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kat@ebay wrote:

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@pg_kicks wrote:

Hi, 

 

Sorry in advance if this has been questioned and answered (just not solved) but do eBay have any plans to solve the very large issue of businesses using private accounts, I don't mean the ones who sell a lot of second hand items which could be argued that they are just emptying a relatives house or the ones selling a large collection of items (stamps/glass) but ones who have 300 brand new recently released sneakers, or 200 items of clothing (different sizes/sexes) all with tags on. 

 

I know you can report these but nothing happens, not only are they screwing over genine business sellers who pay the correct fees but most importantly they are trading illegally and stopping customers from returning the item which is the law.

 

The report system just doesnt seem to work for many issues so giving this as the possible solution just isnt really acceptable tbh, thats just ebay agreeing there is an issue but then accepting they will not solve it exactly the same as how many fake items are still being sold on eBay even though many users report.

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Hi @pg_kicks ,

 

I understand the frustration with these accounts.  There is alot of action taken on such accounts but its not always visible to yourself or other users due to not being able to share when such action is taken.  Each time we get a report we share this forward as well so we do push as much as we can. However the process right now is to report the listings through the site and this is the process that needs to be followed. This allows the reviews to be done by the correct team.

 

Thank you,

Kat

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I think part of the issue is that ebay seem to have never managed to get their head around the difference between reaching the VAT registration threshold and trading below it (but this is still classed as trading) as the only examples we ever see of businesses being forced to upgrade are when their sales are at a level where they'd be nudging the VAT threshold if they continued at that level of turnover. Aside from those businesses, no action is ever taken against long-standing traders who are openly trading illegally. I say trading illegally because ebay's account set-up means that it's not possible to comply with legislation with a private account.

@pg_kicks  is correct that reporting is pointless. This is the sort of situation where we can clearly see that the correct action has been taken - as the correct action is that the account becomes a business account. When you revisit the reported accounts months and years after reporting and find they are still trading illegally then you know that the correct action has not been taken.

There are accounts that have been doing this for well over a decade and even with multiple openly linked private accounts with no upgrade ever required in spite of annual turnover of tens of thousands of pounds. We're not talking about the are they trading/are they not query accounts.

When you have an ebay account or group of linked accounts where they openly state on their seller profile and in their item descriptions that they are trading and/or where they can be seen to be buying their stock on ebay then immediately listing it for sale back on ebay (badges of trade) then there needs to be a report seller flow for this specific thing. And in those cases where it would take a human less than ten seconds to see irrefutable proof of trading, reports need to be acted on by ebay requiring business registration and legal trading. We know it can be done as we see ebay act pretty instantaneously on any account that they fear might breach the VAT threshold (because they know the law holds them jointly liable in those cases). 

Please can you feed this back and request a proper reporting option and that reports are acted on?