Multiple identical business listings on a private account

[kazyann]

My friend has decided to sell her business products in her private Ebay account. She has about 900 listings, and now adds about 30 a month. She sails because she isn’t going over the 300. Ew listings limit per month that she is fine. Also, she is selling the same item repeatedly on multiple identical listings, with just the price altered in them. She has at least 13 listings for one item, each one has a price different of about 5 pence. Is she doing anything wrong?

[roger_roger_over_and_nowt]

This may help

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/selling-policies/business-seller-policy?id=4710

[cobwebcottage]

And this one - Duplicate listings policy | eBay

And more importantly, this one - Online and distance selling : Distance selling - GOV.UK

[4_bathrooms]

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@kazyann wrote:

Is she doing anything wrong?

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As above she is in breach of eBay's written policy. She is also breaking a number of consumer laws, the most serious of which is the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. The DMCCA makes it a specific criminal offence for a trader (business) to masquerade as a private seller.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Is this a windup?

As a business seller yourself, you should be well aware of the issues of using a private account.

[missdollydaydream]

Is April the first late this year?

[jonatjonatjonat]

I wouldn’t expect any counter arguement. Oddly the only people that would counter the arguement and are doing just that and believe they aren’t doing anything wrong never seem to pipe up on threads like this.

[the-nutwood-collection]

Yes, she's in the wrong.

However, she's one of tens of thousands of sellers that have spotted the eBay fee loophole and taken advantage of it.  She also knows - if she reads these boards - that eBay will do absolutely nothing to stop her enjoying reduced fees at the expense of business sellers.

The only fly in the ointment is the Vatman.  If the combined turnover of the associated entities is >£90k, then she'll be looking at paying retrospective VAT plus penalties.  That'll put a dent in her profits.