eBay are running a free listing weekend again. On the 12th and 13th of October private sellers can list up to 100 items on auction with a start price of £1 or more for free.
All the normal rules apply – you must be a UK registered private seller and meet the minimum selling standards. Business sellers and PowerSellers are excluded.
What is interesting about this promotion is that there’s no mention of using professional listing tools. On previous promotions use of tools such as TurboLister have been specifically banned and only the Sell Your Item forms or eBay mobile apps would qualify you for free fees. If you do decide to list with a professional tool we’d strongly recommend that you list one or two items only to check you qualify for the discounted fees before sticking up 100 items.
Christmas is coming, time to have a clear out of all last year’s no longer wanted gadgets and get some cash in your personal PayPal account ready to spend.
Full details are as always on the .
48 Responses
Mine appears to have given me 200 free listings in my promotional area.
I continued to list until it started to charge. Adding them up it accepted 200. If it was a mistake then its ebays mistake and they should accept it as such.
Mind you it is just as much their mistake as all the restrictions I suffered last year after I was targeted by a Fraud and ebay backed the fraudster to the hilt.
As a matter of interest Why is ebay removing standard photographs from the Books files. It appears to me that all of the standard photographs of books that come up as 2 black book shapes are where ebay or somebody working with ebay has removed the photo of a book that was previously there. It does appear that as ebay is requiring more and better photographs ebay is removing the standard photos. Why?
Some are possibly because of problems with the photo. As an example one I saw is a Book on Irish Railways. The cover is green but the ebay photo was a yellow ochre colour. That has gone. So it could be that others have been deleted for similar reasons. But what with the high proportion of Books where there are technical details but no photos and those where ebay has removed the previous photo it means that probably less than 50% of book titles has a standard photo. Yet ebay is demanding photos in all cases.
Also why is no effort being put into catching up. There are many thousands of books published years ago where there is nothing available when you tap in the ISBN. No Technicals, no Photo nothing. But 2013 publications are not much better. Many books published in the early months of 2013 still have no technicals or photos. Surely these are the very Books that ebay should be catering for?
why would any genuine private seller ever need more than 100 listings anyhow?
Just had abnother chat with ebay and they confirm that it is to be 200 listings despite what the announcement says. They assure me I can list up to 200 without fees
So the assumption is that because I don’t have a job I am on benefits. Wrong! I do not receive a penny in benefits whatsoever nor am I registered as unemployed so not even national insurance is being paid on my behalf. My partner is the breadwinner, I am the house-husband. I am a private seller, not a business, and that’s that.
If you are selling unwanted household items that were purchased new then you would be a private seller. Any other category of sales including hobby items purchased recently duplicates or otherwise then you are a business. The excuse that profits made on ebay cover hobby costs is no excuse. If items are being sold for profit then that makes it a business.
Absolutely no one has 200 unwanted household items. And the fact that Chris T keeps listing the same books again and again and has sold these in the past at steam train rallies suggests nothing other than business. The excuse that the books are specialised and it can take years to find the right buyer is no excuse and only goes to reaffirm that Chris T is a business as he is happy to keep books in storage forever in the hope of achieving a price higher than that paid.
I think HMRC are clear as to what constitiutes a business based transaction – they define it as anything that was bought with the intent to sell it on at a later date. They make no mention of time scale, nor do they mention condition, it seems to make no difference if that is sold as new or as used (because you watched the DVD for example). It’s the original intent that counts and whilst on it’s own a single item can be argued as a private transaction. A history of such selling cannot so easily be argued – and both ebay & Paypal keep those records which HMRC would scrutinise for a minimum of 7 years. My view, if in doubt you should declare it to HMRC and let them decide.
So there is now an admission that at least one private seller is not a private seller as records are kept.
So why trade on ebay as a private seller to take advantage of the occasional 100 x 5p = £5 free listing offer with all the work this entails? You would be much better off overall fee wise registering as a business.
Lower final value fees and 200 free BIN listings if you have an ebay shop costing £20 per month. 200 x 5p x 3 (30days/10days) = £30 which is £10 more than the £20 cost of a shop. And you only have to list once until the item is sold.
Free listings are not guaranteed every fortnight and so your item disappear to be relisted every so often A permanent presence provides stabibility and credibility and will increase sales.
Did you not realise that?
This thread feels like a discussion on one of the Ebay boards. Just waiting for the “Are you really a business” gif to appear.
the moderators are so bad on this board they fly a red flag