A few months ago, I started receiving the emails saying that I had to upgrade to a business account.
I tried to find out specifically why. But no one at eBay Customer Service, after several calls and speaking to several different people could tell me why.
Frustratingly, I made numerous calls (7 or 8 in total) where the Customer Service reps seemed genuinely interested in supporting me, promised to look into my matter, and promised they'd get back to me with a response. Of course, none of them ever did.
During this time, I missed the deadline, and my account was locked.
After 21 years of using eBay, I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating all this is.
I spoke to another Customer Service rep who said (I paraphrase) "you've misunderstood, if you upgrade to a business account you won't have to pay any fees unless you have a shop subscription" (this is of course in the call recording).
Though I was surprised by this, and unsure, I naively trusted them, and upgraded to a business account. Sure enough though, there are fees... and now I am stuck.
So I called back to complain about this... no luck there.
I spoke to two managers to try and find out the specific place in the eBay User Agreement that lays out why I was forced to upgrade to a business account. Neither of them could identify any T&Cs I would have agreed to that explains this.
Surely if I have been forced to upgrade, but the reason for this wasn't presented to me in any sort of T&Cs, contract, or user agreement then it should be null and void? I don't really see how they can justify doing something like this essentially "out of contract"?
Can anyone help me find the specific T&Cs regarding this... if there is any?
I found this page: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/vat-obligations-uk-eu?id=4650&st=3&pos=1&query=Your%20VAT%...
But it only states: It is mandatory that you display your VAT identification number on the eBay site in connection with your listings. This can be done by updating your business seller information page.
"Can" being the operative word there. It doesn't specify that I must have an eBay business account, just that I must display my VAT number (which I could easily just do in my listing descriptions, for anything I sell that might qualify).
Then there is this page: https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/regulatory/sales-reporting/uk-digital-sales-reporting?id=5454
That page mentions the thresholds for reporting to HMRC, but does not say that in order to do this one must upgrade to a business account.
On the contrary, it clearly states that this can happen for both personal and business accounts. Indeed, in the column for "Individual sellers" it lists "sole traders" ( which is what I am).
It states that: "As a UK resident, when you sell over £1,740 or more or complete 30 or more sales transactions within a calendar year, eBay is obliged to report certain personal or business information to HMRC in accordance with the UK digital sales reporting legislation. eBay will notify you when you have crossed these thresholds. When prompted to do so, please provide eBay the requested tax identification information specific to you as a business or individual".
Nowhere does it state that I have to upgrade to a business account. In fact it specifically suggests that I can remain an individual seller, as long as my sales are reported to HMRC (which is what I do anyway via my tax return, where applicable, and eBay can do too).
In the FAQ "How do I determine if I’m trading privately or commercially?" it states: "If you buy goods for resale, or make goods with the intention of selling them for a profit, then you are likely to be trading (commercially) and will have to pay tax on your profits".
But that is not what I do. I do not buy goods specifically to resell nor do I not make goods to sell.
I put all this to an eBay Customer Service manager who told me "we might have additional policies we do not disclose to customers".
Thinking that was rather bizarre, I asked if there was anything in the User Agreement that says something along the lines of "by agreeing to this, you accept that there may be other policies not disclosed here". He couldn't answer that.
So, have I missed something? Have the two eBay customer services missed something too? Is there, in fact, a specific T&C line that specific exactly why someone like me has been forced to upgrade to a business account?
And what do I do now? I'm sure there are many others in a similar situation.
