Online sellers offered chance to settle tax bills

ffacoffipawb

I know someone who has sold 9,000 items on ebay and hasn't declared any of this - even inflating the postage for extra profit. How do I report this person if I wish to?

ScarlettOHara_2

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

I know someone who has sold 9,000 items on ebay and hasn't declared any of this - even inflating the postage for extra profit. How do I report this person if I wish to?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/reportingfraud/online.htm

StaffsSW

ballisticbrian wrote: »

While the previous government sees fit to bail out the banks and pump billions into quantitative easing, buying huge assetts from big corporations, and once again, the coalition left to mop up the mess turn to the little man with cap in hand. Call me cinical.
So guys, without meaning to discredit the government and annoy everyone on here in one fell swoop, next time someone adds 5 pence on the postage and says, "that's for the tax man" are you going to complain as usual???

Fixed that for you. And yes, as a business seller, I do have to allow for tax, NI and public liability insurance in my cost of sales. So no, I don't object to having to pay that for items I buy.

I know not everyone is totally self-absorbed and along for a free ride to see how much they can get away with, so when I see people blatantly taking the p155, I will happily report them. Why should I, and the many honest others have to subsidise the me-me-me-take-take-take generation?

And coincidently, reports are usually acted upon as they are seen as "low hanging fruit", or easy pickings. The hard work has been done for HMRC in identifying the culprit. They just need to complete the paperwork for an easy result.

Scared? I do hope so.

ballisticbrian

I don't know what you mean fixed for me Steve, nor am I scared, more just confused. I also can't believe how ignorant people are about "profit on postage". This is a money saving forum so people should be aware of the following, and think about this carefully people: there is no such thing as "free postage". When it says "free postage" the seller has simply added it on the cost of the item and profit on postage as well. See?

ballisticbrian

How can I be more clear... lets see,

The postage in stamps costs £1
the seller can charge you (because he knows what markup he needs to survive), £1 for the item, and £2 for postage OR
£2 for the item and £1 postage OR
£3 for the item and free postage.
Either way, the cost to you the buyer is the same.
The only choice the seller has to make is how much extra money he wants to give to ebay (they make more money if he offers free postage) compared to how many people will mark him down for postage costs (in which case he may loose his ebay discount which eventually will result in him putting prices up)

London_Mum

pseudopensioner wrote: »

Are you 'trading' or not? The whole scenario is a little ambigous to me.
Is the man or woman who attends say three carboot sales in one month to dispose of superflous items deemed to be a trader? Actual monies obtained, are they profit?

Can you dispose of your superflous items on Ebay once a week, twice a year without being a trader/business?

Can't remember the last time I sold at a car boot sale, must be more than five years ago when moving house and the cost to 'remove' certain items was more than their worth., so bought new after moving. However, I have recently sold on Ebay , items being a part of something I purchased for my own use, a couple of years ago and what I have sold were subsequently surplus to my requirements Sales on Ebay may ultimately afford me a profit given the original purchase price. Does this make me a trader/business?

Are we looking at overall numbers of sales or overall monies received within a certain time scale?

I've been a member of Ebay for about six years and buy far more than I sell, Feedback is just over 200 so not a big seller. My selling two 3 seater Chesterfield sofa's for about 99p (cash on collection) I'm sure won't raise any warning flags. However, 4 years ago I purchased an item (300 pieces shall we say) for my own use, it was far cheaper per unit to buy the 300 than to purchase them individually. To date I have used roughly a half of them, may ultimately use more, but , if I now choose to sell the remainder on Ebay and there is a profit, am I a trader/business?

I'm sure the 'private' sellers who are truly operating a business know that they are trading outside of the law. I don't condone this, but thought I'd raise the questions above to hopefully add a little clarity for the genuine private sellers.

I don't think they mean selling your old stuff, that's not a business.

But there must be thousands of people selling new items on ebay, thinking that no one will find out. Especially because they get paid by Paypal, then easily spend money paying by Paypal to buy other goods, so money don't have to reach bank account at all.

London_Mum

stevew8975 wrote: »

Fixed that for you. And yes, as a business seller, I do have to allow for tax, NI and public liability insurance in my cost of sales. So no, I don't object to having to pay that for items I buy.

I know not everyone is totally self-absorbed and along for a free ride to see how much they can get away with, so when I see people blatantly taking the p155, I will happily report them. Why should I, and the many honest others have to subsidise the me-me-me-take-take-take generation?

And coincidently, reports are usually acted upon as they are seen as "low hanging fruit", or easy pickings. The hard work has been done for HMRC in identifying the culprit. They just need to complete the paperwork for an easy result.

Scared? I do hope so.

What most ebay buyers forget - that sellers have to spend their TIME going to post office, pay parking charges while they wait in a queue, especially around Christmas...

London_Mum

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I don't know what you mean fixed for me Steve, nor am I scared, more just confused. I also can't believe how ignorant people are about "profit on postage". This is a money saving forum so people should be aware of the following, and think about this carefully people: there is no such thing as "free postage". When it says "free postage" the seller has simply added it on the cost of the item and profit on postage as well. See?

To make it harder 'profit on postage' ebay allows certain maximum amount to be charged. In some cases it's reasonable, in others - not. Like £4 maximum postage for a 'coat'. I have a feeling that if you sell a very heavy coat of an adult you may end up paying much more than £4 for postage and packing...

ballisticbrian

London Mum, I agree, although concurring with your previous post, there are people out there who leave bad feedback if someone charges 5p more than the stamps on an item. The monthly rental charges on my franking machine are off the rickter scale but people still look at the frank mark and complain. I know I'm not liked on this site because they think I'm a seller and not a buyer (I'm both), but I hope I can help buyers by giving a sellers point of view.
Next month all the limits on ebay are changing quite a lot because of the massive postage increases, watch this space.

soolin

London_Mum wrote: »

What most ebay buyers forget - that sellers have to spend their TIME going to post office, pay parking charges while they wait in a queue, especially around Christmas...

That is not however postage or packing, it is just part and parcel for selling. I also do not intend paying for the Starbucks coffee they have on their way to the PO either. However what any of this has to do with tax and HMRC I am not really sure

ballisticbrian wrote: »

London Mum, I agree, although concurring with your previous post, there are people out there who leave bad feedback if someone charges 5p more than the stamps on an item. The monthly rental charges on my franking machine are off the rickter scale but people still look at the frank mark and complain. I know I'm not liked on this site because they think I'm a seller and not a buyer (I'm both), but I hope I can help buyers by giving a sellers point of view.
Next month all the limits on ebay are changing quite a lot because of the massive postage increases, watch this space.

I believe the increases have all now been announced and are in force and as I've said on the threads talking about the new caps I fear many smaller sellers will be lost by the way side if they see the increase in the cap as an invitation to charge that amount regardless of the actual costs. It already happens, sellers see the cap and think that means that ebay say it is OK to charge that regardless.