UK VAT taxes - There goes my eBay sales to the UK
jmlanzaf
Posts: 34,596 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hello everythingvaluable,
Starting January 1, 2021, eBay will be legally required to begin collecting and remitting value-added tax (VAT) for consignments (shipments of goods) imported into the UK with a value of up to £135. eBay will charge buyers the applicable VAT amount directly and remit this sum to the UK Tax authorities.
U.S. sellers who create listings on the UK or any EU site and who trade with UK buyers will need to provide both gross price (i.e., the item price including VAT) as well as the applicable VAT rate used to calculate the gross price on all listings. If sellers do not specify gross price and VAT rate, or if sellers specify a VAT rate of 0%, eBay will assume that the price provided is the net price (i.e., the item price excluding VAT), and eBay will calculate the gross price that is displayed to buyers.
We strongly urge sellers listing on eBay.co.uk or any EU site to update their existing listings to include applicable VAT rates as soon as possible. All new listings should include a VAT rate. You will find the field for the VAT rate beside the price when you create or edit listings.
What you need to know:
Starting January 1, 2021, eBay will start to collect and remit VAT for UK imports on all consignments with a value of up to £135. There will no longer be a VAT exemption for small consignments up to £15.
In cases where the seller is a non-UK business and the goods are already in the UK, eBay will collect and remit VAT for goods sold to consumers within the UK, regardless of their value.
Sellers should begin listing the applicable VAT rates on all their existing and new listings as soon as possible.
Starting March 1, 2021, a VAT rate will also be required on all EU sites when listing items.
To see the latest information on the upcoming changes, please visit UK Seller Center 2021 VAT Changes:
https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/global-sales/2021-vat-changes
This email is not intended as tax or legal advice. We recommend that you seek independent tax or legal advice to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Thank you for selling on eBay,
Your eBay Team
Comments
For those that thought U.S. sales tax was prohibitive, wait until you get a look at EU VAT rates.
Apparently all EU countries will be starting this in July 2021. This will really put a crimp on European sales for me. As anyone who sells to Europe knows, buyers are constantly asking for a $20 customs price because there was an exemption for items under $20. Now, the low-price exemption is going away and the VAT will automatically be charged.
The MINIMUM VAT is 15% and goes up to 27%
Can you restrict bids from the UK without excluding the rest of Europe?
Yes.
I'm less worried about restricting bids. LOL. I'm worried about getting bids.
But all of the EU will be doing the same thing starting in July 2021.
Taxes....
Cheers, RickO
So much for “free trade” lol. More and more friction to sales as government entities are as active in looking for new revenues as businesses in this current political and social environment.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
The maw of ever expanding entitlements and government “services” must be fed!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Hmmmm, I find it interesting they keep saying ebay UK and EU sites. I really don't think it is going to effect my sales. Since ebay started offering international shipping with up to $100 insurance I declare the full value. Over that and it goes through the Global shipping program. The downside to me is on top of higher Paypal fees, we will now be paying Paypal fees on the VAT tax ebay collects......GRRRRRR! I'm certainly not going to do all the BS ebay is saying is required, so maybe ebay won't allow EU and UK buyers to see my listings....so be it!
probably trying to cover some of the covid 19 stimulus money they handed out over there
Ah, the cost of free stuff.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Per usual, tax policy just kills commerce
I think there will be a lot of "gift" shipments happening with very low values so it will actually cost Feebay money to collect tax.
Government. Pure evil bloodsuckers.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
I don't think you'll be able to do this anymore since eBay will be collecting the tax at the point of sale.
so, what happens to coins being shipped that you are not buying on feebay?
I don't think there would be any skirting it while using their platform. I'd expect more people to contact a seller directly and make direct offers that would avoid taxes.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
Yeah, that and tariffs...
One of the reasons I stopped selling internationally was buyers wanting me to declare a value less than the actual value because they didn't want to pay taxes and customs fees. Not worth the hassle.
It's trivial to include a (bolded) statement in your listings to the effect that you will not declare a false value on goods shipped internationally. In general, though, I agree that international sales are a much bigger hassle than domestic, and I rarely allow international bidders except on select items that I know won't have a large pool of buyers in the US.
Both the UK buyer and seller pay the VAT?
Warning ..UK eliminated Vat refunds for tourist purchases in the UK
Most tourists from the US probably didn't know this even existed.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
The UK buyer pays the VAT, not the US seller.
Although like all fees (buyer's premium, sales tax, etc.), it typically comes out of the net receipts of the seller as the buyer will adjust their bidding accordingly.
