Not sure whether Amazon, eBay or Etsy is collecting your VAT — or whether you should be? Book a quick call and get a clear answer for your setup.
The single biggest assumption we see from marketplace sellers is that "the platform handles all the VAT for me". For some of your sales that is true — but for plenty of others it isn't, and the gap between the two is exactly where sellers get caught. By the time a VAT bill lands, the money has usually already been spent on stock and ads, so it comes straight out of next month's cashflow.
Selling on a marketplace makes life easier in almost every way except one: VAT. The big platforms — Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Shopify — each handle VAT slightly differently, and whether the marketplace collects the VAT or you do depends on where your stock is held, where your business is established, and the value of the goods.
This guide explains who is actually responsible for VAT on each platform, how the "deemed supplier" rules work, how VAT applies to your seller fees, and the mistakes that most often trip sellers up. It matters commercially because VAT sits right on top of your margin: get it wrong and you either overcharge customers and lose sales, or under-account and hand HMRC a chunk of profit you thought was yours. Get it right and your margins, your pricing and your peace of mind all benefit.