VAT on exports

[truck-88]

The policy of including VAT (sales tax) in the listed price is causing the buyer to pay tax twice. He is paying UK VAT which is not required and is also paying tax when the item is imported. This prictice makes the goods too expencive so E bay need to find a way of listing items without the tax included in the listed price. As we are mainly sell to other businesses it is normal for us to list the prices without VAT and we do this on all other selling platforms. There is no point in trying to sell goods to buyers outside the UK if they are 20% too expencive.

[john1297576]

Ebay does not know which sellers are including VAT in prices, so impossible to take out. Even though they may know who is registered for VAT it does not seem practical to have two different prices for buyers depending on whether they are in the UK or overseas.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@truck-88 wrote:

The policy of including VAT (sales tax) in the listed price is causing the buyer to pay tax twice. He is paying UK VAT which is not required and is also paying tax when the item is imported. 

---

Which country is the buyer in?

If it's an EU country eBay will remove the domestic (UK) VAT provided you have given eBay your VAT number (I can see you have) and populated the "VAT rate" field in the listing appropriately. I've just checked one of your listings and changed the delivery country to Italy and the domestic VAT was removed from the price.

Is it a particular listing or country you are having a problem with?

[ducatimondo]

---

@john1297576 wrote:

Ebay does not know which sellers are including VAT in prices, so impossible to take out. Even though they may know who is registered for VAT it does not seem practical to have two different prices for buyers depending on whether they are in the UK or overseas.

---

They do, as there is a box in the listing where you tell eBay if there is any VAT in the item or not and what percentage.

What eBay don't grasp and refuse to change is that there is no VAT in international postage and eBay have been getting this wrong on millions and millions of listings for several years; there is no VAT in international postage from UK to anywhere non UK and has not been since we left the EU. A pretty simple rule to implement. Yet, this is still beyond the grasp of a self proclaimed leader in this field.
eBay instead "assume" the same VAT level is in the international postage as there is in the item.

, but it hasn't stopped them doing it or refusing to change it, as it is one of many things that isn't right yet eBay say it is "working as planned".

[truck-88]

The answer to this is very simple, all E bay need to do is to allow sellers to list goods at the net of VAT price and show the VAT next to or below the price listed. We are able to list on other platforms and show the net price + VAT it is very easy to do. Then if the buyer is outside the UK he will not need to pay the VAT. It should also be noted that E bay are charging on the total sale amount including the VAT so all buyers are paying e bay charges on the VAT as well as the item price. This makes some sales far too expencive and therefore harder to sell so buyers outside the UK are paying when e bay charges are includec more than 20% too much and this when added to the charge on shipping which is another 10%+ VAT means there is not much point on offering to ship outside the UK. Another issue I have found is that e bay will allow buyers from outside the UK to buy and then pay the UK shipping price and this if they dont use the globle shipping option. 

[truck-88]

What about outside the EU.?  I am not able to agre with you as we have not seen E bay remove the VAT from the sale price. Having said that the e bay system is not working as it shoule when it allows buyers outside the UK to buy and then  pay the UK shipping price.

[truck-88]

The first thing I will say is how did you change ine of my listings. Next it is no good e bay changing the listing after the sale is made as the buyer is looking at the item before he buys it and sees the total price which includes VAT so in most cases he will see the price is too high and before buying he will not know that e bay may change the selling price. Another thing which sellers of small items do not understand is the cost of Pallet delivery or the delivery cost of other large or heavy items. When selling overseas it is not help full for e bay it add 10% to the shipping price which may already be quite high. 

[truck-88]

All e bay need to do is to list the item then the VAT then the total Thats it

[4_bathrooms · Accepted solution]

---

@truck-88 wrote:

The first thing I will say is how did you change ine of my listings.  

---

I didn't change your listing. If you click on the "Postage, returns and payments" tab on any listing you can change the country you want the item to be delivered to and you will see how much someone in that country will be charged along with the shipping costs to that country.

Note this selection is "sticky". If you forget to change it back to "United Kingdom" you will be stuck viewing listings as if you were in whatever country you chose.

---

@truck-88 wrote:

Next it is no good e bay changing the listing after the sale is made as the buyer is looking at the item before he buys it and sees the total price which includes VAT 

---

You need to understand how eBay's VAT calculator works.

If the buyer is located in a country where eBay are responsible for charging and remitting domestic taxes (such as an EU country) eBay will usually remove the seller's domestic VAT element so the buyer isn't "double taxed". As a VAT registered seller you would treat this like any other export; i.e. you zero-rate the sale in the normal manner.

However, if the buyer is located in a country where eBay are not responsible for charging and remitting domestic taxes (like the US) eBay charges the full domestic VAT-inclusive price but does not show a VAT breakdown. In other words eBay have artificially increased your selling price - you will now zero-rate the sale at your normal domestic VAT inclusive price providing HMRC with your proof of export.

eBay clearly do this to maximise their final value fee (FVF). The FVF is charged on the full amount paid by the buyer including any domestic taxes charged and remitted by eBay.

[truck-88]

I see what you are saying but it does not address the problem. We have sold to a very large number of countries most of which are outside the EU. It we sell to these buyers direct from other sales platforms we sell nett of VAT but sales through E bay are still 20% too high so I see no point in listing for countries out side the UK. As far as zero rating goods sold within the EU we cant change the price at our end and remove the VAT when E bay are listing the item at the same price as the UK price.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@truck-88 wrote:

I see what you are saying but it does not address the problem. We have sold to a very large number of countries most of which are outside the EU. It we sell to these buyers direct from other sales platforms we sell nett of VAT but sales through E bay are still 20% too high so I see no point in listing for countries out side the UK. 

---

eBay has always treated rest of world sales that way for VAT registered sellers; it is eBay's way of maximising their final value fee. It does mean that buyers in countries where eBay is not responsible for charging and remitting domestic taxes end up paying 20% more than they should but if those buyers are happy to pay the (artificially inflated by eBay) price shown you may as well list the item.   

@truck-88 wrote:

As far as zero rating goods sold within the EU we cant change the price at our end and remove the VAT when E bay are listing the item at the same price as the UK price.

---

If the item is under €150 (approximately £128.40 net) eBay will display the price to an EU buyer inclusive of the EU buyer's domestic VAT. This is not what you have charged the buyer; it is what you have charged the buyer plus the buyer's domestic VAT that eBay was obliged to charge and remit. As you have the requisite proof of export and your sales record shows what you charged the buyer there should be no issue zero-rating such a sale. 

If the item is over €150 eBay displays the net price to an EU seller. That is, unless the buyer is located in France as eBay is responsible for charging and remitting domestic French VAT on all imports. Again, there should be no problem zero-rating such sales.  

I do know any GSP sale to the EU is handled correctly for VAT - I had a recent GSP sale to Ireland for a £159.99 inc. VAT item. The sales record shows the correct net amount (£133.33) being charged; I now apparently need to ask eBay's customer services for "details of the export" to satisy HMRC's proof of export requirement for zero-rating. Oh, joy...