eBay have announced that effective immediately that if you have previously supplied them with a VAT number that it will be displayed on all of your listings. Up until now sellers could manually choose whether to display their VAT number by specifying it in their Business Seller Information in their eBay Site Preferences.
This makes a lot of sense – if you’re VAT registered then why wouldn’t you want your automatically displayed on your listings displayed on your listings? Of course for those sellers who should be VAT registered and aren’t this will be very obvious moving forward.
Doubtless HMRC will be pleased to see this change, we know that eBay are continuing to work with HMRC to prevent tax evasion and displaying VAT numbers on listings has no downsides for those that pay their taxes, in fact it should add a smidgeon of trust to consumers who can see that you’re a properly registered business.
If you need to add your VAT number, change it if you have a new one or remove it if you are no longer VAT registered then you can update your VAT information on eBay here. You can also update your Business Seller information on eBay to ensure that it matches that registered with HMRC.
6 Responses
we already have our vat number displayed on listings and stored on our ebay account settings,but when you click on the ‘manage vat numbers’ link in the announcement,it brings you to a new page which isnt in your account preferences,this then tells you to add a vat number but only if your storing goods in another eu country than where your business is established.ive rang ebay but they couldnt give me an answer as they didnt know.so my question is do we need to provide our vat number again on this form if they already have it in the first place or just leave this one blank?they never make things simple do they!lol
thanks paul
No harm in showing it as long as buyers don’t immediately assume that therefore the sales on that account are all inclusive of some reclaimable vat. It would be an easy assumption to make and it’s unclear how far down the rabbithole of building a vat accounting system eBay would want to go. Not very, is my guess.
can anyone else shed any light on pauls comment?ive noticed the same thing as well..
I had the exact same issue as Paul – had to contact ebay help and open a ticket (concierge couldn’t do it with a call) but it was sorted in 48 hours.
Thanks hannah,did they actually tell you what to do to sort the issue then?if u don’t mind me asking?I rang Concierge again today,and they just said not to worry about this new form as they already have our vat number.but I must admit the guy didn’t sound to confident!lol
We have the same issue as Paul but aren’t privileged enough to be concierge. I will let you know what the eBay Manila call centre has to say when I contact them tomorrow.