How to add 20% VAT to the prices on eBay for UK customers

[nick34785]

eBay handles the VAT on orders to EU customers, but not to UK customers. So how do I make sure I sell something for £100 excl. VAT when selling to both EU and UK customers on ebay?
If I set the sale price to £100 then I earn £100 from EU customers, but only £83.33 from Uk customers, as the £100 includes the VAT.

One workaround could be to disable shipping to the UK on the £100 listing, and make another £120 listing with shipping only to the UK. But this would create duplicate listings and lots of extra work.

I can't seem to find any setting that makes eBay add 20% VAT for UK orders only.

 

[antropy]

You'd think eBay would have thought of this? Is there anyone there you can get in contact with?

Paul.

 

[johndon68]

I used to deal with a lot of eBay business sellers and most of them simply listed an item for, say £120 including VAT.

If a UK buyer bought the item, it was processed in their accounts as £100 + £20 VAT but, if an overseas buyer purchased the item it went through the accounts as £120 + £0 VAT.

John

 

[japancool]

If I remember correctly, you need to add your VAT number and set prices to VAT inclusive. There may be some other steps.

You have to add the VAT to your prices yourself, and ebay will deduce it when you get an out-of-country sale, assuming you are based in the UK.

 

[LPB 123]

You'd think eBay would have thought of this? Is there anyone there you can get in contact with?

Paul.

They have.

You just set the VAT rate on the listing as 20%.

So set price at £120 they will charge the UK buyer £100 + VAT.

For an EU sale they will charge the buyer £100 + the VAT in their country and distribute this to the relevant tax authority through IOSS.

OP you need to ensure you set the VAT rate on the listing to 20%, it's next to the "buy it now" price when editing. You can also just edit all your listings in bulk.

 

[nick34785]

They have.

You just set the VAT rate on the listing as 20%.

So set price at £120 they will charge the UK buyer £100 + VAT.

For an EU sale they will charge the buyer £100 + the VAT in their country and distribute this to the relevant tax authority through IOSS.

OP you need to ensure you set the VAT rate on the listing to 20%, it's next to the "buy it now" price when editing. You can also just edit all your listings in bulk.

I'm using eBay.com, not ebay.co.uk, is that the issue maybe? There is no "VAT rate" next to buy it now. It says I can set up sales tax table, however only US states are available to add a sales tax for.
I have added our VAT number, and the item location is in the UK.

Is there no way to do this on ebay.com?

 

[LPB 123]

Yeah I would've thought that's probably the issue, I've never listed directly on eBay.com before.

Why did you choose to list on .com rather than .co.uk?

 

[14Steve14]

Just bear in mind I have never used ebay.com only ebay.co .uk so this may not be right. It is right for the ebay.co.uk.

The listing price should include the 20% VAT, so its your total selling price. You then need to add the VAT rate in the listing when creating the product. Its down in the Pricing Section below the listing text if you create the listing or edit the listing. Ebay then sell to UK customers including the VAT as its the price you have the listing at, and they deduct the VAT to non UK customers because you have the rate set in the listing.

If you set things up in the .co.uk site and add international postage ebay show the listing in the .com site so no need to add things twice.

 

[nick34785]

Yeah I would've thought that's probably the issue, I've never listed directly on eBay.com before.

Why did you choose to list on .com rather than .co.uk?

Because we mainly sell to Europe and USA. But sometimes also the UK. So either I need to disable shipping to the UK and create separate listings for the UK, or I need to sell it 20% cheaper in the UK, or 20% more expensive for the rest of the world.

I think it's strange. There must be many other eBay sellers in the UK that sell on ebay.com internationally?

 

[LPB 123]

Because we mainly sell to Europe and USA. But sometimes also the UK. So either I need to disable shipping to the UK and create separate listings for the UK, or I need to sell it 20% cheaper in the UK, or 20% more expensive for the rest of the world.

I think it's strange. There must be many other eBay sellers in the UK that sell on ebay.com internationally?

We sell a lot internationally but do this from the .co.uk site.

I guess for you if you have to ship on .com then you have to do one of the 2 options you've described.

 

[nick34785]

We sell a lot internationally but do this from the .co.uk site.

So US customers browse on ebay.co.uk? Or are there some kind of bridge between the sites that redirect them to .co.uk if they find it at .com?

 

[LPB 123]

So US customers browse on ebay.co.uk? Or are there some kind of bridge between the sites that redirect them to .co.uk if they find it at .com?

.co.uk listings still appear on all eBay sites as long as you have postage set up to that eBay site.

They don't need to be redirected to the .co.uk site, they would still appear on the .com site in a search. Same for all other eBay sites.

 

[nick34785]

.co.uk listings still appear on all eBay sites as long as you have postage set up to that eBay site.

