Any way of reducing eBay final value fees?

[Mandat]

RM said:

No, UK turnover was £1.1 billion, as they told US investors.

They only declared £165 million of it in their UK filed accounts.

The EU are considering charging digital based companies a tax on turnover rather than profit, for exactly this reason, according to an article in yesterdays Guardian. Their average tax rate is half that of normal companies.

Edited by RM on Saturday 23 September 13:52

You say no, but then quote figures that agree with what I quoted, which I based on the guardian article, which has helpfully been quoted by SG.

Tax due is currently calculated based on declared accounts. If the declared accounts are false, as you and SG appear to imply, then I'm sure that HMRC would want to take an interest.

Obviously, if the tax rules are changed in the future to base tax due on turnover, then those will be the rules that have to be complied with. But until that time, the current rules remain in place, therefore meaning that turnover is not really relevant to the calculation of any tax due.

Edited by Mandat on Sunday 24th September 13:18

[Mandat]

The Spruce goose said:

''Online retailer eBay paid just £1.1m in tax in the UK last year, despite telling US investors that Britain was its second largest market, generating revenues of $1.4bn (£1.1bn).'

The company appears to have reduced its tax bill by using a corporate structure that routes advertising fees from hundreds of thousands of British sellers through an overseas company, according to UK filings.

The group’s main UK unit reported revenues of just £185m last year and tax of only £1.1m. Latest accounts for eBay (UK) Ltd, which employs 372 staff, many of them at offices in Richmond, west London, confirm the British subsidiary does not receive a penny of the fees paid by UK sellers that advertise goods on eBay.co.uk.''

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/08/e...

Thanks for quoting the guardian article. This is the same article that I used in my above post, that RM seemed to disagree with..

[Stormfly1985]

Just received an email for £1 final value fees for today and tomorrow

[RM]

Mandat said:

Thanks for quoting the guardian article. This is the same article that I used in my above post, that RM seemed to disagree with..

I didn't disagree with it, I was quoting from it also. Did you read the bit that said "[eBay] confirm the British subsidiary does not receive a penny of the fees paid by UK sellers that advertise goods on eBay.co.uk."?

Mandat said:

Tax due is currently calculated based on declared accounts. If the declared accounts are false, as you and SG appear to imply, then I'm sure that HMRC would want to take an interest.

HMRC are very interested in it, and many others that use the same avoidance schemes.

[Mandat]

RM said:

Mandat said:

Thanks for quoting the guardian article. This is the same article that I used in my above post, that RM seemed to disagree with..

I didn't disagree with it, I was quoting from it also. Did you read the bit that said "[eBay] confirm the British subsidiary does not receive a penny of the fees paid by UK sellers that advertise goods on eBay.co.uk."?

Mandat said:

Tax due is currently calculated based on declared accounts. If the declared accounts are false, as you and SG appear to imply, then I'm sure that HMRC would want to take an interest.

HMRC are very interested in it, and many others that use the same avoidance schemes.

You seem to be going round in circles. If you are not disagreeing with the figures, that I quoted from the article that was linked to, then what are you disagreeing with?


Tax avoidance schemes are legal, and almost everyone uses at lease one form or other, including me and you as well.

If ebay are reporting false tax returns then that would be tax evasion, and like I said, I'm sure that HMRC would be very interested in such practices.

The crux of the discussions is that you & SG are trying to be disingenious by refering to ebay's declared tax payments compared with their turnover, when the 2 figures are not linked for accounting purposes.

[K50 DEL]

Stormfly1985 said:

Just received an email for £1 final value fees for today and tomorrow

Me too.... 23 items listed already, another load to do this evening.
The last one of these offers saved me well into the hundreds so I now wait for them before listing anything.

[Josho]

Well guess what happened.

Over 2 weeks on we have a returns case opened.

However straight onto the phone with eBay the guy said let me stop you there its been over 2 weeks and you clicked returns not accepted so it's up to you if you want to take the return or not not up to the buyer.

So seems positive.

I have said to the buyer and eBay that I will travel to check out the buyers van and engine though worse case and if there is a fault I will give him a replacement instead of a refund.

[anonymous-user]

What ebay says and what they actually do are miles apart. ive been done over by the court of ebay, guilty until guilty is there mantra.

the buyer is most likely looking at a full refund or partial refund which ebay will usually agree to. the returns things is inconsequential as the buyer will say the engine is fked. OH and they will take there fees whatever happens.

they are a joke ive listed an item twice both buyers made a mistake. now i can't relist as i have listed it too many times. i also sold my mtb excepted paypal, oh can't touch that for 21 days due tio new rules.

in the end i just sell on facebook marketplace you get slightly less but with ebays taxes etc it works out the same and cash too.

Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 10th October 19:01