Letter From HMRC Re: Ebay Account

listonosz

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Course there is if they've got to check items. They'd need to store them before and after they're checked, where else do you think they're doing to go!? There's no way they'd be able to check them all the moment they came in and get sent straight back out if genuine and destroyed if fake.

Although there's another issue I missed before - destroying items. That costs and may not be straightforward for all items.

Perhaps, but we're not just talking about gold and silver coins/bars we're talking millions of different counterfeit items.

You are the one that said about a solution for counterfeits but you clearly don't seem to understand what that would involve. I'm not creating more issues, I'm stating what would need to happen in order to ensure that all counterfeit items were dealt with by ebay.

How do you think they'd resolve it otherwise?

You could have teams of trusted sellers to adjudicate on dubious listings in the most popular categories and remove listings and ban sellers if necessary.
In return the adjudicators could list their items free from any fees.
I have been to many auctions where bidders have cast doubt on the authenticity of an item and the auctioneer has removed it.
Some form of self regulation could work.

tomtontom

listonosz wrote: »

You could have teams of trusted sellers to adjudicate on dubious listings in the most popular categories and remove listings if necessary.
In return the adjudicators could list their items for free from any fees.
I have been to many auctions where bidders have cast doubt on the authenticity of an item and the auctioneer has removed it.
Some form of self regulation could work.

So your "trusted seller" can not only remove the listings of their competitors but also gets free listings? Can you not see how that is open to abuse?

MacMickster

listonosz wrote: »

Also out of the coins I have sold from my collection were U.K coins which are CGT exempt, many items are treated differently with regard to tax.
I now collect wristwatches and I believe you don't pay tax on re-sale as they are classed as a depreciating asset.
Now if I have to pay tax on what I have sold I will do so, as ignorance of the law is no defence.
I know it is unfair on people who operate as legitimate business's online who are disadvantaged by being undercut by people who don't pay tax.
Ebay,and various other online platforms are more than happy to keep taking fees off sellers knowing full well that tax rules may have been flouted.

You appear to be trying to muddy the waters.

You are quite right that there would be no Capital Gains tax on the sale of coins or wristwatches. Income Tax is quite a different matter however.

If you are buying and selling on a regular basis with a view to making a profit then you will be charged income tax on that profit.

makeyourdaddyproud

listonosz wrote: »

I have just had the same letter from the HMRC,I telephoned them yesterday and they wanted to know if I had a business on eBay.
I told them I that I am not a business and I just sell things from time to time.
The woman from the HMRC told me I should be mindful of the tax implications when you sell online.
I have now closed my eBay and paypal account as it is not worth the hassle with all the fees you have to pay and now the HMRC sticking its nose in.
It seems as if they want get rid of people who do this as a hobby.
The tax rules with regard to selling on eBay seem rather complicated and ambiguous to say the least.
If the HMRC wants to tax eBay sellers then the only people allowed to sell on eBay should be sole traders or business's.

If you are prepared to throw in the towel on a neat little £600 per month work from home earner then it is best that you don't formalise any business idea in future.

£5k out of £45k profit is actually quite good if you consider eBay is a giant marketplace with umpteen competitors in every category driving margins down.

What is wrong with scaling up volume? 4X the volume and you have £20k (although a faint whiff of diminishing returns may materialise). I would definitely persist with your selling idea but seen as you already closed accounts, you are now USCWAP.

On the tax issue: if you created some summary accounts and filled in a SE form you would have paid no tax on that £5k after your allowance was taken into account. Ebay fees are 10% - hardly opportunity destroying?

Oh dear...

listonosz

tomtontom wrote: »

So your "trusted seller" can not only remove the listings of their competitors but also gets free listings? Can you not see how that is open to abuse?

