Help! Ebay wants me to upgrade to a business account.

Aputsiaq

deal_hunter wrote: »

personally i cant see why people have to 'shop' people in...leave it to ebay to deal with.

if someone is making abit of money so be it... good on them!

the tax man takes enough from a working person as it is...

also i see sellers with ebay shops but it doesnt say they registered business sellers.. is this possible? surely if u got an ebay shop then u r a buisness?!!

Ebay do NOT monitor listings. They rely on the community to look after the community.
Ebay is a community where you want to shop or sell safely and fairly and to do that you need to report anyone who spoils it.....for the good of everyone.

The Tax man has nothing to do with Ebay and registering as a business on Ebay does not mean you pay Tax

soolin

There is a thread on the community boards started by this seller who has also been told to sign up as a business or be banned from selling;

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/deanryan1506/

364 items all brand new and seller doing their pieces on the boards inisisting they are definitely not trading.

EDIT: Do read the thread on the community boards as it is pricelss, seller claims to be 14 (so opened his acocount when he was 8), the popcorn is running out fast.

http://forums.ebay.co.uk/thread.jspa?threadID=1200343227&tstart=0&mod=1269276669427

Nazitf

Mrs_Money wrote: »

By the way, I submitted my claim for Business seller exemption at 3.50pm yesterday - no reply yet. They are usually faster than that in my experience.

Were you successful in getting the exemption?

Mrs_Money

Money_maker wrote: »

And I am a private seller with just over 3000 fb (100%).
But I have been around a long time...
And I only have a few outgrown clothes and books listed - with lots of clutter to list in the future.

Yep, just like me and I relist all my items (at 99p) every week (much more than I sell) so I would like to know how do Ebay judge a business - is it on what you sell, how much you sell, how much you list, how much you relist or how much feedback you have? There must be some criteria but they're not telling me - I finally got an answer from them today (the deadline for private account!) to say:
"I have now reviewed your account and can confirm that the selling
activity indicates that your account is functioning as a business" So the short answer is, they have refused to believe I am not a business and my appeal for exemption has been refused.
How can they say that?
For example my husband's boxed unwnated model car collection is sitting on the landing waiting to be listed (can't now of course) but if I could, that would be over 20 very similar items - would that make me a business - no.
Trouble is they've got us all by the proverbial short and curlies - where else can you clear out and sell a whole load of stuff - our free ads paper is dire - no-one ever buys anything from me!
I have no choice but to upgrade my account to a business and perhaps open another private sellers account - I can't sell all my little rubbish items for 99p and pay Paypal, Ebay listing and exit fees - wouldn't be worth it!

soolin

Yet another seller has now started a thread on the community board as they are another one who has been told they need to upgrade:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/lizals

sells every size from a 6 -24 and so many different bras that she must be a funny shape and all those brand new items in so many sizesd as well

Going back to the oP though, it seems that ebay have been trawling the listings as there are so many people all saying that they have been told to upgrade.

darkside2010

Originally Posted by deal hunter
personally i cant see why people have to 'shop' people in...leave it to ebay to deal with.

if someone is making abit of money so be it... good on them!

the tax man takes enough from a working person as it is...

also i see sellers with ebay shops but it doesnt say they registered business sellers.. is this possible? surely if u got an ebay shop then u r a buisness?!!

alfiesmum Maybe the point being that if EVERY working person was honest about their earning including the people using eBay as a business, then the rest of us wouldn't bear the burden of paying their share.


Why are some people so against others trying to make a bit of money, I could say to you, I pay a lot more tax than you, to pay for your children ie education, family tax credits etc etc etc, so my tax burden is usually to benefit people with children yet you are obsessed with people trying to make a few quid on ebay you have to report them... shocking

jano.0795

Hi I have also been told by e bay that I must upgrade to business account. Im not a business.............. I have been selling on e bay now since last march, I started to get rid of all my clothes I didnt wear or fit into anymore, then my family give me the odd thing or two, so how is that classed as a business? Im confused, I just thought I would make a bit of cash to pay for my bills, what is so wrong in that? I work so how can I be classed as a business and work at the same time.

soolin

jano.0795 wrote: »

Hi I have also been told by e bay that I must upgrade to business account. Im not a business.............. I have been selling on e bay now since last march, I started to get rid of all my clothes I didnt wear or fit into anymore, then my family give me the odd thing or two, so how is that classed as a business? Im confused, I just thought I would make a bit of cash to pay for my bills, what is so wrong in that? I work so how can I be classed as a business and work at the same time.

Firstly your last sentence, of course you can be both employed and self employed. I have some PAYE earnings and am self employed and I suspect the vast majority of people on this forum are the same.

As for your main point, people selling used clothing in a variety of sizes are often the easiest for ebay to flag as a business as second hand clothing is a huge market for small traders. Until recently every one who had contacted me about this enforced upgrade had been selling clothes (it has changed now).

Unfortunately whether or not you are a business as far as HMRC is concerned is not the same as being flagged as a business by ebay. They appear to be going solely on probability and amounts listed and even reading the community boards no one has appeared to be able to get them to change their mind. It doesn't mean though that you can't continue to sell, and it also doesn't mean you need to pay tax unless you are taking anything from your relatives or friends for selling on their behalf. Just change your aco!!!! over and carry on, all that changes is that you can no longer get the free 99p listings and will need to have yoru name and address on yoru listings and have a refund policy.

bylromarha

The private business I reported earlier in the thread are still selling 100s of the same item, I've reported them to ebay 4 times now, but ebay are still allowing them to trade as an individual. Grrrrr.

connoro30

bylromarha wrote: »

The private business I reported earlier in the thread are still selling 100s of the same item, I've reported them to ebay 4 times now, but ebay are still allowing them to trade as an individual. Grrrrr.

Perhaps they have addressed the issue with ebay.

As others have said, why be a snitch? It's pathetic!!