Changes to selling e-bikes, conversion kits and batteries on eBay.co.uk - No more private (personal) sales.

[danielrlee]

I just received the following correspondence from ebay and I'm sure you'll all be interested to read it:

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We're getting in touch to let you know that we're updating our policy for selling e-bikes and their batteries, chargers, conversion kits on ebay.co.uk. To ensure that these products adhere to UK safety standards when sold on our marketplace, from 31 October 2024 only eligible business sellers will be able to list them for sale in the UK. The impacted products are as follows:

•E-bikes: This includes e-bikes and their batteries, chargers, and conversion kits. These products can only be sold by business sellers. Please note that used e-bike batteries will no longer be able to be sold on ebay.co.uk

In addition to the criteria above, you’ll need:
•An established history of active selling for at least 90 days, with 100 or more transactions and £1,000 or more in sales in the last 12 months
•A track record of delivering positive buying experiences, including an account that’s Above Standard or Top Rated
•To be compliant with all applicable laws, regulations, and eBay policies
•To have registered for eBay managed payments and verified your identity
•To provide great customer service, like delivering items on time

If you’re not registered as a business seller, you can learn how to get started on our help page. Any existing listings of these products from sellers that don't fulfil the new criteria will be temporarily hidden, starting on 31 October 2024, until the eligibility requirements are met. Don’t worry, you won’t lose your selling history, and your listings will be available again as soon as the eligibility requirements have been met.

These restrictions are part of our commitment to maintaining a safe marketplace for buyers and sellers. We appreciate that changes like this can feel frustrating, but we’re here to help.

You can also find a copy of this email under Messages in your eBay account. If you have any other questions or concerns, just get in touch.

Thanks for being part of the eBay community.

 

[danielrlee]

I suspect that the above will also include 'individual components' and that restrictions will apply to the whole 'electric bike' category.

 

[thelarkbox]

Is that just ebay.co.uk tho?? while selling may be a bit more problematic, pre brexit at least many ebay.fr and ebay.de sellers already happy to post would ship the the uk at cost of course.. ( large capacity catering SS pots were way cheaper from over the channel 20-30%ish even after shipping)

 

[danielrlee]

It applies to anybody selling on ebay.co.uk, regardless of where the seller or stock is located.

The end result is 'business sellers only' from 31 October 2024.

 

[lenny]

Amazon and eBay liable for sellers’ unsafe goods

Amazon and eBay liable for sellers’ unsafe goods

Amazon and eBay are to be made liable for the sale of dangerous goods on their sites for the first time, part of a consumer crackdown on under-regulated online

www.thetimes.com

Amazon can now be held responsible for dangerous products sold on its platform

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/30/business/amazon-recalls-cpsc/index.html

 

[danielrlee]

FULL DISCLOSURE: The original message from ebay also included references to the 'baby toys' category, which I stripped out before posting on pedelecs.co.uk.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

I've never sold any kits or ebikes on ebay but have sold a few bits and pieces ebike parts, like handlebar switches that had multiple of. There obviously will be many people with ebike bits to sell who aren't businesses so wonder how they will be sold, purely locally on gumtree and facebook marketplace? I can't see that working very well as such parts are quite specialised and need a wider audience to sell. It will definitely compromise the value of what people get for their secondhand ebikes as facebook marketplace doesn't typically get great prices for products. I can see why ebay are doing it but why business sellers only? A secondhand ebike is no safer if sold by a business or a private seller the only difference is ebay gets fees on the business seller. These sort of things can be a good opportunity for someone else to fill the gap. I think its important people can sell older ebike parts they help keep ebikes on the road and stop us importing quite as much product from Asia. Aliexpress will no doubt benefit from this.

 

[Az.]

"We appreciate that changes like this can feel frustrating, but we’re here to help."

Now it will be even more difficult for owners of proprietary systems to find replacement parts.

 

[jamesporritt]

I've never sold any kits or ebikes on ebay but have sold a few bits and pieces ebike parts, like handlebar switches that had multiple of. There obviously will be many people with ebike bits to sell who aren't businesses so wonder how they will be sold, purely locally on gumtree and facebook marketplace? I can't see that working very well as such parts are quite specialised and need a wider audience to sell. It will definitely compromise the value of what people get for their secondhand ebikes as facebook marketplace doesn't typically get great prices for products. I can see why ebay are doing it but why business sellers only? A secondhand ebike is no safer if sold by a business or a private seller the only difference is ebay gets fees on the business seller. These sort of things can be a good opportunity for someone else to fill the gap. I think its important people can sell older ebike parts they help keep ebikes on the road and stop us importing quite as much product from Asia. Aliexpress will no doubt benefit from this.

