Ebay, China and VAT

[Taf]

My daughter sent me a link to purchase a clothing item from China through ebay, total cost £17.95.

I made the purchase, but noticed a small pop-up appeared once I had completed the paypal part.

Along the lines of "VAT has been added to your order".

So £17.95 had jumped to £21.55! 20% VAT!

I have never seen this before, and HMRC state

"The limits for Customs Duty and Import VAT are:

commercial consignments (goods you’ve purchased) of £135 or less are free from Customs Duty and not subject to Import VAT - this does not include alcohol, tobacco products, perfume or toilet waters as these items are excluded from the relief of Customs Duty and VAT at import is payable"

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...outside-the-uk

Is this a new con by the Chinese sellers? Or is it a new rule?

[jonbxx]

No, this is a new rule. Apparently this message went out to Ebay sellers;

From 1 January 2021, the UK will introduce a new model for imports to ensure goods from outside of the UK are treated in the same way as goods already in the UK.

The changes at a glance

• The current VAT exemption for imports of goods in small consignment of a value of up to £15 into the UK will be abolished.
• eBay will collect and remit VAT on consignments up to a value of £135 imported into the UK and sold to consumers.
• In cases where the seller is a non-UK business and the goods are already in the UK, eBay will collect and remit VAT for supplies of goods sold to consumers within the UK.
• If the buyer is a UK VAT registered business and provides their valid UK VAT registration number, the responsibility to account for VAT will switch to the UK VAT registered business customer.
• All sellers will have to provide a gross price and separate VAT rate on their UK listings, so that eBay can determine the correct amount of VAT to collect from consumers.
• All prices will be displayed inclusive of UK VAT. Where eBay is responsible for collecting VAT, this amount will also be shown separately at checkout."

So what's happening is goods under £135, the seller (EBay on behalf of the seller) should pay the VAT. Over £135, the buyer pays on importation

[Taf]

Thanks for that jonbxx.

We are going to have to be very careful about ebay purchases from now on.