Starting January 2025, Ebay Canada to require SIN number for all sellers with more than 30 sales?

[joycroe_0]

I was reading this article on Ebay and it states that as of January 2025, anyone with over 30 sales will have to provide a SIN number. 
https://www.ebay.ca/help/account/regulatory/sales-reporting/canada-digital-sales-reporting?id=5476#s...

It seems like quite a drastic update and I'm surprised more people haven't been talking about it.

[mrdutch1001]

nothing I shall ever have to worry about!

[marnotom!]

Looks as though this SIN requirement is part of a broader sweep by the Canada Revenue Agency which is now requiring eBay to report sales data from sellers who either reach the sales number you’re quoting or $2800 in sales after fees and taxes.

I think casual sellers should be more concerned about this than the SIN requirement as the SIN requirement is just a small part of what CRA is requiring from eBay and sellers using eBay.

[joycroe_0]

Yes, it really seems like they're really planning on taking the screws to the little guys. I mean 2800 dollars seems like a sensible number to set as a guidline, but 30 sales? That could be like 50 bucks!! lmao.

This looks like it could be a devistating hit for Ebay as I assume a lot of the smaller hobbyist personal use sellers will prefer to use the IRL marketplace services.

[mrdutch1001]

As a " smaller hobbyist personal use seller" I shall continue to list/sell on eBay as it has been years since I have reached either $2800 or 30 sales/yr....

But I suspect there are many sellers of low value items that would far exceed that 30 sales/yr number....

[fergua3]

a dollar amount makes more sense thatn a sales amount.

Is this just for sales on ebay.com or sales on all ebay pletforms?

[mrdutch1001]

To the best of MY understanding, it is TOTAL sales activity and not limited to eBay>would include any all selling sites that are required to submit this information...

[fergua3]

sure, but ebay.com is in the US and not subject to Canadian law.   So if a seller has 100 sales on .com but 11 on .ca are they going to have to submit a SIN?  Just curious.  My hunch is all ebay sales regardless of the platform.  Otherwise sellers would just move their listings to .com, .uk  etc.

This is probably going to encourage people who sell online to spread their nets as wide as they can to be below the 30 sales mark on many different sites.   It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on ebay......could be minor, could be huge, i have no idea.

[mrdutch1001]

As stated above It is my understanding that the $2800 or 30 in sales is TOTAL(combined) of all selling sites whether that is eBay,Etsy,Amazon or whatever site that is subject to requirement of submitting such information(Not $2800/30 per selling site but the TOTAL inclusive of all the seller's selling sites.

However, my interpretation may not be correct but perhaps there is somewhere/someone that can clarify......

For myself I list/sell on eBay and Etsy, but my TOTAL combined sales from those 2 sites is under $2800 and less than 30 sales per year, which is why I initially stated that these numbers would not affect me...

[raanana]

Next is to tax garage sales,marketplace ,also carbon tax would fit  for ebay sales,why not.Way to go 😠

[38e_avenue]

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@fergua3 wrote:

sure, but ebay.com is in the US and not subject to Canadian law.   So if a seller has 100 sales on .com but 11 on .ca are they going to have to submit a SIN?  Just curious. 

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Absolutely. I never ever sold anything on Ebay.ca, but had to provide SIN and even my US Ebay store's name (yes!) to CRA. US Ebay is now obligated by law to provide all Canadian sellers data to CRA. It happened in 2010 or so. Initially, US Ebay refused to do, but CRA went to court and won. Ebay sent me an formal letter about the issue. Since, I hired a professional accountant to care about my US Ebay sales. 

[fergua3]

i don't see how it can apply to ALL sites a seller sells on.  How would each site know about the others?   If John sells 22 on Ebay, 18 on Etsy, 25 on Shopify.    No site would require John to submit a SIN and these sites would not be aware, or reallly care frankly,  that John has sales on other sites.  It would be up to John to report it to the CRA.

I do agree that the threshold is low.   $2800 is not even $250 per month.  Come on.   They are going after pennies yet many CERB cheaters got off scott free.

Oh well, really doesn't concern me.  My $2800 per year days are behind me.   Will be interesting to watch all the threads start popping up once sellers start getting notified about this.  Most will have no idea it's coming..

