Daily Mirror exposes VAT tax dodger

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There’s a full page article in today’s Daily Mirror reporting on an investigation into an eBay trader. Page 31 of the Mirror documents how a seller with a £1m business has been suspended from the site during investigations into alleged VAT avoidance.

Operating a string of eBay accounts the China based seller used a string of UK addresses to ship from, but doesn’t appear to have registered for VAT. Crucially if the goods were shipped from within the UK then the seller should be VAT registered regardless of where the business is registered.

eBay said “It is the responsibility of anyone selling on eBay.co.uk to comply with both eBay’s policies and UK law. These responsibilities include the fulfilment of all tax obligations. eBay cooperates fully with tax and law enforcement agencies to ensure that our site remains a trusted, safe and fair place for our users to buy and sell. In this instance, we are working to clarify whether he is in compliance with both our own rules for sellers and UK law. In the meantime, we have taken immediate steps to suspend all of the accounts and this suspension will remain in force until such time as we are satisfied that he is complying with all applicable UK legislation. Trust is the engine of eBay and it is of paramount importance to us that anyone selling on our site is professional and law abiding.

The Mirror suggest that eBay should have a system in place to force sellers turning over more than £70,000 per year on the site to submit their VAT number but admits that ultimately it’s the responsibility of HMRC to ensure businesses are registered with them and that any tax due is collected.

As a VAT registered seller myself it’s not a tax that I’m particularly fond of. It’s often said that VAT registered sellers are little more than unpaid tax collectors. However if you choose to operate a business in the UK then you need to comply with UK law and pay UK taxes that are due so hopefully HMRC will take steps to recover the estimated £150,000 a year that this business saved by not paying VAT.

89 Responses

  1. Never mind the £70000 VAT threshold. eBay should have a system in place whereby sellers details are automatically passed to the tax authorities if they sell more than say 500 items a year on all accounts from a single registered address.

  2. All ebay cares about is their fees. If someone has a 150K a year advantage in a category and is dominating with low prices. They see it as an advantage for ebay and not a negative thing.

    Quite simply ebay dont care about all the other sellers being screwed over by the dodger

  3. i’m pretty sure there are lots of Ebay sellers flouting the law here, especially if you take into account their sales on Amazon and other sites. Ebay and Amazon should have a duty to report these sellers to HMRC. It’s bad enough having to cope with the VAT avoidance from offshore sellers and the looming VAT rise, never mind this as well.

  4. Ebay is rife with these Chinese sellers, if you look in any category filter by buy it now and lowest price you will see all the top sellers are Chinese sellers. They do not comply with EBay or UK rules, they have no business details (If they do its in China or Hong Kong) and not a UK address as required by EBay and distance selling regulations. Do EBay care or Paypal no they do not, they are only concerned in there fees!

  5. You only have to look at Sandisk Memory card sellers on Ebay. Buy it now lowest price first, the search results return all Chinese sellers all showing item located in UK at various addresses, but either have no UK business address or have addresses in Hong Kong. One seller has 10,381 Memory Cards lsited over five accounts, three have no business details two have Hong Kong addresses despite stating location is Bristol. Have a look at the accounts they are zz774411 (3552 items listed) good456pcl (2128 items listed) memory-store888 (2162 items listed) Flashworld777 (2276 items listed) aabbcc147 (263 items listed) Will EBay remove these if you report any of the above listing for false location NO THEY WILL NOT. It takes a national newspaper to bring these illegal sellers to there attention before any action is taken.

  6. Seller Digitalishop business details show a Hong Kong address, UK Location Clacton On Sea. 1342 items listed, all break Ebay rules but still trading. They even state items sent from UK warehouse in all lsitings, but EBay still do not remove these listings WHY they get there fee for each lsiting fee for shop and selling and final value fees, not forgeting PayPal (A EBay company) who take there fees per item sold. Of course EBay and PayPal turn a blind eye to these sellers, they just want there fees and as long a seller pays them they do not care where you live or located at all. Greed has taken over with EBay and PayPal.

