Changes to private selling - less free listings etc.

[lostloads-2]

Changes to private selling on eBay

We want to let you know about some upcoming changes to seller fees and to payment options when selling locally. These will be effective from 1 October 2024.

Free listing allowance change
Currently, private sellers can list up to 1,000 items a month for free on eBay. From 1 October, this will decrease to 300 listings per month. After you've used your monthly allocation of 300 free listings, you'll be charged 35p for each new listing created.

International fee change
If your registered address is in the UK, we charge an international fee when the delivery address for the item is outside the UK.

Until now this fee has varied by region. Starting from 1 October there will be a flat rate of 3% across all shipping regions. This will be calculated on the total amount of the sale which includes the item price, any handling charges, postage, and any applicable taxes.

Removing cash on pickup for local listings
Many sellers offer free collection in person, especially for large items which may be difficult to post. As we continue to make sure eBay is a safe and secure place to sell your items, we will be removing the option for buyers to pay with cash for items from 1 October. Instead, all payments for local items will go through the site - with a simple digital confirmation on collection - to ensure that you get paid securely and promptly by buyers.

[myriad*seller]

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@kempseykate wrote:

Thanks, Myriad!

It's a bit hidden away there - I never really look at that page.

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I had to use google to find it! 

[zoomingmouse]

No email received, not yet anyway. 

If it's not pointed out somehow then lots of people will get caught out.

Surely they will advertise it as it's a big change.

[vinylscot]

I got an email, on my private account address only, at 12:35 this morning.

I'm more than 50/50 sure that it was also linked on my seller hub, but it isn't now, so I wonder if there are some changes happening.

,,,and why has no pedant pointed out it should be "fewer free listings", not "less"? 🙂

[zoomingmouse]

Nothing on mine so far, but I do have the new rubbish design seller hub.

No doubt I'll get three arrive together at some point.

[johnwash1]

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@vinylscot wrote:
..

,,,and why has no pedant pointed out it should be "fewer free listings", not "less"? 🙂

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\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/   yes yes YES!  😀

[eyeball-industries]

About 1.5 years ago eBay UK sent me a message saying my 1000 free limit was removed, and I now have unlimited free listings. Been selling as a private entrepreneur for 14 years and have about 2000 listings, the majority selling outside the UK (items ship from Ukraine). Should be interesting if this new limit effects my account...

[cobwebcottage]

Isn't a 'private entrepreneur' another way of saying an unregisted business seller trading on a private account?

[tommystrezures]

It should do as your account is registered in the UK, in the same breath you are currently incorrectly registered, and you should be registered as a business.

[ratso208]

You got that one right!👍

[eyeball-industries]

Sole proprietorship is how I file my taxes.

[papso22]

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@eyeball-industries wrote:

Sole proprietorship is how I file my taxes.

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And that makes you a business seller trading illegally on a private account. 

[theelench]

Like you I haven't had any email yet, although the reduction won't effect me either.

Re.  The stamps.

There's a regular on the boards on the other site I sell on.  He has thousands of stamps listed, has had for years.  Recently, on a thread about sales, he said he sells about 1% of his inventory a month.

Don't know if that's good or bad, but someone must still collect them.

I used to collect them back when I was at school and swapped the whole lot to the local coin / stamp shop for a 1937 Crown which started me collecting coins.  🙄

[myriad*seller]

A sole trader/proprietor IS a person in business

There is a section where you must provide your sole trader Unique Taxpayer Reference when you change your account to  a business account. This is because sole traders ARE in business (by law) and should use a  business account.

There is no such thing as a "private" entrepreneur, if you buy or make items to sell, this is trading, and is a form of business trade. 

[cobwebcottage]

That's all well and good but you are breaking distance selling laws and consumer law by not registering as a business seller, offering returns and displaying your business information.

[zoomingmouse]

😂That really made me chuckle - thanks

I think it was Blue Peter that used to run an appeal for old used stamps at some point in the very distant past. By the time I've located them though they may have come back into fashion 😁

[eyeball-industries]

I am a US citizen (who owns a flat in the UK) so my ebay UK account is limited to "personal". I have an ebay shop, so ebay considers me a business. All my tax ID information (which has been accepted/verified by ebay) is of the states, (as the US taxes all income worldwide for US citizens, hence my tax nexus is there). All my products sell from outside the UK via the ebay.co.uk platform, 95% to outside the UK (mainly USA, EU and Asia). As I have a US tax nexus and none in the UK other than sales taxes, ebay told me to open a business shop, but as a private seller, which I have had for 10 years now. I've already been through this with my tax lawyer, and it is all ducks in a row. My business is US based selling on two ebay accounts, one USA, one UK.

[eyeball-industries]

I understand the UK ebayers go on about biz vs private sellers (I hear it on youtube), but its different in the states ebay, where everyone is a tax payer, and just selling over $600 a year makes you tax liable, and we all have a national tax ID which we use to file. So I've just checked with my lawyer (uncle) on fb chat to double check I'm sharing the right info here, and he replied "the UK doesn't establish tax nexus based on your property address where you registered the eBay account. You don't have a physical presence in the UK for tax purposes. And as you don't store any inventory in the UK (through a fulfillment service or otherwise), so there is no UK tax nexus."

[the_book_seekers]

I understand the UK ebayers go on about biz vs private sellers (I hear it on youtube), but its different in the states ebay, where everyone is a tax payer, and just selling over $600 a year makes you tax liable, and we all have a national tax ID which we use to file. So I've just checked with my lawyer (uncle) on fb chat to double check I'm sharing the right info here, and he replied "the UK doesn't establish tax nexus based on your property address where you registered the eBay account. You don't have a physical presence in the UK for tax purposes. And as you don't store any inventory in the UK (through a fulfillment service or otherwise), so there is no UK tax nexus."

Makes no difference. You have a UK account, you are a business seller, you need a business account to comply with UK distance selling and consumer law which are regulatory and nothing to do with taxes. Does your uncle understand UK consumer legislation? 

[theelench]

Thanks for your brief explanation of how the US tax system works.  When ebay (uk) announced that it had to report sales over 30 or £1770 p.a to HMRC my first thought was that this is just the first step towards the US where almost all income is taxable. 

I still think the same.  Just like ebay the UK govt.  has to think of ever more inventive ways to squeeze more revenue from the maximum number of available tax payers.  A few years of frozen thresholds for ebay's sales reporting and it's quite possible that most private sellers will be reported to HMRC. 

[eyeball-industries]

Indeed he does, he works for an accounting firm in Prague dealing with the brexit mess. So I shared this question with him and he wrote back: "As your inventory is stored in Ukraine, it generally wouldn't be considered as being "in the UK" for the purposes of British Distance Selling Regulations at all. This is why so many UK distance sellers have moved onto the continent"

I asked him more about those regs, and he replied; "These regulations require you to provide clear and accurate information about the product, price, delivery, and return policies, which you do. You also allow  buyers to cancel their order within a specific timeframe (aka the "cooling-off" period) so you're in compliance there. There is also a requirement to  state the seller's identity and contact info, but this is a requirement for sellers who have a physical inventory presence in the UK, which you do not, and in any case, this info is sent by ebay in the billing phase."

He then asked me how's it going, how many items I'm selling, and I told him i have a lot of listings, but it's been slow, about 15 items a month, and he told me to forget about starting a company for a biz account, as "you're below the threshold".