eBay

deluxedelujo · ‎28-12-2023

I’m considering changing to a business seller due to the lower fees. While researching the question, I’ve seen that sellers who don’t post the same day as buying the label are marked as defects. I have done that with a few items in the last few months, as I didn’t realise it was “a bad thing” - will that get me defects as soon as I switch to business? Thanks for any helpful insights!

pg_kicks · ‎30-12-2023

Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 is the one which is always mentioned, it was changed slightly years later but still the same pretty much, to make it simple this is the one (maybe of many things) you cant do on a private account, before a contract is formed they buyer needs to be able to see an address, so this is not possible with a private account as its against ebays policy to have your address visible if you are a private account. There will also be other clauses which it breaks but that is the one I knew off the top of my head, I did have to check the regulation as I'm not that much of a nerd.

papso22 · ‎31-12-2023

@deluxedelujo wrote:

I've found the regulations on /www.legislation.gov.uk/ The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (hope that link works) I cant see where... account to have?

Of course there is no legislation that refers to eBay business accounts, but as pointed out, there are laws that say what information a distance seller who is trading as a business, has to give buyers before they buy, and this is only possible with an eBay business account.

There is another one as well, this one is a law that makes it an offense for a business seller to misrepresent themself as a private individual. This is what happens when someone trades on a private eBay account.

rjwilmsi · ‎31-12-2023

Back to original question: "sellers who don’t post the same day as buying the label are marked as defects"

I've not seen that happening. You set your dispatch time, eBay expects you to post on time. You can purchase the label any time you like. However, if you purchase labels through eBay then the buyer will see the item as "dispatched" immediately when you purchase the label, so to avoid buyer confusion I wouldn't buy labels much in advance - evening before or on a Sunday to post on Monday yes, but not on a Monday if only intending to post on the Wednesday.

If the item receives a tracking update within the dispatch time (i.e. before midnight on the dispatch due date) then eBay can tell that you dispatched on time. If there's no such tracking (because not fully tracked service or first scan not until following day) AND the item delivery scan shows it was delivered later than eBay's due date then as I understand it eBay will assume you dispatched late and count that as a late delivery in your delivery metrics. So I get a few late delivery marks per month (because I use Royal Mail and not Special Delivery so services aren't guaranteed) but it doesn't really matter.

Anybody selling items bought to resell for profit on eBay should be registered as a business seller to be fully compliant with UK law, so that's all anybody here should advise you to do. Non-compliant sellers who complain about eBay or their buyers tend to get blunt replies from other sellers on this forum, which I think is fair enough: don't complain about the behaviour of others if your own behaviour isn't up to scratch.

You will not generally find that fees for business sellers are clearly lower than fees for private sellers - be careful about VAT with any quoted figures. An eBay shop can provide volume discounts on listing fees, otherwise fees are not materially different.

btr.style · ‎31-12-2023

As others have said. Laws wouldn't go into specifics if every single selling platform . Nothing says businesses can't have personal bank accounts for example.

Yet as others mentioned, there is a blanket law, misrepresentation and not displaying full contact details before a sale takes place is the key thing here.

Then we also have many private account business sellers who have no returns. The law states any business seller (for profit seller) has to accept returns for a minimum of 14 days after delivery.