  7. The reason all the top illegal Chinese and Hong Kong sellers do not sell on Amazon is because you have to prove to Amazon you have a UK bank account, therefore they cannot get away with their fraudulent trade as they would have to declare there Income as Amazon and the UK Banks would have to comply with UK Money Laundering Acts and reports these sellers to HM Revenue & Customs for the vast sums sent abroad without payment of VAT & Tax. Its not only the loss of VAT on sales and unpaid Income Tax they also employ illegal workers and pay no Income Tax or National Insurance for these workers, and import these items they sell without paying any Import duty or Tax. Its a wonder any genuine UK seller can compete with these sellers.

  8. The UK government could easily sort this by introducing a witholding tax on sales revenue for all eBay sellers who either reside outside the Eurozone and/or who ship from outside the Eurozone.

    And force eBay to levy a 30% FVF on all such sales out of which 20% is passed on to the tax authorities as a witholding tax. This then has to be claimed back by the seller on filling in various forms.

  9. Try a search for silver bangle. You will be lucky if you find anything that is actually silver on the first page. Most is from Hong Kong / China or UK based Chinese sellers (one even puts a Union Jack in his gallery picture). Lot’s of jewellery boxes in pictures mimicking Tiffany.

    A lot of the sellers have good feedback, The punters must be pleased (a solid silver bangle for under a fiver)! eBay must be pleased as no action is taken.

    People who want a genuine silver bangle have to dig deep into eBay or more likely shop else where. Ho hum

  10. Feedback for seller
    Positive 26813 177276 357351
    As you can see 26813 postive feedbacks last 30 days, assume 30% of sellers do not leave feedback thats another
    8043 feedbacks so a total of 34856 items sold in 30 days. Average selling price £4.99 thats £173,931.42 turnover in a month. So HM Revenue & Customs have lost £25,904.68 in unpaid VAT. But Ebay and Paypal cannot lose, Ebay would collect £17,393.14 at 10% fees Paypal would get (They would charge 1.9% +20p per transaction) so thats £3,304.69 at 1.9% and £6,971.20 (at 20p per transaction) so EBay and Paypal have taken £27,669.30 in one month from this sellers who is not registered here for TAX or VAT, now wonder EBay and PayPal turn a blind eye to these sellers.

  11. has sold 357351 items in last year (look at his feedback) say a average £4.99 the turnover would be £1,783,181.49 nealry TWO MILLION POUNDS OF TURNOVER.
    Unpaid vat on those sale would amount to £265,580.22. HM Revenue & Customs should fine EBAY and PayPal the lost unpaid VAT from this seller.
    No doubt the seller has sent the proceeds back to China where no one can touch it.
    Perhaps as EBay and Paypal will not stop these sellers we should copy them and all avoid VAT and Taxes as there appears to be little chance of EBay and Paypal stopping them! You would only get caught when a leading national paper investigates you. Come on Nick at the Mirror sort out EBay and Paypal so genuine british sellers have a fair chance please.

  12. I wonder how much parcel force and HMRC make from surcharging chinese imports?
    that unsuspecting buyers get hit with

  13. Why should any venue, platform or agency be responsible for individuals liabilities?

    How dangerous would that be to find ebay had incorrectly informed an agency of an alleged liability? There are already too many mistakes and errors within the Inland Revenue etc, why wish for more?

  14. Another thing

    The chinese sellers only have to search for an item in ‘best match’ and they can see if it is a good seller or not.

    As china is now the manufacture to the world, it is easy to source CHEAP stock (as long as you think ‘No matter the quality’), Open an ebay account, take a picture & you are in business.
    CHEAPNESS wil always sell any item.

