Import Tax charged by ebay.ca when exporting to abroad (U.K.).

[williamf6194]

Hi All.  This similar question was asked in 2019, but it just arose again from a recent transaction of mine (255265124214). I have sold an item to a buyer in the U.K. who is naturally expecting that he may have to pay the U.K. VAT of 20% on the item he purchased from me, plus any import duty.  This is not guaranteed as it may slip through for free as a few of my sales to the U.K. have done in the past (lucky for the buyers).  I do not recall being charged this import tax previously. Ebay calculated that the Import Tax on $99.00 Canadian is $21.96 and based their fees on $120.96 Canadian, but the U.K. VAT is 20%. I tried various combinations of exchange rates (if they actually apply?), but do not see how ebay arrived at this amount - seeing as how I am exporting - not importing.  I tried the chat line for assistance, but it wasn't working very well.  The chat agent told me he was busy helping other ebay customers, and apologized, noting that he didn't have time to respond to my query (which I sent to him very politely), as he hadn't received it?  Yet he was able to advise me of this following on from my question to him that appeared on the chat trail of Q and A with his comment following after it  (if this makes sense?).  The site noted that a live agent would phone me back in 1 minute, but I never received a call back.  Is ebay falling apart at the seams?  Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

WF

[marnotom!]

VAT is now being charged on sales to UK customers at Checkout, just as state and regional sales taxes to US customers are being charged at Checkout, GST/PST/HST is being charged to Canadian customers buying from Canadian sellers, and a whole bunch of et ceteras.

My best guess as to what happened here is that the amount of the sale was converted to Sterling before the VAT was calculated, and then the VAT amount was converted to Canadian dollars on your end.  Since currency "buy" and "sell" rates aren't the same, you ended up with what appears to be a slightly wonky calculation of VAT.

Having said all that, I just viewed your listing on the UK site and noticed something rather bizarre.  Let me know if you see the same thing.

[pjcdn2005]

What do you see that’s bizarre?

[pjcdn2005]

The VAT is being charged on the item + shipping.
$99  + 10.79 shipping = $109.79 x 20% = $21.96

[marnotom!]

Forgot that VAT is charged on shipping as well as the item price, so eBay's VAT charge to the buyer of $21.96 is correct, at the very least.

No idea where that amount of $120 and change comes from, though.

By the way, we usually don't recommend calling the eBay contact numbers you find online or in older discussion board threads lest they be hooked up to scam outfits.  The online chat options through Facebook, Twitter, and eBay itself tend to have a better reputation than the telephone option(s).

[raanana]

When selling to UK,ebay add vat to a total amount and charge the fee on it,as well as gst on a top.Its what ebay doinh for quite a long time.We are paying fees on the other countries taxes,as also gst on the fees .Its is absolutely wrong,but  nothing we can  do about it .There only two option to list  and accept it or do not list at all .

[williamf6194]

Thank you both.

I waited for the automatic chat option to connect me with a live agent.  It mentioned a 1 minute wait, but three hours later (while completing other projects) there was still no call-back.  I found that a 'frustrated' ebayer had placed the phone numbers for ebay (canada?) on-line, so I called one of these customer service numbers.  The automatic voice recording said I had reached the fraud line and it could not be used for other services (the number was listed on 'frustrated's  site as customer service), but then a click, and the voice recording changed to customer service, and connected me to a very helpful customer service agent.  He went through my transaction and determined that ebay had charged the buyer in the U.K. with the correct import tax, but had also used the import tax amount (presumably using the current exchange rate) to calculate the fee that I owed to ebay.  He agreed that this was in error. Strangely, he had the actual import tax I had been assessed on showing on his computer in U.K. Pounds Sterling, not Canadian Dollars.  To his consternation, he could not figure out why, continually apologizing..  He had to go into my account to confirm that I had been assessed the fee based on the Canadian Dollar equivalent.  He passed me up to a young lady (supervisor?) who confirmed the error showing that I had been assessed the ebay fee on an incorrectly calculated amount.  The Import Tax calculation was wrong, and the fee should have been calculated only on the amount that I received from the buyer - namely $109.79 and not $120.96 (both amounts in Canadian Dollars).  I am not a 'penny pincher', but if ebay finance department has done this to me - to the sum of $1.47 Canadian - they may have done this to others, and the sum would be considerable in their favour. It reeks of double dipping, or possibly fraud - if it is intentional.  The lady supervisor kept apologizing, and offered me $1.27, as this was supposedly the only amount she could offer, as it was the amount charged for the U.K. (International) Fee added on to the ebay percentage fee.  As it's my money they are playing with, my choice is to give it to charity if I wish (which I do), not pad ebay Canada's bank account.

Cheers,

WF.

[reallynicestamps]

You are the seller.

Sellers do not pay sales taxes. Buyers pay sales taxes (VAT)

I do not recall being charged this import tax previously.

Yes. If you were selling you would not be, so you were not.

I tried the chat line for assistance, but it wasn't working very well

The phone clerks are not well trained and work from a script.

The social media Chat guys are better and have more authority.

It is always important to remind them that we are in Canada. Often. And that Canada is not part of the USA.

What sellers are charged is the eBay FVF on the buyer's entire payment, which includes that VAT which eBay processes and we never touch.

Which is annoying but also Standard Practice in the financial industry.