HELP pls! Ebay asked me to register as business account but I'm not a business!

Goodadvice75

Hi,

I hope someone may be able to help.

I listed a lot of items yesterday in my ebay accounts. I went back today to edit and add some photos but a message popped up on screen saying that to continue selling on ebay I had to register my account as a business.

I looked at the info about businesses but I am not a business. The items I sell are almost all used, my own or belong to family members are just aren't required any more. The occasional new items are those where we've bought something and it's sat in a cupboard unused for years.

We're definitely not buying to sell and are not a business.

I've emailed ebay to explain this but wondered if anyone else has encountered the same problem and if ebay will accept this and allow me to continue to list? Spent hours yesterday putting up all the ads but now can't edit them to add photos!! V. frustrating!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

eBay have a simple way of determining whether you are a business and it's based on how much you sell (or possibly list). You can appeal but if they don't accept the appeal you'll just have to register as such, the only other option is to sell less.

Being registered as a business on eBay doesn't actually make you a business but would mean having to offer returns in accordance with the Sale of goods Act for all sales and cancellations under the Distance Selling Regulations for BIN purchases in most circumstances.

Unfortunately too many people who are businesses hide this from buyers to avoid offering their consumer rights and eBay, as usual, has a pretty much automated system to tackle this resulting in some private sellers who sell a lot having to class their account as a business.

soolin

Unfortunately I don't think we have ever had someone on here successfully appeal against the ebay requirement to upgrade to a business account.

Goodadvice75

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. If I were a business selling new items then I wouldn't mind registering as a business but the sort of stuff I'm selling is bric a brac, old plates, old collectables, used clothing shoes, some new unworn clothing bought and stuffed in the wardrobe, nothing has been bought specifically to sell. Just stuff accumulated over the years by your average family.

I wouldln't mind so much, but when ebay bought in the 100 item cap in I had an old account and they said it would be fine to list 100 items in each account so this seems to make a mockery of this advice.

I wouldn't want to have to offer refunds as this would be more trouble than it's worth if items are listed fairly and accurately, which I lilke to think they are...!

Haven't heard back from ebay yet in reply to my email but will post the outcome. Is there an escalation procedure if you're not happy with the initial response or do you end up banging your head against a brick wall?!

techspec

How many did you list for them to ask you that? Must have been a lot. And was it just yesterday, or is this an every week thing?

Ebay rarely go back on their decisions.

soolin

Goodadvice75 wrote: »

H

Haven't heard back from ebay yet in reply to my email but will post the outcome. Is there an escalation procedure if you're not happy with the initial response or do you end up banging your head against a brick wall?!

As per my previous post I am not aware of anyone that has successfully escalated or appealed an ebay decision to upgrade to a business account.

Goodadvice75

Thanks Techspec.

It was 100, in accordance with the free listing offer for 100 items. I re-list these every time the free listing comes along. They're small price items and maybe 5 or 6 might sell each time, so the majority don't sell but I like to have them there and just keep re-listing as usually in the end stuff sells.

If ebay say you can list 100 items under free listing then I can't understand why they then seek to penalise you if you do so!

From my listings it should be obvious that they're not commercial or new items but stuff we or family members owned but no longer need so are having a clear out and seeing if they can raise a bit of extra cash on ebay before they go off to charity.

This time I got a message saying that I'd reached the 100 limit or was close to it and did I want to apply for "increased selling limits". So I pushed that button and wonder if that is what has triggered this. But if they had declined this then I'd have been happy just continuing to re-list the 100 items.

I don't really know the implications of being a business seller, but understand from the post above in this thread that if I am forced to register as a business I'll have to offer refunds which I don't want to do as most of my items are used and accurately described and don't want the hassle of unscrupulous people buying stuff and then trying to refund because they didn't read the ad properly etc. as this will mean I incur lots of wasted postage costs.

Have had one very much standard template reply from ebay but only repeating the criteria for being considered a seller and I don't meet any of those criteria (buying to resell, selling new items etc).

If anyone has successfully challenged this and can offer any advice on how they did so I'd be very grateful. Meanwhile I've replied to their "standard" reply asking for this to be escalated and for them to actually look at my account/history and see the actual numbers of items being sold and the prices.

If they won't budge could I just open another account (or two) and start afresh but this time listing lower numbers in the new accounts so this doesn't happen again? Only problem with this is my good feedback will all be lost...

lovinituk

Goodadvice75 wrote: »

I don't really know the implications of being a business seller,

You're not going to want to hear this but with a business account, you will no longer be eligible for the free listings (99p and under) or the free listing weekends!

You might at some point qualify for TRS though and get a discount on your final value fees!

techspec

I think your right then that your request to lift your limits was the problem.

My understanding from the new wording, is that limits are now only removed for businesses. It used to be for anyone with a good history who met certain performance criteria.

Ebay say that relisted items do NOT count towards limits, but im not convinced of this in all categories.

soolin

techspec wrote: »

I think your right then that your request to lift your limits was the problem.

My understanding from the new wording, is that limits are now only removed for businesses. It used to be for anyone with a good history who met certain performance criteria.

Ebay say that relisted items do NOT count towards limits, but im not convinced of this in all categories.

I always thought that all relists counted towards limits- we've had threads on here with designer things where people have been limited to 3 a month and cannot even relist one that went unsold.

JimmyTheWig

Sounds to me like you're listing 100 items for free quite often.
eBay want a way to stop you from getting all this for free.

Sounds like they've found one.