Private Vs. Business Account For eBay Reselling – Which Is Better? In this post my aim will be to give you a bit more clarity over where you stand – So, at the time of writing this – the news has just broke that eBay is scrapping fees for Private sellers. Just like Vinted and Facebook Marketplace.
If you have a Private eBay account it is now FREE – no fees for your first 300 listings for the month and NO fees after your item has sold!
I mean, it seems on the face of it to be pretty cut and shut – why would you want to switch your eBay account to Business and lose 10% PLUS of all your profits?
I know right – when you put it like this it sounds like a pretty daft Idea really…
BUT I have had a think about this. I’ve been selling on eBay long enough now and in my view, for those that really want to go far with eBay reselling there is only one way to do it – you need to grow your business to be bigger and better.
My point being – if you are aiming to get to the point where you have (let’s say) 5000 or 10,000 listed items and you are making a 100 sales every day THEN you can’t exactly do this with a private account.
This is what I’m thinking. Scalability! There is only so far you can go with a private account if you really want to be going places with your business.
It’s like this – you can either sell a lot less and keep more of the money or sell a lot more, make a lot more money but lose your scrapped fees.
I think it makes sense… And there is only one way to do it – which I think is pretty clear to see, and that is UPGRADE to an eBay Business account!
so let’s take a look at this.
Using a Private Vs. Business Account For eBay Reselling – What Is Best?
Saying what I see – ACTUALLY this question is something I think that looks like it will be taken out of lot of peoples hands.
As far as I can tell – eBay’s decision to scrap selling fees wasn’t just some clever move to compete with other marketplaces like Vinted. It seems to me like it could all be a smokescreen with this giving eBay more of an opportunity to force their users to upgrade that reach a certain point.
Possibly, the UK govt. is behind this and it could be leading to where all business reseller accounts will need to be VAT registered.
I know Vinted Pro and On Buy require a UTR number and this is a PROBLEM for anyone that is not VAT registered.
Although, I think (for now) you can upgrade your eBay account without a UTR number (I think) but EITHER WAY from past experience I think that it IS WORTH upgrading to an eBay Business Account;
and I would do this when eBay contact you to do so, if not before.
Here is why…
The Benefits of Upgrading To An eBay Business Account From Private
So, this will not be for everyone. If your someone that only sells a few items a week and are happy to just make a bit of extra money here and there rather than reach new heights with your selling activity then STAY PRIVATE –
BUT if you want to grow your business from 1 to 5K a quarter, 5K to 10K, 10 to 25K and so on… then there is only so far you can go with a private account.
There are a lot of good reasons to upgrade and these I think are the main ones…
1.) Looking More Professional!
Once you have upgraded to a business account the first thing you can do is set up your own eBay store page. Here is mine;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/chivs86pccooling
It is definitely a great upgrade for UX (user experience)
As someone that has both a Private and Business account (for the time being) this is one thing I want to personally do when the time comes with my private account by upgrading –
- Set up My Own Categories and Sub Categories,
- Select Featured Categories
- Select Featured Items
- Show My Contact Details (email address and phone number)
- Show Other Items I Have for Sale In My Listings
…and just keep building. List more, sell more and make more money!
You can upgrade your store further (if you wish to do so) – with the more you grow your stock levels the more you can save on fees (if done right)
For example I sell plush, video games and books amongst other things. I have 1400 items listed and with a private account I feel I have too many items listed but still I need to list a lot more.
I think, in theory this means if someone wants to buy extra items from me with the same order the customer has to scroll through 14 pages to find what they want.
Its OK if someone wants to buy just 1 item but its always nice when customers want to purchase multiple items and place a bigger order.
By contrast with a business account this makes the process so much easier.
You also can use featured categories, easily run a sales event and you have an About Me page where you can add your phone and email contact details.
For suppliers that want to reach out to you and for setting up local pick ups outside of eBay without risking penalties this is a great way to do this.
Dedicated Support
I haven’t explored this channel yet but from what I’ve heard eBay now offer a more dedicated support channel for business sellers. I think this is a pretty big deal, as typically eBay’s AI chat bot will just run you round in hoops with no way to solve your issues. There is nothing worse –
But if you have a business account this is one of the best things to come out of eBay scrapping fees for private sellers. I haven’t explored this channel myself yet but I suppose I will sooner or later. And as well as this…
Increase the Volume of Your Listings
For private account holders eBay now only offers just 300 free listings a month. Down from 1K. After this it is 35p for every new listing. This will be OK to a certain extent but if you are going over 300 listings every month then you probably should be switching.
I think It is OK to start with but if you are always buying to resell then this is pretty easy to use up. Its basically works out as 10 listings every day – if you want to list more than this then there is only so much leg room that you will get with selling on a private account.
Especially if – as well as listing new items you are ending old items to sell similar. This I was told about last year ALL NEW LISTINGS GET AN ALGORHYTHMIC BOOST – if you are relisting something this does NOT happen but if you sell similar Instead this is treated as if this is the same as listing a new item.
