Vat??

quaium

I was looking for some exercise equipment on Ebay and found something I was interested in. However, I have never seen this before, the buyer had put under "Seller's payment instructions":

"We are a VAT registed company and we are obliged to charge the current VAT rate of 17.5% to the buyers from United Kingdom and EU..."

What is that all about I thought? So I emailed the buyer to ask if the VAT amount had already been added or if I had to add it to the final winning bid price. The buyer emailed me back saying I would have to add it to the final bid price!

Are they allowed to do this, because I've not seen it before?

cookiemonster25

never seen this either but would have thought they should include it after all M&S dont add it on at thetills do they??

soolin

A registered trader is allowed to add VAT on the final sale price so yes the auction is correct.

Soo

pre-reg

yep seen it before...always pays to read the small print.

talksalot81

It does have to be said that it is simply a method in hiding the full value. Plenty of VAT registered ebayers manage to have the final value inclusive of VAT and then simply calculate the VAT backwards.....

Adam

RussLE

Hi,

I would have thought that as they are "AUCTIONING" the item, they should carry the vat themselves as they are off loading unwanted items.

If it is down on Buy it Now, then the advertised price SHOULD be an Inclusive price.
Take MAKRO for example, their prices appear cheaper because they always advertise ex vat prices......but they are legally allowed....because they are officially selling to TRADE ONLY!!

So....on the contrary...I think they are actually wrong to do this!

jaffa30

Hi

If in doubt ask them for there VAt reg number.
You will soon know if they are registered or not.

Jaffa

MrB_2

There we all were thinking that Ebay was an online auction site, but in reality it is a haven for small businesses who declare themselves VAT registered to recieve the benefits associated with it, but without paying out any major overheads. Personally, I would avoid the "auctions" who want you to add VAT at the end of sale, and stick to proper auctions. Do they send you an invoice with VAt showing, so if you wish to, and are in the position to do so, you could declare VAt back?

quaium

I think I'll give the auction a miss... to complicated for my liking! I also don't like not knowing the full price I'm going to be paying at the end of an auction.

soolin

RussLE wrote:

Hi,

I would have thought that as they are "AUCTIONING" the item, they should carry the vat themselves as they are off loading unwanted items.

If it is down on Buy it Now, then the advertised price SHOULD be an Inclusive price.
Take MAKRO for example, their prices appear cheaper because they always advertise ex vat prices......but they are legally allowed....because they are officially selling to TRADE ONLY!!

So....on the contrary...I think they are actually wrong to do this!

Ebay also refer to themselves as an online market place and positively encourage traders to use them. I think the days of individuals selling off unwanted items from their homes is long gone, I assume most of the time i buy I am buying from a sole trader or small business. Most of us here are sole traders, buying things to sell on whether that be second hand books or jumble sale items, it is still trading.

Assuming a VAT registered trader is using ebay correctly it doesn't matter whether they sell to a trader or an individual, VAT can be shown seperately. However, they must be VAT registered and be able to provide their VAT reg number and state the VAT percentage up front.

VAT regs are notoriously complicated as ebay themselves acknowledge:

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/png-vat.html

As for Makro, they do not limit themselves to traders only anymore, there are other categories of people that can obtain a MAKRO card and then have to pay VAT at the tills.

If you think this is complicated try shopping in some of the states in Canada, they add on different sales taxes, local taxes and government taxes in differing amounts and on different products depending on where you are!

It does pay to read all the auction terms and if you don't like them then just walk away.

Soo

katiepops_2

I'm VAT registered, and I wouldn't dream of adding VAT on to the winning auction price - the invoice would show it as 17.5% of the winning price.

Kate