Existing eBay listings when upgrading to a business account?

se2020

II've been selling my old stuff privately on ebay for years but I am now thinking of trading in some of the items I have been selling as well as making some items of my own for sale.

I have a lot of listings that have been selling fairly well (repeat buyers) so with those (and my existing feedback/sales history) it would seem to make sense to upgrade my private account to a business one rather than start a new business account from scratch and have to redo all the listings.

I have got stuck trying to work out what happens to my existing listings though?

I have read through the ebay fee guides and spoken to customer service,

From what I understand, all my existing listings will transfer over as they are.

When/If they sell I will be charged a final value fee (rather than the buyer paying the fee) so I'll obviously loose a bit of money there on the stuff I have listed since BPF came in but it won't make any difference to my older listjngs as they were priced with the FVF anyway. Or I could trawl through them all and re-price them.

And I'll loose simple delivery.

The thing I can't find an answer to is how much I'll have to pay for the existing listings to remain live?

All my current listings are buy-it-now with best offer and listed permently / good-til-cancelled

It seems like the lowest (free) level of business seller pays 30p to list an item.

Q1, So if I have 300 existing listings will I immediately get a bill for £90 when I upgrade?

And then will I get further bills for £90 each month when they auto-renew?

Tried asking a CS agent but they just kept explaining how I would pay FVF's as a business and I could get 'free' listings by subscription.

TheThey can't seem to explain if a 'listing'fee is a one-off for listing an item or has to be paid every month to keep it listed..

soolin

The bit I can answer is that yes as a business the listing fee is charged every time the listing rolls over each month. So if you list 500 items and pay a listing fee for each without having a shop then when it renews after a month any of those 500 unsold items will incur a listing fee again.

I don’t recall the actual figures but it becomes more cost efficient to start a basic shop subscription at £27 plus VAT per month if listing more than just a few items.

steveE2

If you have 300 listings on your account now, when you change to business you will pay 30p per listing + VAT so £108 this is payable each month

A basic shop gives you 250 inclusive BIN listings and 100 inclusive 7 day auctions for £27+VAT (£32.40) each month

All listings will be charged again each month, if you go over the inclusive amounts each listing is 30p+VAT

se2020

Thanks.

The problem I have is I have a large number of existing listjngs as I have been listing stuff for years but none of it sells very quickly!

I only make a worthwhile number of sales per week as I currently have so many items listed.

I don't mind paying fees when I sell but I thinknill be losing money if I have to start paying to keep those listjngs live.

So I think it will make more sense to just start a new (free) business account then upgrade to a subscription when (if) I have over 90 items live on that account.

Is there any way of upgrading my personal account (with the feedback) to a business account BUT transferring all my existing personal listings to a new personal account?

dinosaur66

i did not know you could have a free business account

i have 1500 listings a month buy it now and 600 auction listings

costs £92 a month

extra listings cost 6p per listing buy it now

18p auction listing

fees i pay are

selling fee per item 10% plus 20% vat

item fee 36p under £10

48p over £10

royal mail post office fees but you can use who you want i offer free post

price paid for item

regulatory operating fee -0.35% of sale

miscellanesous -ie stationary/internet costs/mtd /accountant costs /

then not part of ebay or record keeping but

income tax/class 4 national insurance /vat

then you need a large garage/ spare room to keep your stock and a regular supplier to relist

this is why i do not advise very small just starting out sellers to swiitch straight away to business accounts until they work out whether it will be worth it.

dinosaur66

i forgot to mention i get a £10 ebay free voucher to spend on ebay logo stationary which if i did not get the voucher i would not go near as it is way overpriced

soolin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961889#Comment_81961889

It's not really a choice though whether to register as a business or not, it is a legal obligation. Realistically ebay seems to have stopped pushing people into business accounts like they used to , but by law business sellers must show their geographic address on all listings and provide a full returns policy even for a change of mind.

As for a 'free' business account, it's always been there but you do pay for every single listing, whereas, as you say, you get free listings included with your shop fee.

Going back to the OP I think I might be tempted to run 2 accounts, keep a private account for private sales and use a business account for business.

dinosaur66

by the letter of the law of course you are correct

but i would worry about people trying to start out like the lady who started a thread where she knitted some items for charity shops and thinking of selling on ebay and people on this website advising her to have an ebay business.

now i do not know the benefit system as i have been self employed since i was 16 and now have enough money so not entitled to any but i would worry about such people losing there benefits if they were on any .

i have been told by mates in the street markets i worked at they were on universal credit to top up there income as they were struggling so i assume you are allowed to do this with online selling as well

but the near certaintity that anything but a fully committed all in approach to online selling with thousands of listings and items for sale and must be cheaper than your competiton or have a very niche unique product to make even a moderate ammount of money online as it is very hard to sell enough to live on as a stand alone business enterprise .

i do it as a hobby so i do not care

i do read lots of sellers have 2 accounts / i would guess 5% of my sales are items i have bought for myself like my conan collection of comics i bought 40 to 50 years ago that i have half sold off over the last year for 100 times what i paid for them new but more fool me i just bundle them all in as part of my business sales.

soolin

definite

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81963203#Comment_81963203

Definitely use 2 accounts, it is completely ok on eBay to have multiple accounts. Use the business one with a business bank account and the private with a private bank account.

If you are using your business account for private items you’re paying listing fees when they would be free on a private account. I also like simple delivery on my private sales, I just send my things and then never have to worry about INRs or getting marked down for a late delivery. For parcels the postage is also cheaper for the buyer in most cases.