eBay warning

MichaelPlace

MichaelPlace

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just a quick warning to many of you who are not aware of this practice,

Some companies are adding VAT onto the cost of an item AFTER you have clicked buy it now at £whatever cost. so you end up paying £whatever + 17.5%.

This practice is well within ebay rules as long as the seller states VAT will be added afterwards. (or in the case of my current dispute, the bottom line of a long listing in a small font)

for your extra information a seller by the name of Zoodex, who sells various bluetooth/phone stuff, are currently practicing this. :razz:

So just a heads up to check listings carefully before you click that buy button.
 
I Saw That, And Can't See Why Ebay Allow It, Should Set It So Tax And Charges Except Delivery Are Included.
 
i dont know why they allow it either, after all it is surely a way of circumventing ebay fees

but, its not always done just to rip people off. If you are registered for VAT it is much easier to get your accounts to add up if you sell things and then add VAT afterwards.
 
Goes back to the golden rule when buying anything on eBay, read the auction details and then read them again, make sure you know what you are paying and what for!

Reading a couple of zoodex auctions, he tells you in red what the final price including vat will be and later on says vat will be added so you can't really say you didn't get adequate warning, though granted he doesn't make it very obvious, it's still easy enough to see.
 
To be fair if they are a business and declare the sales that they make they have to charge VAT - if they dont, they'll have to pay it out of their own pocket. So the guys that do this are doing so because its the law :rules: .

However this is of course open to abuse as they may just be doing this to add more cash to the item and dont have any intention to declare it. In the case of Micheal it looks like they were trying to hide the practice so not to deter bidders.

Remember the onus is on the bidder to ensure that he/she reads the entire description - people have bought empty boxes thinking they contained the product when it was described as an empty box.

Always remember to read the entire description and you'll get what you bid on (if you win it that is ;)).
 
There is little justification in quoting prices before VAT on Ebay where I would venture to say more than 95% of buyers are not VAT registered so it means nothing to them they can't reclaim input tax. Vendors should be made to state up front the "amount" to be paid (call that price if you want) but Ebay at the moment is becoming overun with big traders and big shops all out to scam the real essence of what Ebay was is being swallowed up I'm afraid.

Bill
 
On reading the auction page after the realisation it is quoted a couple of times - but i was in a hurry, already knew the product and exactly what i wanted to buy, price looked good so clicked buy it now. Without reading several pages of tech speak which I had already looked into and thus never saw the warning at the bottom of the page.

It wasn't the extra £4 that annoyed me so much it was the fact that it is so dishonest. I clicked buy it now at £24.99 + £3.99 delivery (or something like that) and thats what i expect to pay. It just doesn't happen in this country where you take your products to the till and they add in 17.5% vat afterwards, the vat is included in the original cost and paid by the seller. Tesco manage to price there stock inc VAT and still manage their VAT bills so why cant a small ish independent ebay sellers manage?

*rant over* damn ebay
 
Isn't it law that a vendor (in this country) must display an inclusive of VAT price if they are selling to the public?
 
Marcel said:
Isn't it law that a vendor (in this country) must display an inclusive of VAT price if they are selling to the public?
Click to expand...

that is my understanding
you are allowed to show prices without VAT if the expectation is that most of your customers either don't pay VAT (foringers) or can reclaim it (other businesses)
 
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