eBay Sending Out Mass Emails for Private Sellers to Upgrade to Business

MR1988

One of my private accounts that I used in the past to sell some of my stuff got an email yesterday that I should either upgrade to business or will be hit with sale restrictions. (Whatever that means)

I'm not too bothered either way as I have only used it in the past and haven't really sold anything for a while now. But I was curious about this action and have looked into it, and on eBay forums there is talk about eBay pushing for private sellers to upgrade. From what I read there is also people who have less than 10 items for sale who got affected, which is rather erronous.

Curious how eBay will handle this and if it is an error or not.

Apparently the incentive to upgrade to business is pretty good. No selling fees, no insertion fees until 31st of December and free shop for 6 months. I am actually tempted to take the offer and get rid of all the things I don't need and then shut-down the account.

Anyone got affected by this and what are your thoughts?

soolin

So far none of my accounts have been affected and there doesn’t seem to be much mention yet on other forums, only on the official eBay discussion forum, although it is worth noting some of the threads date back to earlier this year . Definitely worth keeping an eye on though so thanks for the heads up.

it does seem odd if they are targeting truly private sellers as I can still see hundreds of sellers who are obviously businesses, even mentioning warehousing or being able to source more stock that seem untroubled by any need to upgrade to a business account. 

soolin

The plot thickens. Doing some research into various threads some people have been given categoric assurance that the upgrade emails are a mistake, but others are being told they are correct. The usual nonsense from eBay where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.

Some of the reports are quite eye opening, including the seller with 4 private accounts each of which is maxed out at 1000 listings but can’t afford to register as a business due to costs of insertion fees . Plus other sellers who do already operate business accounts but also sell a couple of things a month on a private account who have been offered free FVFs and 6 months of a featured shop for free and who are considering taking it and moving all their paid for listings on their business account across to the ‘new’ account to save money. 

Others are rightly reporting that this is another kick for business sellers who are properly registered and paying fees who aren’t getting any freebies. I must admit if either of my private accounts were targeted like this I might be tempted to accept the upgrade, move my current business stock across, and once the offer ends, move it all back again to my current shop and close the new account. 

Interestingly at least one of the threads has now been deleted….

MR1988

Yeah, it's very interesting to see how this will go. Curious about their reported numbers as well during next couple of earning reports for eBay. Because they will more than likely report an increase in business sellers which will look good on paper, but the numbers will drop back drastically after 6 months when people will choose to shut down accounts. Plus a number of private sellers who won't be bothered by the shop and will opt out of doing any trading on eBay again.

Pierre_De_Grenoble

Had the message on my private account, tried every link to discuss with an agent, appeal the decision whatever...
all just go to a dead end with no more information available to help make an informed choice.
I'm starting to think I might just wait to see what happens If I don't upgrade.

soolin

Pierre_De_Grenoble said:

Had the message on my private account, tried every link to discuss with an agent, appeal the decision whatever...
all just go to a dead end with no more information available to help make an informed choice.
I'm starting to think I might just wait to see what happens If I don't upgrade.

If this isn’t a glitch then you just won’t be able to list again , but customer services appear to be undecided whether it’s real or not. 

Shaps

Had a similar email asking me to upgrade to a business account ,  tempted due to the free listings till Jan but do you think they could "backdate " the fees for when items was listed on the private account when the promo offer was selected.

MR1988

@soolin is that they won't be able to list at all or the account will be restricted to a certain amount of items per month? Where have you found this info?

@Shaps Nah, I don't think they can backdate to something they offered and agreed for you to do previously.

Hoenir

Probably part of a broader strategic plan by Ebay. Financially Ebay is going nowhere fast.  Most likely a move towards quality over quantity.  HMRC's targetted investigation has no doubt seen the number of private seller accounts diminish. 

Shaps

Can anyone know if the free fee promo  includes items sold using the GSP if you sign up as a business seller ?  In the small print I unable to find any mention of it . 

• 100% off fixed order level fee of 30p and variable percentage final value fees (“FVF”) if the Eligible Entrant upgrades their account to business status by 23:59:59 Local UK time on 04 September 2024 following which their listed items sell by 31 December 2024 (“Promotion Period”). 

• The Promotion Period will commence within 4 business days from when you upgrade to a business account. 
  

soolin

Shaps said:

Had a similar email asking me to upgrade to a business account ,  tempted due to the free listings till Jan but do you think they could "backdate " the fees for when items was listed on the private account when the promo offer was selected.

I can’t see how they can legally backdate fees, even eBay would be hard pressed to do that without legal challenge.