  15. In reply to Bunchy, everyone has a responsibility to be aware of money laundering and report suspected money laundering. Of course it is down to the company or individual to declare their Income, however when vast sums of money are leaving the country suspicious should be aroused.
    It’s blatantly obvious to EBay these sellers are not UK Vat registered, if a seller requires their selling fees and final value fees to be net of VAT at 15% (Luxemburg rate) they have to complete a VAT form on EBay.
    EBay only care about their own fees, if you report sellers for fee avoidance you can bet the listing will be removed within 12 hours, you report any listing for any breach of rules all you get is a standard automated reply and you can guarantee no action is taken.

  16. The taxes avoided by ebay sellers would probably pay for 50 UK hospitals, or could have prevented any rise in student fees.

    All eBay needs to do is insist that all Paypal cash withdrawals from eBay UK sales are transferred to a UK bank in sterling. Then if the money is transfered to a bank outside the Eurozone a witholding tax can be applied.

    If eBay insist on this then there would be no need for such investigations.

  17. While Ebay and Paypal make so much money they will not do anything at all, unless a national newspaper prints a story like the Mirror did.

  18. Another classic EBay VAT free seller.

    Duracell battery seller sold over 182135 items on his two accounts last year.

    Both accounts trade from same address RESEARCH HOUSE, FRASER ROAD
    Middlesex UB6 7AQ

    Sellers name are babz_s and batterydeals_01 same seller using two EBay accounts and guess what

    THEY DO NOT CHARGE VAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    What a surprise there.

    Are all the largest sellers on EBay exempt from VAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Even has negative feedbacks for not giving VAT Invoice

    Look below or at his feedback on his accounts

    Refused to issue VAT receipt after advising us they are registered for VAT

    DOES NOT PROVIDE VAT RECEIPTS AFTER MANY EMAILS BUT CHARGES FOR VAT, AVOID!!!

    http://www.ebay.co.uk

    should be http://www.ebaynovat.co.uk

  19. No I am not advocating this but if you suspect that a particular seller is breaking the rules on VAT or indeed anything else and you have reported them to ebay or Paypal and nothing has been done the next possible step is to contact the reporter on the Daily Mirror(or another large National Newspaper) because most Newspapers like to do follow up stories especially if it appears as if their first story has not caused the authorities to take action. Its in all of our interests that the cheats are identified and stopped. This is especially so if they operate from another country say China or Hong Kong. There is another point some Newspapers will pay you for such information so you could get something back for your efforts. After all if you are being hit by the competition and you know that the competition is only beating you because they are cheating it could be a way of removing the competition from the equation.

  20. Do eBay France and eBay Germany have the same tax avoidence scams or is this a uniquely British thing?

    The Germans like bank transfers and the French like paper cheques and I would guess that these are popular methods of payment for eBay purchases in those countries.

    Its makes me wonder if in forcing Paypal on UK buyers we British have left ourselves open to be tax scammed?

    And it begs the question as to should we be so keen in the UK to see the back of cheques?

    The authorities need to look closely at the Paypal operations.

  21. The Cheque has been round for a long time. Just about everybody, especially the old, know it and trust it. Yet according to the Banks Cheques cost a lot to process and to transport around the country and from Bank to Bank. Yes we do use less today than we did 5, 10 or more years ago but every year many millions of them are used. I for one am not convinced that the Government should allow the Banks to stop us using Cheques. After all We the people of the UK Own the Banks. I for one would support the continued use of cheques. I listened to an interview with a representative of the Banks. Apparently they are trying to devise a paper based replacement for the cheque-surely that is a cheque in a slightly differant form. Aopparently they want a cheque that can be machine read where we the sender writes in barcodes or similar. Tell me are all the Banks made up of idiots-I certainly cannot write in Barcodes and my guess is that old Mrs Smith cannot either. Yes to perhaps a modified cheque and a resounding No to the scrapping of the cheque or some cheque that can only be produced by a computer or similar.

