Ebay Is Conning Us

[Anonymous]

So if I sell a vinyl record to someone for £4 it will cost the buyer £4.85? What is this nonsense? It won't be worth selling small items after Feb 4th. EBay are going to lose 1000s of sellers and buyers.

[goodibags]

On the one hand, Ebay is persuading genuine 'private sellers' to upgrade to business accounts, so more income for Ebay.

On the other, Ebay is also benefiting from the new buyer fees being paid when users buy from businesses operating as 'private' sellers.

If it works Ebay, why should they take any further action to 'solve' absolutely anything? Evidently, crime pays. 

[papso22]

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@Anonymous wrote:

"Unless you have an appreciating item, such as a collectable,  second hand items do not sell for more than they cost new. ".

Agree. I sell vinyl records from the 59s and 60s, the greater majority of which fall into this category.

Thanks for reminding me.

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Profit relates to what the person selling the item bought it for, not what someone before them paid for it new.

So if the first person who bought a record in the 60s paid £10 for it, and you bought it from a charity shop for 50p and sold it on ebay for £2, you made a profit (on your business sale), of £1.50.

If you bought it yourself when new for £10, kept it for 50 years, then sold it for £1.50, it's a personal sale and you should just be happy to get rid of it for something. 

If it was a collectable and for some reason had appreciated in value since you bought it new, then you might sell it for £50; while that might look like a profit, as a personal sale it isn't one for tax purposes. 

[abrahamtoast]

I've been lurking on this one, trying not to get involved.

However, what this situation is doing, is bringing out the very worst types of people selling on this platform.

Entitled individuals who want everything for nothing. eBay has given you free listings, and it has abolished sellers' fees, and still you do nothing but complain.

The payment hold is, in effect, the price sellers will now pay for selling on eBay. Take away the hysteria and pearl-clutching, and you realise, that's not really much of a big deal. Your money is safe; as soon as eBay confirms payment, it is, to all intents and purposes, cleared.

We'd all love eBay to do everything our way, with no cost to ourselves. However, most of us live in the real world and can see that life isn't like that.

I'd much rather eBay wasn't going to bring in its proposed changes. At the lower end of items in my collection, it won't be worth listing these items individually if I need to make an allowance for the BPF. However, above a certain pretty modest price point, I will still be better off (after reducing my costs to negate the buyers' fee) than I had been when selling fees were in effect prior to October 2024.

I'm now at the point where I say to eBay "Bring It On", and to all the moaning sellers "please, just go now, as you've said you will. We won't miss you. eBay won't miss you either; it will be a much more pleasant place without you, and you will very soon find out that the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

I haven't even mentioned the private/business account issue. You all know the truth on this, even though many of you are still in denial (or at least pretend to be).

[Anonymous]

And most records appreciate in value from this era.  And you'd have to prove I bought it for profit or it was my own. Most charity shops don't give receipts and it's general even these days cash only. £1.50 won't take me over the tax limit anyway

How many private people who buy an item from a charity shop and sell at an auction house for, let's say a 100% profit, actually declare it?  I don't know but I'd hazard a conservative guess at 1 in 10 at the best. Again even if you declare to the auction house it was yours originally in 1951 or a family heirloom, unless it was a Rembrtant it would be virtually impossible to prove.

[geckoware]

It looks to me like the Buyer Protection fee is 72p per item (plus a percentage), not 75p as advertised. Is this the same for everyone?

Very odd they would introduce a different fee to what they published.

[Anonymous]

"However, what this situation is doing, is bringing out the very worst types of people selling on this platform."

Oh really? Well I happen to be a top rated private seller.

Looking at your vinyl, some is very nice. Don't like your P&P charges though. £2.40 for a single? That's almost £1 over the top if your using RM 2nd Class. I can send 4 singles for that.

Maybe you need to get into the real world my friend.

[abrahamtoast]

Utter nonsense. A 7" single must be sent as a large letter. If properly packed, almost all will weigh over 100g, and will cost £1.90 by standard second class mail (and yes, I can send six or seven for that price - I do state in my listings that I will combine postage). When you factor in the cost of proper mailers, poly sleeves, etc., my price is perfectly reasonable, compares well with other seller's prices, and has not attracted any criticism from sensible buyers, who appreciate a good service.

You are illustrating my point better than you could if you had tried.

[game_raid]

You don't have to explain yourself, although I can see why you have.

At least there is sellers out there that understand the change, reasons and will learn to adapt to it, there is a lot that don't like this and expect everyone to follow their protest of ending listings and vowing never to return.

Good Luck with your sales, they are well deserved and you have one less vinyl seller to worry about.

[goodibags]

Er, you DID tell the seller with SIX items listed for sale that's it's ok to completely ignore the messages from Ebay telling him to upgrade to a business account? And that it was all down to Ebay's wayward 'algos'?

