Marketplace responsibility laws

[lupo-store]

I have been asked by the U.K. treasury to help gather info for the following new laws about online market responsibility (see email below). I have several suggestions but if anyone else has any please feel free to contribute

Good afternoon

Thank you for registering your interest in engaging with the Government on the work we will be doing on exploring the merits of reform to online marketplace liability which was announced at the Tax update Spring 2025: simplification, administration and reform (TUSAR) day on 28 April. Apologies for the delay in responding to you.

We are currently in the information-gathering stage and are pleased that you are willing to assist us in this valuable work. We would be very interested to hear from you about your experience of the current rules and your views on how a reform could impact you and so we would like to invite you to join us and HMT colleagues to a 60-minute virtual roundtable meeting with other interested parties at 11am on Friday 20th June to discuss these matters.

Alternatively, if you would prefer, we would be very happy to receive your written views but we would ask that these are submitted by 30th June to ensure that there is time to include them in our consideration of this work.

[papso22]

I think you need to explain exactly what the 'online marketplace responsibilities' are, and what the proposed reforms might be in order to get focused and potentially useful responses.

For example, are they reporting reforms, VAT reforms, or something else?

[suelel1968]

If you seach for "Tax update Spring 2025: simplification, administration and reform (TUSAR)" you can read it. Best read before bed for most people.... 

[lupo-store]

Here is the government link:    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summary-of-tax-update-spring-2025-simplification-administ...

VAT online marketplace liability
VAT compliance on sales of goods from overseas sellers improved significantly following reforms in 2021 which require online marketplaces to account for VAT in certain circumstances. However, some compliance challenges remain, and the government will therefore explore, including through engagement with stakeholders, the merits and value of further reform to these rules.

For stakeholders who wish to register their interest in engaging with the government on this issue, please email onlinemarketplaceliability@hmtreasury.gov.uk

[the_book_seekers]

Site responsibility for being UK law compliant would be good. 

[p.c.for44]

Could someone please suggest to the government that it would be better if it were not compulsory for traders to show their name and address as it stops people from wanting to become traders and its hard enough now just being a private seller. That, or make private sellers rules more lenient.

I'd like to open a trading account for handmade items but like many others you don't want everyone on the net to have access to your private info.

Even when I'm shopping I admit I will occasionally discriminate between sellers I buy from when I check out their names or towns they live in.

[jonatjonatjonat]

It’s a legal requirement.

a buyer has to be able to know the business details prior to purchase.

Private sellers don’t have to display this information but if you are hand making item for sale you must be a business seller.

businesses who don’t wish to display their home address can often find that they could register their business at an alternative address, but it does depend on the business setup.

but it’s unlikely as a business the government would ever allow you to hide your business address from the net.

[p.c.for44]

It seems silly that people have to show it. I even had a conversation with a local ebayer about this once who worked at GCHQ and it said he was some sort of government adviser on his linkdin.

He asked me how I knew where he lived, I told him it says in his listings! That's incidentally how I saw all the information about him online when I simply googled him.

We agreed it's pretty stupid but he has to register as a trader to sell the stuff he collected.

[papso22]

Whether you think it's silly or not, it's a legal requirement under online selling laws.

[p.c.for44]

Hi, yes I understand that but if this guys asking for suggestions for things to be changed by the government to improve selling that would be my suggestion. Otherwise all sorts of people are being denied the opportunity to trade: celebs, police, politicians, etc... people who obviously don't want to hand out their name & address.

[jonatjonatjonat]

How does most of parliament have side jobs then? Many of which are businesses.

[p.c.for44]

Dunno just giving examples off the top of my head of people who might not want their private info disclosed on their listings.

I tell you what! When ebay had a glitch last year it was disclosing everyone's names just by entering the users ID on the sign in pages I managed to figure out a celebrities private account.

I don't think they would be best pleased if all their fans bothered them, I already probably bothered them before that glitch cos I suspected it was their account and asked about something they had for sale. 

[jonatjonatjonat]

if those people want to be a business - then as it stands - they need to display their business address. generally speaking, I'd say politicians and celebrities who don't want to share their real address would tend to register their business via an accountant or a virtual address.

the i tell you what and what follows is a completely separate ebay glitch and irrelevant really.