  22. It is so simple for the Chinese to set up accounts on EBay without any checks at all. One seller has and is using 8 accounts, all state location as Bristol UK (Some these accounts also give location’s as Holland Hong Kong Germany Russia and Spain)presume he looking for other countries aswell.
    Accounts as below
    1.zz774411
    2.Good456pcl
    3.11777abc
    4.Flashworld777
    5.Memorystore888
    6.Abc1478963
    7.Flashcard-seller
    8.QQ996633
    Six of the accounts DO NOT COMPLY with Ebay’s own rules as no business details are given, and two show a address in Hong Kong which also breaks their rules.
    Look yourslef and see how many items this seller is selling, work out the cost of VAT evasion on sales alone, let alone the loss of VAT on the imported items which they do not pay VAT or Duty on.
    But then again do EBay really care of course they get their fees and charge’s as do PayPal why should they.
    Try and report this seller to EBay you will see they will take no action whatsoever against him!
    COME EBAY SORT YOUR PROBLEM OUT.
    COME ON H M REVENUE & CUSTOMS SORT THESE SELLERS OUT.

  23. Post 23 He also had a selling account banned by EBay but still trading with the other nine accounts, his banned selling account name was ACT-NSW. How do they get away with it.
    Member id act-nsw ( 66002) Not a registered user

  24. Surely somebody at the tax authorities has got the wherewithall to do similar eBay research. They could probably come up with 100’s of sellers avoiding the payment of VAT in a matter of hours.

    I’m actually staggered that the UK tax authorities do not seem to be bothered!

  25. Chinese Cartel on Laptop Charger’s on EBay. Portsmouth the centre of this activity.
    Listed below is one seller with 14 accounts despite having a UK location PORTSMOUTH AS AN ADDRESS ON EVERY ACCOUNT on their listings not one has any UK business address. They all have an address in Hong Kong!
    Over 1800 Laptop Chargers for sale on EBay all at the cheapest buy it now price in the UK.
    Over 32893 items listed
    Just do a simple search on EBay UK. Type in Laptop Charger, select UK as location then select Buy It Now, Price & PP Lowest.
    1. Seller name Cyber-powershop Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 1692 items listed.
    2. Seller name ihome-com Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinses, 2380 items listed.
    3. Seller name cyber-stocker Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 3289 items listed.
    4. Seller name agro-store Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 1493 items listed.
    5. Seller name cyber-store Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 4100 items listed.
    6. Seller name intelle-store Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 3841 items listed.
    7. Seller name happihome Portsmouth as location no business on any listings, 2896 items listed.
    8. Seller name ihome-com Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 3841 items listed.
    9. Seller name service2worldwide Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 3128 items listed
    10. Seller name meriden-shop Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 1798 items listed
    11. Seller name fast2worldwide Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 2762 items listed
    12. Seller name in-product Portsmouth as location business details address in Chinese, 1629 items listed
    13. Seller name chorm-store Portsmouth as location no business details , 448 items listed
    14. Seller name smart-product Portsmouth as location no business details , 3437 items listed

    You can also guarantee this seller pays no VAT or tax either!!!!!!!!!!!!

  26. The Laptop charger seller as in comment 27 has 101551 feedback score for the last 12 months, say £5.49 as a selling price each thats £557,514.99 of sales for the year. Thats £83,034.15 of unpaid VAT.

  27. The law states that website sellers must display a VAT number. eBay is breaking the law as VAT numbers are not shown in the listing of VAT registered sellers.

    “The amendments to the Companies Act 1985, which came into force in January 1 2007, state that companies must include their full company details on websites and electronic business letters or order forms including the name of the UK registered company; company registration number; place of registration and registered office address. If a company fails to comply it is liable to a fine.

    Ordering is simple and include the new web form with Captcha and save £50

    A website must also clearly display the name of the company that the customer is transacting with in addition to its trading name, and with the difference clearly explained. It must also show the business’ VAT number, even if it is not selling online; if it is a member of a trade or professional association, it must show details on the site including registration numbers; and prices must be transparent, stating whether VAT or delivery are included.”

