Buyers beware - import tax being applied when bought in the UK (Feb 2025)

[rainbow*40]

Just a heads up!

I made an offer on an item today, which was accepted. 

eBay auto-paid it, but when I checked the order details they had taken £1.40 MORE than they should have.

I've just spent 35 minutes on the phone to them, and all they could come up with was the extra fee was 'import tax'...!?  England to England sale - mmm..... 🤔 

The best they could come up with was "it must be a glitch".

Anyhow, they (apparently) will be refunding it, but I suggest people might want to double-check their order details.

Hopefully, it WAS just a one-off...

[missdollydaydream]

Probably eBays protection racket payment. 75p + 4% of purchase price.

[forestfeline62]

When a UK-based private seller lists an item on eBay.co.uk, they add a Buyer Protection fee to the listing price. This fee is paid by the buyer to eBay. You can review the listing price, the Buyer Protection fee, and the total item price the buyer will see before you complete your listing.

It may take some time to see the Buyer Protection fee reflected in your listing. Typically this delay is only a few minutes but may take up to 24 hours. UK buyers will always see the total item price.

The Buyer Protection fee is calculated as:

• A flat fee of up to £0.75 per item, and
• 4% of the item price up to £300, and
• 2% of any portion of the item price from £300 to £4,000

[sml192]

When you enter an offer price it excludes any VAT where applicable aswell as any postage plus the new buyer protection fee.  This is so that the VAT amount can be calculated correctly.  The total amount to be paid is then shown on the confirmation screen. 

[alexis*27]

Yes, it's the new rip off buyer protection fee. 99% of posts are about this - buyers angry they have to pay for the privilege of buying something and sellers complaining sales have dried up.

[rainbow*40]

I'm the OP - back to clarify.

This glitch was NOT the new BPN  (Buyer Protection Nonsense) - this was a random amount that got applied somewhere during the auto-pay system.

The item in question was £245 + 7.01 postage (which adds up to £252.01).

I was charged £253.41 - £1.40 extra.  If it had been the BPN charge it would have been more than that - and at least one of the four CS reps I spoke to would have surely mentioned it - they did not.

I even said to one of them "surely when I buy on eBay the price that is facing me on the advert is what I should pay... ie:  £245 + 7.01 postage + £252.01" - and he said "yes, of course it is". 

He and one of the other reps mentioned 'import tax'....  which I imagine means "we don't actually know what has happened so we'll make up an excuse".

When I look at the payment info on the Order Details page it is even more ridiculous!  This is how it's laid out:

Payment info: £253.41
18 Feb at 1:34 PM

1 item
£243.31

Standard tracked delivery
£7.01

VAT *
£3.09

Order total
£253.41

*VAT collected on this transaction based on applicable laws.

eBay are just totally confusing people if this is how they're going to proceed from now on. 

My previous two purchases were laid on just like I've shown above, BUT the total amount I paid WAS correct on those 2 purchases, unlike this one.

I honestly think this new BPN  (Buyer Protection Nonsense)  is behind this - it's knackered up their system somewhere.

And let's face it, BPN is total nonsense - we already had the MBG - nothing else was needed.  It's plainly just some sort of money-grabbing ploy by eBay to claw back some of the money they pay out to buyers when they find sellers not at fault, but they 'can't leave buyers out of pocket' so they refund them themselves...

[sml192 · Accepted solution]

Looking at the order breakdown it would appear that they have added VAT onto the postage price for some reason (20% of £7.01 = £1.40).

The rest of the breakdown is actually correct, albeit confusing, once you factor in the Buyer Protection Fee which is included in the £245 item price. 

The Buyer Protection Fee works out as £10.12 (£9.40 plus the 72p that eBay are currently charging instead of the stated 75p).

The VAT element of £10.12 works out as £1.69.

£245 - £1.69 = £243.31 (the net amount shown by eBay).

£1.69 + £1.40 = £3.09 (the amount of VAT eBay has charged). 

So that just leaves the question of why they have added £1.40 VAT to the displayed postage price.   The displayed price should already include the VAT amount. 

[rainbow*40]

I pressed 'accept as solution' when I didn't mean to - I wanted to reply to you - DUH !  Haha 😆

Yes, the way they lay it out IS totally, confusing now - all we need to see is item price, postage and total 🙄

But, as was the point of my post - they definitely overcharged by £1.40 - and still no sign of my promised refund. 

Ho-hum.  I'm hoping it will eventually arrive (I was told 3-5 days, but expected it sooner as that's how it usually goes).  Fingers crossed, otherwise it's another phone call to them... 😒

[zoomingmouse]

Perhaps they think they deserve a tip these days 😁

[moldosgifts]

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@zoomingmouse wrote:

Perhaps they think they deserve a tip these days 😁

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Brilliant.😂

In answer to the op where is the destination address not NI by any chance?

[rainbow*40]

No, not NI.