Following our VAT announcement earlier this week we understand there is some concern in the community about the changes that will come into effect on Monday 1st December.

We would like to confirm that we will be automatically refunding the listing costs incurred by UK sellers who are business or VAT registered, where the listing is:

manually ended and then re-listed to update the VAT information, between Tuesday 25th Nov 2008 and Friday 5th Dec 2008 For these listings we will refund the Insertion and Feature fees.

We have set up a thread on the Q&A board for Frequently Asked Questions here.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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	***Original: Changes to VAT on 1st December 2008 - advice for eBay.co.uk sellers***
	26 November, 2008 | 08:25PM GMT Effective 1st December 2008, the standard rate of VAT in the UK will be 15%. This rate reduction from the previous rate of 17.5% was announced by the UK Government in their Pre-Budget Report on 24th November. We’re making changes to eBay.co.uk so that the site’s ready for the changes, and we’d like to advise those affected by the rate change on how to amend their listings. Sellers should review all their listings to determine whether they need to amend their VAT information. Please consult with your tax advisors or HMRC for specific guidance on how this change affects you. If you do need to amend your listing here’s what you need to do: Current listings with no bids or sales made yet: If a listing has had no sales, sellers can edit it according to revision guidelines at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/edit_listing.html Current listings with bids or sales made: If the listing has already had sales, you can: wait for the listing to end then edit it, or end it manually, then edit it. Whether you wait for your listing to end naturally or end it manually, the quicker you relist the ended listing, the less your recent sales score for that listing will be affected. ‘Change in item description’ factor removed from recent sales score calculation Changing your item description will no longer affect your recent sales score, so if you need to change the item description to reflect the new VAT rate your recent sales score will not be affected. We’ll be updating the FAQs at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/find/bestmatch_faq.html to reflect the change. We’d like to remind you that there will be no change to the application of VAT on your eBay selling fees. Your contractual relationship is with eBay Europe S.à r.l, based in Luxembourg and the rate of VAT there (also 15%) will still apply where applicable. For more information on how VAT is applied to selling fees please visit http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/account/vat-local.html With strong competition and early discounting coming from the high street this Christmas season we know buyers are now, more than ever, being attracted to great value bargains. Regards, The eBay Team
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Effective 1st December 2008, the standard rate of VAT in Ireland will be 21.5%. This rate increase from the previous rate of 21% was announced by the Minister of Finance in the 2009 budget. See http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/leaflets/vat_ratechange_budget2009.htm for further details.

We’re making changes to eBay.ie so that the site’s ready for the changes, and we’d like to advise those affected by the rate change on how to amend their listings. Sellers should review all their listings to determine whether they need to amend their VAT information. Please consult with your tax advisors or Revenue for specific guidance on how this change affects you.

If you do need to amend your listing here’s what you need to do:

Current listings with no bids or sales made yet:

If a listing has had no sales or bids, sellers can edit it according to revision guidelines at http://pages.ebay.ie/help/sell/edit_listing.html

Current listings with bids or sales made:

If the listing has already had sales or bids, you can:

1. wait for the listing to end then edit it, or
2. end it manually, then edit it.

Whether you wait for your listing to end naturally or end it manually, the quicker you relist the ended listing, the less your recent sales score for that listing will be affected.

‘Change in item description’ factor removed from recent sales score calculation

Changing your item description will no longer affect your recent sales score, so if you need to change the item description to reflect the new VAT rate your recent sales score will not be affected.

We’ll be updating the FAQs at http://pages.ebay.ie/help/find/bestmatch_faq.html to reflect the change.

We’d like to remind you that there will be no change to the application of VAT on your eBay selling fees. Your contractual relationship is with eBay Europe S.à r.l, based in Luxembourg and the rate of VAT there (also 15%) will still apply where applicable. For more information on how VAT is applied to selling fees please visit http://pages.ebay.ie/help/account/vat-local.html.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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This weekend, private sellers can list their items on eBay.co.uk using the auction-style format with a starting price of 99p or under and pay no Insertion Fee*. So it's a great opportunity to clear out your unwanted items in your home before Christmas and make a little bit of extra cash too!

*Terms and conditions apply.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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This weekend, when you list your car or any other vehicle on eBayMotors.co.uk you'll only have to pay a £4* Insertion Fee - that's half the usual price. You can list using the Auction-style, Auction-with-Buy It Now, or Buy It Now Only formats.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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We thought you'd like to know that today we're launching a new marketing campaign for Christmas.

The ‘Guess What’ campaign communicates the great value sellers are offering on eBay this Christmas, especially on new and Buy it Now items, alongside auction and used items.

The campaign’s main message – that eBay is on average 25% cheaper than the high street on like for like new items – was highlighted in a report earlier this year by European research firm Frontiers Economics, which tracked the prices of over 280 goods across 12 categories and compared them with identical items on the high street.

Look out for some of the advertising in newspapers, poster sites and online as well as some fun activity in main commuter stations in early December, all reminding shoppers that whatever they're looking for this Christmas, eBay sellers offer super gift ideas at great prices.

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We're testing a new option in eBay Checkout on eBay.co.uk, which will enable buyers to easily 'Give a Pound' to a featured charity when they’re buying, and support a good cause.

So far, eBay users in the UK have raised over £6 million for good causes through the eBay for Charity programme. Learn more about eBay for Charity.

To give £1 from eBay Checkout:

• Purchase an item on eBay.
• On the 'Review Your Purchase' page, tick the 'Add a £1 donation to my order' box.
• Pay for your purchase with PayPal. If you don't want to pay by PayPal, you'll be asked to go back and remove the donation.
• Your donation will be collected and delivered by MissionFish, our registered charity partner. Note that the £1 donation will appear as a separate transaction, paid to MissionFish, in your PayPal account.

Thanks for your continued support of the eBay for Charity programme.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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Please note that the e-Parcel Service discount for eBay sellers located in Ireland will end on 31st December 2008.

All existing e-Parcel Cards and discounts are valid until that date.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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From today we're testing a new advertising placement on selected item details pages (also known as View Item Pages) on eBay.co.uk. The placement will be a short clickable string of text clearly labelled as a sponsored link. A click on this link will open a new browser window and will sometimes lead to on-eBay content and sometimes to off-eBay content.

Goods and services promoted in this sponsored link will not compete with the item for sale on the View Item Page and will be complementary to the View Item Page item whenever possible.

This test will account for less than 1% of View Item Pages in the following categories only:

• Musical Instruments
• MP3 Players
• Home Audio / HiFi

Depending on the results of the test, we will expand the placement to View Item Pages in other categories.

Regards,

The eBay Team

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