Have suspended all sales due to Simple Delivery - Absolute Joke of a policy!

[foyersguy]

What a god awful system this is and as such Ive suspended all of my listings as Simple Delivery simply does not work for my business

The vast majority of my items are small car parts which fit into letter envelopes, SImple delivery has increased costs to my buyers maming most items now unsellable at 0.99 - 1.99 each. Also, living in a remote area with limited Post Office Hours where I used to rely on my parents to post items on my behalf when I wasnt there means my entire small business model is now not viable!

Ebay, sort yourselves out!

[krafty-kreations]

To be fair I have sympathy as I think ebay could be a lot clearer with users in educating them on which type of account(s) they should have and why it's an important  legal requirement.

Personally I think anyone who is signing up to sell on any online selling site should be making sure they are using the right account and complying with all policies and laws before they list their first item. 

eBay however should be enforcing it.

[foyersguy]

Lol and that shows exactly the type of ignorance that's been quite common in the replies. Not all sellers are running a fully fledged business, it's not necessarily a living for a lot of people, it can be supplementary or even for some a hobby!

But that maybe highlights exactly where eBay has gone very very wrong , forgetting the reason I was started and focusing primarily.om 'big business '

[foyersguy]

Also depends on if someone has multiple streams of very different businesses when declaring their taxes on all combined income streams in a year, which again is entirely possible for people where eBay is not their sole income stream or wage for example 

[foyersguy]

Incorrect, hobby selling does exist and for example items such as knitting or craft items may fall into it. The £1000 threshold applies there

[foyersguy]

Apparently people here take the word 'business' in quotes I add, very literally!!

Seeing as it needs such explanation for People let's call it 'selling model' where I sell items ordered lately, in a remote Scottish region, at a threshold that is private seller, where a post office is barely open, I work away from home most of the time but my parents, not computer literate, would pack up items for me and take them to the post office

Yes Simple delivery doesn't work for that 'selling model' and you know, in this part of the remote Highlands, this is actually how people do still live! 

[akemp1]

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@goodibags wrote:

I'm happy to admit to having bought large job lots and selling on the ones I don't need. It used to be called 'collecting' and Ebay users did this for many years (admittedly, it's become a LOT harder now).

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Yes I think it was very common in the first 2 decades of people using ebay collecting beanie babies etc.

I do think it is a bit harsh on the genuine vintage collector who might only want to keep 1 very rare item in a joblot and has no need for the other items and only wants to realise their residual value for that to be treated as a trading activity but those are the rules and guidelines.

I also think it's quite a barrier that ebay require traders to open a business account to be compliant and maybe it would be better if they developed the functionality to enable people to classify each listing as either a personal listing or a trading listing within the same account for it to be compliant with the relevant requirements.

[akemp1]

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@foyersguy wrote:

Incorrect, hobby selling does exist and for example items such as knitting or craft items may fall into it. The £1000 threshold applies there

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The hobby element may well exist in people's minds but the government are clear that the £1000 allowance is for trading income. It makes no difference if the trading (buying or making to sell) is your main job or a side hustle it's still classified as income.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income

Ebay require a business account for trading to be compliant with consumer law. As  4_bathrooms has already pointed out it can be a criminal offence to trade under the guise of a private seller.

Those are the rules and we don't make them it's better to accept them than fight it.

If you strongly want some different rules then I can only suggest lobbying your MP.

[jonatjonatjonat]

When exactly then does it become a ‘fully fledged business’?

At what point in buying stock to sell should that occur?

[foyersguy]

Incorrect, the guidance fully exists about when does a hobby become a business!! 

[jonatjonatjonat]

Agree with all of that, though the sympathy erodes when facts are pointed out here. Very rarely does someone go ‘gosh, you might have a point’

its always ‘it’s just a hobby really’

[pegr-834437]

There is no threshold for a private seller or a business, you are either one or the other. If you buy to sell or make to sell you are a business, if you are selling unwanted personal items you are a private seller, there is no grey area, you are one or the other. This is what you dont seem to be understanding, I cant see what you sell as eBay for some reason just gives me blank screens but if you are just selling old football boots, a fishing rod and a kayak then you're a private seller, if you are selling a whole range of items brand new with tags in different sizes that you have purchased to sell on you are a business. Thats the only threshold no value, quantity, hobby or anything.