Also, once you start to get to the point that your store is ready for an upgrade selling fees go down with each tier of subscription. You just need to be earning enough to justify the cost of each level of store subscription.
Voucher For eBay Packaging
OK, this is not typically very much but still it is a nice little carrot. You get more with each level from Basic to Enterprise but it definitely does help..
It’s only £10 with basic but as you upgrade you will get more. For instance, 50 mailer bags or 20 boxes you might get to use a month. You need to have things like this available so if something sells then you are able to ship without the hassle of going out and finding something to use.
You should be buying / sourcing packing supplies anyway but having these extra few bits there I think is very useful to have.
Shop Newsletter
I think this can be a Very Powerful Marketing Tool. You could use this to advertise new blog posts or Youtube Videos, alert customers to new products and also you can let people know about sales and voucher codes.
Running a blog or YouTube channel opens the doors to engage with customers on a whole new level and this let’s people who follow you know all about it. I haven’t done much with mine yet but I think it’s a benefit.
Many will not think of sending out newsletters but you might notice over time that people will choose to follow your account. Its free advertising if done right and certainly a big perk if you upgrade.
However, if you are running a blog or YouTube channel why not consider setting up an email funnel through a landing page? I’m yet to set mine up yet but I have an eBook I’m planning to finish up soon which I will be offering to all new subscribers and I’m guessing I can utilize this for a lot more visits to this blog etc.
How To Get Round Fees For eBay Business Account Holders Possibly!
If you are serious about growing your eBay business one Idea I think could be smart is to set up a website and have your own store.
Get WordPress and WooCommerce to cross list your Inventory over with something like Vendoo and THEN – any sales you make on WooCommerce the fees are a lot less.
For basic it’s £.6.95 a month then 2.5% + 30p transaction fee. eBay charge 10% + 30p. It’s can be a nice way to save a bit of money on what eBay charge. Especially with higher ticket items.
PLUS You can use eBay to get people on to your website. As mentioned above you can use the newsletter to share your blog posts but another way is to leave a card or sticker inside with your eBay orders.
People love the convenience of eBay but if you are always getting items in that these same customers will be interested in then why not share your website?
In fact, it is a cool little sales funnel because on your website you can use opt ins to get people on your email list and with that you can keep people posted about new pick ups.
For Instance, my last eBay post I shared a list of what I picked up at the last car boot. I think posts like this people will read and will want to contact you about items they are Interested in.
I had 1 sale due to this post and the next one I had 2 enquiries about.
It depends what your following is like but yes I think getting a website and a separate store that’s more of your own could save you a lot of money on eBay fees.
ALSO – Instagram I hear is very good to share your pick ups on and is a great platform to arrange private deals.
*Note: a good idea for private deals is to get a Monzo account. If someone is on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger you can easily send a link to request payment and as its a typical bank transfer – NO FEES!
Your Options As A Private Seller
It seems to me that going forward people that wish to remain as private sellers on eBay need to really be careful about their sales volume.
It is not exactly clear what must be done if you wish NOT to flag your account if you really don’t want to upgrade but typically I’d say keep things a bit more minimal – 5 listings every 1-2 days (I think) maybe smart but probably you don’t want to be selling too many high ticket items either –
try listing these items on other marketplaces maybe too to diversify your activity.
Although, I do think you should prepare for the eventuality that you WILL have to upgrade and it will not all be doom and gloom.
For, Instance if you are upgrading and registering for a UTR number you can then use other marketplaces like Vinted Pro and On Buy.
Also, that is something else if you would like to remain as a private seller – list more items on Vinted and Facebook Marketplace. Maybe even Etsy, Poshmark or Ebid – there are LOADS of marketplaces you can try.
*Discogs, Vestaire, TikTok Shop, oh and WhatNot!
Preparing For The Switch From Private To Business
Typically this will mean starting to keep accounts for tax records. In preparation for this you should start making notes of what you spend towards your business. You don’t need a spreadsheet right away – just write down what you spend on inventory and on things like postage outside of eBay and packaging supplies.
You want to be in a position where at the end of the month you can say I have spent this much and made this much. Save a folder on your desktop dedicated to your eBay business – I have started doing this for every business with each having its own separate browser and to do list, spreadsheet etc.
It is really about making this a habit so when it comes to deciding what you have to pay as tax you aren’t getting the raw end of the deal.
You might find that once any other Income you was getting before is gone you might struggle to plug the gap.
Paying off debts if you can first is a very good idea I think. You really don’t want to be in a position where its pay your credit card for the month or rent. You need a level of stability – the trick is building this platform to be secure and to continue to build this to really grow and develop yourself and your financial security.
In Conclusion
So here you have it – these are my thoughts about this. If you are serious about reselling then think about switching to a business account. You could maybe have a private account for low value things where the fees eat into the profits too much MAYBE but anyway this is just what I think…
If you want to go far with eBay reselling then get yourself a business account. It is the right way to go. Or sell on Vinted Pro if you don’t like the fees lol maybe that is the future but still what is Important is moving stuff on and eBay for now is a great platform for this.
I shall finish this blog post up here but of course if you have any questions or anything else please leave a comment below…