Selling how much = business account?

scarlet74

Just to prove that ebay have difficulty with the !!!!/elbow interface, a couple of days after getting my enforced business seller upgrade email, I had a lovely email congratulating me on my 5 year anniversary with ebay. How thoughtful.

Still not sure what I think about this business seller thing. Ebay may class you as such, but it doesn't mean you are trading per se - just that you have listed a large amount of items recently, and they are really cracking down on this. Being a business seller means no more free 99p listings, and no more free listing days - and probably not many new listings from me, as I tend to list most of my things free. They won't lose any sleep over it though, and I wouldn't expect them to. Oh well. Fun (sort of) while it lasted.

soolin

There doesn't seem to be any logical pattern for deciding which sellers to target for the compulsory change to business. Virtually everyone that I am aware of was selling clothes although I have just come across someone who was selling collectables.

I have not yet seen a successful appeal against the decision.

scarlet74

Hi Soolin.

I have replied to the link they supplied in the original email, but haven't heard anything back - and don't really expect to. I will be upgraded later this week...

Once that happens, I expect my listings will fall away to almost nothing. I have just reached a feedback of 400 too (buying and selling) - not a huge milestone for 5 years.

alfiesmum

Is it only me thinks it's a good thing? If there are less 99p listing getting put on, then my listings, that I pay for, as a business seller will be better seen, and won't get lost in the auctions that people just constantly have up coz it's free.

I might not be popular but I agree with people getting caught doing eBay by the tax man too. I declare my earnings, always have done. So should others.

Not that I'm saying the OP is doing anything dishonest, or evading tax, just making a general comment.

scarlet74

Hi Alfiesmum.

As a private seller (not for much longer) I can certainly see both sides of the argument. I suspect all private sellers will feel aggrieved by the changes, and all business sellers will welcome it. I agree that lots of private sellers have taken advantage of the free 99p listings to list (and keep relisting) tat that never sells, and never would sell at 99p. Saying that, I don't think business sellers have any more right to a higher profile on ebay than private sellers.

In my case, I started listing a large amount (for me) of Lego pieces, as I finally decided to get around to clearning the masses of stuff cluttering up the house. At 99p a time, they do sell, albeit slowly (at most, 10% of my listings sell at a time), but they would not really be worth listing at 10p a time, and relistings would be out of the question.

Once I convert to business seller status, my listings will drop off to almost nothing, as I tend to list on free listing days (and 99p free listings in recent weeks). I'm not a business, so I can't afford to keep paying to list unwanted items, but I have got quite a lot I'd like to get rid of which would take me quite a while to work through.

alfiesmum

Have you thought of listing a huge lot of lego in one go? Do a search for lego KG, then order it by highest price. It'll give you a rough idea of what it goes to. If you're not getting much for it, you're still paying Paypal fees on every payment you receive remeber. Might be worth it, to be shot of it sooner, as you're a private seller, plus eBay would not pick up on so many listings. You'd get a good price for it.