If you’re in Australia, and have sold more then $20,000 AUD on eBay, then be prepared for a call from the tax man.
Australian Taxation Office have notified eBay that they intend to issue formal requests for information relating to sales by Australian eBay sellers. The data eBay will supply includes: Contact name; Address; Telephone number; Email and IP address; User ID; Date of birth; Date of registration on eBay; Monthly and annual sales volumes and value; Power seller status and eBay store status.
There will be no getting away from paying the correct tax in Australia so if you’re unsure if your affairs are in order then the best advice is to make sure they are before you get the call. eBay will hand the data over by the 1st of August.
It would be very interesting to see what would happen if the same occurred in the UK. Doubtless there are some smaller sellers who are unsure if they’re a business or a private individual, but would anyone selling more than £20,000 per year be in any doubt? eBay would probably already have insisted you register as a business seller, but that doesn’t ensure that you register with the tax man.
As of July 21st, eBay will change the final value fee for fixed price listings. This means selling technology items will become hugely more expensive if you want to offer the option to Buy It Now. Instead of the current tiered system, all Buy It Now listings will change to a final value fee of 10 per cent. This has already caused outrage among eBay sellers, many of whom are threatening to quit the site and use rivals, such as the FOLK trading section on www.hotukdeals.com.
The price rises mean that selling a TV - or other technology item - for £300 will result in a final value fee of £30. The current fee is just £8.17. The final value fee is capped at £40, but this is of little consolation, since it's only a small proportion of sales that exceed £400.
The email sent to eBay users claimed that the change to the 10 per cent flat rate was to "make it simpler and easier for you to calculate up-front the fees you'll pay. As before, you won't pay any final value fee if your items don't sell. The new calculations only apply to items listed or scheduled to start on or after the 21 July 2011."
We think that sellers will see straight through this and realise that eBay simply wants to increase its cut, and we're sure users would far rather be in the dark about exactly how much they'll pay in fees than pay a 10 per cent flat rate and end up far worse off.
Our advice is that if you have valuable items to sell, make sure the listing starts before 21st July.
