EBay asking for national insurance number

[raik1performance]

Hi everyone, I recently joined for like 1 month and I start selling as a private seller , and now eBay is asking me to provide national insurance number.

"New UK digital sales reporting legislation requires sellers with 30 or more sales, or who have sales exceeding £1740 in a calendar year, to register this information"

[bidnbuy-uk]

Yes, providing your NIN is now a requirement of law and any site that offers paying services will now have to report the same information to HMRC, although the selling limit amount is going to be raised upto £3,000 at some point, but when? How long is a piece of string.

The flag predominantly gets raised when the overall sales value exceeds £1740 in a calandar year and if a NIN is not provided, a selling platform may restrict listings or access to funds or even hold payments. It depends on the selling platform and the restrictions that are in place.

[sml192]

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@wintersdawn1 wrote:

I haven't come across this info before, do you have a link where you read it?  Thanks.

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https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-rules-for-digital-platforms

[wintersdawn1]

Thanks for the link.

In their example they say:

"For example, you need to collect information for the year 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 and report it by 31 January 2025."

I sold over 30 items between 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024 and although I was asked for my NINO a few weeks ago, ebay doesn't show a digital sales report for me which seems odd if they had to submit my selling activity for Jan/Dec 24 by 31st Jan 2025.

[papso22]

Click on the due diligence link, the extension is covered there.

[sml192]

For sellers registered before 1st January 2024 there is a one year extension so eBay are required to complete due diligence by 31st December 2025, instead of 2024, and report sales by 31st January 2026, not 2025. 

[wintersdawn1]

Thanks.

So as I registered on ebay before 1st January 2024, ebay will submit my selling data for Jan-Dec 2024 & Jan-Dec 2025 by 31st Jan 2026.

That means they have to wait until the end of this year in order to have data for 2025.

[papso22]

I should think that as soon as they get the NI number they will report the 2024 data, then the 2025 data by the end of January 2026.

[jckl1957]

When they do report, they have to let sellers know, I assume via an email, and provide details of the information sent.

I haven't had confirmation that they have sent anything to HMRC yet and, looking here,   https://www.ebay.co.uk/mes/transaction-reports?q=tax

it is still reading 'You haven’t received a Digital sales report yet.'

So, it is a case, for me anyway, of 'watch this space'.

[papso22]

It would be useful to know when your report is available, assuming tgat coincides with the data being sent to HMRC. 

[jckl1957]

I will come back to this thread or start a new one.

NI number was requested and provided on March 10th.

[sml192]

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@papso22 wrote:

I should think that as soon as they get the NI number they will report the 2024 data, then the 2025 data by the end of January 2026.

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Actually, no, neither that or what I previously stated is correct.

In actual fact, for sellers registered before 1st January 2024 they are required to complete due diligence by 31st December 2025 and then report only the sales for 2025 by 31st January 2026.  The sales for 2024 do not need to be reported at all. 

'The reported details in respect ....... of existing Sellers will only be for the 2025 Reportable Period, not for the 2024 Reportable Period.' 

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/international-exchange-of-information/ieim902235

[wintersdawn1]

Thanks for the update on this, much appreciated.

As I understand it ebay have done their 'due diligence' required so far by asking for my national insurance no.

That's good that a seller registered before 1st Jan 2024 will only have their Jan-Dec 2025 selling data sent to hmrc as I can still control that in terms of how much in £ I sell the rest of this year, even though as its only my own personal possessions, it shouldn't matter as not taxed as I understand it.  I'm also not planning on selling an individual item for £6,000 or more so that should take care of not paying capital gains tax either.

Since learning of this I created a spreadsheet going back to April 2023 (the farthest back ebay would go for my previous selling) including date sold, name of item and how much I sold it for, just in case.

[papso22]

That's extraordinary!  That's not just a due diligence extension it's a total amnesty for existing seller data for 2024, given that it seems ebay only did new seller tax IDs last year.

I will have to research this further!

[sml192]

The extended reporting timelines in respect of existing sellers is also covered in this page of HMRC's Internal Manual:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/international-exchange-of-information/ieim904120

[k3vyn.w]

personally i wont give my personal details like my NI to ebay, how i take care of my tax is my business not ebays, for this they hound you for details, threaten you..waiting on rest of funds and then i am leaving, deleting a account ive had for 20 years, but then a lot of sellers have left now..shame on ebay. i have already set up another account just to buy items, after all its all about the buyer, i will then feel like i am in power..cant wait.

[k3vyn.w]

ebay have no right to hold moneys, make demands on personal info, just make sure they dont owe you any funds, like me i am waiting on last payments then deleting the acc. been with ebay 20 years..hopefully ebay loose a lot of sellers which they already have..

[kath3735_wxmjn]

do you actually read the threads?   E Bay have no control over this, they are required to submit your details (now including your NI number by HMRC (government).  ALL online selling sites and others including AIRBNB, delivery drivers etc have to do the same.  It is all part of a OECD  (a collection of European countries) agreement which the UK is part of.  They are also the ones who set the 30 item/£1740 limit.  Also as you agreed to the T & Cs when you sell on e bay then they do have the right to hold money, dictate posting policies etc.  If you do not like them then simply do not use the site (which is what i will be doing when/if SD ever becomes mandatory)   Problem is that all other sites that i have seen have some things that i do not like either so not sure if i will bother selling online again.

[crafty6272]

I have been an ebayer since 2004 with various accounts and never used the
forum before I find the way it works confusing that’s all but then I’m not
some young thing brought up with computers. I must say that the multitude
of information on this subject is somewhat confusing and has been from the
start. What with greedy governments and very low limits this type of
selling platform has been ruined. The constant fear of being charged for
tax because though I’m not a business I buy things love them for a while
then get bored and sell them for what I can get sometimes making more than
it cost because times and popularity of things change spoils it . I have a
house full of treasures I bought with a view to selling in the future to
sustain my pension these things I have collated over years now too scared
to sell for fear of taxing because I’m good at selling (272 items last
year). I’m hopping off the forum now because the constant griping when I
was confused by a multitude of posts some of which weren’t helpful but were
snippy weren’t helpful. I’ll get by on my own but then I’m not going to
sell on eBay now it’s no fun

[kath3735_wxmjn]

Not sure which of my posts you are referring to but no 137 was not directed at you.  As for  anything else i have only been on e bay since 2015 (a mere stripling compared to many), have had only 1 account, never had a purpose for more than one and hate computers with a vengeance but even now at 72 i know that i have to use them even if i do not understand them!  I also do not have a smart phone.   I sell my family things and am not sure how the taxman will view that as they are not strictly speaking personal items.  Guess what, i do not care, i will just wait and see what they do but will only stop selling when they bring in SD.  Being a grumpy oldie i have no intention of letting e bay dictate how i post my items!  The big problem on here as i said previously is that people take every comment as directed at them instead of looking to see who it is in response to.  Even then i have had my share of 'snippy' comments and guess what i could not care less about that either.

[vinylscot]

I find it odd that various sources are now saying eBay will not be submitting data for pre-existing members before the 2025 figures are submitted in early 2026.

When all this was first brought up, we were assured that little had changed as, although not legally required to, eBay had already been voluntarily reporting these figures to HMRC for some years. The only difference would be that the NINO would enable this information to be married up to the member's HMRC data automatically.

Some day, we'll get the truth.