How long does it take ebay to populate reports?

[millyscameras]

I started a request for a simple April 22 to April 23 report to pass to my accountant 5 days ago. How long does it take and why should it take so long. 

Every company I have dealings with I can log in and accounts/invoices are there for me to download. Even Paypal is instant with their reports. Why is eBay diffrent? 

Any light on this would be apprciated, thank you.

[4_bathrooms · Accepted solution]

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@millyscameras wrote:

Every company I have dealings with I can log in and accounts/invoices are there for me to download. 

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Try here if it is VAT invoices you are looking for.

[the-nutwood-collection]

If you're using the MS Edge browser, the download will be accessible almost immediately if you click the down arrow on the right of the URL bar.

If you select the 'Save As' button under the file name and save the file, accessing the arrow again should give you the option to open the file (or you can open it from Windows Explorer).

If you have McAfee installed, it's best to 'Save As' then 'Open' because eBay files seem to fail the virus check on a regular basis.

Also, 'Save As' an .xlsx file, not a .csv file (which is the format of the delivered file).

[millyscameras]

I need detailed, accounts not summarries. Not all the transactions on my account are soletrader, some are for the limited company and needs to be seperated.

I know I should have accounts for each and I will look to do this moving forward. 

Thank you for your replies, ebay is so fragmented in its sellers layout, really makes it so confusing. 

Why are these two pages not under the same heading in the sellers account is odd. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/fin/report/invoices
https://www.sarweb.ebay.co.uk/sar 

[floral.lines.supplies]

I can print out my "detail download" in minutes. Once it's downloaded I open the report in Libre Office and print it out - shows the full breakdown of each item I've sold by month.

Do you have the correct software to open report to print off?!

[4_bathrooms]

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@millyscameras wrote:

I need detailed, accounts not summarries. Not all the transactions on my account are soletrader, some are for the limited company and needs to be seperated.

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The "Invoices" tab has two types of download. The "Summary" download is the monthly VAT invoice; the "Detailed" download is a spreadsheet that shows how the invoice was calculated. You can generate a transaction report for a particular date range on this tab (check the options). These reports are available for download almost instantly.

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@millyscameras wrote:

Not all the transactions on my account are soletrader, some are for the limited company and needs to be seperated.

I know I should have accounts for each and I will look to do this moving forward. 

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Doing this will cause you problems. eBay verifies the identity of the legal entity that controls the account for AML compliance; a sole trader and a limited company are different legal entities. Also, from January 1st eBay became obliged to report selling information to HMRC for any account that sells more than 30 items or ~£1,700 in total; all your sales will be recorded against your sole trader UTR and none will be recorded against your companies' Corporation Tax UTR. Another problem is all eBay's invoices are being raised against you (the sole trader) and not the company. Also...the limited company is supposed to identify itself with it's registration number, registered address etc. prior to a consumer committing to purchase - that's why it needs it's own eBay account.

Is the company VAT registered?

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@millyscameras wrote:

Why are these two pages not under the same heading in the sellers account is odd. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/fin/report/invoices
https://www.sarweb.ebay.co.uk/sar 

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Because they are for different things. The second link is for a Subject Access Request; this is not what you are looking for. As per the SAR page a .zip file will ber made available after 7 days. The SAR page is for requesting your personal information as per your right of access; it isn't intended for accounting purposes.

[millyscameras]

Thank you for your valable response. The limited company is not currently registered for VAT and does not sell on ebay, it's a b2b company. I occasionally make purchases on its behalf as I can't find the needed items at the same favourable prices anywhere else in a short timeframe. That said, I tend to shop less on eBay these days, as I trade directly with many of the suppliers I have built relationships with. 

Moving forward, I do plan to open and utilize more eBay accounts, just to stay complient. Managing multiple accounts while being a one-man operation and handling all the administrative tasks will be quite demanding in terms of time, which is why I have been slow to do this. In fact, this evening alone, eBay prompted me to go through the two-step verification process around ten times just to download the invoices, resulting in considerable wasted time and costs. Multiply this over 4 accounts, a buying and selling account for each business would be ridiculously wasteful and inefficent with my time. 

I do have this bookmarked to read before I do open more accounts. https://www.frooition.com/blog/2023/05/multiple-ebay-accounts/
Do you know of any other good resources on staying compliant with ebay and multipal accounts you could share please? And thank you again for your help and time, it's very much valued and appriciated.

The link you supplied worked a treat too, thank you for this, the accountant wll be pleased to get underway with this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/fin/report/invoices

[millyscameras]

Also, if anyone know how I can stop eBay promting me with so many log-ins it would be helpful, thank you.

[4_bathrooms]

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@millyscameras wrote:

Moving forward, I do plan to open and utilize more eBay accounts, just to stay complient.

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You can have as many eBay accounts as you like - each just needs it's own email address. However, for selling purposes each selling account needs to sell unique items - you can't sell identical items through multiple accounts as that is against eBay's duplicate listing policy. The most common reasons for multiple accounts are to use one for buying and one for selling (so your buyers can't see what you bought) or to sell entirely different items from disparate sides of the business. Note that when you have multiple accounts they absolutely must not interact with each other in any way such as buying from each other. 

Also note that directing a company whilst also being self-employed comes with it's own caveats. Unless the two businesses are completely distinct their combined turnover would be used to calculate the VAT threshold. For example, I highly doubt one business selling B2C with the other selling the same items B2B would count as them being distinct for VAT registration threshold purposes. A director has a legal duty to act in good faith in the best interests of the company - operating what could be deemed a competing business would be contrary to this. You also need to keep each business's costs and expenses completely separate or you will end up in a mess - that's why you shouldn't use the same eBay account for buying or selling between the two businesses. 

[millyscameras]

Thank you once again for your valuable time and assistance. I must say, it is indeed common sense to ensure that multiple eBay accounts do not interact with each other. In fact, I find the idea quite imprudent, to be frank.

I completely agree. Both of my businesses are entirely distinct, operating in different sectors of the marketplace, offering diverse products, and catering to separate customer groups. Moreover, they are treated as separate entities altogether. However, it has become apparent that there is room for improvement when it comes to purchases made on eBay for the Limited business. Consequently, I will proceed to create a separate buying account for it today.

To be honest, VAT doesn't overly concern me. It will simply add another layer of expenses to both businesses and require additional administration on my part. Nevertheless, I do hope that there will be benefits in terms of the VAT that can be claimed back. It would be interesting to hear from individuals who already pay VAT and whether they find it advantageous for their businesses or not.

[papso22]

Your buying account for your business needs to be an ebay business account, but you probably know that.