When do ebay make people register as a business seller?

chickaroonee

One seller I watch is blatently a business seller - I have worked out their ebay buying and selling IDs, so easy to see that they are a business. They have also sold many hundreds of pounds worth of stock of the last few months (I think £3k in 3 months, so not loads by some standards, but enough).

macfly

Have you considered taking up knitting?

chickaroonee

It's a competitor, so perhaps I'm not quite as sad as you think! I just like to see what they're buying - they know their stuff, much better than me..

I'm genuinely interested in what ebay's criteria are, don't particularly care about whether they're a business seller or not (fwiw I think I get more sales by being a business seller but who knows).

Tried knitting years ago, I was a bit rubbish.

kaza

Somebody may well correct me on this, but I think its when you try and list more than 100 items in a month with a 99p start- so they are free to list.

pitkin2020

The criteria is simple, if you are selling for profit you are a business therefore you should register for a business account. How much you sell and and what value is irrelevant. You should also be registered with HMRC.

If your that concerned about it report them, it won't be hard for ebay to work out if they are selling as a business and link their selling and buying accounts together. Maybe you would get better at your buying and selling like your competitor if you spent more time researching the market than your competitors!!

Oliver14

There seems to be a some confusion about ebay rules and HMRC. The HMRC it is a legal requirement to register if you buy to sell as you are a business for tax reasons. Ebay rules state you must register if you are a business (thats their rules not the law).

So technically if a seller isn't registered as a business with ebay they still could be registered with the HMRC. Also the reverse could apply. I know of a few sellers who are registered as a business on ebay who aren't actually a business. Ebay basically forced them to upgrade to a business account when they were moving home and having a huge clearout. Also on one of my lesser used business accounts I frequently lsit personal items on that account.

There seems to be no ryme or reason how ebay force people to upgrade. The free listings dont always seem to trigger anything. People selling in the clothes categories seem to get forced a bit more often from reports on the ebay community boards.

I dont have a huge problem with people not being registered as a business. I have a competitor in my Market who isn't, most of the items are Buy it nows or Auctions starting around £5 so they dont use the free listings anyway. So actually as a private seller account they are paying more fees than me as I get discounts. So i'm pretty happy that they pay more it means I can list at lower prices for the same or more profit than them.

Before anyone leaps in and states that people not being registered as a business on ebay my not give customers there consumer rights. In reality buyers are well protected by Paypal. Even a seller registered as a business on ebay could refuse your DSR return rights. You would still be in the same situation and as we know you could go via Paypal to get a return anyway.

macfly

Ebay is in reality an automated system. In the categories I sell you would be mad not to register as a business. Even if you did report this, it's likely ebay are gaining from this seller.

chickaroonee

Pitkin, that's a bit rude - who said I was so concerned? I'm a small scale seller, not trying to earn millions as I have many other things in my life just now that are more important. Part of learning and getting better is looking at my competitors and seeing what they do well and not so well, that's normal surely.

If you read my second post, I'm quite clear about not being that bothered about them not being registered - if anything I think people prefer to buy from registered sellers who offer returns. But I was interested when ebay make you do it - as clearly if someone looked at their ebay accounts it's obvious they're buying large quantities to sell on. although I'm sure it doesn't work like that in practice - hence my question...No need to be quite so prickly!

I don't really see any reason for me to report them, II've got better things to do if I'm honest. If I were them I'd be more worried abotu HMRC than ebay as it would be hard to explain away.

Just re-read your post Oliver and you said most of what I left out! This seller would definitely be TRS if they were registered as a business seller, they also mainly use BINs so don't benefit from free listings anyway. It seems strange they're not as they would be saving a fair bit on fees and probably get more sales too. Of course I have no idea if they're registered with HMRC, same as most sellers on ebay, who knows (and I can't get too worked up about it either).

martindow

I think people operating as a business and not declaring it should be taken seriously. If they are not declaring earnings it makes unfair competition for people who do pay taxes as they should.

Although some may be private sellers, I suspect a fair proportion of people with a large number of listings are buying to sell on. Those repeatedly selling the same items clearly are businesses and we should have no qualms outing them.

Crowqueen

I agree with Martin. They are breaking the law. If you saw someone you knew breaking the law on the street - e.g. you knew a rioter who had just put a brick through a shop window and had cleaned them out - would you not report them? I know it's not a violent crime, but it is still detrimental to you who do things properly and have more overheads due to proper returns policies and proper filing of taxes than they do.

Unregistered business sellers may be registered with HMRC, but they may not be, and they also are definitely not abiding by the rules of eBay as well as actually breaking the law and in danger of hefty fines from TS who police these matters. They are not giving their buyers what they should do legally and that puts people off eBay altogether. In the long run it's bad for the site's health and bad for your business.

Sorry, I'm with the people who say report. There's no point trying to run a business legitimately if you allow people to come in and undercut you without adhering to the laws you have to adhere to.

nexus2011

HMRC have special software that ebay let them use to find all personal sellers who should be registered as a business.They then get letters through the post asking them declare earnings.