FREE for Private Sellers to Sell Pre-Loved Clothing Items on .co.uk as of Today! *08/04

[bits_n_bobs_heaven]

Hi folks,

As from today, it's now FREE for private sellers to sell any pre-loved clothing item listed from today or those pre-loved clothing items already listed which sell from today (8th April) will not be charged any basic listing fee's or FVF's. Optional extras fee's still apply.

Obvious items excluded: - Accessories: hats, footware, watches, bags, jewellery ect.............

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/fashion-selling/#

Happy selling! 😊

[rainbowtrax]

Principles don't put food on the table. As no one else cares, maybe it's time to go against your morals and start trading from a private seller account. Ebay don't care, TS don't care, HMRC don't care as long as you pay your taxes, buyers don't care as long as they still get the same returns options. So, at the end of the day, why should you care?

[sarahq1962]

will that happen though?? they are still private sellers....so don't have the same rules as business sellers re returns etc - I also wonder if Ebay will relax this too for private sellers - and not allow returns etc....like Vinted or only 2 days to register a problem...

[sarahq1962]

it's heartbreaking isn't it! It's like they want the big companies like Joules etc and the person selling a few things but not the people in the middle - so pushing them out by charging so much.....

[btr.style]

It does no good. 

People have reported private business accounts for years. People have mentioned it in "community chats" every week. 

It doesn't matter whether it's 10 or 500,000, it's a head office decision and that's that. 

It will sound negative but it's true....but better off writing something on a piece of paper and throwing it in the bin. eBay is a business and nobody or any amount of people can sway anything. 

I'd say keep an eye on your sales and try and find an alternative soon. That's all we can do. 

[sarahq1962]

my problem is I have been a business seller for a long time and although hard have repeat customers / some visibility and good feedback etc. ...also all my listings on my business account. I have a feeling if I started a private account I would get no visibility etc and that wouldn't work either.....I had a private account years ago for a few things to see and I sold nothing.....I want to keep my business account and provide a good service but not pay so many fees etc and be at a disadvantage to private sellers.....

[*devils.advocate*]

will that happen though?

Yes, already happens.

private sellers....so don't have the same rules as business sellers re returns

Hence the false INAD cases.

[sarahq1962]

Yes I agree with this

[a45heaven]

You are possibly right on some level -

ebays battle with the 'River' didnt go too well for ebay and its current standing in the economic world.

Now ebay have had the sense to set their sights lower and take on the Charity Shops and Charity donations - Help The Aged , Cancer, Local Hospices,  RNLI,  RSPCA and such. 

Maybe the folks who rely on those places wont be concerned about morale's and putting food on the table, once the supply of used clothes which they survived on are used to help ebay survive thru the 'Private Sellers' encouraged actions.

[btr.style]

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@rainbowtrax wrote:

Principles don't put food on the table. As no one else cares, maybe it's time to go against your morals and start trading from a private seller account. Ebay don't care, TS don't care, HMRC don't care as long as you pay your taxes, buyers don't care as long as they still get the same returns options. So, at the end of the day, why should you care?

---

Here here!!!

Morals only work to a certain point. Many eco friendly people wouldn't be so eco friendly if it cost them money to do so (we all got by with metal bins with rubber lids for putting bin bags into). When it comes down to my livelihood, staying in business or going bust, I'll always opt for the former. 

I guess I do have some good morals because I'm happy to speak out about such a wrong, even though eBay could click the ban button and stop me trading. I'll comment all day if I have to. So I guess if I did something "naughty" to stay in business, keep food on the table and provide a decent service, then so be it. 

[catinbluedress]

Whilst of course it's wrong and grossly unfair that business sellers are effectively being penalised, I feel that this move will ultimately attract a lot more footfall (sellers are also buyers) to eBay in general as imo it's a far superior platform to Vinted. 

Vinted just make up their rules as they go along. It's not a very good place for buyers or sellers. They can - and frequently do - randomly issue permanent selling bans for any, or indeed no apparent reason, with no discussion. Proceeds from sales can simply be lost with no recourse and no way of getting back on the site to enter into dialogue.

[btr.style]

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@sarahq1962 wrote:

it's heartbreaking isn't it! It's like they want the big companies like Joules etc and the person selling a few things but not the people in the middle - so pushing them out by charging so much.....

---

That's sadly it. They have no cares for any of us. Ten a penny to them. 

I truly loved business. It was a dream to set up selling clothing. Such a huge thing for me and getting some perks like stock for myself that I pushed and pushed to make it a success. Good logos (with good money paid to have them created), working all hours. Considering 5 years ago I was on employment and support allowance for severe depression and struggling with autism, it's damn good going to come off it voluntarily and turn things around. The business all started under permitted work and when it was taking off, I ended my claim to go full time. 

Then came the whole impact of the ongoing private business seller fee promos and none for business sellers. Slowly I grew to not enjoy business as much thanks to eBay but carried on because I had no choice. I used to carry huge mailer bags of packaged items a long way to drop them off in the early days. 

I dealt with doubters, people saying I'm just throwing my money into rubbish to try and get the business working well. The business cost me the last of my family, it was all I ever did or had in life. 

It worked.....but eBay have been a constant thorn in my side. Preventing growth, putting me under more pressure and now at this rate after today's announcement I'll be struggling. I want out massively. I really have no passion for clothing anymore. Sick of the sight of the same old c*** day in day out. Forking out all that money in fees, which would mean a lot to me, while the competition is handed no fees at all. 

[catinbluedress]

Whilst of course it's wrong and grossly unfair that business sellers are effectively being penalised, I feel that this move will ultimately attract a lot more footfall (sellers are also buyers) to eBay in general. I've used Vinted a lot for both buying & selling and imo eBay knocks the spots off Vinted on every count. Both buyers AND sellers are treated shamefully on there.

