Vat issue with ebay

Jazzguy1

Hi
Ebay have been in touch to tell me i need to register for VAT 
Although the items i have sold over 12 months have been my personal collection and are exempt, ebay do not understand this and say they will restrict my account without a vat number
Hmrc have agreed i dont need one but will not issue a letter informing ebay this

My question is is it best to start again with a new account? I know i will lose my 1000 plus feedback but it is better than not having an outlet for the remainder of my collection .
If my account is NOT YET restricted and i close it,  will they link my new account?
It is not as if i have done anything wrong with ebay, policy violation, payment etc
The issue is just with a vat number

RFW

What have Ebay said exactly?

If you've turned over more than £85,000 in 12 months I can see why they'd be concerned.

What information have you provided HMRC that they have accepted it is personal items? Can you provide that information to Ebay?

You're best sorting out the problem with Ebay. If you do open another account and that is linked and subsequently closed then your chance of ever sorting it reduces substantially.

Jazzguy1

Hi
No written information to hmrc just talked on the phone
They are a stamp and coin collection over 50 years that i have sold individually.
I have sorted this with hmrc  but you cant deal with ebay
My issue is that as i have actually done nothing wrong other than they advised me to register vat . I close my account BEFORE restriction which is within 30 days

retiredbanker1

Ebay have ways and means of finding you out if you close an account and open a new one.
This would lead to a permanent ban.

Have you thought of selling what you have left through an auction house say? 

Jazzguy1

Possibly i could but i have regular bidders and auction houses charge up to 30% for buyers and sellers

RFW

Jazzguy1 said:

Hi
No written information to hmrc just talked on the phone
They are a stamp and coin collection over 50 years that i have sold individually.
I have sorted this with hmrc  but you cant deal with ebay
My issue is that as i have actually done nothing wrong other than they advised me to register vat . I close my account BEFORE restriction which is within 30 days

It's tricky. I can't tell for sure what's happening but, if it were me, I'd want something in writing from HMRC in any case. If all you have is a call then they could start coming after you in the future. Having dealt with HMRC in recent months, they don't always have their most knowledgeable taking calls. That's not to say you're doing anything wrong but Ebay do think you are.

You could try talking to an accountant and explaining everything. If you could then get a letter from the accountant to pass to Ebay and then you would be covered with both Ebay and HMRC.

soolin

There have been some useful responses already but I would add a couple of points. Firstly are eBay allowing you to sell on a private account despite your turnover being over £85k , and has any of these sales resulted in any capital gains enquiries from HMRC?

Secondly, and this is just something to put out there, earlier this year ebay got themselves in a bit of a tangle with erroneous requests for people to add VAT numbers to their accounts. If you believe the request to be wrong then it might be worth looking through other forums or even the community boards to see what happened about that.

technically though if your account is in good standing and not restricted then you are allowed to open another one , however, I suspect the warning of restriction is sufficient to mean this wouldn’t work .Even if it did work I suspect eBay would catch you sooner rather than later and definitely ban your accounts rather than just restrict.

soolin

EDIT, I’ve just seen this thread which rather changes some of the advice I think 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6480461/ebay-want-me-to-register-for-vat#latest

For clarity was the business account selling autographs the same account as the one selling stamps and coins or a different account?

Assuming you have an accountant for your autograph business, can they advise about the issue of selling off large expensive collections of items where some are private and some business?

Ithink the fact that eBay requested you to upgrade to a business account for your business selling rather puts you in a difficult position now with a second and third large expensive collection being sold off, and you need proper professional assistance to untangle this. 

RFW

soolin said:

EDIT, I’ve just seen this thread which rather changes some of the advice I think 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6480461/ebay-want-me-to-register-for-vat#latest

All a bit confusing in light of that. If there is a business within there then there needs to be another personal account. A good accountant could work out that it would be of benefit to have everything registered for VAT.
A few years ago I sold some personal items on a business account and it just gets too complicated to keep it all separate when accounting.
Having read the other post I'd be surprised if all the items weren't technically a business, it seems likely that the OP had always intended to sell the items. HMRC may be happy to take their word that the stamps and coins were bought with the intention of keeping them, Ebay clearly aren't.

gollum007

I'm going to be somewhat blunt here.....

If you've got over 1,000 feedback over a year, are selling multiple types of item and turning over what your post implies, by any stretch of the imagination you *are* a business, whether you want to admit it or not.

To put this into real terms, this is approximately:

20 items a week.

£1,500 turnover a week.

I don't know exactly what you've got from HMRC, but I strongly suspect (and hope) that if you continue listing items in this volume, you will be looked at again, and the next time may well not be the outcome you like.

Businesses / traders masquerading as 'private collectors' are an absolute plauge on eBay and anyone attempting to do things honestly.

superbigal

Always amazes me that dropship sellers with feedback of 97,845 and 2,156 listings is not VAT registered.  Suprised Ebay do not pick up more of this as blatantly obvious.