Has anyone ever sold their eBay business before?

[marks.market]

Im considering selling. Im just losing motivation to continually list stock, compete with people who undercut my prices, and posting sales. Has been 8 years. I just dont know what to sell the business for so looking for some honest opinions.

Heres the run down:

Included would be roughly $45,000 cost price in stock which has roughly $110,000 sale value, $4000 in furniture and shelving, a computer, $1000 in postal and office supplies, business accounts with Australia's 2 biggest DVD distributors, 1140 active eBay listings and stock for a further 200 or so listings, an eBay account with over 25,000 sales and over 15,200 positive feedback points at 99.9% positive rate, business name and logo. Currently earning about $15,000 - $20,000 profit a year and is easily capable of earning $30,000+ with current stock levels (just dont have the time while also working full time). This can be earned from around 2 hours work a day.

Any thoughts appreciated

[fred_foofighter]

Yes but the account hasn't changed the business is still operating as XYZ pty ltd with ebay ID XYZ only the share holders of the business have changed.  Isn't a Pty Ltd an entity of itself so the account hasn't transferred.

[go-tazz]

You can sell your eBay business as long as you don't include anything related to Ebay in the sale.

Your user name and anything associated with it can not be transferred without their approval.

Eg: feedback,stars,sales,etc can not be transferred.

The fraud implication that a sale entails would be way over the top.

A sale would be seen in the same way as a hijacked account as they wouldn't be dealing with the trusted seller that

has had the account for 8 years,(they would be dealing with an unknown person).

If a scammer managed to "purchase" an active account they could scam tens of thousands of dollars,(or more)

in the space of about a month,(which is the length of time that most try to operate for).

Included would be roughly $45,000 cost price in stock which has roughly $110,000 sale value, $4000 in furniture and shelving, a computer, $1000 in postal and office supplies,

business accounts with Australia's 2 biggest DVD distributors,

If they agree to supply them.

1140 active eBay listings , an eBay account with over 25,000 sales and over 15,200 positive feedback points at 99.9% positive rate, business name and logo,

All that can't be included in any sale.

Currently earning about $15,000 - $20,000 profit a year and is easily capable of earning $30,000+ with current stock levels (just dont have the time while also working full time). This can be earned from around 2 hours work a day.

They would have to start from scratch unless they already had an account.

[fred_foofighter]

Much of what you have said equally applies to a B&M business.  $45000 stock at cost and the fittings are tangible assets and worth the same internet or B&M.  The same due diligence applies to B&M in checking that the distributor will supply to you after you take over.  While he may not be able take over the FB etc if the 1140 listing are in Turbo Lister they certainly could be transferred and easily altered to a new owner, from personal experience there is a lot of work tied up in a 1000 listings.  Sounds like eBay goodwill =  zero but other parts of the business have value.

[chameleon54]

Go tazz - Some of the points you make regards scammers abusing the process have some merrit. BUT maybe the answer is that ebay should be much more pro-active in managing scammers, as many have called for on numerous occasions on the forums. This would be much more benificial than penalising people who have spent years building solid businesses by preventing them from selling them. The problem of taking action against scammers is realy a seperate issue to business owners realising the financial value of their years of hard work. Most of your views and problems ( ie. supplier transfer, business name and logo etc ) relate equelly with B & M stores. This includes goodwill ( feedback ) which has a recognised value that is built into the price of sale of a B & M business. You can just as easily be ripped of by any "real" business as an online one. Example - paying builders who do shoddy or non complying work, mechanics who charge you for non existant or non genuine parts, knock off fashion accesories sold as the real thing etc. etc. etc. The adage buyer beware applies online as in real life. All of these issues whilst important and worthy of action are really seperate to preventing ebayers from selling thier online businesses and should not be confused with this subject. 

[*crikey*mate*]

eBay are not preventing people from selling their online business, they do say "without permission". They want to know with who they will be forming the contract with.

They made it very clear in their T&C (which is part of the account holder's contract with eBay) when the member joined that "with permission" was one of the terms of the contract.

If the member didn't like those terms, then they needed to either negotiate before entering into the contract and forming a legally binding agreement, or completely refrain from entering the contract at all.

