Ebay AGAIN!!

I spent last night sorting out listings for items, this morning the 'Buy it now' option on auctions NO LONGER WORKS!!!

So I either have to start an auction, or sell as a classified ad!

What on earth are they doing?

Why have they changed their format AGAIN?

...and yes I am p****d of with them!

...and the classified bit tells me the category's wrong.

THE ONE THE LISTER HAS CHOSEN!!!!

I had to do a Turbo Lister update last week 'cos there were quite a few changes which (I think) came into effect on 01/08.

Trouble is is no competition where Ebay is concerned .. and I doubt there ever will be now. Saying that, you sometimes still get a good deal now and then when buying. Bought this a couple of days .. arrived yesterday morning .. mint condition and free postage as well.

I tried doing a buy it now on Turbo Lister, no joy just a head ache!

But go on line and do it through the website, no bother!

I only use Evilbay to clear the cupboards, why is it so complicated?

Now I can have a buy it now option....

..... too late for this load of stuff...

...............ARGH!!

You should count yourself lucky, I just opened a new business account only to find I am not allowed to list buy it now items until I have a certain feedback score.....err what? I've had a personal account for over 6 years with 100% positive feedback so why cant they take that into consideration? Meanwhile I'm listing stuff for two thirds of its value and barely making a profit on it, and to add insult to injury they then kick you in the balls with paypal witholding your payment for 21 days

I've just had to list stuff with a high start price and an apology that the prospective buyer will have to wait 7 days for their purchase, if it wasn't for such high charges I'd be tempted to get family to buy stuff just to up my feedback rating

Must hurry up and get the webshop sorted

Good luck Spider. It seems Ebay are intent on self destruction!

As soon as an alternative appears, well, need I say more?

I don't think eBay are making changes for the sake of it, rather more having to respond to various government requirements and regulations. They will also be making changes to "head off" some threatened government legislation as the noose tightens.

I suspect the problem is that rogue traders are perceived as not paying tax and the spotlight has turned up fully on eBay.

In the midst of all this, they will also want to maintain their profitability.

The days of an easy place to buy and sell freely like a global car boot sale may be numbered.

If my suspicions are close to the mark, then there will never be an alternative as the newcomer will be subject to all sorts of red tape right from the start.

I must say I do have some concerns about traders not declaring all their income. Casual sales of the odd lens here and there within a hobby is fine but there are a lot of traders there who clearly buy in modest bulk for resale - I wonder if they all declare their income?

Also I thought there had been some alternatives to eBay, one in particular sticks in my mind X something or other I suspect, but they all floundered as they simply didn't get the volume.

Mike

From a tax point of view we can make up to £9000 (I think) per year selling things we've already owned and are just getting rid of. These fall under the tax radar completely. Many things we sell at a paper loss, but it's irrelevant as we don't want them any more.

It's when we buy to sell that the problem arises. Then we are trading as a business and the tax man will want a cut.

It's not all one sided though as registering as a Sole Trader enables you to be employed and also be self employed as well. The self employed part enables the charging of costs against tax, in proportion to business use against personal use, so lighting, heating, telephones, broadband, petrol, etc. all get a share counted in.

I went on a very helpful HMRC course that explained clearly what needed to be done and what to claim for.

That's a very interesting piece of information regarding how much we can sell (of our own property) without having to worry about tax. Thanks for sharing John, I've often wondered about Ebay and tax implications. I shall worry no more!

IMPOTENTSPIDER - we had exactly the same problem when I created our business account and....we bought a job lot of sunglasses for £1 each and sold them for £2 each, soon got the rating up, and then started selling what we do now.

Andy

When I started using eBay in 2002 it was a fantastic site with lots of like minded users selling their own unwanted items. Its gone down hill so much since. They should return it to private sellers only.

That's exactly when I started!
You could get real bargains then from proper private users. Now it seems like it's run by traders or by people who state they are from the UK but arer based in Hong Kong and you have no idea where you are buying from!

I am about to put a lot of stuff on ebay and to tell you the truth, I am dreading it. So yes it would be great to return it to the prvate users!

Paul