Why have I been charged VAT at checkout on top of the purchase price given on ebay page

[solo-silver]

Why have I been charge VAT at Checkout on top of the Purchase price shown. I cannot see any mention of Vat being added anywhere.. It is supposed to be coming from Leicester. I have since discovered that the owner's listed address is actually China though I suppose he may have a warehouse in Leicester.
Its the VAT thing that is annoying me. It is misleading to say something is 6.50 then when you pay it is VAT on top which I did not notice until after I had paid.
I thought VAT was included on everything sold on here with free postage included and Purchase price was the Final price.
If this is going to happen on everything I buy buy, then I wont be buying much. It then makes it expensive with another 20% on top
Does anyone here have any information on that please

[tsmgmd]

This is the eBay blurb.

Items delivered to the UK

Value Added Tax (VAT) generally applies to purchases by UK consumers, and prices on eBay.co.uk are shown inclusive of VAT.

Starting 1 January 2021, eBay is required to collect VAT on certain orders delivered to UK addresses:

Orders up to £135 sent from outside the UK

Orders where the item is located in the UK, but the seller is not a UK seller

You'll see the VAT included in your order total at checkout, and you can view and download a tax invoice from the Order details page in your Purchase history.

On orders over £135 imported to the UK, the recipient may need to pay VAT as part of clearing the parcel through customs.

[tsmgmd]

It doesn't matter if the item location is in the UK.

It's the business sellers registered address as this is where the transaction was made. In your case the item was in a UK warehouse but you didn't buy from the warehouse, you bought and paid from your seller in China.

The only argument could be that eBay say all items on eBay UK must include VAT in the price displayed.

But the small print on listings state buyers are responsible for taxes etc.

[john1297576]

It is all very confusing, some listings do have a warning + VAT beside the price.

I have read the expanations but as you say, I thought the price was inclusive of VAT if of course the Seller was registered for VAT. I did see something from ebay which indicated that beside the price when listing ( I assume business sellers only) there was a box for VAT rate and 0% needed to be entered.

If seller already incorporates VAT, then any addition is doubling up the charge, which I am sure is not the intention.

Any simple explanation would be very welcome.

[rusticrye]

Ebay (and all selling platforms) now have to collect VAT on imports at POS (Point Of Sale) when the value is under £135, and forward it to the UK government.  It is no longer collected from the buyer when the goods enter the country (unless the value is £135 plus, as import tax becomes due at that point too).  This is a very good thing, as there will no longer be the carrier's admin fee to pay, and that was a killer on lower value items.

However.....

Ebay is collecting VAT on all goods sold by international sellers to UK buyers, which they should be doing, but they are wrongly doing it even when those sellers' goods are warehoused in the UK.  No idea how they've made such a hash of it, as this VAT collection law was passed back in 2016, for implementation on the 1st January 2021.  You'd think a whopping 4 years would have been time enough to get their act together...!

All I can suggest is that you avoid international sellers at present, and request a refund of the erroneous VAT charge from Ebay.  I recommend request-a-callback, which is available in Help & Contact during working hours, rather than Live Chat.

@solo-silver 

[solo-silver]

Thank you for your reply. I do agree with the you about the carriers fee. It made cheaper things not worth buying as the carrier fee worked out more than paying a little bit more within the UK.
I shall call eBay because that is just so wrong.

[solo-silver]

Oh. A line vanished from my post. I did add that it was wrong to charge VAT at checkout when there is absolutely no mention of it on the selling page. Other items exactly the me were then cheaper or better delivery times.
So I shall phone eBay

[solo-silver]

I have been in contact with an eBay rep. She did not seem to know much about it except to say that if the sellers address in in China, then VAT is charged the buyer. Well that cannot be correct. I am a business seller and I include VAT in my prices already.Therefore the Purchase price is the Purchase price. Full stop! His given location was Leicester anyway. There was no mention whatsoever of VAT on the listing page.
So I will wait for it to be delivered (as I cannot cancel it now as apparently its been posted) then, I will return it. That is not an ideal solution.
Unfortunately if all these Chinese or other foreign sellers want to deceive buyers by saying they are located in the UK, then this will be the consequences for some of them.

[solo-silver]

I think its because I used my business seller account to purchase from another business seller whose owner is NOT located within the UK. The govt surmises that VAT has already been paid at Customs.
I tried to make head or tail of the new Brexit vat regulations and could only figure out (probably wrongly) that business to business the buyer pays VAT. (Still wrong as far as I am concerned because the seller has usually included VAT because it is usually deducted from them.
Right or Wrong, I am not clever enough to work out all the details of VAT. I am under the threshold and am not registered for it anymore. On the Government page it just keeps telling everyone to register for it. I hope that is not the case. I do enough work for nothing as it is.