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Private collection and estate clearances classified as commercial sales
Summary: schuetzle96 received an email from eBay stating that her account is being classified as a business account because of her current sales. She explains that she is clearing out a private collection and household, which means many items are being sold, but mostly without making a profit. schuetzle96 is still offering a few items, mostly video games and Pokémon cards, and asks for a review of the account classification. perfect-sally points out that eBay classifies accounts as business accounts when there are so many sales and many new items, and recommends getting confirmation from the tax office to clarify the situation.
Hello everyone,
I received an email telling me that my eBay account will be restricted in 4 weeks because my sales were classified as commercial.
However, I am a private seller. From my point of view, there is a misunderstanding here.
It is true that I sold a larger number of items within a short period of time and that I also offer brand-new goods in original packaging. The reason for this, however, is that I am currently in the process of permanently downsizing my private belongings and winding up various collections. These are items from my private property and not goods that I bought for resale.
The items offered and sold can essentially be divided into three areas:
1. Liquidation of my video game collection
The largest share in monetary terms consists of video games, consoles, and accessories such as controllers, headsets, and merchandise. I built up this collection privately as a hobby between 2015 and 2023. All video game items also date from this period and are not newer. I bought a few items in duplicate back then. Almost all items from the collection are still in their original packaging to this day and are therefore offered as new and unopened.
Since I haven't paid as much attention to the hobby for 3 years, I decided to get rid of almost my entire collection.
For all original-packaged games and consoles, I still have the receipts, which are issued in my name as a private buyer. Strictly speaking, I actually make a loss on most sales, since the selling prices are equal to or below my original purchase prices at the time.
2. Pokemon cards and accessories
Another part of my sales consists of duplicate Pokémon cards as well as accessories from Pokémon boxes that I don't need myself, for example dice, card dividers, or protective sleeves. These come from 2024 and 2025, when I actively collected current Pokémon cards.
Again, this is exclusively my private collection. The sale is only intended to recoup a small part of the original purchase costs. I also still have all the invoices for the displays and boosters from which the cards and accessories come.
3. Household clearance
The remaining part consists of used household items from my apartment and my parents' home, mostly items from my childhood, for example Mickey Mouse magazines, Playmobil, LEGO, model cars, etc. Understandably, I no longer have any receipts for these.
By now I am almost finished clearing out the household and my collections. There are only 4 boxes of household items, 1 box of Pokemon cards, and about ten items from my video game collection left that I still wanted to list on eBay over the course of this year. After that, no further sales of this scale are planned.
I do not intend to carry out any commercial activity, even if the type and frequency of the sales currently make it look very much like that is continuing. I have already gotten rid of most of my video game collection. In hindsight, it would probably have been smarter for me to sell the entire video game collection all at once instead of listing each item individually…
I would be happy if the classification of my account could be reviewed once again.
As mentioned above, all items come from my private collection. In addition, I make little or no profit on most sales, since I bought most of the consoles, video games, and accessories back then at higher prices than I receive for them today when selling.
For all video games, the receipts are available and are issued in my name as a private buyer.
Best regards
Tim
petersmodellbahnstuebchen
Mentor2 weeks agoHi @schuetzle96
because of the number of your sales, eBay has certainly already requested your tax number in order to submit a report under the PStTG to the Federal Central Tax Office next year.
At the latest then, you may have to talk to your tax office about this issue.
Best regards from the Baltic Sea
Peter
perfect-sally
Mentor2 weeks agoCollection liquidations can also indicate commercial trading. I think eBay has watched long enough and has now simply asked you to switch your account.
You can also get confirmation from the tax office that certifies your purely private sales and try to see whether eBay recognizes that.
You currently have 221 listings online, and 53 of them are for new goods. That by no means suggests private selling.
At the moment you have sold 135, and 71 of them were new goods. The previous sales, too, cannot be classified as purely private.
On top of that, it could still happen that a competitor sends you a cease-and-desist letter, and then it gets really expensive.