eBay ignores the EU small business regulation and constantly demands OSS
Summary: brands4trends reports ongoing problems with eBay, as her account is mistakenly being restricted because of a €10,000 limit for EU sales. Although she uses the EU small business scheme and is therefore not required to participate in the One Stop Shop (OSS) procedure, eBay repeatedly demands OSS registration. eBay customer service gives standard replies without addressing the specific tax situation. apfeltasten explains that below the €10,000 threshold, participation in OSS is voluntary and recommends providing eBay with tax documentation to resolve the problem.
Hello everyone,
I urgently need help from the community, because I have been repeatedly confronted with this problem for about half a year now and apparently no one at eBay is able to assess my issue correctly.
Again and again I receive a notice or restriction on my account because of the alleged €10,000 limit for intra-Community sales. After that, eBay keeps asking me to confirm that I am registered for the One-Stop-Shop procedure (OSS), or to enter a separate VAT ID for each EU country.
That is exactly where the problem lies: This requirement does not apply to my situation.
Since 2025, I have been using the EU small business scheme (EU-KU) and I am registered in the relevant EU countries under this scheme. Since 2025, I have been reporting my turnover quarterly to the responsible tax authorities or the tax office myself. I do not use OSS, because I am not required to do so under the EU small business scheme.
The €10,000 limit that eBay keeps mentioning is apparently also being applied incorrectly in my case. Under the EU small business scheme, the cross-border threshold is an EU-wide turnover limit of €100,000, not the €10,000 limit that eBay keeps using.
Nevertheless, my eBay account is restricted again every time my EU turnover approaches the €10,000 threshold.
The real problem with eBay
I have had this problem for about six months now.
I have contacted eBay customer service several times, explained my situation, and provided the necessary information. Still, I keep getting basically the same standard replies.
What is especially frustrating is that the staff apparently do not understand my specific tax situation. They keep referring me to OSS, even though I have explained multiple times that I use the EU small business scheme and therefore specifically do not use OSS.
I even contacted the Dutch tax authorities to have my situation explicitly checked. There, too, I was told that I do not need OSS in my situation.
Nevertheless, eBay ignores this information and keeps coming back with the same OSS demand.
In my opinion, that cannot be the solution.
I therefore do not want to receive the same standard response again from a regular customer service employee. I need someone at eBay who actually knows about the EU small business scheme, VAT, and OSS and can permanently configure my account correctly.
My question to the community
Who at eBay do I need to contact so that this problem is finally resolved permanently and my account is not restricted again every few weeks or months because of the alleged €10,000 limit?
Does eBay have a special department for VAT / sales tax / EU small business scheme that you can contact directly?
I want to finally resolve this problem permanently after half a year and not have to start from scratch again every time there is another automatic restriction.
Thank you for any advice, especially from other sellers who also use the EU small business scheme and have already been able to solve this problem with eBay.
apfeltasten
·2 weeks ago · EditedThere is a threshold of 10,000 euros for EU sales (in your case as a small business owner, gross = net).
Below the threshold, participation in the OSS procedure is voluntary.
Above the threshold, you can take part in the OSS procedure or report the sales individually to the tax offices of the respective country.
I’m not aware of any 100,000-euro limit in connection with the OSS procedure. Until 2021, there was once an upper limit of 100,000 euros, but that has now been re-regulated.
That’s why eBay has determined EU sales of 10,000 euros in your case and is blocking the sales. But you should be able to prove via the tax return of the respective country that you are reporting this properly outside the OSS procedure. Maybe eBay will accept that as proof to exempt you.