Yes you are correct power can be abused.
So your solution is to do nothing to combat criminal activity.

makeyourdaddyproud

listonosz wrote: »

You could have teams of trusted sellers to adjudicate on dubious listings in the most popular categories and remove listings and ban sellers if necessary.
In return the adjudicators could list their items free from any fees.
I have been to many auctions where bidders have cast doubt on the authenticity of an item and the auctioneer has removed it.
Some form of self regulation could work.

Utter garbage.

Flyonthewall

listonosz wrote: »

You could have teams of trusted sellers to adjudicate on dubious listings in the most popular categories and remove listings and ban sellers if necessary.
In return the adjudicators could list their items free from any fees.
I have been to many auctions where bidders have cast doubt on the authenticity of an item and the auctioneer has removed it.
Some form of self regulation could work.

So you want a group of people who are running businesses themselves, most likely full time, to go through 800 million listings for no pay to find the dubious ones and check them out, regardless of whether they have any expertise regarding the items AND, as if that wasn't enough(!) do the job of paid staff by removing and banning listings?

Plus the possibility of abuse, as already said by others.

Free listings would be a reward that they'd never get chance to use because they'd be too busy trying to deal with possible dodgy listings. Even if they have other people to list the items their own businesses would go downhill as they wouldn't be able to oversee their own business due to lack of time.

Wow, there's just so much wrong with that. It would never ever work. It doesn't even cover most counterfeit items as you don't find out they're counterfeit until you have them in your hand due to stock photos/stolen photos and lies. It's very very easy to make a listing look like it's for a legit item, doesn't mean it is!

Flyonthewall

listonosz wrote: »

Yes you are correct power can be abused.
So your solution is to do nothing to combat criminal activity.

Ok so you're giving us two choices?

1. Have "trusted" sellers monitor the site and possibly abuse their power and remove really obvious counterfeit items only (because they wouldn't know for many).

2. Keep it how it is and as a buyer do my research before buying and know that I can list things without any worry that some power mad seller can't remove my listings that are genuine.

2. I go for 2. No competition, not a single doubt, 2 every single time!

If the seller is selling a counterfeit and lying on listings then I'll go through the proper ebay system to get a refund and I'll leave negative feedback to warn others. Even if reporting them does nothing, the negative feedback and low stars will soon get them removed off ebay if buyers all do the same upon getting a counterfeit item.

listonosz

Flyonthewall wrote: »

So you want a group of people who are running businesses themselves, most likely full time, to go through 800 million listings for no pay to find the dubious ones and check them out, regardless of whether they have any expertise regarding the items AND, as if that wasn't enough(!) do the job of paid staff by removing and banning listings?

Plus the possibility of abuse, as already said by others.

Free listings would be a reward that they'd never get chance to use because they'd be too busy trying to deal with possible dodgy listings. Even if they have other people to list the items their own businesses would go downhill as they wouldn't be able to oversee their own business due to lack of time.

Wow, there's just so much wrong with that. It would never ever work. It doesn't even cover most counterfeit items as you don't find out they're counterfeit until you have them in your hand due to stock photos/stolen photos and lies. It's very very easy to make a listing look like it's for a legit item, doesn't mean it is!

I can only comment on coins as I have some knowledge of them, and it is very easy to spot a fake from the listing maybe on other items this might not work.
You still can't get away from the fact that eBay is unwilling to do anything to stop counterfeit items from being sold on their website.

listonosz

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

If you are prepared to throw in the towel on a neat little £600 per month work from home earner then it is best that you don't formalise any business idea in future.

£5k out of £45k profit is actually quite good if you consider eBay is a giant marketplace with umpteen competitors in every category driving margins down.

What is wrong with scaling up volume? 4X the volume and you have £20k (although a faint whiff of diminishing returns may materialise). I would definitely persist with your selling idea but seen as you already closed accounts, you are now USCWAP.

On the tax issue: if you created some summary accounts and filled in a SE form you would have paid no tax on that £5k after your allowance was taken into account. Ebay fees are 10% - hardly opportunity destroying?

Oh dear...

Sorry I don't know what you are talking about I think you are confusing me with the OP.