There is NO protection on Vinted and they only ever seem to crack down on decent buyers & sellers whilst siding with the thousands of scammers, fake item sellers and the plain dishonest users. Buyers also expect stuff for next to nothing. Vinted charge a 'buyers protection fee' which doesn't actually protect buyers from anything; it's just how Vinted make their money which is fair enough but don't call it something it isn't. Sellers often misdescribe items but the buyer has to pay to return it (sellers have the option to pay but almost always choose not to) so is unfairly left out of pocket. In the event a buyer returns a faulty item (and pays return p&p) they cannot leave feedback for the seller, so a seller's feedback can look perfect, despite having had 100 items returned!

Vinted make up their rules as they go along and don't apply them equally, eg they are happy to allow the sale of used filthy socks (try reporting such a listing & they'll say it doesn't break their rules!) yet will immediately delete a listing for a packaged set of brand new tea towels - despite household textiles being a legit category! They can - and frequently do - remove legit listings, yet allow countless other non-legit ones and randomly issue permanent selling bans for any, or even no apparent reason, with no appeal. Any outstanding proceeds from sales can then simply be lost with no recourse and no way of getting back on the site to even enter into dialogue about it.  Just take a look at the posts on the Facebook groups formed on the back of this situation.

I'd never list on Vinted again, knowing what I do and welcome this move by eBay - I would just like to see them play fair with business sellers.

[pg_kicks]

Sellers dont even care about returns in my categories, must be 100 fake businesses to every 1 real and amazingly the 15 I have saved seem to get new stock every 2 weeks, its like something happens those 2 weeks. They are able to undercut me as they are not paying fee's its a joke.

@sarahq1962visibility could be solved by promoting, I hate it as we are basically paying eBay to show our items that we have paid to list, items should be based on merit not on who pays more but if you are not paying 12% fees you could have 6% promotions.

I genuinely can not wait to hear what eBay have to say about this at the Roadshow, a room full of business sellers 1 week after they basically said we dont care about business accounts, you can pay for the illegal traders to undercut you.

[btr.style]

How could it though? Everyone knows eBay, it's why alternatives like depop and vinted came along. 

eBay has a bad search engine and even with it's problems, vinted has many more business sellers (or items from business sellers) than private combined. 

They'll come over, of course registering on a private account because what's the incentive otherwise? Why would a not allowed vinted business seller paying no fees come over to ebay to register as a business? They wouldn't. It would be private account or nothing. 

So with the clothing market way more saturated, you think most of those sellers who get in loads of clothing items wholesale would then buy off those correctly registered as a business paying full fees? 

When I started the business, I stopped buying clothing via retail as why? I get it cheap enough wholesale and can just pick my own clothing from that. 

It will create a more saturated market and while that's good for buyers, it's bad for clothing sellers, especially those who are doing it by the book and are business registered. 

[catinbluedress]

I totally get what you're saying but surely 99% of vintage clothing consists of one-offs. It's not as though a dozen other sellers are going to be selling  identical items to yours, thereby creating competition, so it's comparing apples with oranges.

I buy vintage for myself and speaking for the way I personally shop (which I guess is the same way that many others shop too) I know what I'm looking for, and if you happen to have what I want, I'll be buying it from you.

I do recognise though that there's going to be tough competition for business sellers with brand new mass produced items as buyers will look for the cheapest deal.

[btr.style]

It doesn't matter whether it's "vintage" or one offs. 

This announcement is for ALL clothing. So yes, a private seller can sell any clothing, new, new with defects, used without any fees at all. 

So in other words, a private seller can buy in, wholesale, scalping, sale hunting, brand new clothing and then sell it on for profit on their private account with £0 fees at all, not just used items. 

If I or other business owners went to a trade auction and purchased pallets of brand new stock....and so did some of those on private accounts. They could list the items and sell them with no fees whatsoever. Who will buyers buy from? Likely the much lower price. 

[sarahq1962]

exactly - private sellers can sell items cheaper as no fees - that's it and they aren't really "private" sellers most of them - so very unfair imo. They also don't have to abide by returns rules etc like business sellers - the only hope I guess is buyers who want the security of buying from a "professional" I guess and the repeat buyers that you build up by providing a good service and being honest....

[sarahq1962]

I wouldn't mind if there was a cap of say 50 items or something but Ebay are saying nothing about this - so I guess anything goes.....will private buyers have to accept returns?? I don't think so.....very very unfair on business sellers.....they have just increased the fees recently too.....

[btr.style]

What I'd say is eBay have known about this for a while. 

To fund the initial decided gamble, they increased fees with jewellery, did away with any feedback promo for businesses and have made other behind the scenes changes. 

It would have been known for at least 6 months. 

The ****** (it's not really a swear word) is I've just done in a huge pile of cash on clothing stock out of my own pocket, putting myself in debt and my passport expired last year so I'm screwed for registering at depop. There is no more going forward with eBay as I will forever begrudge the situation knowing what everyone knows (private account business sellers) and I'm not happy to pay the fees to make less money than them selling the same stock purchased from the same wholesaler and I'm hardly going to take a loss trying to compete. 

[catinbluedress]

Depending on what any individual ebay buyer is looking for, they will search for the item they want in the style/colour/size they want and depending on their budget (and possibly also the seller's feedback ratings) if the price suits them and everything else tallies up, they'll purchase it.

If I'm specifically looking for a 1950s fitted burgundy jacket, I won't be interested in a pair of 1970s check trousers, however cheap they are.

And yes, whether an item is vintage or a mass produced / widely available modern item does make a HUGE difference, as with the former it's very unlikely / impossible that multiple sellers will have the same item.