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

techspec

soolin wrote: »

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.

Thats true Soolin. In fact , at one time you could not even edit a designer listing, as ebay counted that as another listing.

But after reading this thread, i tried to look for an answer - and it suggested that monthly allowances only counted for items sold, and unsold items could be re-listed. Think it's probably refering to different kinds of limits - there are quite a few. I'm on a different PC now, but will try and find it.

But if seller did ask for a limit increase, then that may be part of it. I can't see listing 100 items on a free listing day alone being the problem. 100 was set as the limit, so ebay must be happy with that - and many people save up their items and have a clearout ready for free-listing days. Mind you - they used to be once every 4-6 weeks - now they are often every 2 weeks. If you did it every two weeks - then that would probably trigger some limit.

porto_bello

Goodadvice75 wrote: »

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.

Trying to think of this from an eBay perspective, having spotted that the account holder is selling 5 or 6 low value items each free listing day, I think I would conclude rather quickly that they're a private seller.

If eBay claim you're a business seller, I'd be tempted to contact Guinness World Records and claim that I was the smallest unregistered on-line business with an eBay account!

Utter madness!... Particularly when you see 'private sellers' listing 100 items of furniture each time or a different vehicle or several each week!

chancesare_2

Porto, it's not the fact 5 or 6 sell, clearly they are listing in the 100's.

soolin

porto_bello wrote: »

Trying to think of this from an eBay perspective, having spotted that the account holder is selling 5 or 6 low value items each free listing day, I think I would conclude rather quickly that they're a private seller.

If eBay claim you're a business seller, I'd be tempted to contact Guinness World Records and claim that I was the smallest unregistered on-line business with an eBay account!

Utter madness!... Particularly when you see 'private sellers' listing 100 items of furniture each time or a different vehicle or several each week!

As chancesare says it is the listings that trigger this, not the sales. It is perfectly possible to be a business with lots and lots of items in a retail environment or at a craft fair- but with no sales at all (I know someone who is trading as a business and who has yet to sell more than 3 items as they have completely misjudged their prices)

However on ebay it is rarely 'ebay' themselves that decide who is a business, they tend to rely entirely on reports. Most reports of any real substance come from friends or relatives - so oP needs to decide who is likely to have been serial reporting her.

techspec

As i pointed out earlier, there are different types off allowances. The one i was thinking about was Account-based selling allowances:-

"You have an allowance on the number of sold items and active items for sale, and a maximum on gross merchandise volume. If an item sells, it will count toward your allowance. However, if a listing ends without being sold, it won't count towards your allowance".

But overall - its as clear as mud:-

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/sellinglimits.html#increasing

It says category based allowances are removed when you have sold for 90 days and established a record. I don't think thats the case.

porto_bello

soolin wrote: »

However on ebay it is rarely 'ebay' themselves that decide who is a business, they tend to rely entirely on reports. Most reports of any real substance come from friends or relatives - so oP needs to decide who is likely to have been serial reporting her.

:shocked: Incredible!
So as well as leaving negative feedback and adverse DSRs, a malicious buyer could wreck a private seller's account by falsely reporting them as an unregistered business ... and even without buying anything from them!

theonlywayisup

porto_bello wrote: »

:shocked: Incredible!
So as well as leaving negative feedback and adverse DSRs, a malicious buyer could wreck a private seller's account by falsely reporting them as an unregistered business ... and even without buying anything from them!

Anyone can report a seller for being incorrectly registered. It is a contentious issue on here, but I am of the opinion that if they incorrectly register on ebay then the likelihood that they aren't adhering to the correct regulations, paying any necessary taxes etc means they should be reported.

soolin

porto_bello wrote: »

:shocked: Incredible!
So as well as leaving negative feedback and adverse DSRs, a malicious buyer could wreck a private seller's account by falsely reporting them as an unregistered business ... and even without buying anything from them!

I used to get people referred to me when i was doing voluntary work as they said 'I knew a bit about ebay'. Some people got reported to HMRC and /or the benefits office and in virtually every case it was a relative who turned the person in (they usually gave themselves away or just came out and admitted it). The one relative most likely to turn a woman in was a sister in law strangely enough. I saw people questioned under caution at a benefit office , forced to pay back a lot of benefits or having benefits stopped overnight whilst being investigated . Although whilst I gave set advice to everyone withotu comment in reality most were unregistered businesses- mainly car boot buyers buying to resell to up their income abit.

It is true that anyone can report a person on ebay or to HMRC/DWP but on ebay it is rare that they do anything at all. In fact on ebay I have given up reporting wronlgy registered sellers, as many others have on here I believe, as ebay do nothing at all. That is why in this instance either there is strong evidence that OP was a business, or someone close to them has supplied more 'evidence' to ebay.

lovinituk

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Anyone can report a seller for being incorrectly registered. It is a contentious issue on here, but I am of the opinion that if they incorrectly register on ebay then the likelihood that they aren't adhering to the correct regulations, paying any necessary taxes etc means they should be reported.

I'm all for healthy competition but if someone is gaining an unfair advantage by for example, getting free listings while using a personal account when they are clearly a business, then they deserve reporting (please note I am not referring to the OP).

soolin wrote: »

It is true that anyone can report a person on ebay or to HMRC/DWP but on ebay it is rare that they do anything at all. In fact on ebay I have given up reporting wronlgy registered sellers, as many others have on here I believe, as ebay do nothing at all.

I reported several a while ago but nothing was ever done. As you, I have given up trying now.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Most of this is calculated on sales or listing volumes, if you report a seller who has a BIN with a quantity of 50 new items it's obviously they are a business but not in eBay's eyes. eBay have undisclosed parameters and if the seller you report doesn't meet them nothing else matters.

OP may have been reported but it's likely to be the volume of listings going up and the low sales or the fact it's the same items on a cycle won't be considered unless OP appeals on this basis, even then eBay may stick with forcing the business registration.

What happened was the OFT said there's lots of sellers online not acting in accordance with the law so eBay put a half-bottomed process in place so they can't get in trouble. They clearly could not careless about business registration and consumer law because if you look at the Weekly Deals page and those big brands, you'll find it extremely difficult to find one who complies with consumer law. Bench even refuse to refund return postage for faulty/mid-decribed goods but still get prominent placing on eBay for their listings and Littlewoods do not comply with the DSR regs, the rest of them are just as bad.

This whole issue is so eBay can turn around and say they have measures in place thus passing the buck to the individual seller without taking any responsibility for what happens on their site.