My Introduction to becoming a Business Seller with Ebay.

[legonosis]

I contacted Ebay Customer support 2.5 weeks ago in regards an offer I had seen to change my account from a private selling account to a business account.  This offer said I would get no final value fees, a free shop and other incentives to upgrade.  I asked the lady if this was all still available and she said yes and we upgraded my account.  The lady stated (I record all calls) that the offer would automatically come through and I would get my perks in a day or so.  This didn't happen, so I called Ebay, as at this stage my account was now a business account and I was getting charged for listing items (before on private this did not happen).  I was informed by the 3rd agent I spoke too that the offer was not available anymore and that the girl I spoke to in the first place had given me false information.  Obviously I was not happy.  He assured me we could find a comprimise and that I would be contacted within 24-48 hours by the back room team to resolve matters.  This did not happen so I called in again, to be told the case was still open and I would get contact soon.  7 days after the first complaint was passed to the back room team to discover nothing was happening as a German lady told me so.  So the previous agents had also feed me false information, the German lady assured me she would send it through and I would get contact ASAP.  Guess what?  Still not heard anything, I'm no longer listing as most of my items are 5-10 pound Lego Figures and 36p is a substantial amount of the sale and after the deciet of Ebay I'm very unhappy.  I have been pleasant with all the agents (My work experience includes managing a high street stores websites call centre) and yet from my perspective Ebay are acting disgracefully.  To not even recieve a call-back despite constant assurances they will, is unacceptable.  My initial imprssions of becoming a business seller are awful, as if I cannot trust what an Ebay agent tells me, then what real help can they be?  To make matters worse the commercial department contacted me to say what a great job I had done, as my business account will instantly become a top rated selling account and would I like mentoring by him?  It's Hilarious, with one hand you reward me and with the other ensure I don't really want to use your website anymore.  I would like some sort of contact to discuss this situation, my sales have plummeted and my first impression of being a business seller is one of the worst first impressions I have ever seen.  I have been a business seller on an older account as well and I certainly didn't have these issues in 2008.

[*vyolla*]

I believe that the cut off time to convert to a business account and receive the free shop offer and other incentives was 4th September.

You had to 1) receive the offer and 2) accept it by that date.

[papso22]

You are not the first and you won't be the last person to get the wrong advice from ebay CS.  At least you are now trading legally though.

[rainbowtrax]

Ebay CS regularly tell people what they want to hear just to get them off the phone. Not acceptable but that's how it is. At the end of the day you've had nearly five years of private seller freebies and offers that you shouldn't actually have had so it's swings and roundabouts.

[rainbowtrax]

Also, you'd be better of subscribing to a shop. Even just a basic shop would save you fees as the break even point for just BIN listings is only 90 a month and you're already way above that even after the ones you have ended. You need to read up on the fees page here: Fees for business sellers | eBay and do some number crunching to work out the most cost effective way to run your business going forward.

[legonosis]

I was made aware of that by the 2nd agent, if the 1st had been competent I would not have changed my account.  I already have a business account.  My issue is with the false information that changes customer choices.  Any agent should have been able to check the date and in this case they did not, having experience working in this arena as a senior manager I am horrified at the reaction, more lies.  No one is going to call back, no one is going to discuss it.  Agents say they will comprimise, next one says don't bother it's not worth it, shocking state of affairs to get such customer service.

[legonosis]

I find that reply rather cheeky as I've only ramped things up in the last few months.  Perhaps if Ebay tried communicating better than a pop-up on the ebay app about the OFFER (it's not an offer in these circumstances it's an ultimatium, big difference) on the day of expiry, then people would have understood better, but alas.  No prior communication was made, nor warnings made and nothing at ALL was present in my selling dashboard nor messages, nothing just 1 pop-ups at 7am in the morning.  No company I have ever worked for acts like this nor treats their customers like this and replies with more lies and false promises.  I wouldn'y have any faith in Ebay to support or help a business start and grow. 

I'm not currently listing, my 1st experience as a business seller is extremely negative and the reaction makes matters worse, it's called customer service, not customer dis-service.  There are other platforms to sell on at the end of the day.

[legonosis]

Thanks for the advice, please don't post anymore 👍

[homedecordesigns]

ebay did the same too us.. it was a scam to get you to change to a business account as private sellers don't face final value fees anymore. bays reputation is mud.

[papso22]

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@homedecordesigns wrote:

ebay did the same too us.. it was a scam to get you to change to a business account as private sellers don't face final value fees anymore. bays reputation is mud.

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How can it be a scam to get you to stop breaking a number of laws?  The account you are posting from is very obviously one that is being used to run a business, so correctly registered. 

[*vyolla*]

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@homedecordesigns wrote:

ebay did the same too us.. it was a scam to get you to change to a business account as private sellers don't face final value fees anymore. bays reputation is mud.

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Are you talking about this account you're posting on?

This is most certainly a business account.

A private seller is one who is just selling off their own personal items such as clothes from their wardrobe, bits from their loft/garage etc. They don't have loads of brand new mirrors and multiples of brand new furniture to sell.