Closed my eBay account because they put my payouts on hold for more information.

[srailfonaidraug]

Been buying and selling on there since 2009, 100% positive feedback, top-rated seller etc.

Last night a buyer bid, won and paid £65 + postage for the set of guitar pickups I had listed. I get the "you got paid" email and 10 minutes later, another email stating:

You need to update some details on your account. You may have received this email for a variety of reasons. For example, you may have started to sell more than before or enrolled in a new service.
You won’t receive payouts or be able to use some eBay services until you verify your account information. We understand that this is frustrating, but this process helps us keep our marketplace safe. We appreciate your cooperation.
Please make sure you update your account info by 03 Jul, 2024 to release your held payments and avoid further restriction. Once you’ve made the requested updates, we’ll verify your info, and you’ll be good to go.
Thanks for being part of the eBay community.

Fair enough I thought, sounds a bit like coercion by fake security scaremongering but I'll play, and clicked on the "Update account info" link. This took me to a page requesting my full name as it appears on official government documentation, my date of birth and a choice of either my passport, driver's licence or some other official government ID complete with photograph.

This is that online junk shop eBay remember, not my bank - which incidentally has never asked for any such thing. I mean who do those bottom-feeding, parasitic, money for other people's mould and mildew merchants think they are?

Nope. Account closure initiated, app deleted and good riddance.

Are you sure the email was genuine, rather than a scam?

Definitely genuine, right there in my account messages.

Presumably this is to do with the sales data that eBay are now legally required to share with HMRC, starting Jan 2024?
Not their fault, it's now a legal requirement.
But I can understand why you won't want to share this personal information with a company that is not regulated in the same way as, for example, your bank. Bit irritating as we've sold 4,000+ items, though they were ours, definitely not a business seller, but its the government demanding the info not eBay.

Yes is very normal if you are a regular seller.

Totally agree.
Extremely intrusive.

It probably is a way of making the government/HMRC look like they're getting serious about tax while they, their mates and their sponsors play fast and loose with offshore bank accounts, shell companies and the like.

Yet again ordinary people are being forced to pick up the tab for dishonesty at the top of the food chain and run the gauntlet of some shambolic "clampdown" designed, like the government itself, to be seen to be performing honourably whilst in reality only protecting the interests of wealth and greed.

Paypal are just as bad, we have a small business and accept payments via them as well as shopify payments. We've had working capital loans through them and been with them years with no issues

They've decided (for no reason, no cases or chargebacks) that we need to provide proof of fulfillment for 8 orders, proof of buying stock for another 8 orders, and an explanation of our business, and until we do this we can't make withdrawals or payments. Currently over £400 in there we can't access. We make the products to order and have a turnaround time so we haven't reached the orders they want details for yet, and tbh we could do with having access to the money to post said orders!

Absolute nightmare, i hate them but some people assume you're a scam business and won't buy if they can't use PayPal so we have to keep it as an option really 🙄

Sorry to hear that, it really does suck when you've clearly been one of the assets that has helped make PayPal the success story it is today.

Hope everything gets sorted soon.

Well, yes. All of that may be true, but your ire was directed at eBay, and I don't think, for once, they're to blame.

Can hardly cancel my account with HMRC can I?

My voluntary account with any commercial organisation which engages in lazy compliance rather than doing its own homework in distinguishing between private and business sellers (numbers of listings and monies accrued thereby over a given timeframe etc. etc.) OTOH…

I had something similar with Vinted today when I requested a funds withdrawal. They use (an intermediary?) Mangopay. I am apparently close to some unspecified limit and need to supply more confirmation information.

I started the process and got as far as the upload passport/driving licence picture requirement. As I didn't have them on me I closed the app with a view to completing later at home.

When I opened the app the screen Inhad been on had disappeared and I'm none the wiser. Have I satisfied them? Is my cash in the ether? I guess I'll find out in the next few days 🤷‍♀️

It's HMRC and eBay... and all other sales platforms.

They ask everyone who gets flagged by their algorithm.

The taxman’s worried about not getting a cut from people who might be earning themselves a crust buying and selling tat, so ordinary folk trying to recoup a few quid while moving their own personal stuff on get lumped in with that by fleabays “computer says no” algorithm.

Meanwhile the major players in tax evasion get the benefit of this pretentious deflection and carry on as normal.

They could fix the algorithms, but they’d have to fix the idiots supposed to be running the country first.

No. They don't care if you are selling on your own clothes etc.

They are bothered if you are buying and selling to make money.

If your account gets stopped the most you will have to do is tell them it is your own stuff you are selling on. If that is all you are doing.

If it's a business then you should have declared it. Same as everyone else. Regardless of anything you think about some.

No what? I'm not selling clothes or buying and selling anything else to make money. I'm selling my own stuff for less than I bought it because it's pre-owned, by me.

My payouts did get stopped and the least they wanted me to do was provided them with more ID, including photographic, than required to open my bank account.

That's all there is to this, regardless of which stick you've gotten the wrong end of.

Either people want a toughening up on crime, all crime, or they don't. These are clearly anti fraud and anti money laundering measures.

It's called Anti Money Laundering regulations. They are legally obliged to collect this information as a financial service provider. It doesn't just apply to banks. YABVVVU

I had to provide my driving licence to open a bank account though?

I can't see them asking for anything more than standard ID verification

I've had to do the same for an online bookies before too

Nah, just err-on-the-side-of-bureaucracy window-dressing in lieu of proper governance and administration.

An algorithm triggered by £500 worth of used gear on an account that's been running for 15 years on a platform functioning specifically for that purpose needs recalibrating.

Selling X amount of items or over £X of items triggers checks because of the new tax rules

You might only have sold £500 but you sold lots and lots to make that

Online selling is now subject to tax. So it's wrong

Only if you reach the limit though

Nope. Three items.

Got the message about ten minutes after my third item sold, saying my payout was on hold until I played along with their data-mining charade.

I refunded the buyer in full, pulled my remaining fourth listing and instructed eBay to close my account.

Ugh yeah I had this on paypal-luckily they restricted my account whilst no money in there so I just stopped using it. I would close the account but heard you can't whilst there is still an unresolved issue?

Thank you for posting. You've done the right thing . I'm thinking to close my eBay account too. Once on the radar, try to prove to HMRC that you are selling your own stuff ! Who needs that stress and hustle, just for selling your own second hand crap. The government needs money and we are all easy low hanging fruits. Wait for Jan 2025 when there will be mass reporting of private eBay sellers

Take off your tinfoil hat, OP. Business that handle money are required to collect information about their customers. They don't give a shiny shite about how old your account is - they still don't know you from a hole in the wall when it comes to regulations they're obliged to comply with. They're just jumping through hoops to allow them to stay in business.

You are, of course, completely free to throw your toys out of the pram and close your account in response, but arguing with people who are pointing out why you've got it wrong is a little much, as is the ranting and raving about the state of the world and the fairness of it all.