EBay it’s the end for private sellers.

[baddie74]

Well finally after changing the format of their selling platform it seems every couple of weeks you have come up with the ultimate level of stupidity with this latest total ridiculous set of changes. Nobody is going to wait what could be weeks to be paid for a item they have sold who ever dreamt up this idea much be so far from reality as needing to push every part time seller off the site. I knew when they came up with the idea of free selling it wouldn’t be long before the idiots that run eBay came up with totally and ridiculous idea to claw back the money they have lost the whole senior management team at EBay must seat round a table all wearing clown costumes saying what is the most stupid idea we can come with to really get rid of half of our customers and the biggest clown wins with this idea and all the other yes people follow. Well I had started selling a few bits again but never again and will not be using EBay again to sell anything it has become a total joke of a company I hope your poor and flawed decisions finally catch up with this once great place to buy and sell has become a total joke.

[albert-jackson]

Being an ardent re-cycling chap and speaking from experience It is difficult to even give stuff away,  I had a full bespoke bedroom suite in exceptional condition, certainly not flat pack and listed it on several sites.

Having been pre-warned by others going down a similar route to be very wary of people opting to initially take certain items with the promise to return for the rest only to find they leave you in limbo and do not make a return visit ..... I wouldn't do it again, making several visits to the tip would have been by far  the easiest option, from not having to take care stripping them out, marking each part, carefully stacking and not waiting around for a no-show. 

I even made a video and took many photo's to assist re-assembly.

[incredible_how]

yes I'd agree, the ebay collection was often not the next day but the one after, so alway booked collection separately

[ev-530680]

Thing is I'm a private seller. & a big red box has just flashed up demanding my tax information for HMRC. Apparently when you get to 1700 in a year ebay is auto triggered to report to hmrc. When I go through government.uk though and do a test it says I don't need to pay anything. As personal items & none wete over 6k etc. My worry now though is even though hmrc say those results mean I don't pay. Am I going to get harrased by hmrc anyway because ebays flagging etc & are ebay going to restrict etc

[wintersdawn1]

• If you are selling unwanted personal possessions such as old toys or clothes, this would not be classed as trading or miscellaneous income, and there is usually no tax to pay. In some circumstances there may be capital gains tax when selling valuable items such as jewellery, this is covered in our flowchart.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/news/selling-online-make-sure-you-keep-clear-records

 

Do I have to share information with HMRC?

From January 2024, new UK digital sales reporting rules require digital platforms like eBay to share information with them. However, this reporting doesn’t change your tax obligations.

On eBay, this should only affect newly registered accounts in 2024, which will extend to all accounts in 2025.

eBay will only report if you pass certain yearly sales thresholds:

• If your total sales on eBay exceed €2000, or roughly £1740, after fees.

• If you complete 30 or more sales transactions on eBay.

In general, selling personal items is not taxed if they’re below £6,000 and you’re not selling as part of a business.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/selling/selling-online-and-hmrc

[notthatstanlee]

But.., but i sold my, one-piece, item, only for the buyer to open up a 'missing pieces' case!

Ebay, having agreed with me that the buyer couldn't possibly assume that the power leads he complained of were in the listing, they insist that i receive some item back, and eat the both-ways shipping!

TBH, they say that, if i'm good, they might  look into refunding some of the carriage but, sure - say what you like on your return reason, you're getting refunded, regardless if it's a baldface lie!

Ebay are such inhuman, capitalist pigs, these days, i'm surprised i haven't heard of some corporate takeover/doover, to explain the constant changing, and charging, and re-charging, and shifting liabilities, and unlimited indemnities that they sign you into.

I have to wind down this BS operation - the game is queer, the rules are bent, the odds? They're stacked against you!

[jennycattifer]

Why not give them a call and establish the position re tax...better to know rather than have a nasty shock down the road. there might even be some information on the HMRC website about these new rules for sellers 🙂

[lucy_farmer]

'My worry now though is even though hmrc say those results mean I don't pay. Am I going to get harrased by hmrc anyway...'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No! No you're not... HMRC have got more than enough on their plate chasing those 'under the radar' business sellers who are pretending to be private.

A quick look at the records of what *you* or (anybody else who has met the reporting limits) has sold, will sort that out for HMRC.

They're looking for people selling multiples of the same stuff, multiples of 'brand new', multiples of consumables etc etc..... if you're not in that group, they're not interested in you!

[henley-theatre-services]

Not sure if you have ever had the pleasure of trying to call HMRC but they are one of the worse companies to give customer service or get hold of. A colleague of mine has been trying to call them for over a month and last week left the phone on hold for 3.3 hours before giving up.

[henley-theatre-services]

I could not have written this better, spot on. A once almost fun site and user friendly service has become an annoying waste of time and money to use with added frustration, its generally nasty to use now with so many hoops to jump through we generally would be better of throwing our items in the trash than selling on the platform. My private UK site is beyond dead now, zero sales and our company selling page is now down 70% since the BS rules

[jennycattifer]

It's certainly not a pleasure...I hd cause to call them up some 15 years ago (happily not since) and even back then it was fairly bad, like maybe an hour on hold. rumour has it you might try on Tuesday or Wednesday...something to do with Monday, everyone has been waiting all weekend to sort out their issues, so is horendously busy... similarly Thursday and Friday, something to do with being paid on Friday and/or wanting to deal with things before the weekend...leaving Tuesday and Wednesday when seems there's a much higher chance of speaking to a human being.  Obvs things are now so bad that may no longer apply as people are likely to keep trying on a daily basis...worth a try though ?

[pkdick1973]

Clowns run eBay.

[suelel1968]

HMRC don't have time to investigate everyone on eBay, vinted, marketplace et al. But they do have access to a great deal of information, not just what eBay provides and a super computer to cross reference all the data. If people owe tax, pay tax, if you might owe tax, but fall under the threshold this year, register on self assessment and tell them you don't owe tax. Never risk getting caught in a lie is the best rule to follow with HMRC. People who are selling their own stuff on eBay have little to fear from HMRC because they will be no  records of the purchases in their bank accounts. 

[ccpr22]

Spot on and since you wrote this it's got worse.

[barry5911]

Calm down, the money is your no matter what.

This free selling is ( for me ) is really good, and them holding on to my money for a short time is no problem. They continually tell you what is in your account, so all is ok.

[1956glyn]

Just to add.....Ebay has not for a while now been a way to get "fast cash".   We too have no problem whatsoever waiting for funds BUT we have a massive problem with Simple Delivery as we just cannot comply with the terms and conditions regarding that 😞

[jennycattifer]

Except that for occasional sellers the added fees etc means you now have to offer your bits for almost nothing in order to spark any interest.  Might not matter overly much to those selling hundreds of items routinely but is pretty devastating for the rest......

[crafty_cat_lover]

As an occasional seller I've not found I have to offer my bits for almost nothing, in fact I've not changed my prices since BPF came in. I'm selling things I no longer need and, like a lot of private sellers, am happy to wait for a buyer who is willing to pay my price. I've actually found that my stuff is selling better than it did before all the changes, probably thanks to all those sellers who've deleted all their listings so a big thank you to them:)

[1956glyn]

In relation to your lovely craft items......maybe any increase in sales is due to current trends?

Where we live we used to have the odd general table top sale.....not nowadays

There seems to be only loads of table top craft sales

[jennycattifer]

Good for you...I expect it all depends on what you are selling. I'm simply mentioning my own experience without any exaggeration atall...

[barry5911]

Fair enough
Baz