They don't need to be redirected to the .co.uk site, they would still appear on the .com site in a search. Same for all other eBay sites.

Ok thanks. But strange, as today I have to pay extra for every listing to make them visible on ebay.co.uk when listing them from .com. It's called the international visibility fee.

 

[LPB 123]

Ok thanks. But strange, as today I have to pay extra for every listing to make them visible on ebay.co.uk when listing them from .com. It's called the international visibility fee.

I have never paid (or seen an option for) that fee before. Maybe its a .com thing. Or that option is already included in our shop I'm not sure but I've never seen it before.

Why don't you try just a few listings from .co.uk with international postage set up and see how they go?

 

[paulears]

I doubt Ebay US can cope with the tax laws of every country, but co.uk certainly works properly - all my sales are priced including VAT and I rarely ship internationally but noticed a common item appeared to have been sold too cheaply - no VAT content, so a simple matter to remove the VAT from that sale. A few I now list with their international postage system and for me it works quite well - but God knows how much people abroad actually pay Ebay. I've never asked, but shipping to the address in the UK works well - but you must factor in the shipping time for the 14 day return period - so occasionally a month after sale something gets sent back and it takes another three weeks for you to keep the sale open to do the refund. That is annoying. For what it is worth, I also buy on ebay and for the niche things I look for, the USA and Canada versions of ebay feature in the sellers list heavily. so I suspect UK VAT means Ebay UK. US tax means Ebay.com

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

We sell a lot internationally but do this from the .co.uk site.

On a related note, do your listings show with the ex Vat price on the .com site? Just wondering if this happens (as you'd logically expect), as a colleague in Canada has made a purchase from a vat seller on ebay.it and now realises that they've paid a vat inclusive price, as it's the same as I see if I wanted it shipped to the UK?! Would they be able to reclaim the erroneous vat from ebay?

 

[LPB 123]

On a related note, do your listings show with the ex Vat price on the .com site? Just wondering if this happens (as you'd logically expect), as a colleague in Canada has made a purchase from a vat seller on ebay.it and now realises that they've paid a vat inclusive price, as it's the same as I see if I wanted it shipped to the UK?! Would they be able to reclaim the erroneous vat from ebay?

No, they don't remove the VAT for ROW countries which I personally prefer as we can make the postage cost cheaper than it is so its more appealing to the customer.

How could they have paid a VAT inclusive price? The eBay seller couldn't have charged VAT for that sale?

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

we can make the postage cost cheaper

Thanks for getting back, we haven't sold on ebay for some time and certainly not since being vat registered. I can see your way of making shipping appear cheaper is sound, but unfortunately that's not true of everyone who'll still charge full rates and 'pocket' the "vat" (gross - ex-vat) portion.

There must be a point though on higher value / lighter items, where it actually costs less to ship than the included "vat" (gross - ex-vat) portion, so buyer beware I guess. Ebay's method (exploitation!) of only listing the gross price on .com does mean they gain fees on the full gross price, whereas if they only showed a true ex-vat price they would have to earn less. I can see the benefit of a direct .com listing now to some extent depending on your market...

How could they have paid a VAT inclusive price?

Yes, that's technically true - they haven't really paid vat, just the gross - ex-vat amount. But they can now see in this instance that they've overpaid shipping big time

 

[LPB 123]

Thanks for getting back, we haven't sold on ebay for some time and certainly not since being vat registered. I can see your way of making shipping appear cheaper is sound, but unfortunately that's not true of everyone who'll still charge full rates and 'pocket' the "vat" (gross - ex-vat) portion.

There must be a point though on higher value / lighter items, where it actually costs less to ship than the included "vat" (gross - ex-vat) portion, so buyer beware I guess. Ebay's method (exploitation!) of only listing the gross price on .com does mean they gain fees on the full gross price, whereas if they only showed a true ex-vat price they would have to earn less. I can see the benefit of a direct .com listing now to some extent depending on your market...


Yes, that's technically true - they haven't really paid vat, just the gross - ex-vat amount. But they can now see in this instance that they've overpaid shipping big time

Yeah I guess not all sellers would do as we do, but would they sell less as their overall price is higher than it needs to be to make the same margins?
Also not possible for some industries, we're lucky in that we don't come across high value / lighter items as generally the higher the price, the heavier the item is for us.

With regards to eBay yes I think its why they do it this way, to keep their fees higher for sellers that don't offset the overall price with lower shipping. They also charge you the fees on any sales tax, GST, VAT etc that they collect and disburse to local countries too that never even hits your account.

 

[nick34785]

OP you need to ensure you set the VAT rate on the listing to 20%, it's next to the "buy it now" price when editing. You can also just edit all your listings in bulk.

