HMRC

[Anonymous]

Hello all 

A HMRC question 

re eBay’s reporting that I understand eBay asks you to add your national insurance number when you reach 30 sold items

I sold 30 items though x 6 were cancelled & refunded hence I sold 24 items

in the help pages it says cancelled items or returned items are excluded

when I discuss this with eBay they are I’ve done 30 transactions so it qualified to get sent to HMRC in January 2025

im not selling anymore my collection of items I have receipts for though.

The issue is the wording states transactions cancelled are excluded but they won’t remove those transactions.

Here’s what it says

I can understand where you are coming from. I would like to share the cancelled and refunded transaction are also included in the counting for sold item as the sale has been made once. As your total sales has been 30 including all your sales due to which eBay is legally required to report both your sales transactions and certain personal or business information to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Please note that your total sales for the year are calculated based on the full amount received for your sales transactions excluding:

• Shipping amounts paid to eBay
• VAT collected and remitted by eBay
• VAT charged on fees
• Amounts deducted by eBay for fees, coupons, cancelled or deleted orders
• Returns

[papso22]

I can see why you are concerned,  you look very much like a business seller trading illegally on a private account. 

As for the 30 sales, I would take Ebay's published policies over what customer service says, but what's done is done and you will just have to wait and see if they ask for your NI number and include you on their report.

[*vyolla*]

eBay are starting to ask for National Insurance numbers now anyway, if eBay's guidance page states that cancelled or returned orders aren't included in the 30 sales criteria then I can't see why your sales would be reported, whoever told you that has got it wrong. It's quite clear what the reporting criteria is, it's clearly set out on eBay's guidance page here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/account/regulatory/sales-reporting/uk-digital-sales-reporting?id=5454&st...

However, the items you've been selling put you in the business seller bracket, and you should be trading on a business account, not a private one.  

A private seller is one who is just selling off their own personal items such as clothes from their wardrobe, bits from their loft/garage etc.

A Business seller is someone who buys or makes items to sell on.  They need to be registered as a business to meet the requirements of UK law. They need to declare income to HMRC once they reach £1,000 worth of sales (eBay will be providing HMRC with your details anyway so it's vital to keep correct accounts for your tax return). You can obviously offset more expenses as a business seller, but can't offset any at all as a private one.