  28. Website regulations and how they effect you

    If you are business in the UK with a website, new legislation has become law (January 1, 2007), which if you don’t comply, will leave you will in breach on the Companies Act and risking a fine.

    Although this law was primarily aimed at e-commerce sites, it is applicable, and enforceable to virtually every website. The easiest way to think of it is that your website is has the same requirments as your letterheaded stationery / invoice.

    Although a more comprehensive article is listed below, and links for further reading, I would advise that the following details should be posted clearly on your site:

    The service provider’s name (not the trading name) needs to be prominent and accessible.
    The service provider’s email address has to be given, contact forms are not sufficient.
    The service provider’s geographic address must be given (PO Box are not allowed)
    If the business is a company, the registered office address and registration number must be included.
    If the business has memberships of a trade or professional associations, the membership details, including registration numbers, should be provided.
    VAT registered companies must display their number.

    Where are VAT numbers displayed on eBay?

  29. Reply to comment 30 Gary. You ask “Where are the VAT numbers displayed on eBay” Sellers with a VAT number shown are more rare than the Penny Black Stamp on a Letter from EBay saying they will enforce their own rules on these rogue sellers. Most Legal UK sellers have there VAT number on display in their business listings. This is so all their fees charged by Ebay are Invoiced net of VAT. You can safely say that any business not showing their VAT number are either evading VAT or have exceeded the turnover for registration, Of course unless you are from China or Hong Kong where VAT stands for VALUE AVOIDANCE TAX.

  30. eBay say this in their terms and conditions:-

    “Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 you must provide the following information in the Business Seller Information section of your listings:

    full contact details for your business

    details of any relevant trade organisations to which you belong

    details of any authorisation scheme relevant to your online business

    clear indications of price, if relevant, including any delivery or tax charges

    your VAT number, if your online activities are subject to VAT.”

    As you say some show the VAT number and most do not. eBay could itself be liable for the VAT where the VAT number is not shown, VAT is not charged, and clearly the goods should be subject to VAT. It is a criminal act which could lead to jail sentences.

    And this could be a showstopper for eBay if the authorities in due course take a similar view.

    This could close eBay down!

  31. The other thing of course is that if an item is genuinely shipped in from outside the Eurozone and the seller is registered outside the Eurozone then VAT will be paid by the buyer when the item is delivered if it has not been paid at the point of sale.

    How many listings make this clear?

    Best match? You are joking eBay!

  32. Reply to 34. If the item is shipped from outside the Euroone then the seller would not have a LOcation as a town or city in the UK as a location! The scale of the problem of VAT Evasion is vast and EBay and Paypal know it. They should be charged under the money laudering acts as they simply assist these rogue sellers to get away with it. Its simply a joke.

  33. The whole of EBay is so rife with VAT evasion by these rogue Chinese sellers !, but it could be stopped staright away by EBay. Ebay know exactly how much an account turns over each month. This is how they maintain the Power Seller programe, if you are gold Power Seller you need to turnover £6,000 per month which is £72,000.00 pa, Platinum Power seller £15,000.00 per month which is £180,000.00 pa and a Titanium Power Seller is £95,000.00 per month £1,114,000.00 pa.
    So really any Gold Power seller or above should be registered for VAT.
    As stated before EBay fails to enforce any checks at all.
    All EBay are worried about are theie fees, you can do what you like regarding VAT & TAX nothing happen, you put a listing on EBay offering to sell directly or off EBay you have that listing removed be banned within 12 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  34. Lets be honest most genuine UK sellers wil have accountant to do their books and submit each year, the seller will try his hardest to avoid paying to much Income Tax we all know that if you are self employed every one does it, With Ebay their is no cash its all done via Paypal so the poor seller cannot even pinch the petty cash!!! As for VAT a genuine seller cannot really escape thet either.

