VAT mismatch

[soisjack]

Anyone else who is VAT registered received an email from Ebay advising their VAT details are mismatche with HMRC . This happened 3 years ago and ebay admitted an error on their part back then . 

Again , the same today and all details I have match so cannot understand the issue. Been given a 30 day period to rectify but not rectifiable as I see it.

Anyone experiencing the same / can offer help here as want to avoid the issues from three years ago. Thanks 

[postgenesis]

Yep

my VAT number is still on Ebay's system as CS confirmed, and it is correct,  but just not showing on my listings page and not being printed out out on customers invoices which is perhaps whats triggered the automated email. Obviously it's affected a number of people so will just need to wait and see what happens. If it's still not shoi=wing on my listings in a week or so i'll phone CS again for an update

[papso22]

marco@ebay 

dave@ebay 

This is serious, the 'glitch' is causing sellers to break the law, do you know what is going on?

[kat@ebay]

Thanks for tag @papso22 ,

Hi All,

We have reported it from our side with the number of users on this thread. Its currently being looked into and once I have more information I will update the thread.

Thank you,

Kat

[retrogam3s]

I also received the same email from eBay this morning, threatening to restrict my account in 30 days if the VAT number is not updated. Like yourself, my VAT information is 100% correct. My VAT number, business name  and address have not changed in years!

I did phone CS early this morning (I may have been one of the first to phone) and they agreed that all information on my account was correct, and matched "line for line" what HMRC had on file.

Like yourself I do not feel very reassured with the threat of an account restriction still looming over me!

eBay - this is extremely urgent and is a serious threat to future business activity. I cannot understate the anxiety that issues like this cause. If this is a technical issue, please can this be resolved as a matter of serious urgency!

[wilsonbedslimited]

You can add us to the list too. VAT number has gone from listings. Only passed checks a short while ago due to a postcode change by the local council.

[golden-history]

Exactly the same thing here, Spoke to support and he said it was a system error. Checkled all the details. 

Same VAT number and details for 8 Years or more no issue so it has to be eBay's doing,.

[vagbolts]

I have the same issue - same message and VAT number no longer showing on my listings when it has been fine for years. All my details match, i have changed nothing.

I need the VAT number returned to my listings as otherwise you are forcing sellers like myself to operate illegally by withholding VAT information on a listing.

[wholesalepack]

Same problem here, it wiped out VAT number from all of my listings.  My VAT number and business details didn't change it for years.  Come on ebay, enough of those never ending glitches.  Message says: "You need to update your VAT details right away or your account will be restricted from selling on eBay.".....

[vintagewatchpart]

Adding my account to this thread with the same issue. Clearly something Ebay need to rectify and communicate out to the affected sellers ASAP to avoid panic considering what happened in the past

[strawberryk2]

I've received this today - very stressful. Been VAT registered for years and the details match perfectly. Spoke to support and they are getting the tax department to check it manually - expecting a phone call back in 24 hours

[naughteesclothingltd]

Exactly the same as everyone else. No VAT number showing and received the message. Did manage to delete and re-add my VAT number (even though I could see it was correct and formatted correctly) and promptly received the same email again.

[strawberryk2]

Yup I've received the same email again upon removing and re adding my VAT number

[the.last.nazgul]

Im getting this as well.

Like others I had all of my listings removed 3 years ago after customer services told us not to worry..

[postgenesis]

Yep, I deleted and re-added my VAT number (even though it was correct) and got the same email through again. I'll give it a week for them to fix it and if not ill phone CS again. Obviously it's affecting dozens / 100s of sellers. The man hours involved in re-listings 4500+ listing's for me would be catastrophic if they restricted and deleted my listing's.

Sent from Outlook for Android<>

[ojewellery]

My VAT issue three years ago was an info mismatch.  My HMRC VAT details address has one less line than my eBay entered address so whilst the same address, the area of the town I'm in being added on eBay confused the auto bots.  Just another thing to check but might be worth the two minutes it takes to go on VAT number checker and see the word for word same is showing i.e. is London showing once on HMRC site and twice on eBay.

[naughteesclothingltd]

Yeah totally agree. Having to reupload thousands of listing would be catastrophic. 

I have just received the message again (3 times now). So they obviously don't know what's going on or they would be able to sort this fairly quickly.

[vagbolts]

How would you fix this, as i have a similar issue with regards to county.

HMRC doesn't have my county listed in the VAT address, as i'm in a county which has the same name as the city.

Ebay however doesn't let you have 'no county' so it has my town on line 2, and the same thing on line 3 - and i can't alter it. 

HMRC won't let you put an address in manually by looks of it - it goes off your postcode and autofills in.

[calibreautopartsdirect]

PLEASE READ THIS!
We also received the email today. Everyone who reads this and has received the VAT mismatch mail, please take this issue seriously!
Contact Ebay and get confirmation on email. It might help, it might not. At least you'll know you've done all you can.

We received the same email today. We were also one of the unfortunates in July 2022 when we had received the same email and checked with Ebay Customer Service. They checked our VAT details and we were assured everything was OK  and to disregard the email. We knew everything was OK as we're a small family run business, have been VAT registered  for 17 years, employ 8 members of staff and we pay our taxes and absolutely everything is above board.

However, within a month, even though Ebay said we didn't have to do anything, all our listings (10 of 1000's in total) were deleted including years and years of sales history, only to be told the next day that we could start listing again. So we basically had to start the business from scratch again. Hundreds of hours of work followed and it took over 18 months before our sales were back to the level before that fateful day in July 2022.  I can't begin to describe the effect it had on my business, my personal life and our staff! When Ebay said 'we will restrict sales' it meant 'we will delete all your listings and history and destroy your business'.

At the time, I believe there were 100s or maybe even 1000s of businesses affected.

And no plausible explanation was ever given!

Anyway, in a bit more detail: In July 2022, on Friday night they deleted all our listings, we discovered this on Saturday morning and immediately phoned Ebay and the lady at CS told us something had gone wrong, but we could start listing again. She also said they were working on a solution to reinstate our listings including the sales history. We would hear more on Monday. Monday came and they couldn't tell us anything. Tuesday came and they couldn't tell us anything. Wednesday we received a 'lawyer prepared' statement giving us some BS about our VAT details being incorrect and Ebay taking its tax responsibility seriously, but they were 'excited to let us know our account was no longer restricted'. So without any change in our VAT status or business name or anything at all, we went from happily selling on Ebay to being completely annihilated to 'you can now start listing again'. 

All I want to say is: Be prepared!

[naughteesclothingltd]

So is there any way to save listings in bulk so they can be reuploaded after the eBay apocalypse?

Just thinking that it would be a small comfort.

[hvac-online-ltd]

I have also had this today, Spoke to CS who says its a technical issue, 

Like you have said VAT is missing from the seller Information part of the listing. 

So i guess this is something to keep an eye on for if they have fixed the issue. If its still missing and we get close to 30 days then listings will likely be removed.

Is there a way to backup ebay listings easily?