Ebay Power Sellers & Revenue & Customs

[phoenixalpha]

No I'm not saying that - I'm saying I compete on quality and price when I sell my stuff. Some people will always want to undercut others, legal or not. I dont complain about it, cause they will always be found out and I'd rather be in long term biz than try for a fast buck. Quality and reputation get you repeat biz. Good competitive prices with good quality bring people in the door. If someone wants to go for a cheap mug with a football logo on it for under a fiver - they will be able to find one - either on ebay or at a market. I'm not interested in that because I know it'll catch up with them. I dont compete and I dont moan about it. Ebay will always be ebay, markets will always be markets. I can go get a cheap mug or an armani knockoff from my local market - but why would I want to? I dont complain about it either....

[Matt Quinn]

if you are charging £9 for a mug, that someone else is charging £8 for and they are of a similar quality, its up to you to bridge that gap someway.

-Like by breaking the law? Which is actually how a lot of Ebay sellers and market traders gain their 'competative advantage'. Be it via tax evasion or copyright theft or just plain ripping off customers...

Fact is Ebay's reputation is 'down there' with the very dodgiest of dodgy markets...

Don't get me wrong; I'm no fan of the government machine - run by those crooked robber barons we call politicians. And frankly I couldn't care less if they (HMRC) get their pound of flesh or not. But I've no more sympathy for some shady E-blagger who gets sprung than I would the sort of market trader who gets done for punting stolen goods...

AFAIK folk 'round here are trying to earn an honest living...

[JSR]

No I'm not saying that - I'm saying I compete on quality and price when I sell my stuff. Some people will always want to undercut others, legal or not. I dont complain about it, cause they will always be found out and I'd rather be in long term biz than try for a fast buck. Quality and reputation get you repeat biz. Good competitive prices with good quality bring people in the door. If someone wants to go for a cheap mug with a football logo on it for under a fiver - they will be able to find one - either on ebay or at a market. I'm not interested in that because I know it'll catch up with them. I dont compete and I dont moan about it. Ebay will always be ebay, markets will always be markets. I can go get a cheap mug or an armani knockoff from my local market - but why would I want to? I dont complain about it either....

I agree with you entirely on that. However, if the taxman is going to clamp down on rip-off merchants then I see that as worthy of a cheer. Cheering that they might get their knuckles rapped isn't the same as moaning that there are people with knuckles that need rapping.

[phoenixalpha]

- AFAIK folk 'round here are trying to earn an honest living...

You can still earn an honest living and not charge £9 for a mug. I'm sure that high street shops selling a top at £20 and Primark selling a similar top at £10 feel rightly justified in criticising Primark - but wont stop shoppers @ primark. It's about pricing accordingly. Quality products at decent prices are always good sellers.

[John G]

Jeez... some people have a real dislike of "ebay traders"..

Who's got a real dislike of ebay traders? all I was stating was it may level the playing field - I do trade on ebay too, as a business!

As for your statement regarding Primark, that doesn't make any sense at all, Primark are a business so pay the same taxes as any other business. Ebay, £3.00 a mug, traders won't be paying any taxes at all so its not a level playing field.

[mrs maggot]

an honest living is what some of us on here do, a "little extra" to help with holidays, housekeeping or whatever is what some of us on here do also. Its the same for ebay - what others are saying is that it is fair that the "undeclared earnings" of those "hobby printers" will be looked at in the same way that it is for businesses.

[Matt Quinn]

- what others are saying is that it is fair that the "undeclared earnings" of those "hobby printers" will be looked at in the same way that it is for businesses.

Is it fair that the basic 'food on the table and shoes on the kids' feet' should be taken from those with all the overheads of trading legitimately to provide 'little extras' sought by those who - semi pro or otherwise - are gaining an advantage by flaunting the law?

I know folk who run small businesses who's teenage kids have never BEEN on a holiday!

[Stitch Up]

Ebay doesn't 'arf get a bashing! Why should they? They just provide a platform for you to advertise and sell your goods.

If advertisers then decide not to declare profits and avoid paying taxes, why does that reflect badly on Ebay?

If traders don't pay their taxes, I have to pay more and that's not fair.

[Matt Quinn]

Ebay doesn't 'arf get a bashing! Why should they?

(in my opinion)...It's because they operate as dishonestly themselves as any dodgy street trader. As a buyer I've found their buyer protection not worth a light. I've lost money to dodgy traders, and Ebay were complicit in that...

Another example...

A few years ago I reported a guy for selling fake Rolexes; they were being bid up to the several-hundreds. VERY obvious fakes if you know what you were looking at, and ordinary folk were being taken in... I listed a perfectly legitimate watch myself - box, papers, service history, serials; 100% kosher with all the proof possible.

... The auction was cancelled by ebay time-after-time as 'punishment' for rocking the boat! And this sort of thing goes on all the time!

Ebay know perfectly well they're supporting fakes, frauds and flim-flam artists - they profit from it; tacitly encourage it... And woe-betide anyone who rocks the boat!

Ebay gets the rep it deserves in my opinion...

[jennywren]

I was a market trader, (shop owner now ) and I did'nt country to believe shove it all in my pockets and left everyone to pick up the tab, I am not squeaky clean either, I sure that at times I did not do things the correct way or by the book, for example I probably took money out of box to buy my self a sarnie, or use the money to pay for my parking, and more than likely a number of small infractions that I never thought of, I did'nt always get receipts. Generally I was accountable to the tax man and even got investigated, ( just a random pull ) On ebay the pay-pal account is traceable to the accounts that the money goes in. It will be easier for the tax man and the dreaded vat man to trace, most that will be caught will be on a radon pull by them, some by some reporting them, most will get away with it, as there is not enough tax people to do this. Do I worry about them (NO) but I do find it offensive that ebayers and market traders are spoken about in a derogatory way, I not sure what make everybody think they are superior because they are neither or only one of them. The one thing I am sure of that nobody is whiter than white over tax. ( he who is with out sin, cast the first stone)