eBay Is Dead

[pinball-fantasies]

I am thinking eBay as a selling platform is dead since the seller protection was added ? I wonder if eBay have notice the decline in sellers since new rules started . In my 20 years of selling on eBay Ive never seen it like this

I have 20 watchers on my account , most of them are still selling but their sales have fallen to almost to nothing over the last 2 months and a few sellers have gone from the platform , its like all the buyers have gone

I wonder if eBay have notice the fall in sales or do they really care anymore

Is eBay a sicking ship and now doomed ?

[brit-cards]

Ooooops, didn't spot the thread. sorry World 😬

[1956glyn]

Ok i am posting about my recent experience.    

I am currently finding that only quality jewellery is selling and at a good price.   Inherited items so they have a sentimental value but i did not buy them.

Other quality items are not even getting a look in.   

So...................all i am currently listing is inherited jewellery.  

For the record i am having no issues in relation to withdrawing funds.  I am however finding that potential buyers want to know every single detail about my items listed and appear to be very very fussy.   For example i say exactly what the hallmarks say.......but still they want a close up picture of them.    These are often hard to photograph.   It can be frustrating because i think my account has enough credit in the bank for potential buyers to just take my word.

[cluckington-palace]

Ditto bet u don’t know what that means

[eastern_standard_time]

I wasn't replying to you, my comment was to the individual posting his own bizarre opinions as though they were facts, and making himself look rather silly in the process.

[brit-cards]

Apologies, I've worked it out now. Think I'm getting too old for these discussion boards 🙁

[storage.boutique]

Nothing like a polite, positive and constructive response!

No mention of what is nonsense so obviously I cannot respond. 

You insult someone and then say it is them that is embarassed - eh no! It is people that dont know how to conduct themselves n a public forum like social media that embarass themselves. 

I am quite happy with my comments - thats the digital reports for 2025 gone into the HMRC, I got mine today. I am very sure there will be a lot of people feeling a considerable amount of discomfort from now on. Up to you if you cant smell the coffee. 

I dont think eBay is dead at all. I think they have successfully changed their business model to clean up their act, get rid of some of the tat, and make it a more reputable place to sell. I notice a lot of traders on eBay sharpening their pencil and becoming limited companies or getting their accounting in order. The smaller crooked traders will of course complain and moan about being caught, but to be honest this has been coming for years and there have been plenty of notices. 

Good work eBay, I say, and good luck to the honest business people. 

Not bothered about saddos that have nothing to say except try (and fail) to insult honest businesses.

[leri.forsale]

If wasnt dead, would have better Feedback. Ebay has only 1.2*

CS is a joke. And my withdraw money dont work for months. I called them 30 times. The made me very unhappy. They still hold my money. Total joke.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Do you still believe that one is a business as soon as they do 30 orders or £1,740 of sales in a year? 

[yerton_dreamhouse]

This is our second account - we are the same limited company as the trading account storage.boutique. Sorry, didn't realise I was signed in to that account when I posted.

Of course, it is not for me to define what HMRC will call a business. The guidance is here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-goods-or-services-on-a-digital-platform#:~:text=A%20digital%20pl...

I think you are referring to the paragraph "Reporting by Platforms". My comment related to that. Our statement was sent to HMRC a few days ago now and we got a copy.

My business is a Limited company and so I pay corporation tax, paye, NI, VAT etc. I am happy to do so as it is only fair.

This thread, however, is about whether eBay is dead. In my humble opinion, there are a small minority of rogue traders who are feeling the net closing in. At the same time, I think eBay is tidying up its site to make it's reputation more in keeping with a modern trusted marketplace and so the two initiatives are squeezing out the nonsense. A few traders have been coasting for years and not paying appropriate taxes and are now feeling the pinch - blaming eBay or even other businesses for the predicament they find themselves in. 

Is eBay dead? I dont think so. I think more and more businesses will feel it is a trusted place to sell, and less and less rogue traders will risk trading here. The eBay share price in the last year (note todays date) is up almost 36%. This is low compared to the FTSE, but I think if eBay was dead it would be much worse.

