Ebay and VAT on "imports"?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Buster_Danog said:

The complication here is that I bought the item from a private seller. The guy had been living in the UK and I believe he still had a place here but had at some point stayed in the US for a while so had changed his registered address to the US. It was a used item I bought that was then posted from within the UK.

It would depends on the seller's status but it may be a case where you shouldn't have to pay VAT.

First issue is the seller may have messed up by not having the correct address on their account and second is this is way beyond the scope of CS that there's little chance of them providing a correct answer outside of the generic info that have on the script. 

Worth noting that eBay should show the VT inclusive price on the listing page and then on Checkout if it was BIN or if it was an auction it should be very clear that 20% is to be added to your bid.

Not sure how much the item was but unless it's hundreds of pounds worth of VAT it's probably not worth the time chasing.

Buster_Danog

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Buster_Danog said:

Wow, a lot of detailed replies there. It is frying my brain. The complication here is that I bought the item from a private seller. The guy had been living in the UK and I believe he still had a place here but had at some point stayed in the US for a while so had changed his registered address to the US. It was a used item I bought that was then posted from within the UK.

Oh that is a very unusual complication!  Oh dear.  I completely see your point now.  eBay is evidently not set up to handle it simply because it is very rare - I have not heard of a private seller having items to sell in another country, the only plausible scenario I can think is if they have moved and are having someone else sell things they had to leave behind, or if they're selling off a decreased relative's items and have temporarily returned to the country to do so. 

I don't know what the answer is, because for items that come into the UK, bought from private sellers, the buyer still has to pay import VAT.  In theory if they were to relax the system slightly to account for these rare instances, then companies with stock in the UK could perhaps exploit that and register as a private seller on eBay, and we all know eBay are not good at cracking down on businesses pretending to be private sellers.

That's exactly what I thought. I was telling the customer service rep that they system they were using was a crude one in dealing with the situation I was in. He seemed flustered because he had to argue ebay's corner even though I was finding faults in his argument. He wasn't happy by the end of the call.

In response to the other post I might just leave it at this point. It was around £65 with approx £12 VAT added, but they told me I would have to contact the seller to get his confirmation it was not imported before putting together a case for their Dublin office. It sounds like a nightmare to follow up. I did get a warning I would be charged but confirmed with a customer service rep in an online chat that I could get the VAT back. The rep was wrong.

AT181

Another problem with ebay is that they are charging VAT at 20% on everything. I bought a book from Switzerland and was changed 20% when I believe books are zero rated.

The Customer Service advisor prior to purchase seemed to be very helpful and said they would follow up my enquiry but have heard nothing. After purchase, they suggested contacting HMRC for a refund of the tax or cancelling the order with the seller.

ebay seem to be majorly out of their depth with this one!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

AT181 said:

Another problem with ebay is that they are charging VAT at 20% on everything. I bought a book from Switzerland and was changed 20% when I believe books are zero rated.

The Customer Service advisor prior to purchase seemed to be very helpful and said they would follow up my enquiry but have heard nothing. After purchase, they suggested contacting HMRC for a refund of the tax or cancelling the order with the seller.

ebay seem to be majorly out of their depth with this one!

eBay probably take the view that they don't know what you've purchased is actually book so it's safer for them to charge 20% on everything and either the book can be purchased from the UK at a cheaper price or it can only come from outside the UK and it'll be purchased regardless of cost so either way they get a sale. 

AT181

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eBay probably take the view that they don't know what you've purchased is actually book so it's safer for them to charge 20% on everything and either the book can be purchased from the UK at a cheaper price or it can only come from outside the UK and it'll be purchased regardless of cost so either way they get a sale. 

I can understand that it is difficult for eBay to track what is being sold but this is their problem to resolve. I have seen posts from people who have been charged VAT on secondhand items too. eBay have told me that they are only following the new HMRC rules as they are required to by law but I believe they have misinterpreted the rules at best or just taken the simple approach rather than implement a proper solution.

p3ncilsharpener

AT181 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eBay probably take the view that they don't know what you've purchased is actually book so it's safer for them to charge 20% on everything and either the book can be purchased from the UK at a cheaper price or it can only come from outside the UK and it'll be purchased regardless of cost so either way they get a sale. 

I can understand that it is difficult for eBay to track what is being sold but this is their problem to resolve. I have seen posts from people who have been charged VAT on secondhand items too. eBay have told me that they are only following the new HMRC rules as they are required to by law but I believe they have misinterpreted the rules at best or just taken the simple approach rather than implement a proper solution.

As far as I'm aware there is no distinction on the VAT rules between imported new or secondhand goods.

Spoonie_Turtle

AT181 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eBay probably take the view that they don't know what you've purchased is actually book so it's safer for them to charge 20% on everything and either the book can be purchased from the UK at a cheaper price or it can only come from outside the UK and it'll be purchased regardless of cost so either way they get a sale. 

I can understand that it is difficult for eBay to track what is being sold but this is their problem to resolve. I have seen posts from people who have been charged VAT on secondhand items too. eBay have told me that they are only following the new HMRC rules as they are required to by law but I believe they have misinterpreted the rules at best or just taken the simple approach rather than implement a proper solution.

VAT on secondhand items is correct, they're still classed as commercial transactions.  Pre-import VAT reform you'd have had to pay on such items coming in from outside the EU if over the £15 threshold anyway (unless falsely declared as a gift, which would have made the threshold higher, but still subject to VAT if above the £39 threshold). 

Anything bought on an online marketplace is deemed as a commercial transaction regardless of the condition of the item.  Nothing has changed in that regard.

Thrugelmir

AT181 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

eBay probably take the view that they don't know what you've purchased is actually book so it's safer for them to charge 20% on everything and either the book can be purchased from the UK at a cheaper price or it can only come from outside the UK and it'll be purchased regardless of cost so either way they get a sale. 

I can understand that it is difficult for eBay to track what is being sold but this is their problem to resolve. I have seen posts from people who have been charged VAT on secondhand items too. eBay have told me that they are only following the new HMRC rules as they are required to by law but I believe they have misinterpreted the rules at best or just taken the simple approach rather than implement a proper solution.

For the volume of transactions the cost will far outweigh any benefits. 

AT181

Spoonie_Turtle said:

VAT on secondhand items is correct, they're still classed as commercial transactions.  Pre-import VAT reform you'd have had to pay on such items coming in from outside the EU if over the £15 threshold anyway (unless falsely declared as a gift, which would have made the threshold higher, but still subject to VAT if above the £39 threshold). 

Anything bought on an online marketplace is deemed as a commercial transaction regardless of the condition of the item.  Nothing has changed in that regard.

Thanks. I forgot imported secondhand purchases were taxed. eBay advised that they are collecting VAT on anything less than £135 per consignment. The book I purchased was only £2.99 + VAT so it as more interest in whether what eBay are doing is right than a major financial issue!

I was confounded by eBay Customer Help's suggestion of asking for a tax rebate from HMRC complete with contact details to do so! Imagine if 100's of people followed this advice!

RFW

What is supposed to happen is that Ebay pay the fees upfront that would cover the maximum possible for clearing customs. What then happens is that customs says the charge is correct or says it is too much. In the latter case Ebay, or whoever is handling the transaction, refunds the buyer. I've had that happen a few times with Amazon. It takes an inexplicably long time and I then get a weird message that I've had 23p, or some other odd amount, refunded to my account.