Private sellers operating on a commercial scale – how do you report them? How should you deal with them? | Seller Lounge

emmitrading · 2026-07-05T15:27:55.801925Z

I’d be interested in how other commercial eBay sellers deal with this issue.More and more often, I see private sellers who regularly sell large quantities of items over the years and compete on price with commercial sellers.As a commercial seller, we pay eBay fees, taxes, comply with all legal requirements (legal notice, right of withdrawal, warranty, etc.) and bear the corresponding costs. Private accounts usually do not have these obligations.I’m explicitly not talking about occasional estate clearances or collection sales. I’m talking about absolutely obvious cases.I’d be interested in:What experiences have you had with this?Do you report such cases to eBay?The specific trigger for this post: today I was even contacted by a supposedly private eBay account with thousands of reviews and a very professional appearance.The accusation was that I was ruining his prices with my listings – his prices as a "collector". I thought that was pretty absurd.I now know dozens of such accounts in my niche, and I’ve reported them and absolutely nothing happens. It seems eBay doesn’t care at all.That’s why I’m now seriously considering opening a private account myself and selling my items through that. Then there would be no returns, no warranty, and no other obligations of a commercial seller.On top of that, there would be a significant saving on eBay fees. In my case, they’re always over 12%.If behavior like this ultimately has no consequences at all, I honestly ask myself why I should still run a commercial account.Then, as a seller who complies with all legal requirements, pays fees, and fulfills every obligation, you end up being the sucker.

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Private sellers operating on a commercial scale – how do you report them? How should you deal with them? | Seller Lounge | eBay Germany