So, my feeling is, no eBay is not dead, but a lot of vociferous traders may be. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

I was actually referring to this...

"Just to remind everyone, Private Sellers are those doing less than 30 sales per year or £1740 in income. Therefore it is not too unreasonable that such fellows should be paying extra fees due to the risk of a deal going wrong.

If there are still sellers out there who are trying to hold on to Private Seller accounts with more than these sales, well you kind of do deserve to pay extra fees for your daftness (or corruption). Check your feedback rating for the last 12 months, if it is more than 30, then you have the wrong type of account."

I have done more than 30 sales in the last year. I am however, not a business seller. I am only asking you now to clarify that statement above is incorrect - because stating things like the above could concern readers unneccessarily.

[yerton_dreamhouse]

Okay, I posted the HMRC guidance earlier. The AI summarises thus:

"HMRC defines an online business or seller as any individual or entity using digital platforms—websites or apps—to sell goods, provide services (like taxi driving or food delivery), or rent out property. This includes "side hustles" on platforms like eBay, Etsy, or Vinted, requiring reporting if income exceeds £1,000 or if 30+ items are sold annually."

It is therefore my humble opinion that if you have sold more than 30 items in the past year or £1740, then you really should have a business account on eBay. In all cases, over 30 items, your sales figures go into HMRC from eBay automatically and you may (or may not) be taxed accordingly. I believe HMRC will look at a number of metrics such as if you sell the same kind of thing over and over again and with your historic feedback rating and date of opening your account, I am sure they can come up with an assessment. If you have not been filing tax returns for your activity then you may (or may not) get an assessment for years gone by which it is then up to you to prove wrong.

There have been a few people try to claim they saved collections eg Vinyls up over many years and now this is them liquidating, or they inherited property (presumably declared in the IHT statement) but these have not washed. So it is better and safer to get your house in order right now and change to a business seller account and ensure your tax returns are filed appropriately.

[jonatjonatjonat]

Selling online and paying tax

A platform reporting your details to HMRC does not automatically mean you owe tax.

To pay tax on the goods or services you sell online, you must either be:

• trading
• making a capital gain

You’re unlikely to pay tax if you sell personal items from your home, like contents of a loft or garage.

If you buy or make goods to sell at a profit, you’re likely to be trading and will have to pay tax on your profits.

I would suggest you review ALL the page you linked to above.

[yerton_dreamhouse]

I think I said that. Selling under 30 items for instance is not regarded as a business. However, if say you were selling vinyls for years, consistently and in numbers, it would be extremely doubtful if you could argue these are my personal belongings. HMRC will take a view I am sure. All I am saying is that sellers should be wise about what they have been doing over the last few years and make decisions accordingly. The personal belongings route is a difficult one, and I am not sure it will hold much sway if the trader has consistently sold similar items for a number of years. 

I am happy with my thread responses and please remember this thread is about whether or not eBay is dead. I say no. 

I would also advise that I am a retired accountant that has had many, many years dealing with the HMRC, and I would simply advise anyone to make sure they have the correct account type and that their backdated tax returns are up to date. Recent cases have shown that HMRC assessments can be issued. My own father in law lost his business when he could not prove HMRC wrong. So personal possessions or inherited assets that you are now selling are not necessarily going to work - especially if the sales amounts are large, there is historical data on eBay, and these items all look remarkably similar eg selling the same type of item for years. Coimmon sense says its a business and it falls to you to prove it is not.

As this thread is about eBay being dead, I am not going to post any more on the tax issue. Good luck to all those traders who think they can convince HMRC that their activity online is not a business. 

[1956glyn]

Sorry but i think you are wrong.

Without going into too much detail.............inheritance tax is paid where applicable before Probate is issued.

So you saying that we should pay tax twice?