    These Chinese sellers are committing huge scale fraud by systematically avoiding Income Tax VAT and PAYE.
    They know full well EBay do not do any confirmation checks whatsoever as to the legal business status in the UK. They simply open a PayPal account in their own country which does not have to comply with European Money Laundering Acts, and link that PayPal account to any selling account they have.
    It is so simple for them to do.

  35. You take the Mirror Investigation which I must say was excellent in bringing the largest Tax and Vat fraud on EBay to an end. I hope they expose many more of these rogue sellers in the future.
    This was not simply someone selling a few items from their spare room , this was a sophicated operation using five different accounts, my estimation is their turnover on the five accounts to be well over £2,000,000.00 pounds YES TWO MILLION POUNDS PER YEAR.
    The scale of this operation was enormous. How did they get away with for so long!!!!!!!!!
    H M Revenue & Customs should be asking the following questions
    1. They must have been importing so many different items to sell, how they avoided import duties and VAT.
    What is the estimated loss to the treasury for these illegal imports! And how will they recover the lost revenue!
    2. Their turnover exceeded £2,000,000.00 with no report made by EBay or PayPal to H M Revenue & Customs.
    How will EBay & PayPal explain to H M Customs & Revenue, and how will the loss of VAT & Tax be recovered!
    3. No Company accounts filed in the UK.
    It’s a UK company Legal requirement to file company returns!
    4. No personal Tax returns filed in the UK.
    How was they allowed in the UK, what is their UK status to be here!
    5. No doubt any employee’s used did not pay Income Tax or National Insurance.
    No doubt these were Illegal fellow countrymen or women, Will H M Border agency Investigate!
    6. The Industrial Units were rented how the monthly rent was and rates paid were.
    Whose name were they rented in? Who signed the lease!
    7. If the Mirror had not exposed these rogue sellers how long would they have got away with it?
    Forever probably
    8. All their items were sent by Royal Mail they had a monthly account with them.
    Whose name was the account in and what was the yearly turnover for their postage (which Royal Mail Invoice monthly them for)
    9. Will H M Revenue & Customs raid the premises and take the remaining stock!
    Very unlikely they all their staff is at Dover stopping a genuine Englishmen who brought an extra carton of cigarettes back (that’s easy work for them)
    10. Will this happen again on EBay
    Yes there are literally hundreds and hundreds of these sellers selling right now on EBay.
    Will EBay PayPal and H M Revenue & Customs stop it? NO

    If any seller wants to come and work legally in the UK, that’s great we should welcome them. As long as they register to work here and pay all the relevant Taxes and VAT that’s fine. But if they want to cheat and evade Taxes and Vat and take away British jobs, then the full force of the law should be used to stop them in their tracks, not be assisted by the two of the largest UK internet sites EBay and PayPal.

  36. To prove how ineffective EBay is at policing its own site and rules, please look at the seller below. Another Chinese seller of Memory Cards. The location is given as Bristol (Maybe true) the memory cards are sent from within the UK and therefore should attract VAT on sales.
    This seller has NINE accounts. Of the NINE accounts SIX accounts do not have any business contact information at all, the other THREE have an address in Hong Kong.
    Therefore they breach EBay’s own rules on business details displayed. If you report any of these to EBay their listings will not be removed, you will get an automated Email thanking you for your report and that EBay will take action. These listings will remain live and EBay will do nothing even though it breaks their rules and UK Distance selling Regulations.
    Try reporting them yourself you will see the above comment is correct, and prove how EBay encourage these sellers on their own site to break the rules.
    Seller’s accounts are
    1. Seller account Flashword777 2,664 items listed of which 1,695 are in UK, given location is Bristol.
    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    2. Seller account zz774411 3,532 items listed of which 625 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.

    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    3. Seller account qq996633 9,097 items listed of which 216 are in the UK, given address is Bristol.

    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    3. Seller account 11777abc 827 items listed of which 32 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.

    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    4. Seller account Flashworld777 2647 items listed of which 1678 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.
    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    5. Seller account Memorystore888 2141 items listed of which 42 are in the UK, given location Bristol.

