Account on hold as I will not disclose my NI number

[sandradam723]

I imagine there are a lot of people affected by this but I have always been told not to disclose my NI number to other parties. I do not trust any organisation asking for it especially as many have been hacked as we have seen n the news.

Currently, ebay are holding on to my money. They are earning interest on it so are they going to pay me interest?

Also, if I close my account will they pay out or keep holding it?

if I do keep my account open will they pay the money out in the next tax year?

Any answers would be much appreciated.

it is obviously affecting ebay as the number of listings I look at has gone down a lot.

[jonatjonatjonat]

ebay are following their legal requirements

Ebay clarify this position here including the fact that 'If you are required to do so but don't provide the requisite information, your account may be subject to payout holds or selling blocks.'

HMRC also have information available here

[jckl1957]

If you don't plan to give Ebay your NINO, it may be a good idea to cancel the rest of your listings before you sell more items.

It is a perfectly legitimate request.

HMRC have instructed Ebay to pass information from any seller who passes specific thresholds.  Below is the most relevant part of what is required:  (Direct from gov.uk website)  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/selling-goods-or-services-on-a-digital-platform

Information you must give

Digital platform operators will ask you for certain details.

If you’re an individual seller, they’ll ask for your:

• full name
• address where you normally live
• date of birth
• tax identification number (National Insurance number if you live in the UK)

If you don't give Ebay your NINO they will still pass the details of your sales (with your full name, home address and bank account details) to HMRC.  Of course, with those details HMRC will easily be able to match your NINO to you and your Ebay sales.

[sandradam723]

Thank you but that does not answer the other parts of my question.

if I close the account will ebay pay pout straight away and as ebay will earn interest on the money they hold will they pat interest to me?

[jonatjonatjonat]

I'll be honest - I don't know.

But I'd say its unlikely they would pay out if you closed your account given the legal nature of why they need the information to be supplied.

I don't think they would pay you any interest either - I've seen elsewhere there is a Ts&Cs that relates to what happens to the money.

[jckl1957]

I can't imagine any circumstance where Ebay would pay you interest on your held funds.

Closing your account is not an instant thing - if you have recent sales, buyers have up to 30 days to start a return through Ebay and much longer to start a chargeback through their payment source, so closing a recently used account can take many months.