Discrepancies due to inaccurate information provided by eBay regarding VAT ID no. & idea for auction end | Suggestions and Feedback on the eBay Platform

mb-motorwagen · 2025-03-10T14:55:12.466000Z

Hi!I recently had the dubious pleasure of dealing with a customer who immediately wanted to sic a lawyer on me because he thought I was making misleading statements about sales tax in my offers and felt deceived and harmed by my offer ("Then I don’t get the tax back"). Since this person is generally known on Google as a serial complainer (ironically, he had just sent me an email shortly beforehand asking whether I would sell him the items cheaper outside of eBay), I refunded him the amount, but pointed out that this was a gesture of goodwill and not an admission of guilt. It also took me a while to understand where he even saw the problem (which more than 5000 private and commercial buyers before him had not seen).It was about the following: I usually offer used goods and I am a sole proprietor. Accordingly, I am liable for sales tax and of course also have a corresponding VAT ID. For this, there is the item “VAT identification numbers” at the very end under “Public business information”. There you can click to display VAT ID no. on invoices. I had selected this field so far because I have no problem with it and, as a sole proprietor, I am also obliged to do so. What I did not know, however: This automatically adds the sentence “The value-added tax is shown separately on my invoices.” to my “Legal information” under each offer. But in my offer texts, it clearly says in two languages that the items are used and offered under differential taxation. That was never a problem. Until this particular customer made a drama out of it.Now my question is: why doesn’t this field point out that this sentence will be added to my legal information under each offer, and that especially with used goods this can lead to confusion, if it is actually only about allowing my VAT ID to be shown on invoices?And while we’re at improvements: wouldn’t it make technical sense for bids placed in the last minute of an auction to extend the auction by 5 or 10 seconds? I occasionally get nasty messages from members who feel disadvantaged by this, which can really be a disadvantage, especially for older people or those with a poor internet connection. Wouldn’t that significantly increase the excitement and, in the end, sales as well. Then people would have even more time to decide whether they want to make another attempt? Real auctions are no different.Thanks in advance. 😃

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Discrepancies due to inaccurate information provided by eBay regarding VAT ID no. & idea for auction end | Suggestions and Feedback on the eBay Platform | eBay Germany