Ebay 20% vat charge

Doubleshotdamo

Just a heads up, as I have been stung. Buy anything on eBay from a seller NOT registered in the UK, and the price you see is NOT the price you pay! Get to checkout and the item(s) price will be 20% more, as of January 1st 2021.
This is due to ebay having to collect the vat. The problem now is all the items are still the same price as last year, so you're effectively paying 20% more! 
And, soooo many Chinese firms / people are pretending to be a UK seller, even showing up if you apply the "UK only" filter, but who are not. Then you get to checkout and find the item is more expensive. 
I spoke with ebay and said they need to crack down on Chinese sellers pretending their goods are UK based, because ebay users certainly have not got time to check every seller's registered business country! 

soolin

It should be the same for all overseas retailers now , there is a thread about this running on here somewhere. 

Spoonie_Turtle

It is better than being stung with import VAT and handling charges if they didn't collect VAT at the time of sale but this bit:

Doubleshotdamo said:

And, soooo many Chinese firms / people are pretending to be a UK seller, even showing up if you apply the "UK only" filter, but who are not. Then you get to checkout and find the item is more expensive. 

is not on. That is incredibly annoying!

Checking their business address is actually quite quick and simple though, at least on the full site (which I use on my tablet) - just scroll down to the bottom of the listing and it has their registered address.

I agree something has to be done though, especially as often 'UK stock' turns out not to be.

MovingForwards

Here's the thread about VAT changes:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6227497/big-warning-uk-gov-has-removed-the-15-low-value-vat-exemption-threshold-on-importing/p1

Spoonie_Turtle

*sigh* I am not getting involved in that thread but it's not been 'slipped in at the last minute' at all. I've known about them potentially removing the LVCR since ... I want to say 2019 at the latest, but possibly even earlier than that. Granted, it certainly wasn't well publicised, and until last year it wasn't entirely clear if it was going ahead or not, but it's been in the pipeline for a while. The EU also are removing their €22 threshold in July, so Brexit or not we would have no longer had a threshold for import VAT then anyway.

ballisticbrian

Conversely, as a seller, we have been seeing VAT added after a buyer from Norway buys from us (and one other country can't recall where) and it adds complications, such as  a small inexpensive item goes untracked, now appears much more expensive into the area we'd normally send tracked.

martindow

 As I understand it, anybody in the EU who is VAT registered should charge 0% if they are exporting out of the EU to the UK which is in the same category as the rest of the world.  UK 20% VAT needs to be paid for goods coming here and now needs to be paid at point of sale rather than on arrival. 

This means European businesses need to register in the UK to collect VAT if they want to export to us.  Some have decided this is more trouble than it's worth so no will no longer sell to the UK.

Brian, Norway was always outside the UK, so that should not have changed for you - ie 0% UK VAT, with the buyer being liable to pay fees on arrival.  Is it the software you use adding the VAT?  Shouldn't all our exports have no VAT added?

I am glad to say that I have had no EU orders so far this year.  I hope that I understand the processes by the time one arrives ... 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

martindow said:

This means European businesses need to register in the UK to collect VAT if they want to export to us.  Some have decided this is more trouble than it's worth so no will no longer sell to the UK.

For eBay and other marketplaces they are collecting the VAT at the point of sale on behalf of the seller.

It should be applied if the goods are not in the UK or if the goods are in the UK but the seller is not.

I bought something from a seller in China yesterday and the listing price already had the VAT included.

eBay want sellers to fill the VAT rate field on the listing and it will be mandatory from the end of March I think

There's likely to be some teething problems given eBay can't get anything right first time around. 

Regarding Norway eBay has been adding 25% VAT at Checkout for the buyer for a while now, Australia has 10% added and a number of US states has a varying % added as well.

Paypal were charging sellers their % fee on the tax element despite the money effectively not passing through the sellers hands.

Where this sits with managed payments is unclear but the help pages do mention paying the FVF on the full price including taxes, but again with eBay not knowing their bottom from their elbow it's unclear if that's a general reference to the price should not have any seller surcharges to avoid fees or whether it's a specific reference to these import taxes. 

ballisticbrian

Brian, Norway was always outside the UK, so that should not have changed for you - ie 0% UK VAT, with the buyer being liable to pay fees on arrival.  Is it the software you use adding the VAT?  Shouldn't all our exports have no VAT added?

Yes as the other poster just pointed out, Norway and a few other places have their own rules and it's quite steep for the buyer.

The main thing as I see it is sellers of widgets from China who use freight forwarding facilities to effectively "store" the item and  claim the item is in the UK for buyers, while claiming the item is in China for the tax purposes?

martindow

Thanks Brian and lunatic.  Do you know how sales work to Norway, Australia, etc. when they are not via ebay?

Most of my sales are through my web site.  For these, would the buyer deal with customs clearance and VAT payments, or would Fedex, UPS, etc carrying the goods charge either the buyer or seller?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

martindow said:

Thanks Brian and lunatic.  Do you know how sales work to Norway, Australia, etc. when they are not via ebay?

Most of my sales are through my web site.  For these, would the buyer deal with customs clearance and VAT payments, or would Fedex, UPS, etc carrying the goods charge either the buyer or seller?

I'm not sure but the Australian charge has been a good few years now so if you haven't had any issues that shouldn't change as far as I can see.