[foyersguy]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-tell-hmrc-about-your-income-from-online-platforms

This is a great link for helping people.decide where business and private selling accounts may or may not be required. The difference here being that not everyone is trading, it may be unwanted items for example. So my sympathy erodes when people don't try and understand the wider nuances that legally exist and do directly impact how people use eBay!!

[akemp1]

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@jonatjonatjonat wrote:

Agree with all of that, though the sympathy erodes when facts are pointed out here. Very rarely does someone go ‘gosh, you might have a point’

its always ‘it’s just a hobby really’

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It must be a shock to have something that you thought you understood for 25 years being clarified. I can see how many people including myself would have difficulties with that. I probably only really understood it after about 20 years. I can only suggest the OP gives it some time to settle in their mind and does some research by following the links the forum members have provided.

[foyersguy]

Incorrect - look at the following ... This advice shows clearly what may or may not constitute declared and undeclared income.hence business and trading , you wouldn't register as a business to sell unwanted attic items for example 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-tell-hmrc-about-your-income-from-online-platforms

[akemp1]

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@foyersguy wrote:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-tell-hmrc-about-your-income-from-online-platforms

This is a great link for helping people.decide where business and private selling accounts may or may not be required. The difference here being that not everyone is trading, it may be unwanted items for example. So my sympathy erodes when people don't try and understand the wider nuances that legally exist and do directly impact how people use eBay!!

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Yes absolutely selling unwanted personal items is fine on a personal account as I said earlier but you declared at the start you were running a business with a small business model that was becoming unviable due to SD.

[pegr-834437]

I'm guessing you didnt read when I said fi you are selling unwanted personal items, you would be a private account. Again if you are buying to sell or making to sell you need to be a business account, if you are selling unwanted personal items you can be a private account. The amount in value or quantity doesnt matter, you might need to pay capital gains if a single item sells for more than I believe £6k but why you'd be selling that on eBay is another question.

You can send as many links as you like but it helps to read what i say before putting up a link.

Are you selling unwanted items or stuff you've purchased and 'flipping', if its a joblot and you only want 1 then its flipping, if its multiples of the same thing in numerous sizing then HMRC will take a lot of convincing that its not a business too. Again though I cant see what you're selling due to the bug otherwise I could take a pretty good guess myself.

[foyersguy]

And as later said 'business' in quotes being taken literally by people not understanding any form of nuance and assuming everyone is running a fully fledged business. I rest my case 

[foyersguy]

And it helps if you understand the scenarios your are ignoring and assuming every seller must be running a fully fledged business. That is not the a actual case for a good number of sellers on eBay - in fact I'd go as far to say it was the introduction of businesses to eBay which really spoiled eBay and turned it into this hot porch it currently is. 

Amounts and quantities do have significant impact on what type of account you choose to use - the total yearly transactions over over 30 or totalling over £1740 in a calender year on a private seller account would mean a report over to HMRC for example. That does leave a weird grey area between £1000 turnover before declaring to HMRC and the £1740

The simple point is your are failing to understand significant details for people who do low level sales activity, regardless!!

[akemp1]

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@foyersguy wrote:

And as later said 'business' in quotes being taken literally by people not understanding any form of nuance and assuming everyone is running a fully fledged business. I rest my case 

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Sadly the rules don't include a test of if the trading activity is 'fully fledged' to require consumer protection via an ebay business account. I'm not trying to justify the rules, it's just what they are.

[pegr-834437]

Again you are just making random stuff up, a business can sell 10 things and still be a business, a private account can sell 40 and be a private account. I'm pretty sure you're just a wum at this point, you're either a business or a private seller fully fledged is just some fancy buzz words that mean absolutely nothing. Read what I have said numerous times, if you are buyer/making to sell you are a business, if its personal items (1 or 100) you are a private account. Whatever else you have read and come up with great, but its wrong. I cba having the pointless back and forth with you though as you are not reading what anyone is saying when you were caught out and now backtracking and throwing random links or figures around which mean absolutely nothing.

Hope you have great sales on eBay.