Ebay are demanding I display my VAT number in listings.

[bramblewill]

Originally Posted by e2free

Are you under vat limit ? Or was it over and now under the limit ?

Over VAT limit when got the message and still over the limit. On the account in question most of the sales are between July and Christmas so pretty much nothing has changed.
I have not listed anything since Christmas and got the VAT message about March when everybody else did.

[bramblewill]

Originally Posted by james_112233

This has happened to me also.

I think it's best just to completely abandon the account to bring it back down to near 0. I don't want to start feeding customer service BS to try and get it back, it's out of my comfort zone.

I am of the same feeling as you out of my comfort zone....
I still find it hard to believe none of the "big players" on here the ones who seem to be on every topic have had no input on this matter because it must be affecting everybody.
I would think they are that deeply embedded in Ebay they must have affected accounts with large volumes of sales so how are they dealing with VAT on stealth accounts.
Of course you will have somebody come on and say they have 10 accounts and stop selling at £70000 on them..yeah yeah.
Unless of course there is another similar thread running?

[13obby]

Originally Posted by bramblewill

I am of the same feeling as you out of my comfort zone....
I still find it hard to believe none of the "big players" on here the ones who seem to be on every topic have had no input on this matter because it must be affecting everybody.
I would think they are that deeply embedded in Ebay they must have affected accounts with large volumes of sales so how are they dealing with VAT on stealth accounts.
Of course you will have somebody come on and say they have 10 accounts and stop selling at £70000 on them..yeah yeah.
Unless of course there is another similar thread running?

I would only sell upto £50,000 per account not more then that, play it safe.

[james_112233]

I agree with 13obby

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Sell...t/true#M408360

MORE sellers that are selling below the threshold being restricted and ebay are having none of it ...

Apparently their VAT department is being run by PwC seems like HMRC have set up camp in ebays offices then.

[indielad]

Ultimately this is nothing to do with Ebay. The Conservative Government control HMRC, and Ebay enforces compliance of HMRC's tax rules.(though ironically HMRC let EBay avoid most UK taxation). In 1979, VAT was 7.5% and the Conservatives who favour indirect taxatiuon like VAT, have raised it in increments to 20%. The have frozen the registration threshold so more businesses are forced to apply it. YOu then neeed to consider are the Tories really a party of small business? Labour might raise taxes if you are earning over 80k PROFIT NOT SALES, but you can be paying VAT well below that profit margin!

[soldier]

Originally Posted by indielad1010 View Post
As an update, I have put my correct VAT number on my listings. I already have been VAT registered as the tax man has much more wide ranging powers than Ebay (e.g they can repossess your house, and car, send bailiffs to kneecap you etc) However I have used my partners' address on this account to prevent linkage on ebay's robots on the site. Only my trading name matches ,my VAT details which are linked to a toasted account. I sell 1500 items a week so I found it difficult juggling accounts.

I'm just hoping Ebay aren't going to go round manually checking people's VAT details and linking them to old toasted accounts, especially if you have a good selling record on the new account. I can't see the business sense.

However, I have created some fresh accounts as a back up, but its going to take 6-12 months to build the limits up to the account I have now


Hi INDIE, i am in the exact situation as yourself i too have a VAT number which is at my address which is linked to a toasted acc, Ebay have restricted my account i cannot update listings or add new listings, just want to know how you got on when you did add the VAT number - is the acc still running and did you experience any problems?

[soldier]

Originally Posted by indielad1010

As an update, I have put my correct VAT number on my listings. I already have been VAT registered as the tax man has much more wide ranging powers than Ebay (e.g they can repossess your house, and car, send bailiffs to kneecap you etc) However I have used my partners' address on this account to prevent linkage on ebay's robots on the site. Only my trading name matches ,my VAT details which are linked to a toasted account. I sell 1500 items a week so I found it difficult juggling accounts.

I'm just hoping Ebay aren't going to go round manually checking people's VAT details and linking them to old toasted accounts, especially if you have a good selling record on the new account. I can't see the business sense.

However, I have created some fresh accounts as a back up, but its going to take 6-12 months to build the limits up to the account I have now

Hi Indie just wondering how you got on with this this acc after the VAT number?

[indielad]

My account got restricted too. Luckily I had some warning to create fresh accounts. They did a hard check on it I think. Senseless really as it had low cases and high feedback. I didn't pay the fees in disgust.

[james_112233]

Ok, so EVERYBODY will automatically be blocked if you are over the 85k threshold it appears.

I haven't listed a single item since that initial email that everybody received but had a courtesy call from ebay telling me that my account had a VAT block on it (may be for a while now ... but I wasn't aware) and I was asked whether I was looking to become VAT registered (i'm over the threshold by £4000 still).

She said if I get below the threshold it's just a case of giving them a quick call to have it removed.

I wasn't going to use my account for the next 12 months anyway so will probably have the block removed later this year.

So if your accounts are blocked, just pay your fees and leave it dormant. No need to abandon them as i've read a few people have completely abandoned their accounts and not paid fees etc as they're so annoyed. You will definitely get it unblocked again once you are way below the threshold or if you put a VAT number on it.

[mmmbop]

Originally Posted by james_112233

Ok, so EVERYBODY will automatically be blocked if you are over the 85k threshold it appears.

