strange semi official ebay statement

iammumtoone · 17 March 2017 at 4:43PM

Why is it UK law that sellers use ebay business accounts?

It is law that they comply with trading rules re returns etc and that they complete a tax return, but why does it have to be a business account to so this?

From April hubby business will no longer have to complete tax returns if they sell under the threshold, what advantage would a business account be to them.

soolin · 17 March 2017 at 4:52PM

iammumtoone wrote: »

Why is it UK law that sellers use ebay business accounts?

It is law that they comply with trading rules re returns etc and that they complete a tax return, but why does it have to be a business account to so this?

From April hubby business will no longer have to complete tax returns if they sell under the threshold, what advantage would a business account be to them.

It's all to do with misrepresentation , a person trading as a business should not hide that fact from a buyer as buyers rights differ depending on what type of seller they buy from.

Admittedly most prosecutions mentioned tend to be in the motor Vehicle trade with traders selling from their homes and masquerading as private when in fact they are running a business.

iammumtoone · 17 March 2017 at 5:02PM

soolin wrote: »

It's all to do with misrepresentation , a person trading as a business should not hide that fact from a buyer as buyers rights differ depending on what type of seller they buy from.

Yes I understand that hence why a business seller under a non business account would have to sell cheaper to get the public to buy as their rights will be easier to force with a business account.

But as long as the seller states in the description that they accept returns etc then I don't see why it couldn't be done. It would then be up to the buyer whether they trusted the seller or they could choose to purchase from a business seller.

Personally as a buyer I will always pick a business seller over a private one and am prepared to pay a bit more to do so. I don't think many business it will work for them under private accounts, but those thinking of starting a hobby business this year I think it is useful to have the choice.

soolin · 17 March 2017 at 5:08PM

iammumtoone wrote: »

Yes I understand that hence why a business seller under a non business account would have to sell cheaper to get the public to buy as their rights will be easier to force with a business account.

But as long as the seller states in the description that they accept returns etc then I don't see why it couldn't be done. It would then be up to the buyer whether they trusted the seller or they could choose to purchase from a business seller.

Personally as a buyer I will always pick a business seller over a private one and am prepared to pay a bit more to do so. I don't think many business it will work for them under private accounts, but those thinking of starting a hobby business this year I think it is useful to have the choice.

Sellers don't have a choice though any anyone relying on the comment made on the PS board is likely to face real issues as it is not inline with eBay's published rules and the terms and conditions we all agree to when we sign up.

That's really the point of this thread to show how poorly ebay staff understand their own rules.

soolin · 17 March 2017 at 5:15PM

The ebay rules are covered briefly here:

https://ocsnext.ebay.co.uk/ocs/sc

Here's what we found for "Business selling on eBay"
eBay business accounts are available to new and existing sellers. You should set up a business account if you:
Sell items that you've bought to resell
Make items yourself and sell them, intending to make a profit
Sell a large volume of goods on a regular basis
Buy items for your business
You can change your personal eBay account or register a new business account.
Business sellers must also adhere to!our User Agreement.

I have highlighted one requirement that is not in line with HMRC rules where volume is immaterial.

slightly more detail here:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/business/businessaccount.html

On a private account things like business address is not required.(which is a UK legal requirement)

As a business seller, you will need to provide additional details to the buyers in all your listings. Some of this information is mandatory from a legal perspective.
In the EU, special ecommerce laws require business sellers, who sell items over the internet, to provide their customers with information about their identity in their contact information and contain further details that may be important to complete the transaction. You can display this information in all of your listings. Please see the contact information policy for options to include your contact information.

iammumtoone · 17 March 2017 at 5:16PM

soolin wrote: »

Sellers don't have a choice though any anyone relying on the comment made on the PS board is likely to face real issues as it is not inline with eBay's published rules and the terms and conditions we all agree to when we sign up.

That's really the point of this thread to show how poorly ebay staff understand their own rules.

Yes I did think that under ebays rules all businesses must be under a business account and thats fine, their site they can set whatever rules they like.

It was the statement that UK law says sellers must have ebay business accounts that I was querying.

soolin · 17 March 2017 at 6:05PM

iammumtoone wrote: »

Yes I did think that under ebays rules all businesses must be under a business account and thats fine, their site they can set whatever rules they like.

It was the statement that UK law says sellers must have ebay business accounts that I was querying.

The law does not dictate what each individual site requires from a seller , it is up to a seller to make sure they are compliant. One of the legal requirements is to openly display contact details, ebay only apply this to sellers registered as a business. Other sites, like Amazon, apply it to all sellers and if you buy something from a marketplace seller you will be able to see their address.

samkma · 17 March 2017 at 6:13PM

Having a look at the PS boards it seems, both the ebay employees who responded to the thread did so on the same day and almost at the same time 5pm!
eBay is going down at the moment and the Shop price increase is just to satisfy their shareholders, who just as sellers are very worried the way the site is being managed. The search "Cassini" is the killer - think they have rolled the same search to gumtree, the search does come up with things that have no connection wtih the search terms, they should have stuck with the old system. All improvements made are throwing up loads of glitches everyday, seems they have to shut the site for refurbishment and write the programme again instead of trying to patch things up, its proved not to be working for the last 2 years. Sellers are being pushed to the edge now.

TKPeters · 17 March 2017 at 9:47PM

I guess Kristen will be looking for a new job

thanks for your comments- there are a lot of additional benefits to being a business seller, such as access to more advanced tools, services and platform features. So while transactions stay on eBay either way, whether the seller is private or business, we find that many sellers decide when their business reaches a certain size, it makes sense to upgrade. They naturally want access to more ways to cross-sell, promote their items and and grow their sales on-site. We do our best to support business sellers to do this!
Of course it's up to each individual seller whether it makes sense financially and otherwise to be a private seller, business seller, to have a shop, etc. Everyone's cost margins are different.

Brooker_Dave · 20 March 2017 at 10:41AM

samkma wrote: »

The search "Cassini" is the killer - think they have rolled the same search to gumtree, the search does come up with things that have no connection wtih the search terms, they should have stuck with the old system.

Gumtree searches now include a load of ebay stuff.

Gumtree seems to be dead anyway, but being taken over by ebay won't have helped though.

strange semi official ebay statement

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