eBay UK VAT Mismatch Snafu Strikes Again, Giving Sellers Flashbacks To 2022
UPDATE 2-20-25
eBay has published an official announcement stating this VAT email was sent in error, sellers who received it may disregard and they are working to fix the issue causing VAT information not to display on listings for some sellers.
Some UK sellers are receiving notices from eBay stating their VAT details are a mismatch to HMRC records, bringing to mind previous problems from 2022.
Affected seller say they've received email notices from eBay telling them their VAT details don't match, but nothing has changed about their account information and they believe the notice is in error.
soisjack
Anyone else who is VAT registered received an email from Ebay advising their VAT details are mismatche with HMRC. This happened 3 years ago and ebay admitted an error on their part back then.
Again , the same today and all details I have match so cannot understand the issue. Been given a 30 day period to rectify but not rectifiable as I see it.
I have received the same email within the last 30 minutes. I have double checked both VAT number and the fact that my registered details with HMRC match those on ebay.
One seller says they were told by support it was a glitch and had also impacted sellers in Germany a few months ago.
Same problem here, double checked all the data matching 100% HMRC VAT and Companies House and all correct, so I spoke with CS and apparently they had similar problem in Germany few months ago and it was just another ebay glitch, anyway he promised me to log the ticket with technical team and asked me to call them again if we get any more messages, or reminders about it, but 99% sure he said it's down to ebay glitch. Thanks.
Others received conflicting information with some support reps saying it was a glitch that can be ignored and others saying it was legitimate and the seller needs to double check their information.
I have just had two phone calls with ebay about this. Both German customer service staff.
The first one told me that I do indeed need to double check that all information is matching and that there must be an issue. They then put me on hold and eventually the connection dropped (or they hung up on me).
The second one that I spoke to told me that I'm the fourth person to phone about this today (so I assume it is happening to many people outside of just those posting here). They told me that it's a routine email that's being sent out and not to be alarmed. They did tell me that I should re-submit my VAT number on ebay though, so I will try to do that.
The wording of the email doesn't make it seem like a routine check. The prior experiences of others in this thread would also suggest otherwise.
So my plan for now is to re-submit my VAT number and to ensure that I have copies of all of my listings saved in around 28 days time so that I can more easily re-list them if they're removed.
And some say while support told them not to worry about it, they became even more concerned when they noticed their VAT information is no longer showing on their listings.
Same problem here, message recieved from Ebay an hour ago. Checked all my details and they are all ok. Phoned CS and they told me they are aware of the issue affecting a number of sellers. What i did notice is that my VAT number is no longer displayed in the "Seller Business Information" section in my listings. It is still there for my competitiors listings so something is off. CS told me not to worry but we'll see what happens...
...PS It was Ireland customer services i spoke with. Also, i tried resubmitting my VAT number before calling them. I clicked the "remove" button then selected the country (UK) and then re-enterered my VAT number and it wouldn't then allow me to continue. The "Add" button was unresponsive
eBay Community rep Kat@eBay responded to the thread to say the issue had been reported and was being looking into, but has so far not returned with any updates.
We have reported it from our side with the number of users on this thread. Its currently being looked into and once I have more information I will update the thread.
Meanwhile, affected sellers are not at all comforted by support's assurances that they can disregard the message - too many of them remember when this exact same thing happened in 2022, including that they were told to disregard the message then too, only to have their listings automatically removed 30 days later.
Liz Morton
After eBay was flooded with complaints about the mass wave of listing cancellations due to the VAT error in 2022, they eventually admitted there was an error in a now archived post and provided the email address of a special team for affected sellers to contacting for assistance.
It's not clear if that email - sellergrowthuk@ebay.com - is still active, but sellers experiencing this issue now may want to give it a try.
Those who do contact support about the issue may also want to remind eBay that in 2022, they offered 3 months free shop subscription, insertion fee credits for relisting the items which had been taken down in error, and up to £600 in Promoted Listings fee credits as a concession for the inconvenience.
Matching that same offer would seem to be the very least eBay can and should do today if listings are again taken down in error due to this recurring erroneous VAT mismatch error.
Did you receive an VAT mismatch notice from eBay in error? Let us know in the comments below!