We could form a pedelec business consortium selling toilet brushes until we meet the criteria required to sell ebikes and parts?

 

[sjpt]

A secondhand ebike is no safer if sold by a business or a private seller.

I agree with most of what you say, and in principle even with that part. However, in practice I think a business that satisfies what Ebay is about to require is less likely to sell dud/illegal/unsafe ebikes than an individual.

That is true whether the bike is new or secondhand.

It does look as if the new rules could be quite inhibiting. Maybe not as bad as it looks it first sight. I use ebay quite a bit, but the only time I have bought an ebike related item was our Raleigh Motus, and that was from a registered business. Looking at local ebike sales most are from regular sellers; two of these are ebay businesses and sell what look like proper legal ebikes, the third is a prolific private seller and I'm somewhat sceptical of the legality of his.

 

[Az.]

the third is a prolific private seller and I'm somewhat sceptical of the legality of his.

Halfords and Argos are selling illegal scooters and somehow nobody is making any fuss about that.

 

[guerney]

The new criteria will get rid of all of those really annoying small private and business sellers with low ratings which drop ship ebike stuff from China, while claiming to be located in the UK, Poland or Germany etc. I really wouldn't buy a battery from any of those dudes, the supposed highly unfeasible specs of which are wildly spectacular by every metric, but many do. My guess is they explode, mostly because they're used wrong, probably because buyers believe the batty specs printed on the labels.

 

[danielrlee]

The new criteria will get rid of all of those really annoying small private and business sellers with low ratings which drop ship ebike stuff from China, while claiming to be located in the UK, Poland or Germany etc. I really wouldn't buy a battery from any of those dudes, the supposed highly unfeasible specs of which are wildly spectacular by every metric, but many do. My guess is they explode, mostly because they're used wrong.

The announced restriction only applies to private sellers. Those trading on a business account should be able to continue as they are.

 

[sjpt]

The announced restriction only applies to private sellers. Those trading on a business account should be able to continue as they are.

Except for
Please note that used e-bike batteries will no longer be able to be sold on ebay.co.uk
Not many business sellers selling used batteries anyway I suspect, so a pretty irrelevant exception.

Also
To be compliant with all applicable laws, regulations, and eBay policies
That is probably already the rule officially, but certainly not followed. They may tighten up compliance.

 

[SHA222]

I cannot see any reference to this announcement on eBay. If it is true it will be a blow to all ebike users who want to sell off legitimate quality e-bikes.
I have bought several used ebikes from ebay which were good quality German makes at reasonable prices from private sellers. Does this mean that I will not be able to do this anymore?
Does anyone have a link to the ebay announcement?

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Halfords and Argos are selling illegal scooters and somehow nobody is making any fuss about that.

Loads of retailers are selling them, I think I saw Currys selling them at one point. When there was that article about ebike fires in New York a huge amount of 'bikes' in the pile was actually e-scooters.

Often the battery packs only have 2 cells in parallel and the current needs to be enough to completely move a person there is no pedal assistance by the rider. These sort of packs. It's a lot to ask of a little battery pack and surely those cells are discharged at close to their maximum allowed rate.

 

[guerney]

The announced restriction only applies to private sellers. Those trading on a business account should be able to continue as they are.

Dropshipping business sellers never have a good rating, I very much doubt they'd ever attain:

•A track record of delivering positive buying experiences, including an account that’s Above Standard or Top Rated

They start one account, then once the rating is so low it instantly puts too many prospective buyers off, they simply and swiftly create another, continue as before. Many don't know anything about what they're selling, and there's a huge delay in communications while Chinese whispers happen in the background with their suppliers. I think Ebay's new rules will be effective in reducing battery fires resulting from purchases on their platform.

•To have registered for eBay managed payments and verified your identity

Google business listings have to be verified via a verification code delievered by post, and I certainly hope ebay filter out all those sellers using bogus postal addresses the same way. Sometimes hundreds of companies will use the same fake UK address.

 

[guerney]

Except for
Please note that used e-bike batteries will no longer be able to be sold on ebay.co.uk
Not many business sellers selling used batteries anyway I suspect, so a pretty irrelevant exception.

There are business sellers of used/other lithium-ion battery cells on ebay, 18650 mostly, which could fall into the ebike battery category?

 

[Woosh]

Halfords and Argos are selling illegal scooters and somehow nobody is making any fuss about that.

I believe that's down to product liabilities If one of their bikes explodes.
There are some statistics showing that a lot more people are hurt by exploding ebikes batteries than electric cars batteries.

 

[AntonyC]

There are some statistics showing that a lot more people are hurt by exploding ebikes batteries than electric cars batteries.

Interesting (and to be expected), can you recall where you saw them?