[flipistics]

I believe the IRS had a similar rule go into effect last year. Doom and gloom was predicted by lots of US sellers. I suspect some smaller sellers probably reduced their volume, but you never hear much about it now.

[mrdutch1001]

Yes, I guess that would be more logical and as per this statement:"For residents of Canada, eBay and other marketplaces are legally required to report both your sales transactions and certain personal or business information to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). eBay will report this information should you meet either of the following thresholds within the calendar year:"

[marnotom!]

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@joycroe_0 wrote:

Yes, it really seems like they're really planning on taking the screws to the little guys. I mean 2800 dollars seems like a sensible number to set as a guidline, but 30 sales? That could be like 50 bucks!! 

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Well, practically speaking, fifty bucks for thirty sales would work out to an average of less than two bucks per sale, and most sellers quickly figure out that focussing on selling two dollar items doesn't work too well on eBay.  But, yeah, there definitely seems to be a disconnect between the dollar amount and the sales amount.

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@joycroe_0 wrote:

This looks like it could be a devistating hit for Ebay as I assume a lot of the smaller hobbyist personal use sellers will prefer to use the IRL marketplace services.

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I'm not exactly sure why this would be a big hit on eBay.  I think eBay Canada has been losing smaller/hobby sellers anyway to other sites that have fee structures that work better for their sales.  If anything, it should make these sellers aware that it's in their best interest to report sales they make online.

eBay isn't the online garage sales that it was back in 1998.  I think the COVID crisis from a few years ago has worken the feds up to the fact that online sales make a significant contribution to the Canadian economy and they're scrambling to play catch-up.  All those "little guys" make a difference when you put them together.

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[recped]

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@fergua3 wrote:

sure, but ebay.com is in the US and not subject to Canadian law.   So if a seller has 100 sales on .com but 11 on .ca are they going to have to submit a SIN?  Just curious.  My hunch is all ebay sales regardless of the platform.  Otherwise sellers would just move their listings to .com, .uk  etc.

This is probably going to encourage people who sell online to spread their nets as wide as they can to be below the 30 sales mark on many different sites.   It will be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on ebay......could be minor, could be huge, i have no idea.

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Your registration shows Canada which means you are under the control of eBay Canada, it won't matter what eBay site you list on.

[recped]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

As stated above It is my understanding that the $2800 or 30 in sales is TOTAL(combined) of all selling sites whether that is eBay,Etsy,Amazon or whatever site that is subject to requirement of submitting such information(Not $2800/30 per selling site but the TOTAL inclusive of all the seller's selling sites.

However, my interpretation may not be correct but perhaps there is somewhere/someone that can clarify......

For myself I list/sell on eBay and Etsy, but my TOTAL combined sales from those 2 sites is under $2800 and less than 30 sales per year, which is why I initially stated that these numbers would not affect me...

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Your interpretation is not correct, if for no other reason than eBay, Amazon, etsy etc do not and will not share seller information with other marketplaces.

FYI - Similar rules that have applied to the US for years is also coming to the UK and EU plus no doubt other countries.

I'm suprised it has taken this long, the "gig" economy has no doubt cost the Canadian Government Billions in unpaid income tax and given our deficeit problems it could not continue. Of course it's also been totally unfair for "wage slaves" where every penny is reported while their gig working friends have been getting a free ride. Also not fair for those that have been self-reporting eBay income all along.

[mrdutch1001]

Yes, I have already been shown that my interpretation was incorrect, but thank you for reinforcing that fact. However, as mentioned previously I will not be affected by this... >>> for the past few years I have sold less than $300 TOTAL per year on either selling site and have had less than 20 sales/per year on either selling site...

However, I do know and do realize that these numbers will mean more to many other sellers and that many sellers best be aware of this...

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

This has to do with government regulations. 

The days of "garage sale" selling for individuals are over. If you sell online, you have to keep receipts and records. 

For security reasons, nobody likes to give their SIN out anymore than they have to. In terms of the data being transmitted to the CRA, it likely isn't an issue for business sellers who already report their income. 

The people who are going to be most affected will be the side hustle type sellers. The ones who don't make enough for them to consider operating as a business or reporting their income, but who the CRA would see as a person engaging in business activities if they ever decided to audit them. 

[byto253]

The US brought in a limit of $600 after which eBay has to report to the IRS.