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Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Hi,

Today I've received a letter. To me it is really odd. It doesn't smell like a genuine letter.
No sender! I don't know who sent it and with what purposes... actually I think I know... I think the purpose is intimidation.
Has anyone here received anything similar?
No HMRC marking, address, no Ebay and no Paypal. Someone sent it from Romford with a 1st class stamp on it.
I don't think HMRC, Ebay or Paypal would send a letter with a stamp on it.
I just would like to know how much credit I should give to this letter.
To me it is a joke category. They used different formating, bold, italic text. It is a poor quality copy.

http://i64.tinypic.com/2nl7edt.jpg

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Definitely ⊗⊗⊗⊗ news

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

spelling and grammar mistakes in it.....

wonder who sent it though? I assume you have got a business seller account?

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

While that letter isn't genuine, HMRC are actually doing something very similar to this in requesting a lot of details from eBay and PayPal try to catch people who sell on eBay and don't declare the extra income

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

I have no idea. I don't want to post here picture of the envelope... but it definitely doesn't look like a genuine envelope. And I don't know what is the reason for not adding sender to it.
Why would ebay, paypal or HMRC lick a stamp and put it on an envelope?
They never use stamps.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

no it is not ebay/pp/tax office that is obvious......

they do not use stamps. Plus they always have an HQ address on header....

but just wondering who it is, maybe competition if your address is published as a business seller?

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Yes, this is what I was thinking of.
Maybe a pissed customer.
So...
In fact Im a registered business seller.
I had my registered address in the footer as "business contact details".
I got pissed because Ebay even put my name out. I asked them a year ago to remove it from the footer because Im not happy to give my personal name out on ebay.
They refused my request.
Then I changed my name to a non-existent company name and address.
Although the business name and address have been changed the company registration number belongs to my original business.
Anyone wants to check then they can see that the registration number doesn't mach the business name and address on Ebay.
They addressed the letter to the imaginary + real company name.
They could easily search it in Companies House's database.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Wow that document looks so phake, whoever put it together had zero skills.....

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Also... in the footer of this letter... They pasted a not very well taken screenshot.
The right side of the screenshot is missing from the letter. It's a complete amateur work.
I thought I open a thread and ask everyone if anyone has seen something like this.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

hey thats mean mm, I tried my best when I made it - I used all my crayons up...

OP, hopefully you are one of many sellers they targeted, maybe cos of goods or as you say a customer (less likely).....because if a competitor really starts to mess with you, eg. buying/feedback etc, it is one of the worse issues you can have.....

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

This is surely ⊗⊗⊗⊗. They do not use such fonts and way of writing but like others have mentioned, HMRC have been given access by eBay and Amazon and they can check your total sales. They can easily guess your turn over with your feedback and the average price of the items you sell as well. There is a website which is quite active nowadays www.vatfraud.org who are actively putting sellers down and that's not just VAT they are looking into. So if you have a big account and sell high ticket items then be prepared but this one is surely ⊗⊗⊗⊗.


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Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Yes, Im aware of it. How ironic is that... is a seller gets suspended then Ebay do everything to link you again and stop you...
If you (seller) has issues with a buyer and try to block him Ebay don't give a sh*t about linking the blocked buyer. They can just simply re-register and order with zero feedback.
Yet again.. sellers pays seller fees and get nothing in return.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

When I read it, it looked super informal - no doubt its unofficial.

But as I was reading it, it sounded like one of your competitors must of got tired of price wars etc., perhaps you were undercutting them? so they thought they'll send you a gentle reminder to pay your taxes lol

I can't think of anything else.

Cant lie though, the essence of the letter is on point. Pay your taxes. :p (not implying you weren't doing so already).

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

This letter is bs. This scammer certainly should quit what he is doing because he definitely has no skill at it. :doh:

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Did you have some weird buyer lately? Perhaps a competitor who wanted to get addresses of other sellers in the niche in order to send this crude ghetto letter...

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

I read an article that said the poor grammar and obvious ⊗⊗⊗⊗ look is intentional, it's designed to sort out the gullible from the smarter folk.

The scammer doesn't want to waste time on people who know better, they're targeting the kind of people who are scared of a thinly veiled threat and don't do any research.

This may be followed up by a demand for funds to alleviate the 'tax problem'.

Or, as others have said, it's just a competitor threatening to turn you in.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Thanks guys. If the story continues I will update this thread.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

Oohhh it looks great, super job....

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

What the **** is this?, this #⊗⊗⊗⊗news makes CNN look like pussycats. What are they asking for?

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

..they asked for first born son sacrifice and thimble of dragons blood.....but yes,
we all know hrmc write to you in comic sans fonts....

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

The picture at the bottom with the agent reminds me of the movie "Step Brothers" when they are filming themselves for Prestige Worldwide and they are showing their briefcases, leather gloves, etc.

I think this is a horrible attempt to scare you. I would think of the least intelligent person you have encountered and start with them.

Re: Ebay/Paypal Tax Investigation On Its way
 

HMRC just don't have the man power to check all eBay accounts, not gonna happen


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