policy change by ebay ?

soolin · 12 April 2018 at 10:55AM

I know this is something we re hash over and over, but I'm wondering if there has been a subtle policy change by ebay recently?

I belong to a number of forums and in the past people selling 'privately' whilst obviously running a business seemed to get caught after a while, it wasn't uncommon to see lots of threads about this when ebay had a cull of wrongly registered sellers. other people have now noticed that these threads have now stopped, I did wonder if people don't bother complaining on forums- but that doesn't seem to be the case. I am aware of a considerable number of proper businesses, with premises and staff that are successfully trading on ebay with a business name, but using private accounts and therefore getting 100 free listings a day. In fact there was a discussion from some established sellers who were actually considering opening private accounts to shift some of their stock across to on the basis of several strange telephone conversations with ebay who seemed to suggest this was acceptable. The only criteria remains the fact that HMRC must still take a cut, but these sellers are suggesting they will continue to make full returns to HMRC but just make use of the free 100 a day listings.

I'm a naturally nervous person and will continue with my business account, unless ebay confirm to me that using a private account, whilst notifying HMRC via self assessment, is acceptable. I just wonder if anyone on here has come across any of this odd advice from ebay about using a private account?

Incidentally there is this thread which discusses it already, but I thought a separate thread on here where no one gets accused of anything may be interesting.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5815214&highlight=ebay

askmeaboutsofas · 12 April 2018 at 1:45PM

I know nobody I've reported for this in the past five years has ever changed to a registered business. Do they still get to claim their VAT back on eBay fees, or are they just paying more?

TKPeters · 12 April 2018 at 11:03PM

There was a thread on the PS Forum where a Pink stated that you could have a Business or Private account depending on which model worked for you & eBay wasn't bothered which model you used.

soolin · 13 April 2018 at 8:32AM

askmeaboutsofas wrote: »

I know nobody I've reported for this in the past five years has ever changed to a registered business. Do they still get to claim their VAT back on eBay fees, or are they just paying more?

VAT is only a feature for VAT registered sellers and most of the ones I am aware of are not registered. The benefit of using a private account is of course the insertion fees, as a business I pay for all my listings , most via my shop which I pay for, and I get no benefit from VAT as I am not VAT registered. I gave up reporting unregistered businesses years ago as there seemed to be no point.

TKPeters wrote: »

There was a thread on the PS Forum where a Pink stated that you could have a Business or Private account depending on which model worked for you & eBay wasn't bothered which model you used.

That seems to be what a lot of the sellers are saying, many have it in black and white from eBay live chat that as long as they offer returns and declare to HMRC a private account is OK.

MysteryMe · 13 April 2018 at 11:52PM

There are not just tax implications.

I wonder if all of the UK businesses that are operating from private accounts are acting in accordance with their obligations under what is commonly known as distance selling regulations

https://pages.ebay.co.uk/safetycentre/rights.html

part of which includes

Business sellers
Under the Regulations, business sellers are legally required not to falsely represent themselves as consumers.

policy change by ebay ?

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