Law and Ebay selling

julie777

Yes, naturally people are obliged to tell HMRC and declare profit.

molerat

Tallaght wrote: »

The HMRC work very closely with ebay.

Which is of no real relevance to the original question as OP is covering their legal tax requirements and declaring sales to HMRC.

The only problem I can see is showing seller's address as I believe you can only do that with a business account - would showing it in the body of the item description be seen as circumventing the off Ebay selling rules ?

Wizzbang

You are also obliged to register with the Data Commissioner, as I pointed out earlier. Seems to have been completely ignored. But you are processing customer information like names, addresses and phone numbers. You have just over 1 month to comply with this new law.

You also need to look at what other regulations you should legally be complying with - for example, if you hold data on customers, then you are legally obliged to pay a fee and register with the data commissioner. On 25 May 2018 most processing of personal data by organisations will have to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation also. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/business/

Cornucopia

Wizzbang wrote: »

You are also obliged to register with the Data Commissioner, as I pointed out earlier. Seems to have been completely ignored. But you are processing customer information like names, addresses and phone numbers. You have just over 1 month to comply with this new law.

Are "you" processing it though, or is eBay processing it on your behalf?

julie777

I am certainly not HOLDING any information on customers as it is all on Ebay's website. I suppose in the brief time between addressing parcels and posting them I do have their address but is that really at issue?

julie777

Their assessment question 2 asks if the organisation is processing personal information and explains :-

‘Processing’ means doing any of the following with the information:

obtaining it;
recording it;
storing it;
updating it; and
sharing it.
‘Personal information’ means any detail about a living individual that can be used on its own, or with other data, to identify them.

I don't believe that APPLIES to everyday Ebay selling as I carry it out. Therefore I do not need to register.

Wizzbang

You are obtaining names, addresses and usually have access to their phone number too through eBay - whether from eBay or direct from customers. Writing it down or printing labels, is a written record. You also have personal information about what they are buying. Are you trying to tell me that you immediately delete every email from each sale? You must keep records of each sale in order to inform HMRC of your profit and loss therefore you are storing it. You must keep that information for 7 years, in order to meet HMRC's requirements (if they ever query anything with you, that's how far they go back).

Under the GDPR even an IP address can be construed as a personal identifier. Plus you are then sharing these personal details of the customer with whichever delivery company you choose to use.

eBay is the data controller, you as a seller are a data processor and have to accept that responsibility.

You seem be a right know it all (considering you came here to ask for help) and very naive at the same time!

julie777

It does seem hard to believe that this regulation is aimed at little sellers like me. A lot of the document remains open to interpretation imho. Will every occasional seller on ebay have to register? At what point does one become an "organization" which dictionaries define as a group or multiple persons? Anyway, I have written to ICO for clarification.

julie777

Wizzbang wrote: »

You are obtaining names, addresses and usually have access to their phone number too through eBay - whether from eBay or direct from customers. Writing it down or printing labels, is a written record. You also have personal information about what they are buying. Are you trying to tell me that you immediately delete every email from each sale? You must keep records of each sale in order to inform HMRC of your profit and loss therefore you are storing it. You must keep that information for 7 years, in order to meet HMRC's requirements (if they ever query anything with you, that's how far they go back).

Under the GDPR even an IP address can be construed as a personal identifier. Plus you are then sharing these personal details of the customer with whichever delivery company you choose to use.

eBay is the data controller, you as a seller are a data processor and have to accept that responsibility.

You seem be a right know it all (considering you came here to ask for help) and very naive at the same time!

ONE MIGHT BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING THE SAME OF YOU.
PRESUMABLY YOU ARE SOME SORT OF EXPERT.

The average person in my position would not think they are doing anything illegal from the wording which I have read.

You seem to have made some assumptions.
Yes I do delete emails as soon as I have addressed the parcels.
No I do not KEEP personal info, it is only ever on ebay.
I only keep the amounts of sales

maisie_cat

You should register as a business seller on Ebay. Your potential customers are entitled to know that they are dealing with a business and you should give them their rights under the distance selling regs. in addition you need to give them contact details and only business accounts have that option.