I haven't listed a single item since that initial email that everybody received but had a courtesy call from ebay telling me that my account had a VAT block on it (may be for a while now ... but I wasn't aware) and I was asked whether I was looking to become VAT registered (i'm over the threshold by £4000 still).

She said if I get below the threshold it's just a case of giving them a quick call to have it removed.

I wasn't going to use my account for the next 12 months anyway so will probably have the block removed later this year.

So if your accounts are blocked, just pay your fees and leave it dormant. No need to abandon them as i've read a few people have completely abandoned their accounts and not paid fees etc as they're so annoyed. You will definitely get it unblocked again once you are way below the threshold or if you put a VAT number on it.

No you won't, once its on, it's on.

Its easily fixed, just takes a little ingenuity.

[Lesstix]

Please elaborate

[Pitdogrider]

I had a recent ebay vat block and stopped selling until below 85k, once below 85k I notified ebay that HMRC did not require me to be registered as I was now below the threshold and I now again have a fully active account.

[Zermatt]

If you are over the threshold sure VAT is required. No way to run away.

[Pitdogrider]

Originally Posted by Zermatt

If you are over the threshold sure VAT is required. No way to run away.

Dispite what people say, being vat registered is a choice YOU make.
YOU run your business and YOU decide what your turnover will be by restricting or pushing your sales accordingly.
Should you run a business that can only achieve a maximum turnover of let's say 88k, then mathematical sense would say to cut your sales to 85k max to prevent vat registration and paying a vat bill on the entire sales thus also reducing profits or in many cases being uncompetitive in the ebay market.
A quick call to hmrc to let them know you ran over by only a few thousand pound by accident and will ensure this does not happen again and certainly will not within the next 12 months would mean you would not be required to be vat registered. This is classed as 'VAT exception'.
Cutting sales as I did and reducing turnover to below 85k makes perfect sense, hmrc and ebay would also understand why you would do this.

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by Pitdogrider

Dispite what people say, being vat registered is a choice YOU make.
YOU run your business and YOU decide what your turnover will be by restricting or pushing your sales accordingly.
Should you run a business that can only achieve a maximum turnover of let's say 88k, then mathematical sense would say to cut your sales to 85k max to prevent vat registration and paying a vat bill on the entire sales thus also reducing profits or in many cases being uncompetitive in the ebay market.
A quick call to hmrc to let them know you ran over by only a few thousand pound by accident and will ensure this does not happen again and certainly will not within the next 12 months would mean you would not be required to be vat registered. This is classed as 'VAT exception'.
Cutting sales as I did and reducing turnover to below 85k makes perfect sense, hmrc and ebay would also understand why you would do this.

Funny thing is ... all this will soon change when brexit comes in to force. Who knows what the VAT registration threshold will be in 2 years time.

If it's 50k then everyone will be forced to become registered fairly quickly.

[bramblewill]

Originally Posted by Pitdogrider

I had a recent ebay vat block and stopped selling until below 85k, once below 85k I notified ebay that HMRC did not require me to be registered as I was now below the threshold and I now again have a fully active account.

I can`t see how that works to be honest....If you owe VAT you owe VAT end of. It does not go away.

[mmmbop]

Originally Posted by bramblewill

I can`t see how that works to be honest....If you owe VAT you owe VAT end of. It does not go away.

No, it becomes invisible..STEALTH like

[jamesoswald]

Originally Posted by racewilder519

Mine is still a good 40,000 over the threshold, I'll update you all again in a few days incase there is any change, but I honestly think it was sent so eBay can be seen to be doing their part as far as HMRC goes, I don't reckon they'll want to be loosing their highest income sellers

what happened now? did they remove your selling privileges

[jamesoswald]

Originally Posted by Lesstix

It is now 30 days since I had my notice and I have heard nothing more from eBay. I stopped selling shortly after receiving the notice so as to drop below the annual threshold, which I have done, and I am thinking of starting again but keeping below th 85k and seeing what happens.

any update on your side? I am at the same situation now. what happened to you?

[james_112233]

I got blocked even though I stopped selling. Ebay were just working through their list of people that will be exceeding the threshold based on sales performance.

I am below the threshold now. But won't be touching the account until next year. If I reach the threshold this year on my new account I am just going to become VAT registered and go full on with it. If I can still make good money on a non-established account then I will do even better with an established one. That's how I have convinced myself.

[jamesoswald]

Originally Posted by james_112233

I got blocked even though I stopped selling. Ebay were just working through their list of people that will be exceeding the threshold based on sales performance.

I am below the threshold now. But won't be touching the account until next year. If I reach the threshold this year on my new account I am just going to become VAT registered and go full on with it. If I can still make good money on a non-established account then I will do even better with an established one. That's how I have convinced myself.

Thanks for update. What do you mean by blocked? Do you mean the red message on top edit listings that asks you to register and prevents you from editing? Or do you mean they completely removed your selling privileges?

[james_112233]

Originally Posted by jamesoswald

Thanks for update. What do you mean by blocked? Do you mean the red message on top edit listings that asks you to register and prevents you from editing? Or do you mean they completely removed your selling privileges?

Completely removed my selling privileges. I stopped selling once I realised I went over anyway, but they still blocked me. I got a courtesy call to find out what my plans were I just told them on the phone I will be in touch in the future once I have consulted my accountant.

VAT is an absolute headache.