I agree with much of what you are saying, BUT, this is eBay's business. They outlined the terms and cionditions under which they were prepared to enter into a contract with the member, and the member "signed" and agreed to that ciontract. It is an enforceable contract, regardless of how "fair" etc that we view it to be.

They are the conditions under which eBay are prepared to operate. I daresay, that if you were not in agreeance with the terms of their contract, then they would not enter into a contract with that member.

No one forced the seller to build a business using eBay's platform, they did so willingly, with full up front disclosure from eBay.

[*crikey*mate*]

I know of one account that was allowed to be transferred (there are probably more, but I just know of the one).

A member died and a relative (grandson, I think?) was allowed to take over the established business. I don't know if it was "sold" or "inherited" per se, or what legalities were involved with the transfer, but I do klnow it has happened and that the new "owner" would have had to enter into a contract with eBay.

as for eBay "vetting scammers" They have taken steps towards this, with selling limits now imposed on new members/accounts. In this way they can control who does what and in what quantities. With an unknown entity taking over an existing account, they have no way of controlling their activities iykwim. They can't impose the restrictions retrospectively, so really can only apply to this new safety measure with new members. But they can't do that, if they don't know when they are getting new members.

[*crikey*mate*]

For argument's sake.

If a person who formed a contract with eBay using the T&C that i can read on this site, sold their business without eBay's knowledge, and that person turned out to be a scammer, then.

presumedly, eBay would become aware of the activity on the account and investigate. When they learned that the member with whom they formed the contract had breached the contract, eBay could decide to sue for any perceived damages caused by the scammer, as even though the business/account has been sold, this is a differentl contract with a separate entity and not a part of the contract formed with eBay.

If eBay felt that this breach resulted in (for example), harm to their reputation, they may choose to seek damages from the person with whom the contract exists.

The initial contract needs to be cancelled/terminated by law or mutual agreement, and eBay has a choice about whom they wish to enter into a future contract with.

it doesn't matter that other separate contracting members (that's us, the other users) don't like how eBay selects or chooses those with whom they wish to enter a contract, as the platform belongs to eBay, then it is they who get to make that choice.

[chameleon54]

All fair points which I am not arguing with. As mentioned in earlier posts, I believe ebay has driven a change away from the folksy, community orientated business model, to a highly commercial, cut throat version that looks nothing like the ebay of ten years ago. As stated earlier I feel that as ebay has changed the goal posts to a much more commercial, dollar driven model it is time to also question the innability of sellers to realise the commercial value of thier businesses in line with common business practice as in the "real world" Your points of scammers hijacking purchased businesses are valid and one of the issues that ebay would need to address somehow to allow business transfers to occur. This does not mean that transfers should not be allowed, but systems be put in place to make the system work.

Much more can be achieved by asking "how can we make this work ? " rather than how can we stop this from happening ?

[*crikey*mate*]

They have a system in place.

They don't say that you can't transfer ownership of the business/account, they just say that they want to know about it, and want to apporve the new entity with whom they will be entering a contract.

But sure, maybe eBay do need a different business model to the one they had 10 years ago, but that is their choice.

If at any time a member does not want to continue on with their contract with eBay and the way in which they choose to operate their business, then there are establ;ished processes in place, set by eBay.

If I buy a B&M in a shopping centre, I also have to have permission from the shopping centre owners to operate my business there. I may own the "business", but without forming a contract with the opwners opf the shopping centre/building owner, I cannot operate it, as the lease on that shop is a contract between myself and the building owner, not between myself and the person I bought the store from.

They are two separate contracts,

The owner of the shopping centre wants to know I am going to pay my rent. They want to make sure that my business model will be suitable for their purposes etc and that I am going to comply with their overarching guidelines for operating my business on their premises.

They get to choose with whom they enter a contract and lease their "space to".

and that is exactly what eBay are doing, "renting/leasing" us space, we are not buying the building.

Think of eBay like the owner of a westfield shopping centre. The lessee of an individual store doesn't own the building, and so cannot conduct their business on their premises without permission (a lease) from the lessor. To do so would be tresspass.

[*crikey*mate*]

and it is quite common for a contract to contain clauses such as "once you leave, you cannot operate/set up a new business within xxxklm of here.

can't remember why that was relevant though, so maybe it;s not LOL

forgot what point I was trying to make with it LOL