I used to include something like that but it didn't stop the requests- well, maybe some of them, but still. That, along with the ever-increasing cost of shipping out of the country, and I gave international shipping up entirely a couple of years ago. I'm sure it costs me some sales (I don't do auctions) and if a coin takes several months to sell instead of just one, I'm okay with that. Plus- I don't miss having to stand in line at the PO to mail packages with customs forms.
Actually, if you use eBay shipping labels, they just go in the package drop at the PO. No waiting in line is necessary.
So this won't affect us U.S. collectors who buy from UK sellers? The U.S. Tax collecting has already cut back my purchasing on ebay as it is.
Didn't used to be that way, but as I said, I haven't been shipping out of the country for several years now.
Last time I looked, the same envelope I can mail in the US for 70 cents (my cost is closer to 40 cents with discount postage) costs around $12 to Canada. I sell a lot of lower valued coins and don't charge extra (obviously, it's accounted for in the listing price) for shipping in the US . For inexpensive stuff, there's no way to do that for international buyers without driving away the domestic ones with necessarily higher prices and the international guys won't pay that price anyway, so it's pretty much a no-win situation.
Well....
In theory, you are correct. HOWEVER, if you are shipping domestically for 70 cents, you are using 1st class mail. You can ship via 1st class mail to Canada for $1.42 and Europe for $2.45 for the same service. Now, TECHNICALLY, if the contents have a non-zero value, they want it to go package rate with a customs form. But, if you consider your package to be value-less (LOL), I've never had an issue with 1st class for inexpensive coins or stamps.
Not until the US has a VAT...coming soon to a country near you.
Most if not all of Europe has a VAT, as does Canada.
Funny how they don't decrease the cost of goods to eliminate the VAT when things are bought from the UK.
I have thought about it but in the end, it'll cost me more in time and aggravation than it's worth. In the past, the overwhelming majority of problems came from my international shipments and I have no reason to believe, in the time of covid, that it would be getting better any time soon. I get "Where's my package?" messages nearly every week and once a month, eBay graces me with an email telling me that I have too many "Item Not Received" claims filed against me. Never mind that I put the packages in the mail the day after I receive payment- somehow, even though it's the post office who's slow, I'm the bad guy. It's like eBay thinks I'm not mailing the packages or something. Never mind the 25,000 positive feedbacks I've received over the past 20+ years, I'm just not sending out that $10 coin this time. Well, that's eBay for you.
The VAT rules seem to be complicated. Some coins aren't subject to VAT, some are, depending on where made and if they're considered bullion. Buyer's premiums in auctions are, unless the item is being exported. My confidence in eBay getting this right is within epsilon of 0.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
When I buy items from Europe (not on eBay) they always back out the VAT.
VAT is included in the price, not added on like a sales tax. Buy something for one pound fifty and you will pay one pound fifty - the store will remit that portion of the sales price that represents the VAT. For a sales on eBay, the sales price would include the tax, so the tax will be backed out of the sales price and you will receive the balance (after fees).
Assuming a 15% VAT, selling an item for $100 is really a $86.96 sale. I assume that final value fees will be based on that and PayPal fees will be based on the $100 selling price.
Sort of true, but if you read the message from eBay they will be adding the VAT. So if I list the item for $100, they will add the $15 to the sales price for UK buyers not discounting my $100 to $86.96
Yes, true. BUT, big BUT...Canada usually will not charge any VAT unless the amount charged will at least, hopefully, exceed, the cost of collecting. It is to a large part at the Customs officer's discretion.
If Feedbay collects, same as global shipping (which is a rip off) , it wiil do everything by computer based on the sold amount. shipping cost will sometimes be charged tax 2x, especially when the seller uses stamps (tax paid stamps) . Feebay will charge tax again on shipping.
eBay currently collects sales tax from buyers then remits to the state authorities so it’s an in and out for me. Don’t know if UK will be if different.
Have had sales to Cali buyers which seem 9.50 tax rate (tax bay charged them). But I figure with no shows probably about what burger costs there they consider it no biggie. Appreciate their business. People complain about taxes but considering costs of travel to shows, parking, meals, lodging / taxes for doing biz online actually much less than those costs. Big ticket material (can force lower spread) over $500 I do at shows or special local retail clients.
For online costs (shipping,fees) just factor into markup equation. Shows have their own expenses which will require a similar tack on markup sort of transaction fee..so don’t under quote lol.
And it's worth point out that if you live in a state that taxes coins, any coin shows in that state SHOULD be charging sales tax. Admittedly, there's a lot of tax cheats behind tables at shows.