eBay have made a few changes to their Global Shipping Programme Seller Terms & Conditions, mainly around accepting eBay Payments as they begin to roll out and the language around the VAT implications of using the programme.
The effective date for the updated Global Shipping Programme Seller Terms & Conditions is immediately for those users who opt into or are enrolled into the Programme after the 15th of June 2020, and from the 29th July 2020, for all existing users of the service.
Global Shipping Programme Seller Terms & Conditions – Eligible listings & Payments
Only listings that offer PayPal as a payment method or are enabled for eBay managing your payments are eligible for the Programme
- If your eBay account is not enabled for eBay managing your payments, your Buyer must pay for GSP Items using PayPal.
- If your eBay account is enabled for eBay managing your payments, your item must be purchased using any of the payment methods available in the eBay checkout processed by eBay.
There is also a minor but important difference as to when you should ship the item. If paid via PayPal, you should ship the item when paid, but under eBay Payments you are required to ship the item upon eBay’s notice that the Buyer has paid for an item. The reason this matters is that sellers enrolled in eBay Payments have pointed out that funds won’t hit their bank account until two days after the buyer has paid for the item – this means you’ll need to ship (and fund postage to Pitney Bowes) before you receive the funds from the sale.
Global Shipping Programme Seller Terms & Conditions – VAT Accounting
eBay simplified the language around VAT accounting for items sold through the Global Shipping Program.
VAT accounting on your GSP Items – Exports
“The items sold under the Programme are considered supplied in the UK, and may therefore be subject to UK VAT, until such a time that you have obtained proof of export documentation in which case your sale may qualify for zero rating if the item is shipped outside of the EU.”
Now it simply reads:
“The items sold under the Programme are considered supplied in the UK.”
VAT accounting on your GSP Items – Intra-EU sales
Previously this paragraph read:
“The items sold under the Programme are considered supplied in the UK, and may therefore be subject to UK VAT, until such a time that you have obtained proof of dispatch or arrival documentation of the item in another EU Member State. For shipments to other EU Member States it is your obligation to comply with the relevant EU distance selling rules.”
Now it also simply reads:
“The items sold under the Programme are considered supplied in the UK.”
15 Responses
I would be interested to know how others who are VAT registered are dealing with the ebay global sales outside the EU. How are they accounting for them and has anyone had any dealing with HMRC over it?
11% of our total sales last month were through GSP. Perhaps little compared to others, perhaps not. I would rather have those 11% in our turnover than not, but….
When Mangled (yay) Payments will come in, we will probably “turn off” GSP or leave eBay for good – some of reasons include:
1) “refund/cancel sale” – eBay will keep the FVF fee.
2) “international sale” – there’s extra % fee for when the buyer is euro/us/world and seller is UK based. for example if you sell in “Pet Supplies” category the FVF will be 12.9% + £0.3 if local buyer, or (12.9% + £0.3) + 2% if buyer from “All other countries”.
Now, image selling item worth £400 total to buyer from Brazil. The FVF is £60.94. Unfortunately 1 hour later the buyer messages you asking to cancel transaction as they bought “in error” (hey, mistakes happen). £60.94 is now a loss to you/your company. Sweet deal.
3) “currency conversion charge” – similar as above, when buyer’s currency is different than sellers then eBay will charge extra 2.5%.
4) all the above fees are exclusive of VAT. so add 20% on top off that if you cannot claim back.
5) you will have to post the item to buyer before you’ll see the payment deposited into your account. that could take several days, and incur additional fees from your bank.
I understand that it costs money to do currency conversion etc, however the new fee program is, I think, badly constructed and only benefits the obvious player here.
Hope I understand incoming FVFs correctly, it’s sometimes clear as mud.
Is it true that FVF are not refunded if the customer decides to cancel or return the order? Do you know where it says that? That would be something that made us conider pulling from eBay which is massive – but we just don’t have the margin for this to happen.
Perhaps ebay are finally waking up to smell the coffee? You can’t keep walking on your customers (sellers) and expect brand loyalty. If truth be known I think a very high proportion of sellers do not like the ebay corporate philosophy but put up with it whilst sales are being driven. It would not take much of a tip in the wrong direction for a mass exodus, we need to watch these fees, fee refunds and overall transparency very closely indeed.