Ebay

[Cashc]

I'm in the process of doing my figures to see if it would be worth listing our products on ebay and the charges are confusing me. Firstly they take 10% of final value fee in our category then paypal take 3.4% plus 20p. Now I'm not vat registered but it says they take 15% VAT so is that inclusive of final value fee or extra?
For example if I sell a item on ebay for £25 firstly they take 10% fee =£2.50.
Then 3.4% + 20 p = £1.05
Then do they take 15% VAT of £25 or is the VAT inclusive of the £25?
Do I pay VAT at all even though I'm not registered I'm confused.
Any help would be appreciated

 

[nahosting]

Hi,

I have only used ebay to sell personal stuff, and the figures you have quoted seem to match up with the private seller info. The private seller details do include the VAT - so in your £25 example you would pay ebay £2.50, and paypal £1.05 - this assumes there is no postage added to that price.

If for example you sold something for £25 and the postage was £5 then all the fees would be based on the full price including the postage, ie

ebay will charge you 10% of the total cost, so £3 to ebay
Paypal will charge you 3.4% +20p on the total charge, so £1.46

Then apart from any insertion fees that you may have already paid that should be it.

Going by business info at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/businessfees.html it seems to suggest that the costs also include VAT - so you should still be paying £2.50 to ebay and £1.05 to paypal

Basically because they are VAT registered they must charge VAT on their services to you regardless of whether you are VAT registered or not. And they include their VAT in the quoted prices to you.

Hope this is some help.

Cheers

 

[Cashc]

Thanks for the info nahosting.
So am I right in thinking that business sellers don't get charged on the whole amount? ie they charge 20.75 for the product then 20% VAT = £24.99?

 

[nahosting]

I don't think so. eBay (and PayPal) will charge their percentage on the total amount of money that you are taking through them. So regardless of whether you are VAT registered or not - they will charge you their percentage on the total amount.

If you charged £25 + £5 delivery for something on eBay, the charges would be based on £30

 

[Cashc]

Ah I understand it now.
Thanks for the help nahosting

 

[14Steve14]

Also don't forget that eBay now also take 10% of the postage costs. A rip off I know but they do.

 

[FrontierMan]

Also don't forget that eBay now also take 10% of the postage costs. A rip off I know but they do.

Well it stops the sellers who used to charge £0.99 for the item and then add on £20.00 for Postage & Packing

 

[Page]

If you are VAT registered then you are liable for the VAT on the full retail price - and ebay commissions on the full retail price including postage - ditto pay pal fees

It aint cheap you know

A VAT registered seller gets to claim back any input VAT they have paid on the product
You as an unregistered VAT will not be able to do this
But overall you are better off unless you are selling for a loss

 

[Cashc]

So the price on ebay isn't gross price and doesn't include vat? I know ebay take fees off final value but just confused about the VAT.
Eg. If I sell something on ebay for £1 I have to pay ebay fees and vat on top or is the VAT inclusive of the £1 and just ebay fees?

 

[wayzgoose]

The Ebay fees that you are charged include the VAT.

 

[Cristal]

Correct me if I am wrong. As far as I know, the amount Ebay charges includes 15% VAT. If you are a VAT registered company, you need to show Ebay the proof. You are also obliged to list your VAT separately from the buy it now price; for example, you sell something for £12, you need to list it as Buy it now - £10, VAT £2. Ebay fee will be based solely on this £10.

 

[wayzgoose]

Correct me if I am wrong. As far as I know, the amount Ebay charges includes 15% VAT. If you are a VAT registered company, you need to show Ebay the proof. You are also obliged to list your VAT separately from the buy it now price; for example, you sell something for £12, you need to list it as Buy it now - £10, VAT £2. Ebay fee will be based solely on this £10.

You are wrong on the second part. All sale prices include VAT and Ebay and Paypal fees are based on the total amount. You should, officially, state that the price includes VAT (if you're VAT registered) but not many do.

 

[Cristal]

You are wrong on the second part. All sale prices include VAT and Ebay and Paypal fees are based on the total amount. You should, officially, state that the price includes VAT (if you're VAT registered) but not many do.

I was wrong. I have contacted Ebay and everything is clear now. For example I sell clothes for £12 including £2 VAT, ebay will charge me a certain percentage (11%) based on the total sales amount £12 . However, because I am VAT registered, ebay will deduct 15% VAT from the final bill, which means my ebay fee is £12 x 11% / (1+15%)= £1.148

 

[Websitehandyman]

Have concidered the seller performance program ? I don't see how anyone can start a business with these restrictions in place. I'm a bussiness seller on ebay and have been for ten years but I don't use it much. For this reason I was only allowed to list 100 items a month.

I asked about a shop but even then I would need to being using and selling before they would lift the restrictions to 150 products. It's taken me 2 months to get them to raise it to 400 items. The are also restrictions on the money to can earn to.

Whatever you do don't step right in and open a shop it's not cost effective. Build up your performance rate as a private buyer and when you can list 300 open the smallest shop.