer. As a business seller I often get outbid at auction houses and then see the exact goods appear on eBay by private sellers.They are able to outbid me as they have no fees to pay! 
what happened to the special offers that Business Sellers used to get?? Seems we are subsidising private sellers. 
If there was a tab for reporting sellers as Businesses and allowing the report to contain photos we could upload the photos of the items they bought from us or the lots at auction houses as proof.