Ebay Sellers Fees? - Page 3

likelylad73 · 21-05-2005, 12:38

Purenuman - This is part of the problem, people assume Ebay must be right just because they are a big company. There is nothing more to tell. They say there was only one complaint, but as i said, nobody asked for a refund so it couldn't have been one of my customers.

Paul - I use two computers at home and one at my sisters and one at my daughters so i suppose e-mails and listings must at some point have come from the same computer for both accounts. I gave them three weeks to reinstate my first account which i think is more than reasonable. As i intended to make my Ebay trade my main source of income i simply can't afford to wait ages for them to sort themselves out so i had to open a new account.

21-05-2005, 13:41

Do you have a licence to sell retail dvd's then? And was you intending to pay vat seeing as you bought them wholesale?
If the answer honestly is no to either of these questions then in reality you were breaking the law and got your fingers burnt,I do not say I agree or disagree with this just stating fact

Paul K · 21-05-2005, 13:50

Something else to be careful of is running a company or business from a residential property without checking with the local authorities as to if it is allowed.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...cId=1073960216

likelylad73 · 21-05-2005, 14:10

I am a licenced trader although this does not specifically cover DVD's. Whether or not i pay VAT is no concern of Ebay's as they are not liable for my tax debts. As i own my home i do not have to obey any tenancy restrictions.

21-05-2005, 14:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Something else to be careful of is running a company or business from a residential property without checking with the local authorities as to if it is allowed.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...cId=1073960216

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Follow Pauls link and then tell us you do not have to follow the rules

Paul K · 21-05-2005, 14:27

No, but you have to be aware of any local government rules and legislations that may impact your use of a residential property for commercial activities.
From the link in my above post

Quote:

If you are planning to use your home as a workplace, there are a number of points to check before you begin.
Working from home can affect your mortgage, your home insurance, your tax situation and even your neighbours.

All of which is nothing to do with your problem with Ebay but it is something you need to keep in mind for your own protection (you never know when a neighbour may complain to the local council).
Anyway, have you tried contacting Ebay to try and appeal against the original suspension (which led to your subsequent ban) via any means other than the obviously over stretched email system?

likelylad73 · 21-05-2005, 14:41

Ebay have an address in Ireland which i wrote to but that was two weeks ago and so far they have not replied. They flatly refuse to discuss the matter on the phone. It is my intention to eventually do the bulk of my business from home but that is a long term goal and before i commit to it fully i will have to sustain a minimum weekly income for several months and also have at least two reliable sources of trade. Ebay are obviously not worthy of consideration any more. I am thinking about starting my own website to sell from and hopefully someone with sufficient funds will start a rival auction site which will make Ebay realise they need to treat people properly if they want to stay in business.

Paul K · 21-05-2005, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by likelylad73

Ebay have an address in Ireland which i wrote to but that was two weeks ago and so far they have not replied. They flatly refuse to discuss the matter on the phone. It is my intention to eventually do the bulk of my business from home but that is a long term goal and before i commit to it fully i will have to sustain a minimum weekly income for several months and also have at least two reliable sources of trade. Ebay are obviously not worthy of consideration any more. I am thinking about starting my own website to sell from and hopefully someone with sufficient funds will start a rival auction site which will make Ebay realise they need to treat people properly if they want to stay in business.

As you have already mentioned, Ebay is pretty much the main place online for this sort of enterprise so setting up your own online site would require you getting a site together that looks professional but is easy to alter (for when you need to change your stock lists), then you will need to advertise it. Now most people will set theire sites up and then use Ebay to promote it by throwing some auctions onto the site at regular intervals to drum up interest and to get their site links onto DVD sale pages. Since Ebay have already tracked you once it's likely that you won't be able to use them to promote your site unless you can iron out the dispute with them. If not then you may want to look at using QXL to raise your sites traffic and maybe look at getting yourself listed on Google, Yahoo etc so that your site scores well on searches for DVD sales.
Aren't there government departments set up to help people get off the ground so to speak when starting their own small businesses? Failing that most banks have a small business advisor who can lead you through the pitfalls and help you get a full and proper business plan together so that you can see clearly what is ahead of you.

likelylad73 · 21-05-2005, 15:10

Getting the site known is probably the hardest part. I thought Ebay and QXL banned links to websites. I remember a few months ago i tried placing a link from my QXL ad to the imdb site so people could read about the films. QXL removed it and threatened to ban me if i did it again. I have no idea why this is not allowed as it saves me a lot of work. They also ban sending e-mail and website addresses in replies to questions from members.

Paul K · 21-05-2005, 15:26

The best form of advertisement on an auction site is a good reputation for quality goods and no reports of failure to deliver etc. Do either of the sites stop you from having a link to your site in your profile? That's the easiest and best way to promote interest in your site, someone buys from you or likes the dvds you are selling, they look in your profile and see the link, link gets clicked and the buyer now knows where your site is and the full scope of your DVD stock. failing that you can always use your site name (example dvdsales uk) as the account name like here EBAY link.
The search engine scoring can be affected by use of keywords in the HTML of the site, good use of HTML coding can make a big difference in your listing on a search engine.
After that you can always try getting yourself listed on free directory services and sites local to you, build up your custom locally as well as further afield.

likelylad73 · 21-05-2005, 15:44

This is something i will have to look into. I had considered making a site and promoting it with adverts in Loot and free newspapers but the cost of advertising is ridiculous. Link exchanges are a possibility but there is a lot of competition in the DVD business and nobody wants new people coming in.