EBay asking for national insurance number

[raik1performance]

Hi everyone, I recently joined for like 1 month and I start selling as a private seller , and now eBay is asking me to provide national insurance number.

"New UK digital sales reporting legislation requires sellers with 30 or more sales, or who have sales exceeding £1740 in a calendar year, to register this information"

[the-online-oasis]

Well, I am one of these people who is reluctant to share personal details such as IDs etc. since I was hit with identity theft some 25 years ago - we and other neighbours had a break in.  Didn't notice anything at first because nothing seemed to be "missing" in the house until I found that all my bank cards and passports of family members were missing. However, this was in the "olden days" no smartphones (!) and online banking in its infancy. It was an absolute nightmare to say the least. It was an easy "game" for thiefs  at that time because banks in the UK had an almost non-existing security system. It took a year or so  to have this sorted and my stolen money returned by the banks.  Although it happend quite a while ago but things like that stay with you for the rest of your life. 

Well.  please have look what google's  AI  came up with:

[vinido]

Have you had the same experience and that’s what happened?

I think they’ve restricted my ability to take money out as of yesterday at least a message pops up on the app saying so.

Their customer service via chat is truly awful. While I’m waiting for Monday morning to call their Ireland center, I contacted chat again just to tryone more time, and this time the person initially agreed my sales are below 30 and under £1,750. But then they said they had to talk to their “office” and would email me.

The email arrived, signed by the same person, but this time the agent claimed I’ve sold much more than what’s shown on my app (probably started calculating from a few years back for whatever reason)!

Of course, I’ve sent a reply and complained about them giving me such false and wrong information — still nothing yet.

[sml192]

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@vinido wrote:

 
The email arrived, signed by the same person, but this time the agent claimed I’ve sold much more than what’s shown on my app (probably started calculating from a few years back for whatever reason)!

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Only sales transactions completed this calendar year would count towards the thresholds.

[vinido]

Yes, I know, but the eBay chat agent  calculated from the beginning of 2024 until today, and now I have to fight to show them how to do their work and perform a basic calculation. Unbelievable.

[papso22]

Honestly,  it's not worth the fight.  I have never heard of ebay removing a request for information of any kind.  They stick with it.

In fact, I believe they ask new sellers for their NI number when they first register as a seller, so the only trigger is not meeting or exceeding the thresholds.  That's just for existing accounts that were selling before 2024.

I think the way it works for you was that their information request was triggered by the sales total before the one that was then cancelled, and that request won't be rescinded, but there won't be a report unless you exceed a threshold when they review 2025.

[vinido]

Yes, in my case, immediately after I sold the pricey item (phone), I got the request.

As I mentioned, the item was canceled and refunded to the buyer per their request (case of bad luck — I lost £20 on shipping and had to re-sell the item locally for £200 under eBay prices, but that’s a story for another day).

Now my eBay page clearly shows total sales below 30 and below £1,750. I don’t care if the message stays on my account; I just won’t give them my insurance number, especially now that  they are double-counting 2024 and adding it to 2025 just to prove the message is right and get rid of my request. That is just wrong and they shouldn’t do that.

I want payout limitations lifted and their formal acknowledgment that my sales were below the thresholds, just in case.

[papso22]

Would you have given them your NI number if the buyer hadn't cancelled?

[specialk1937]

It amazes me that in this day of so much identity theft there are so many
people still blind to the fact of how widespread it is, and still continue
to have that blase attitude of mind that it wont happen to me!

[vinido]

What is the point of this question?

[mercedes_92]

No how does this work if you sell your car 

[kh-sireesha]

Hi everyone,

We appreciate your participation in this discussion. However, due to the age of this thread, and as a solution has been chosen. it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.