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

gollum007

Something is definitely up the spout.

I've got a new upgrade banner on the Android app. (Nothing in messages. Not checked the PC yet)

Sold a total of 4 items in the last year, which is about normal.
Under £200 total.....

(176 total sales of a feedback total of 352 since 2002)

Edit:

Nothing anywhere on the desktop. No banners, no emails, and nothing in messages.

Probably just an app glitch in my case, but we'll see...

soolin

gollum007 said:

Something is definitely up the spout.

I've got a new upgrade banner on the Android app. (Nothing in messages. Not checked the PC yet)

Sold a total of 4 items in the last year, which is about normal.
Under £200 total.....

(176 total sales of a feedback total of 352 since 2002)

Edit:

Nothing anywhere on the desktop. No banners, no emails, and nothing in messages.

Probably just an app glitch in my case, but we'll see...

That is weird , and hopefully as you say, just another ebay glitch.

gollum007

I really do hope so....

Only thing I wonder is if the algorithm is doing something stupid with category matching.

I think pretty much everything I've sold in the last 5 years or so is in a very limited set of collectable related categories. eBay is just useful for getting rid of spares, duplicates etc.

Never found it worthwhile for trying to sell general junk.

soolin

gollum007 said:

I really do hope so....

Only thing I wonder is if the algorithm is doing something stupid with category matching.

I think pretty much everything I've sold in the last 5 years or so is in a very limited set of collectable related categories. eBay is just useful for getting rid of spares, duplicates etc.

Never found it worthwhile for trying to sell general junk.

Ebay seem to use very odd algorithms , the search doesn't work properly half the time and there are categories for items that are actually prohibited . The idea that yet another algorithmic absurdity has flagged your account is a likely scenario. What happens next though is anyone's guess.

MR1988

It is probably just an app glitch. My business account had the banner as well and my partner's eBay account on which she never sold anything also has the banner in the app.

I asked a representative what happens if I don't want to upgrade on my second account as I only want to keep that for buying and have been told that it will be restricted from selling but account can be kept and used to buy stuff. So not sure where all the "closing of account" stands but then half the time the eBay reps don't have a clue.

plutoski

I have got caught up in this

I phoned ebay nearly a month ago and was told it was an error and to ignore the message. I went ahead and ignored the message and had nothing to sell on ebay so had ignored my account completely asides from one very random sale of a garden glove I had spare.

I generally sell adhoc items on there and perhaps this year have sold slightly more than I have in 18-odd years, where at least 15 of those years I hadn't sold one item.

If needs be, I'm happy to get a business account but I don't want to upgrade my personal account to a business account as there's no way to downgrade in the future. I would like to just keep this account being for purely selling second hand clothes/shoes out of my personal closet. It seems selling a handful of unused gadgets this year is what has made ebay think I should upgrade to a business. I actually didn't realise there was different types of accounts until this notice.

I do disclose any profits I make on my taxes as I'm currently on a higher tax band. So i'm not really sure why ebay feels they have to force a business account on people if they are correctly reporting? 

soolin

plutoski said:

I have got caught up in this

I phoned ebay nearly a month ago and was told it was an error and to ignore the message. I went ahead and ignored the message and had nothing to sell on ebay so had ignored my account completely asides from one very random sale of a garden glove I had spare.

I generally sell adhoc items on there and perhaps this year have sold slightly more than I have in 18-odd years, where at least 15 of those years I hadn't sold one item.

If needs be, I'm happy to get a business account but I don't want to upgrade my personal account to a business account as there's no way to downgrade in the future. I would like to just keep this account being for purely selling second hand clothes/shoes out of my personal closet. It seems selling a handful of unused gadgets this year is what has made ebay think I should upgrade to a business. I actually didn't realise there was different types of accounts until this notice.

I do disclose any profits I make on my taxes as I'm currently on a higher tax band. So i'm not really sure why ebay feels they have to force a business account on people if they are correctly reporting? 

