eBay

frank-weimann · ‎11-17-2019

Hi all.

I currently sell on eBay using a personal account. But I want to get an eBay business account to sell items on ebay.com.

I have a simple question:

Can the items I list on ebay.com also appear on ebay.co.uk and on ebay.de?

If yes, will I be charged more?

Please let me know.

Regards

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-17-2019

There is very little (if any) difference on .com between personal and business accounts so you can list on here using either. If you specify shipping to other countries such as the UK and Germany, your listings might be found in search depending on how many items fitting that search were originally listed directly on those sites. If shown, they would be shown after local sellers items in the international seller section.

For the UK site you used to be able to pay approx. 50 cents to have your listings shown next to the items that were listed directly on that site. I don’t know if that option is still available. When I used it years ago, I don’t think that my UK sales increased but it may have worked better for some sellers. That option has never been available for the .de or other sites. Since you already list on the UK site, it would probably be more useful to list there for UK buyers and perhaps for Germany too. Are you not allowed to specify shipping to other countries if you are a personal seller on the UK site?

lacemaker3 · ‎11-17-2019

@frank-weimann, because you are registered in the UK, you have to follow the rules and policies on eBay UK.

https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/business/getting-started

If you are selling as a business, then you need to register your account as a business account. This account is currently a personal account, so you would need to change the registration on eBay.co.uk. There are some specific requirements for business sellers in the EU and UK, and the business account on eBay UK is set up to help you comply with those requirements.

You can list items for sale on any website, although as a new sellers I would recommend that you begin by listing on your local website to learn the ropes. Your listings will be visible on any website, based on whether the items can be shipped to the location where potential buyers have their shipping address. eBay only shows buyers items that can be shipped to their own location.

eBay does give preference to items that were listed in the local language, so items that are listed on eBay Germany in German do have preference in search results on eBay Germany.

frank-weimann · ‎11-17-2019

Hello.

Thanks for your reply.

I actually have another personal account and I list on ebay.com.

I really want to use a business account, because of the various advantages compared to a personal account.

To answer your question, you can specify shipping to other countries on the ebay.co.uk site. This is not a problem.

But I just want to know whether, if I open a Business Account, I will be able to list my items simultaneously on ebay.co.uk and ebay.de too? Is this possible?

Or should I open Business Accounts for both ebay.co.uk and ebay.de?

Please let me know!

Regards

lacemaker3 · ‎11-17-2019

@frank-weimann wrote:
...

But I just want to know whether, if I open a Business Account, I will be able to list my items simultaneously on ebay.co.uk and ebay.de too? Is this possible?

Or should I open Business Accounts for both ebay.co.uk and ebay.de?

...

You should ask about this on eBay.co.uk and ebay.de.

www.community.ebay.co.uk

www.community.ebay.de

This is eBay USA, and the rules are different here. Items listed here are visible on eBay USA and eBay Canada, and sometimes on eBay UK. But, websites that use other languages give preference to listings that are in the correct language.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-17-2019

The op wants to list on this site so they would go be the rules here, not on the UK site. If I were to list on the UK site I would have to follow their business/ personal seller rules there, even though I am registered in Canada.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-17-2019

I have always sold as an individual, not as a business...even when I listed and sold quite a bit more. Which advantages of having a business account are you referring to? I’m not aware of them but perhaps another poster is.

Are you asking about the visibility on other sites if you list here as a business seller or are you asking about listing items n .com, then separately on the other 2 sites. You can do the latter with a personal account so I imagine that you can do that with a business account as well.

However, lace’s post made me think about whether or not it is even possible for you to change your status on .com when you are registered on another site. As lace said, you might have to become a business seller on your registration site in order to be a business seller here. I don’t know the answer to that.

lacemaker3 · ‎11-17-2019

@pjcdn2005, there are laws in the EU and the UK which mean that if a seller is operating as a business in the EU/UK, then they have to meet certain requirements legally. In order to meet the requirements when selling on eBay, they have to register a business account. If they are a business, and list items for sale in Europe with a personal account, that is against the law. This is very different from selling on eBay USA and eBay Canada.

So, if @frank-weimann lives in the UK and wants to sell in the EU/UK and have their listings be displayed on eBay websites in the UK, and they are operating as a business, then they are legally required to register with a business account.

These laws would not affect someone who is not living or registered in the EU (like you and me) but they do affect someone who has a registration address in the EU no matter what eBay website they are listing on.

However, the EU and UK have things like the Distance Selling Regulation that apply to all businesses, and there are potentially severe penalties for sellers who don't comply with the requirements. For example, a UK-based seller who is listing on eBay USA or eBay Canada would not be in compliance with the Distance Selling Regulation if they sell to someone in Europe, because their listings on eBay USA/Canada would not show their business contact information and address. So this might not work out well for a business seller registered in EU/UK.

@frank-weimann, the account you posted with was registered on eBay USA, but has an address in the UK. That's mixed up, and it might make things difficult for you. It's always better to use an account that was registered in the country where you live, because you have to follow their laws no matter what.

If you are in the UK, then it would be better for you to use an account that was registered on eBay UK because it will make it easier for you to comply with the laws in the UK. It will probably be easier to learn what you have to do if you start out listing on eBay UK.