eBay

thebetterdog · ‎03-12-2024

Hello.

SO..........ebay informed me that, due to exceeding a turnover of £90000 over a rolling 12 months, I need to register for VAT within 30 days or my account is restricted. So, i do just that. They email back saying it will take 40 days to process. Bugger.

So.....after some shenanigans (I messaged customer services to check, the person I spoke to said it was fine. I then had a reminder with an email address with UK Business Compliance who said this was incorrect, and my account WILL be restricted on the 8th. Fuming), it looks like that, even though there is no way to rush HMRC, the person I am talking to states this 30 day deadline cannot be extended.

Ignoring the fact I've been a used of ebay for 19 years, and had an anchor shop for over 3 years......does ANYONE know how I can change this? Has anyone got a phone number of someone I can call? Or is there a 'workaround'? Like, temporarily turn my account into a 'private seller' until the VAT registration process is complete?!?

Im at a loss. This is the main source of income we have. around 95% of the money I earn goes on food/bills etc. If that is lost for a week or 2, im fu*ked. Let alone what it does to the reputation of my shop etc. I will, obviously, be using competitors sales sites as much as I can temporarily, but with over 10000 items for sale, this will take a long time to get up to speed.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

4_bathrooms · ‎03-12-2024

@thebetterdog wrote:

Ignoring the fact I've been a used of ebay for 19 years, and had an anchor shop for over 3 years......does ANYONE know how I can change this? Has anyone got a phone number of someone I can call? Or is there a 'workaround'? Like, temporarily turn my account into a 'private seller' until the VAT registration process is complete?!?

I'm afraid there is nobody you can call and no workaround. HMRC holds online marketplaces jointly and severally liable for the VAT obligations of their sellers. This means that once an online marketplace knows a seller needs to be registered for VAT they are obliged to request a VAT number and if one isn't received by the deadline given they must restrict any further sales from that seller. Trying to get around this by using a different account won't work as eBay's anti-money laundering checks for sellers will show you are one and the same seller. In fact; this would likely result in eBay handing you a permanent selling restriction that you would be unable to appeal.

@thebetterdog wrote:
I will, obviously, be using competitors sales sites as much as I can temporarily, but with over 10000 items for sale, this will take a long time to get up to speed.

Any online marketplace you try to sell on is subject to the above joint and several liability requirements. It isn't your turnover per marketplace that decides whether you need to supply a VAT number but your turnover as a business.

Was hitting the £90,000 threshold a completely unexpected surprise or have you been hovering around that figure every rolling 12 months for a while? If you didn't expect to go over the deregistration threshold (£88,000) in the next rolling 12 months you could have applied for a registration exception on the VAT1 form - I suspect it's too late for you to do that now. However, even if you had managed to obtain an exception it might not have been at all simple for you to have explained that to eBay.

Give me ambiguity or give me something else.

palison_123 · ‎04-12-2024

Hi

I had this happen to be a few years ago.

I got the same answer from HMRC as you did ..ie...wait it could take weeks.

I phone HMRC see a couple of times and the same thing was said "it can take weeks ect "

I tried again (which isn`t easy ..long waits ,poorly trained advisors and so on) then a woman looked on here system and she had my VAT number was on there even though it hadn`t been sent and gave me the number over phone.

This was enough for Ebay to lift it`s sanctions .

It too another 3 weeks for the official letter from HMRC to arrive with my VAT number .

All you can do is keep trying

bmw_spares_scotland · ‎05-12-2024

If you do manage to make any progress please let us know - I am now in the same situation today. I have yesterday had my accountant apply for VAT registration which can take up to the 40 business days as mentioned, and the "compliance" team have informed me that my account will be suspended on the 19th December if I don't provide a VAT number. I am at a loss what to do.