After all, it is important for us to do the RIGHT thing. We certainly wouldn't want the worst types of people on here.😊

[lucy_farmer]

'As an aside, we need the police to.enforce the law fairly regardless of age, sex, gender or ethnic origin. That is not happening under Two Tier Keir.'

For Heavens sake doumind!

Stop with the politics on here  and take it back to the Daily Mail website....

[papso22]

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@goodibags wrote:

Er, you DID tell the seller with SIX items listed for sale that's it's ok to completely ignore the messages from Ebay telling him to upgrade to a business account? And that it was all down to Ebay's wayward 'algos'?

After all, it is important for us to do the RIGHT thing. We certainly wouldn't want the worst types of people on here.😊

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When did I do that?  

It's never OK to ignore messages from ebay, Sometimes ebay gets those messages wrong, but the end result is hardly ever positive for the seller. 

[johnwash1]

"Just setup two accounts. One business and one Private. Sorted. Or just sell your own personal items. Why do you need to buy things to sell if its only a small bit?"

At first sight that sounds reasonable.  But tell me, these people who are selling off their own stuff but also buy a couple of things a month in the charity shop with the intention of selling them... is there a business seller plan for them that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

If there isn't, ebay are being rather foolish, I feel.  If there is, then this should be pointed out during these acrimonious recurring boring discussions (which I can see are necessary because some folk are too dense to understand the difference between tax and consumer law).

Edit to add: while in principle I like the idea of people taking their items along to charity shops when it becomes too much hassle for them to use ebay, in the real world, at least in my neck of the woods, the charity shops are really snooty about what they accept.

[vintique*violet]

It is either private or business accounts - nothing in between

eBay are not accounting for small " hobby sellers" ... whether that be crafting or buying from charity shops etc..they are not a business in the truest sense and some will not even make a " profit" it is for enjoyment and so would be a totally different " threshold" than bigger legitimate businesses.  Their HMRC requirements would be the same as it would come under " miscellaneous income" as they are not personal items so could be subjected to tax depending on their personal circumstances. 

But for eBay to have one " business" account and not differentiate between the "markets" so to speak  is bizarre to me.  

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately eBay either don't understand tax and consumer law, or more likely, couldn't care less as long as they get their ill gotten gains by ripping off private sellers left, right and centre. To be far its a HMRC problem not ebays to police it (oops first positive thing I've said about them in 2 weeks), but the tax man would spend more money chasing people making a few quid over the top so is never going to do it. Its like contesting a PCN: the more you contest it,  the most likely you'll win. It boils down to cost folks NOT as some here keep churning out, Tax or Consumer Law. Largely guidelines. You know don't take this wrongly but that old saying "Rules are made by idiots for  fools

to follow" has much to be said of it. Its all about interpretation to solve the problem. Its called common sense which seems to have deserted most people.The world is full of  grey areas,  not black and white.

[Anonymous]

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/Buyer-fee-how-to-calculate-total-Shipping-charge-sepa...

Copied from another thread.

What's own Help page gets it wrong.

Boycott this ******g site now! I'm totally missed off with the whole *bleep* show.

[jokers_toybox]

Any shop is required to provide a receipt (even hand written) upon request.

Just because you don't get offered one doesn't mean you can't ask

[jokers_toybox]

Can I just ask out of genuine curiosity, but as you have removed all your listings and don't intend to sell here any more, why haven't you left yet?

When something doesn't suit my business, I just leave it behind, I don't keep going back to complain, it's a waste of my energy.

[Anonymous]

Simple. I have suspended not removed yet, my listings pending what eventually happens with this stealth tax. I'll keep my account for the moment in case I purchase anything, although most of that will be via Amazon, sometimes a bit more, but I get points via Amex with them. I've also opened an account with Discogs.

But, and this is the main reason, I'm not prepared to let this junk of a company rip people off because they are incapable of running it. No probably won't win, but you have to make a stand. Its not in my nature to run a mile. Much like many people in this country who are beginning to wake up to Labour's destruction.

Have a good time on eBay!

[papso22]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Simple. I have suspended not removed yet, my listings pending what eventually happens with this stealth tax. I'll keep my account for the moment in case I purchase anything, although most of that will be via Amazon, sometimes a bit more, but I get points via Amex with them. I've also opened an account with Discogs.

But, and this is the main reason, I'm not prepared to let this junk of a company rip people off because they are incapable of running it. No probably won't win, but you have to make a stand. Its not in my nature to run a mile. Much like many people in this country who are beginning to wake up to Labour's destruction.

Have a good time on eBay!

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Please tell us what are you doing about it other than posting on these threads (which won't make any difference)?

[Anonymous]

"Please tell us what are you doing about it other than posting on these threads (which won't make any difference)?"

 Well several hundred posts would suggest enough people are interested in sending a message. Make a difference? Well I've suspended all my sale items for starters. I may even make a Ytube video! (Bet you won't like that).