Do you sell anything? If so, wake up and smell the VAT of coffee!

MangoBeads · December 18, 2014, 08:59:39 PM

It also amazes me how many people seem unaffected and unaware of the impact of this - its not just those of us making our sole income from our business but even those selling a handful of beads as a hobby - take note try to understand and be part of the rebellion or hobbies really will be just that ...

Princess Peggy (Priscilla McGirr) · December 18, 2014, 09:43:18 PM

I found this: it says if you manually send information such as a PDF file by email, rather than have the system automatically send it for you, i e Etsy, you are exempt from the new rules. http://linkis.com/bit.ly/tgh5Y I've always done it like this, and /etsy treats the sale like a physical object. What do you others think?

MangoBeads · December 18, 2014, 10:50:11 PM

Its a little more than that - the new rules will possibly extend to physical profucts as early as 2016 - so yes the digital problem can be dealt with for now but the picture unfolding is a much bigger one and will be something everyone selling online to the EU will have to address.

June · December 20, 2014, 10:12:49 AM

I'm signing all the petitions I see as well as seriously considering shutting down the business as I barely sell anything anyway

. Have the suppliers given thought to this too? Particularly for Jan 16? If I and some others shut down, we'll not be buying much in the way of glass and supplies (and I have enough glass to keep me going for years if I only make things occasionally as gifts)? The knock-on effect could be grim for a lot of people.

Lotti · December 20, 2014, 10:37:20 AM

Quote from: June on December 20, 2014, 10:12:49 AM
I'm signing all the petitions I see as well as seriously considering shutting down the business as I barely sell anything anyway . Have the suppliers given thought to this too? Particularly for Jan 16? If I and some others shut down, we'll not be buying much in the way of glass and supplies (and I have enough glass to keep me going for years if I only make things occasionally as gifts)? The knock-on effect could be grim for a lot of people.

For now it is just digital products, automated tuts etc so buying supplies at the moment is OK, but if this doesn't get stopped now it will do from next Jan. It is such a good point though, I think alot of people are thinking about being a seller and not thinking about being a customer as well and what this could mean for them. I still have to write my letter to the EU chappie (got to go back and find out his details from the FB group), but for me, right now this is about not being able to develop my business and skills because I won't be able to buy tutorials (and because if affects alot of my friends and cos I HATE corporate carp).

JoyWhoKnits · December 20, 2014, 01:24:57 PM

Quote from: June on December 20, 2014, 10:12:49 AM
I'm signing all the petitions I see as well as seriously considering shutting down the business as I barely sell anything anyway . Have the suppliers given thought to this too? Particularly for Jan 16? If I and some others shut down, we'll not be buying much in the way of glass and supplies (and I have enough glass to keep me going for years if I only make things occasionally as gifts)? The knock-on effect could be grim for a lot of people.

Playing devil's advocate here - but if you hardly sell anything then why would closing your business have a big impact on how much glass you buy? I agree that anything which stops people buying causes possible problems for glass suppliers, but I'm not sure that I think that's going to be a make or break issue. Having to pay VAT on EU sales could be a lot more costly.

I promise I'm not taking this lightly - i've sold just over £10k of yarn to the EU in the last year, so VAT on physical sales would be a massive deal for for me - that's a bill of around £2300. I could claim some of that back ( probably about £750) but it still means price increases.

I've love to see a threshold put in place for both physical and digital sales and I'll keep campaigning for that. I'd also suspect that if there is no threshold and VAT on physical sales is introduced in 2016 that businesses like etsy and folksy will have a lot more incentive to handle VAT. I don't get the impression that digital downloads are a massive part of etsy and folksy ( and other platforms too) so losing income from those might be seen as acceptable, but losing income on sales of physical goods which go cross border isn't.

Lotti · December 22, 2014, 02:24:25 PM

A Petition here for the US Gov so thought our North American friends on here might like to see it, sign and share

Thank you.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/call-european-commission-suspend-introduction-new-eu-vat-laws-micro-businesses/VH1P82X0

Lotti · December 22, 2014, 05:40:22 PM

Oh and just incase you thought that Etsy might be the answer and they would be helpful, sorry no cigar!

https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/new-european-union-rules-on-the-sale-of-digital-items/

MangoBeads · December 22, 2014, 06:38:34 PM

I feel like closing my etsy shop
- the response is late , useless and less than helpful this late in the day -

The Payhip website has been brilliant and will be providing a olatform for selling tutorials and collecting and doing all the administration for VAT why if they can cant etsy ? ... Its madness

http://payhip.com For anyone still wanting to offer a downloadable option for tuorials .

Lotti · December 23, 2014, 01:14:50 PM

Quote from: MangoBeads on December 22, 2014, 06:38:34 PM
I feel like closing my etsy shop
- the response is late , useless and less than helpful this late in the day -

The Payhip website has been brilliant and will be providing a olatform for selling tutorials and collecting and doing all the administration for VAT why if they can cant etsy ? ... Its madness

http://payhip.com For anyone still wanting to offer a downloadable option for tuorials .

I missed this post Manda and was just going to post about payhip. I think these guys sound like the way to go for digital sales (if we don't manage to get any changes to this stupid law and I mean 'if'). I have just emailed them to ask if they will be thinking about working with material sales at any time and will let folks know their answer.

Hotglass28 · January 04, 2015, 11:59:49 PM

Really not happy about all this. I pay vat on my sales anyway but I'm seriously annoyed that the government is doing this to people. It's going to crush small biz people and add confusion, let alone extra hours needed to file away those poxy vat invoices. They want people to work for other people to control us more, it's that simple. All for the sake of a few extra jobs created in government.

Really not fair at all!