    NO BUSINESS OR CONTACT DETAILS IN ANY UK LISTING

    6. Seller account Flashcard-seller 11 items listed of which 11 are in the UK, given location Bristol.

    NO UK BUSINESS DETAILS NAME AND ADDRESS IN HONG KONG

    7. Seller account aabbcc147 244 items listed of which 177 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.

    NO UK BUSINESS DETAILS NAME AND ADDRESS IN HONG KONG

    8. Seller name good456pcl 2116 items listed of which 271 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.

    NO UK BUSINESS DETAILS NAME AND ADDRESS IN HONG KONG

    9. Seller name abc1478963 2,263 items listed of which 8 are in the UK, given location is Bristol.

    NO UK BUSINESS DETAILS NAME AND ADDRESS IN HONG KONG

    You try and report this seller simply find an item number from any of the above accounts, (you can report ten numbers at a time) and report the seller using the report seller link on the right hand side of the listing, report under listing policy breaches, then other listing policy offences, then Business seller fails to display correct contact details. Use the item number or add up to ten item numbers, and in comment box simply state seller fails to list any business details and click send.

    You see what EBay do, or should I say lack of what they do.

  37. These are Ebay rules as given on the help page in EBay UK.
    Please note that business sellers on eBay.co.uk are required by the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 to display their contact details.
    Requirements for business sellers
    The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 requires businesses to provide certain information about themselves, including the geographic address at which their business is established.
    Sellers operating as a business on eBay.co.uk must clearly display their business name and physical street address on the View Item page.
    • Business sellers will have their business name and physical street address automatically displayed in the Business Seller Information section on the View Item Page.
    • Businesses displaying their name and address on the View Item page must display that information in the Business Seller Information section. Displaying the name and address in the item description only is insufficient.
    3) You must include information about your business in your listings – Electronic Commerce Regulations and Distance Selling Regulations
    Under the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 you must provide the following information in the Business Seller Information section of your listings:
    • full contact details for your business;
    • details of any relevant trade organisations to which you belong;
    • details of any authorisation scheme relevant to your online business;
    • clear indications of price, if relevant, including any delivery or tax charges and
    • your VAT number, if your online activities are subject to VAT.

  38. Just found this story on the ebay discussion boards, just wonder how long it will stay on the boards before ebay pull it so no one on ebay can see the story.

  39. ebay should look at this seller digitalishop, states items in essex but in business details on all his lisitngs which he has 1430 of them the business details are in Hong Kong whatever are ebay doing why can they not stop these sellers. Seller states he is a Titanium Powerseller aswell. so does he sell 95,000.00 worth of items every month od does just say he is a Titanium Powerseller if so that breaks ebay rules.

  40. REPLY TO POST 41
    EBAY DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS STORY.

    THEY SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT FOR POSTING DETAILS OF THE MIRROR INVESTIGATION. GOT THIS NOTICE

    MC137 NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension – Abuse of Public Boards –

    I ONLY POSTED UNDER THE HEADING “MIRROR EXPOSES VAT FRAUD”

  41. Reply 39
    Another two accounts he using MemoryKing and
    Memorycard777
    location Bristol with a Hong Kong address
    So 11 accounts he using all break ebay and distance selling rules.

  42. Reply to 46 and 46.1 Drop a Christmas Card in the post and dont put a stamp on it, perhaps they forward it to China for the seller.

  43. Reply to 39.
    Seller now also using the follwoing selling accounts.

    Eformcity given location Bristol, no business details in any listing. 4113 items listed 623 items listed in the UK.
    qq996633 given location Bristol, no business details in any listing. 9075 items listed 216 items listed in the UK

    de-tech given location Bristol, no business details in any listing. 2650 items listed 1684 items listed in the UK

    eccmart given location Bristol, no business details in any listing. 2243 items listed 8 items listed in the UK

    iccstationgiven location Bristol, no business details in any listing, 2103 items listed 270 items listed in the UK

    everyweeksource location Bristol, no business details in any listing, 2123 items listed 42 items listed in the UK
    accounts.

