eBay UK Limits Multi-Buy Discounts To Businesses Amid Private Seller Crackdown

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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eBay UK is taking more steps to differentiate private from business sellers with new multi-buy discount limitations it hopes will "encourage" businesses incorrectly trading under private accounts to upgrade.

Private sellers were notified via email the change will take effect in January, with those wishing to retain access to discount tools needing to upgrade to a business account, which will make their sales subject to final value fees again.

From 20 Jan 2025, Multi-buy will become exclusive to business sellers, and no longer be available to private sellers.

On 20 Jan 2025, all active listings using the Multi-buy discount tool will automatically become multi-quantity listings, and the discounts will be removed. If you’d like to continue using the Multi-buy discount tool, and are operating a business, you can upgrade to a business account which includes a number of additional benefits.

Please note, since it’s now free for private sellers to sell on eBay, upgrading will mean that transaction fees will apply to your sales, and you’ll be unable to revert back to a private account.

Unlike changes that will delay funds until after delivery and require private sellers to use Simple Delivery managed shipping, this change was met with mostly positive feedback from sellers who have been frustrated with eBay's lack of action against obvious businesses which trade dishonestly under private accounts.

Re: Changes to your Multi-buy discount tool access - Private sellers can’t offer multi-buy
A small step - but one in the right direction.

FINALLY!! Excellent news! Now they need to remove multi variation listings from "private" sellers now too!

Seems fair. Any kind of promotional tool/feature should only be available to business sellers, imo.

Private sellers can just lower their prices if their items aren't shifting.

I got this email on my private ID as I'd used the feature in the last 6 months. If I'm reading it right private sellers can still have multi-item listings, they just won't be able to set up multi-buy discounts. I think it's a step in the right direction tbh

The move comes on top of other changes made earlier this year which reduced the monthly fee listing allotment for private accounts as well.

eBay UK Cracks Down On Private Sellers, Reduces Monthly Free Listing Allotment
eBay UK cracks down on businesses registered as private sellers, forcing upgrades & dropping monthly free listings from 1,000 listing to 300.

Shortly after that announcement, eBay made private selling fee-free across most categories in the UK, accelerating the shift to further separate business selling and consumer to consumer private selling on the platform, with buyer fees expected to be introduced in Q1 2025.

eBay UK Drops Selling Fees For Private Sellers Across All Categories Except Motors
eBay appears to be expanding fee free selling in UK to all categories (except Motors) as competition for consumer to consumer sellers heats up.

What do you think of eBay UK limiting discount tools for use by business accounts only? Let us know in the comments below!

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Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.

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PSYCHO_COMICS
BRILLIENT. I NEVER SORE THAT COMIING I THINK BUYERS WILL LOOK MORE TO SHIFTING TO BUY OF BUISENESS SELLERS IT MAKES SENCE

Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholderNone Such11 hours ago
I left Bonanza after the shipping fee was introduced. By that point, sales on the site, which were (for me) never many, had shriveled to almost nothing (again, for me). I would love to see a P&L statement for Bonanza.
Avatar PlaceholderwhiteholmesteveYesterday
likewise wont be selling on e bay
much too complicated now for a few pounds a year in sales
Avatar PlaceholdereCommerce ProYesterday
Bonanza (or bMarketplace, or whatever they want to call themselves this week) is FINISHED.

They just "killed the golden goose". I imported my 1500+ eBay items to there since it was free. Turned out just to be a lot of work for (maybe) 3 sales a month.

The total fees were higher there before this new $20 a month cost structure, even though they claimed otherwise. When one factors in the 3.49% + 49 cent PayPal processing fees so one can get paid, there went a good chunk of profit.

Now they have boosted their commission to 11%, and still claim that the cost to sell there is less than eBay's. And remember that this does not include payment processing. WHY?? Makes no sense at all.

On eBay, for $27.95 a month, I sell over 100 items there every 30-31 days. Makes ZERO SENSE to pay a site $20 to make just a couple of sales. Since they now allow 50 "free listings", I have trimmed my offerings back to just below that amount. Also had to raise all my prices accordingly to absorb the extra selling costs.

The people who run the show here obviously didn't realize that eBay sellers who imported their listings gave the site a great depth of product, which would attract more buyers. Now that will be gone, because NO ONE will pay them $20 monthly for little to no sales.

The site also has technical issues that they refuse to fix. It was a decent resource to enable the occasional sale, but they will soon be stacked onto the eCommerce trash heap of companies that THOUGHT they could compete with Amazon and eBay. Etsy may also suffer the same fate soon, as many sellers are also leaving their site due to high fees, website issues, and poor management.

Basic eComm rule here: When you do not carry any inventory, and sellers are solely responsible for supplying your site with the goods offered, DON'T BITE THE HAND WHICH FEEDS YOU!!!