It did appear to be quite random in some cases and as you say once you upgrade you can’t downgrade again. However you can upgrade your current account and open a new private one.

incidentally, you don’t need to declare or pay tax on your own personal items, regardless of what type of account you have or what your tax bracket is. 

plutoski

soolin said:

plutoski said:

I have got caught up in this

I phoned ebay nearly a month ago and was told it was an error and to ignore the message. I went ahead and ignored the message and had nothing to sell on ebay so had ignored my account completely asides from one very random sale of a garden glove I had spare.

I generally sell adhoc items on there and perhaps this year have sold slightly more than I have in 18-odd years, where at least 15 of those years I hadn't sold one item.

If needs be, I'm happy to get a business account but I don't want to upgrade my personal account to a business account as there's no way to downgrade in the future. I would like to just keep this account being for purely selling second hand clothes/shoes out of my personal closet. It seems selling a handful of unused gadgets this year is what has made ebay think I should upgrade to a business. I actually didn't realise there was different types of accounts until this notice.

I do disclose any profits I make on my taxes as I'm currently on a higher tax band. So i'm not really sure why ebay feels they have to force a business account on people if they are correctly reporting? 

It did appear to be quite random in some cases and as you say once you upgrade you can’t downgrade again. However you can upgrade your current account and open a new private one.

incidentally, you don’t need to declare or pay tax on your own personal items, regardless of what type of account you have or what your tax bracket is. 

thanks a lot. it seems they have just picked random categories and unfortunately the category i decided to sell my high value (but personal) items on (electronics) got caught up in this. camera gear is expensive, picking an arbitrary sale value in that category is a ridiculous way to operate especially with no means of appeal

yes aware (but thank you) on the personal items tax point. but effectively upgrading this 20 year old account to a business means i will lose all that feedback and goodwill by creating a new account. and then i'll just be using the new account for FVF promotions if i ever need to sell. but what happens if another one of your accounts is arbitrarily flagged as a business? very weird! 

soolin

plutoski said:

soolin said:

plutoski said:

I have got caught up in this

I phoned ebay nearly a month ago and was told it was an error and to ignore the message. I went ahead and ignored the message and had nothing to sell on ebay so had ignored my account completely asides from one very random sale of a garden glove I had spare.

I generally sell adhoc items on there and perhaps this year have sold slightly more than I have in 18-odd years, where at least 15 of those years I hadn't sold one item.

If needs be, I'm happy to get a business account but I don't want to upgrade my personal account to a business account as there's no way to downgrade in the future. I would like to just keep this account being for purely selling second hand clothes/shoes out of my personal closet. It seems selling a handful of unused gadgets this year is what has made ebay think I should upgrade to a business. I actually didn't realise there was different types of accounts until this notice.

I do disclose any profits I make on my taxes as I'm currently on a higher tax band. So i'm not really sure why ebay feels they have to force a business account on people if they are correctly reporting? 

It did appear to be quite random in some cases and as you say once you upgrade you can’t downgrade again. However you can upgrade your current account and open a new private one.

incidentally, you don’t need to declare or pay tax on your own personal items, regardless of what type of account you have or what your tax bracket is. 

thanks a lot. it seems they have just picked random categories and unfortunately the category i decided to sell my high value (but personal) items on (electronics) got caught up in this. camera gear is expensive, picking an arbitrary sale value in that category is a ridiculous way to operate especially with no means of appeal

yes aware (but thank you) on the personal items tax point. but effectively upgrading this 20 year old account to a business means i will lose all that feedback and goodwill by creating a new account. and then i'll just be using the new account for FVF promotions if i ever need to sell. but what happens if another one of your accounts is arbitrarily flagged as a business? very weird! 

Just as another point to note, businesses accounts don’t get FVF offers and if they do they are as rare as anything. It’s been years since I have had any offers on my private account, the last I can recall was a couple of years ago when I was offered a FVF deal on trainers- except I’ve never ever sold trainers.

Rantband

Soolin, I think you meant "It’s been years since I have had any offers on my business account",