I've now added new listings to ebay.co.uk however there is still no field to enter VAT rate on ebay.co.uk. I guess my account is "american", through ebay.com even though my address and company is in the UK and I have added our VAT number to ebay.
I guess the only way is to not ship to the UK from ebay.com and then add the VAT incl price to separate ebay.co.uk listings.

 

[paulears]

A guy in a foreign country bought a small item about 40 quid via EBay’s GSP, everything normal. He then bought another item for around 80 quid a few days later, and that one ebay paid exVAT, it does annoy me that with managed payments, you cannot seem to get a VAT invoice for that specific transaction which messes the accounts up.

 

[nick34785]

Hey,

Navigating VAT (Value Added Tax) on eBay can be a bit of a puzzle, but I've got a creative solution for you to ensure smooth transactions with both EU and UK customers without creating a listing nightmare.

**The Challenge:**
You rightly pointed out that while eBay handles VAT for EU orders, it leaves UK sellers in a bit of a VAT-vortex. How do you make sure to sell an item for £100 excluding VAT to both EU and UK customers?

**The Awesome Solution:**
1. **Dual Listings:**
- Create a listing specifically for EU customers with a clean £100 price tag.
- For your UK buyers, set up a separate listing with a sale price that includes the 20% VAT, totaling £120.

2. **Transparent Communication:**
- Be crystal clear in your product description that the £100 listing is designed for EU customers and does not include VAT. On the £120 listing, let your UK buyers know that the price reflects the 20% VAT.

3. **Shipping Magic:**
- Addressing your concern about duplicate listings, consider disabling shipping to the UK on the £100 listing. This way, only EU customers can access that specific listing.

4. **eBay Business Policies:**
- Dive into eBay's Business Policies feature. While it won't directly handle VAT, it might streamline your processes and alleviate some of the manual workload.

5. **Connect with eBay Support:**
- Don't hesitate to reach out to eBay support. They might have additional tools or updates that could simplify the VAT addition for UK orders.

Remember, flexibility and creativity are your secret weapons! Give this solution a spin and let us know how it goes. If you need more wholesale items to sell on your ebay site, You can text me at +1 702-546-8979 and we can share a great wholesale directory with you! And hey, if you have any other eBay tips or conundrums, share them with the community!

Happy selling,

Bburrell

After 1 year you came here to propose the solution which is the same workarround I had in the original question?? Of course you can make two listings. It's not very ideal as the extra work to make second listings for tens/hundreds/thousands of items. And then how to you sync the stock between them? If the EU listing sells out you manually have to update the stock for the UK listings.

 

[japancool]

After 1 year you came here to propose the solution which is the same workarround I had in the original question?? Of course you can make two listings. It's not very ideal as the extra work to make second listings for tens/hundreds/thousands of items. And then how to you sync the stock between them? If the EU listing sells out you manually have to update the stock for the UK listings.

He just posted something generated by an AI to self-promote.

 

[ArabianNights]

You need to check the HMRC rules surrounding VAT when selling on marketplaces. Marketplaces are liable to account for VAT.

 

[nick34785]

You need to check the HMRC rules surrounding VAT when selling on marketplaces. Marketplaces are liable to account for VAT.

Please don't comment if you don't have anything to contribute. I know HMRC rules, I want to get eBay to do this automatically so I don't have to have separate listings for UK and non UK sales.

 

[ArabianNights]

Please don't comment if you don't have anything to contribute. I know HMRC rules, I want to get eBay to do this automatically so I don't have to have separate listings for UK and non UK sales.

Alright alright, keep your knickers on - no need to get all defensive or hormonal on me, just trying to help!!!!! Jeeez ?? men!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Please don't comment if you don't have anything to contribute. I know HMRC rules, I want to get eBay to do this automatically so I don't have to have separate listings for UK and non UK sales.

Hey Nick Keep your hair on

He is not real he is AI generated
Your arguing with a feckin AI program here

 

[ArabianNights]

Hey Nick Keep your hair on

He is not real he is AI generated
Your arguing with a feckin AI program here

My ex probably thinks the same thing about me, imagine, AI generated women!! Every man’s nightmare!!! ????

 

[DontAsk]

My ex probably thinks the same thing about me, imagine, AI generated women!! Every man’s nightmare!!! ????

With the correct prompts it could be a dream come true.

It rather depends on what data set they used for the training.

 

[ArabianNights]

With the correct prompts it could be a dream come true.

It rather depends on what data set they used for the training.

True. I’m sure that data sets which create women with the ‘correct’ bust to a$$ ratio measurements would be every man’s dream come true. As long as he is being rubbed up the right way, then I guess the data doing the rubbing would be bliss! Imagine that! AI will replace jobs they say, seems like it’ll replace women, some say ??? I better shut up ?