ebayer chancing their arm?

SoBe

i have won an auction on ebay from a seller based in ireland,the value was €120 i know its not a lot etc now with postage it came to €147.right no problems so far.

now i offered to collect the item off them and now they reckon i have to pay vat on the item bringing it €145 if i collect it.

there was no mention having to pay vat on the auction page and i have just got this reply from the seller

"you must be only new to ebay when you make a purchase on ebay from a seller based in ireland.
when to pay for the item the tax of 21 percent is charged.
This only happens when you purchase from ireland"

i have bought some stuff off irish buyers before and was wondering if this is the case or are they chancing their arm,oh and they said they would sell it to me for €120 if i didnt want a receipt.

looking forward to your replies

bbbbb

Sounds like he's chancing his arm. Have a look at ebay help

Also, in the item description, the seller should set out clearly the amount or percentage of VAT that will be charged.

If there is no mention of VAT in the item description, the seller should not add VAT to the final item price. In such a case, if VAT is legally due, the seller bears the responsibility of paying that VAT to the appropriate authorities according to any applicable laws and regulations. Again, if there is any question as to the seller's VAT responsibilities, the seller should consult an independent tax advisor and/or local tax authority.

nava

SoBe wrote:

i have won an auction on ebay from a seller based in ireland,the value was €120 i know its not a lot etc now with postage it came to €147.right no problems so far.

now i offered to collect the item off them and now they reckon i have to pay vat on the item bringing it €145 if i collect it.

there was no mention having to pay vat on the auction page and i have just got this reply from the seller

"you must be only new to ebay when you make a purchase on ebay from a seller based in ireland.
when to pay for the item the tax of 21 percent is charged.
This only happens when you purchase from ireland"

i have bought some stuff off irish buyers before and was wondering if this is the case or are they chancing their arm,oh and they said they would sell it to me for €120 if i didnt want a receipt.

looking forward to your replies

Never hear that before but I don't buy much from sellers in Ireland, if you have to pay VAT means that he's VAT register so ask him for a VAT invoice.

Regards

Garth

The final (winning) price AFAIK has to be the full price to be paid, VAT or not.

He's chancing it.

I find a lot of sellers pad their items with postage for extra profit. For instance I made a query to an ebay seller who sells their items for 20GBP less on ebay than on their own website. I queried postage to Ireland and was told 27.75GBP. I then went to their website and did a "trial" purchase to see shipping and it was -- yup! 7.75.

JJ

As the help page implies, eBay has no problem if sellers include VAT in the winning bid or BIN price or add it on after the buyer commits to buy the item, as long as the seller mentions in the listing that he's going to add/include VAT in the price.

However, if you're a seller, eBay doesn't provide you with any kind of automated system that adds the VAT on at the end. If you have Selling Manager Pro, this selling tool will include VAT in the final price and calculate how much VAT you've been charinging.

JJ

Oh yeah, if you're certain there's no mention of VAT in the listing, report him to eBay and, if you're feeling up to it, report him to the Taxman.

mickoneill30

Sellers put up the postage price as eBay don't take a percentage of the cost of the postage. So you always calculate the total cost of the item as the cost + the postage. I bought some great USB memory sticks for €.99 + €24 postage. I wouldn't have expected the seller to give them to me for €.99 if I wanted to pick them up.

In this case it's entirely the sellers fault.

If they said in the original add that pickup was an option then you have a case with eBay probably.

If they didn't say it in the original add they should have kept it simple for themselves and said pickup wasn't an option.

So what is it that you've bought? Is €267 a rip off price for it? If not would you prefer not to get the item and give the seller bad feedback (and probably get some yourself).

SoBe

just a quick update.due to unforseen circumstances i cant pick up the item now and have just been on paypal.i couldnt believe it.

the winning bid was 147 and there is a "sales tax" charge ontop of the 147 of about €11 they are taking the piss here now surely

thanks for all the replies with the helpfull info,i am discussing it with the seller now via ebay,ill let you know how i get on but i feel like telling them to stuff it now

parsi

Sellers English seems a bit poor. If he's charging VAT ask him for his VAT number just to be odd.

A Dub in Glasgo

Easiest thing is to put the listing up so people can see what the guy has in the listing. If there is no mention of any VAT or sales tax, the price you bid plus the stated P&P is what you pay.

Did the seller offer collection as an option? If not, did you contact the seller before you bid to ask if collection was possible?