Ebay bid + VAT?

spud17

I've put in my best bid on an item, £16 (+ £4 p&p). Budget of £20.
These are not my actual figures.
I'm currently winning at £10.50 for the item with a few days to go.
I received a notification confirming my bid.
I'm just looking at the email and I see,

The seller is private and has been registered for 10 years, situated in the UK, collection in person is available, so I would assume that the item is also in the UK.
I've checked the listing, no mention of VAT and I've never seen it mentioned in any of my previous purchases.
Has anyone else ever seen this message?
Obviously if I have to pay VAT I'll be overbudget.

fwor

The situation w.r.t. VAT is explained here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=3&pos=2&query=Paying tax on eBay purchases&intent=vat&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1425

Does this explain the situation? E.g. as I understand it, Ebay now collects and remits VAT on digital services, unless the seller is VAT registered.

goodfella66

They may be based in the Channel islands. I know when I sell items to Jersey and Guernsey VAT is added by Ebay.

soolin

fwor said:

The situation w.r.t. VAT is explained here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=3&pos=2&query=Paying tax on eBay purchases&intent=vat&lucenceai=lucenceai&docId=HELP1425

Does this explain the situation? E.g. as I understand it, Ebay now collects and remits VAT on digital services, unless the seller is VAT registered.

Unlikely to be a digital service if it can be collected though. 

soolin

spud17 said:

I've put in my best bid on an item, £16 (+ £4 p&p). Budget of £20.
These are not my actual figures.
I'm currently winning at £10.50 for the item with a few days to go.
I received a notification confirming my bid.
I'm just looking at the email and I see,

The seller is private and has been registered for 10 years, situated in the UK, collection in person is available, so I would assume that the item is also in the UK.
I've checked the listing, no mention of VAT and I've never seen it mentioned in any of my previous purchases.
Has anyone else ever seen this message?
Obviously if I have to pay VAT I'll be overbudget.

I haven’t seen that and I’ve never been charged more than my bid, except on the few occasions I’ve used GSP and have had some minor changes due to exchange rate. There are a lot of glitches at the moment, it might be worth phoning eBay and asking them.

prowla

I'd withdraw the bid if there's nothing in the offer (description) which says it's plus VAT.

The "in the UK" part is the suspicious bit; it's possible they're fronting an import; you can often tell by the quoted delivery times.

soolin

prowla said:

I'd withdraw the bid if there's nothing in the offer (description) which says it's plus VAT.

The "in the UK" part is the suspicious bit; it's possible they're fronting an import; you can often tell by the quoted delivery times.

That's what I don't understand  unless the OP missed it. If I do a search for something that is potentially available from overseas - it shows me on the launch/search results  page that 20% VAT will be added before I bid.
I'm trying to find an example, but of course my mind has gone blank as to what search is likely to throw up this result. 

spud17

It's not a digital service and they're based in the Midlands. 
Looking around on Google, there is a possibility that the seller originally registered outside of the UK, which *could* trigger a VAT prompt. 
The seller has 99+% feedback with no comments about VAT being added after bidding.
I'm hoping that it's a glitch. 

soolin

My search result metrics are going to be really messed up with some of the weird searches I've tried - but I found one - this is from the main search page

Japanese Accessory Hand Painted

Opens in a new window or tab

Pre-owned

£15.68

+ 20% VAT will apply (That's a US one)

Then another here from China

Kanzashi Japanese Hair Pin of Orange Blossom,Kimono Accessary handmade 2053

Opens in a new window or tab

New (other)

£2.31

+ 20% VAT will apply

That 20% only shows from the main page- I can't see it once I go into the item as though to bid and of course I don't want to go further and actually bid. 

It is possible therefore that OP missed the 20% comment on the main page, or somehow got to the bidding page without going through a search (perhaps a link from another web site?)

OP, use your search terms and do a search from the main page and see if the 20% shows on the search pages.

spud17

OP here. 
It was found via an ordinary eBay search, the first thing that I did was to search again and double check the listing for any mention of VAT.
I'm at work for now, I'll have another look this  evening.
If the item is not in the UK, that could make it awkward for collection in person?

soolin

spud17 said:

OP here. 
It was found via an ordinary eBay search, the first thing that I did was to search again and double check the listing for any mention of VAT.
I'm at work for now, I'll have another look this  evening.
If the item is not in the UK, that could make it awkward for collection in person?

not necessarily- there's some odd sellers on ebay and collection in person might be a warehouse In Europe!