  44. Comment 23 and 39 and 48.

    Seller is changing account names to avoid detection????????????????

    Flashworld777 now changed shop name to detech
    zz774411 now changed shop name to eformcity
    qq996633 Still using same name
    11777abc Still using same name
    Flashcard-seller Still using same name
    aabbcc147 Still using same name
    good456pcl now changed name to iccstation
    abc1478963 now changed name to eccmart
    MemoryKing now changed name to * MemoryKing*
    Memorycard777 Still using same name

  45. COMMENT 49
    MEMORY-STORE888 NOW CHANGED NAME TO EVERYWEEKSOURCE
    ALL THESE ACCOUNTS SAME SELLER

  46. rightly or wrongly I was always told/have thought that if you upset the Tax man its legal (system), upset the revenue, and they can kick your door down , no warrant required..

    which begs the question as to where ebay uk’s server farms are actually situated?

  47. aLL YOU GUYS ARE DOING AGRAND JOB, TRACKING THESE SELLERS, but really you should be making sure this info is given to Ebay (yes I know, they know anyway), but If irt was submitted to them & they cannot then say they did not know, etc.

    Or email it all to the Daily Mirror…. with a link back to the forum..

    That’ll upset ebay even more..

  48. Reply to post 52.

    Ebay read these boards they know all about the posts on here, but all sellers in these posts are still on ebay.

    Please remember Ebay are concerned about two things LISTING FEES & PROFITS

    You can report any listing to Ebay and no action is taken, the only exception would be if you reported the listing for fee avoidance then they would act straight away aand remove the sellers.

    Try your self report a listing for failing to display business information or no business at all, you will get a automated reply saying thanks and the listing will still be there!

  49. Hi Nick pleased you have the time to read these posts.
    No doubt EBay have and still have not taken any action against these sellers (then again they allowed a huge VAT & Tax fraud untill it was exposed by you.)
    Trust you be able to expose so many more of these sellers in the very near future.
    Good luck with the reporting and look forward to more reports of how Ebay allow these sellers to get away with fraud.

  50. Yes & therefore they only themselves’ to blame & NOT other ebayers that comment on things……AS THEY DO NOW.

  51. Please kindly remember one thing about Ebay. If you report any listing for fee avoidance it will be looked at straight away. If you report any other listings they will not they are only INTRESTED IN THEIR FEES AND PROFITS.

    The sellers who avoid VAT & Tax know this, it is so easy for them to get away with on Ebay, as long as they do not offer to sell items outside Ebay they are laughing. All they do is pay the fees and Ebay are happy, they can duplicate listings, no business details, no return polices, In fact they are exempt from all Ebay rules.

    I bet everyone in EBAY TOWERS at RICHMOND have read these posts here.

    They are aware of these posts, Ebay know all about these posts, and still the listings reported on here are still on Ebay.

    But then again they do support illegal business sellers and thier listings, and assist in VAT & Tax evasion by allowing these listings, as exposed by the Mirror Newspaper.

  52. Seems odd that the biggest seller the Mirror has exposed TRUSTSALEUK changed their name yesterday too GBMSALE and removed all their listings.

    Why on earth would a seller selling in excess of £9 million pounds worth of items change their name and pull all their listings, if they had nothing to hide?????????????????????????

    When will Ebay and HMRC stop this!

  53. I SAY FAIR PLAY TO THESE CHINESE SELLERS
    ITS ONLY BUSINESS AND IF THERE MAKING A PROFIT THAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE, IT DOESNT MATTER WHERE THEY COME FROM PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS IF THEY ARE MAKING MONEY
    FOR HUNDREDS OVER YEARS THE UK DOMINATED TRADE IN CHINA THRU HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE AND NO ONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THAT

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