VAT on postage???!!!

motorguy

Moglex wrote: »

In any event, VAT rules are that for VAT registered entities selling to the public, advertised prices must be VAT inclusive.

So the VAT authorities may well be interested if a seller is quoting VAT exclusive prices and mentioning in the small print that VAT will be added later.

Its done all over the place on ebay. The only thing i object to is people 'hiding' the fact in small print.

Also, ebay positively encourages it, as you can set up you paypal account to automatically add VAT to any ebay purchased transaction and invoice the buyer accordingly.

motorguy

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Excluding VAT on ebay auctions is just fee avoidance AND a way of ensuring your items are listed unfairly highly in searches as their prices are artificially suppressed.

See my previous comment there, but ebay does support it and paypal can be set up to do it all automatically.

Yes, the combination of business buyers bidding (who can claim the vat back anyway) and people seeing an item going 'cheap' at the last minute and bidding without fully reading the listing does mean the item will probably make a higher price.

On the other side of that you will get significantly more non payers - hence most people who list this way have it more prominantly displayed

angelcake

I had this a week ago! Although it was for a usb mem stick! I paid £7 for it all in all and it came and was brilliant!! is in the shops for £39.99!!

Although that doesn't make it ok! when I emailed my seller to question the vat he said I didn't have to go through with the sell if I was unhappy so I weighed up the overall price with the item and just got it!!

misterthrifty

So it seems it's OK to charge VAT on the (already inflated) postage but it still sticks in my throat as being sneaky. For the amount involved it's not worth the hassle of complaining but I think I will mention it in the feedback, as quite a number of people have done already.

Moglex

pgilc1 wrote: »

See my previous comment there, but ebay does support it and paypal can be set up to do it all automatically.

Yes, the combination of business buyers bidding (who can claim the vat back anyway) and people seeing an item going 'cheap' at the last minute and bidding without fully reading the listing does mean the item will probably make a higher price.

On the other side of that you will get significantly more non payers - hence most people who list this way have it more prominantly displayed

And, as I said, if you really don't like it you can complain to the VAT authorities.

There used to be a lot of this in various magzines (Hi-fi and Photo come to mind) when VAT was first introduced. You'd see somthing that was cheaper than the competition but then realise they were listing it without VAT.

Customs and Excise eventually had a crack down and that's now a thing of the past.

It is OK to list both prices, though.

And if you are adding VAT it definitely should be added to the p&p.

motorguy

Moglex wrote: »

And, as I said, if you really don't like it you can complain to the VAT authorities.

There used to be a lot of this in various magzines (Hi-fi and Photo come to mind) when VAT was first introduced. You'd see somthing that was cheaper than the competition but then realise they were listing it without VAT.

Customs and Excise eventually had a crack down and that's now a thing of the past.

It is OK to list both prices, though.

And if you are adding VAT it definitely should be added to the p&p.

Yup i agree totally.

mal2869

Regarding VAT.

If you are a business in the UK can you actually say free shipping and have no postage thus pay zero VAT on shipping. Lets say you build shipping into the product price you would be paying additional VAT anyways but is this legal ?

I also read somewhere that business to business sales only have a cooling off period of three days as opposed to consumer law which allows seven days. Is that right ?

JasonLVC

You can indeed build postage into the price of your supply and have a single £x price - VAT would be charged on that price if the goods being sold are standard rated.

There's no mileage in having a single price (postage inclusive) and charging VAT or having a price for the goods and a price for the postage as both would be subject to VAT if the goods are standard rated.

If the goods are zero rated (books, etc) then same applies, whether split out or together, the sales would be zero rated.

As an aside, accepting this thread started in 2007, postage stamps are not zero rated when purhcased from the post office, they are exempt - a big difference as zero rated sales means the seller can reclaim input tax but an exempt sale means no inout tax recovery allowed!!.

RFW

JasonLVC wrote: »

As an aside, accepting this thread started in 2007, postage stamps are not zero rated when purhcased from the post office, they are exempt - a big difference as zero rated sales means the seller can reclaim input tax but an exempt sale means no inout tax recovery allowed!!.

Also the rules on Ebay have changed since then too regarding adding VAT after the sale, it is no longer allowed.

desmcmanus

Vat is being added to some Royal Mail services from 31st January 2011 but not the majority of postal services. For more information visit - postage-vat.co.uk.