Thanks for your reply, 

I understand my obligations as a registered VAT business and complay to the best of my knowledge with all applicable laws. Which many private sellers on this site don't. 

But why can't ebay automacally add my VAT rate to each listing instead of having to manaully add another piece of information to each listing?

I don't have to add a VAT rate to each Amazon listing or Shopify listing. ebay are meant to be a technology company and making things simplier and easier for sellers yet more often than not make more work for sellers.