It is really easy for a genuine private seller without a collection to sell 30 items in a tax year.   So no they should not be forced into becoming a Business seller.          Yes i agree a lot of business sellers are trying to fly under the radar.  Saying that its obvious for some of the reasons you state who they are and these are the ones i believe HMRC will target first. 

[yerton_dreamhouse]

Hi, I never said this at all.

What I am saying is that sometimes people have been selling for say at least 7 years the same thing over and over again eg art and antiques. They have clearly sold a lot of value. I have seen someone try to say that all this was an inheritance and they are simply selling it off. In such a case (high value) there will be a paper trail statement to prove it was inherited and if IHT was due, it was paid. But, if there is no paper trail, the HMRC are perfectly entitled to reasonably view it as trading activity and issue an assessment.

I agree it is really easy for private people to sell 30+ items and they are not forced to become business sellers. What I am simply saying is that if you do sell more than 30 items, you should realise that HMRC will get a statement of your sales. If you are entirely comfortable with these being personal items and it doesnt look like trading activity at all, then you should not worry and have no problem. However, if you sell more than 30 items and have been doing so for a number of years, and these items all look like the same type of thing and the activity reasonably looks like trading, then it would be a wise thing to submit tax returns accordingly before an assessment may be sent to you for backdated tax. If you are confident that you can prove that it is not trading eg an IHT statement showing you inherited particular items, then you have nothing to worry about. I am simply advocating that people are not over confident and they make sure they are ready.

[thetechshed]

ITS MASSIVELY DECLINED, AND DUE TO CONSTANT REGULATION, FEE GREED, SETTING US UP TO FAIL, ALLOWING SCAMMERS, TAKING REGULATIONS AS A PART OF AVOIDING THE HEAVY ISSUES, KILLING NORTHERN IRELAND AND EU, 

VINTED, WHATNOT, AND OTHERS ALL CHIPPING AT EBAYS FINALITY, WHILE THE EBAY STAFF SIT ON THEIR BEAN BAGS IN LONDON ON THEIR IVORY TOWERS REFUSING TO HELP THE SELLERS, ITS BREAKING UP AND SINKING

[moonlight-rhapsody]

"I think eBay is tidying up its site to make it's reputation more in keeping with a modern trusted marketplace"

WHAT???

I can only think that you must have a vested interest in ebay, because I and many other people would consider that ebay's reputation is on the floor as far as a trusted marketplace goes.

Just one example is the fact that business sellers passing themselves off as private sellers is rife.  Some “private" sellers even proudly announce that they are a “small family business”.  Others make no secret of the fact that they are a limited company, but still trade on a private account, thus bypassing not only ebay’s fees but also the customer's rights.  Others have thousands of brand new items for sale, or many multiples of the same item.  Businesses masquerading as a private seller would be one of the easiest anomalies for ebay to identify and correct, but how often do they take action, even when such sellers are reported by other members?  There is precious little evidence that they take any action at all.

That’s just one example, and I can’t stay here long enough to go into others.  Suffice it to say that it’s cropped up on multiple occasions on this forum that ebay has self-destructed as far as its own reputation is concerned.

[sml192]

---

@yerton_dreamhouse wrote:

Okay, I posted the HMRC guidance earlier. The AI summarises thus:

"HMRC defines an online business or seller as any individual or entity using digital platforms—websites or apps—to sell goods, provide services (like taxi driving or food delivery), or rent out property. This includes "side hustles" on platforms like eBay, Etsy, or Vinted, requiring reporting if income exceeds £1,000 or if 30+ items are sold annually."

---

Well that last bit shows how reliable AI is.  Those are two completely separate thresholds for two different purposes and it's 30 transactions not items.

[nothing.anymore]

Stop relying on AI. Use your brain.

Ebay did get much worse in the last couple of years. I only buy now, but still check what people discuss on the sellers forum to be aware of any new nonsence ebay introduced because some of it affects me as a buyer too.

[theelench]

Same here but I still look in most days hoping that ebay will see some sense and back-track.