E Bay Traders!

[Steps]

Hi there all, i am wanting to set up an ebay business selling products unique from Thailand and was wondering whether it would be better to use my UK registered account or to set up an account registered in Thailand. I want to target mainly a UK market. If i used my UK account, would my location be shown as Thailand? I don't really mind as long as my listings show up on ebay.co.uk.

The UK account would be liable for tax in the UK? What about tax here?

Any other information would be much appreciated.

Thankyou

[mizzi39]

You want to set up your account in the country in which you are a legal citizen of, so in your case the UK. The UK will show up as your "location" as long as you are using an account to register that is based in the UK. In your descriptions you can put "All items ship from Thailand" so please allow X amount of time for delivery. As far as taxes are concerned you need to check your country's tax policy. In the US you are allowed to make X amount a year before filing on your tax returns.

Be prepared to get many conflicting opinions about the legalities concerning your post. If i can be of help PM me.

[Maejo Man]

Be prepared to get many conflicting opinions about the legalities concerning your post. If i can be of help PM me.

Not really a question of legalities mizzi. I have ebay accounts in three countries, and use the one most convenient.

In the op's case I would possibly suggest a Thai account. Then all the profits made could be drawn down into a Thai bank, and enable purchase of goods locally, and financial support when in Thailand.

[CarlBkk]

Be prepared to get many conflicting opinions about the legalities concerning your post. If i can be of help PM me.

Not really a question of legalities mizzi. I have ebay accounts in three countries, and use the one most convenient.

In the op's case I would possibly suggest a Thai account. Then all the profits made could be drawn down into a Thai bank, and enable purchase of goods locally, and financial support when in Thailand.

The most convenient for the seller if based in Thailand yes, but sales will undoubtedly suffer for a LONG time if/until he becomes an established volume seller. It's a fact that customers get scared off when they sell foreign sellers plying for business on ebay UK for a number of reasons.

[mizzi39]

Be prepared to get many conflicting opinions about the legalities concerning your post. If i can be of help PM me.

Not really a question of legalities mizzi. I have ebay accounts in three countries, and use the one most convenient.

In the op's case I would possibly suggest a Thai account. Then all the profits made could be drawn down into a Thai bank, and enable purchase of goods locally, and financial support when in Thailand.

The reason why I put "legalities" is because many members feel that if you are selling products from Thailand in Thailand you may be violating some law. This is definitely a 'gray" area for some. Personally, I have never had a problem.

If the OP is planning on setting up a PayPal account assuming that he does not already have one, then it may not matter where he sets it up (i am guessing)However i prefer transferring and depositing these funds into my US account, if if i need to draw such funds, i do so from my VISA debt card or bank transfer from my US account to my Thai account.

Like another poster stated, the OP will have to establish himself before generating traffic on Ebay, since your credentials is based on your feedback history.

It is also important to do a "market analysis" before investing in products here. It took me a year to find my niche product, which sells very well, and can only be found in SE Asia. Stay away from cheap tourist products.

[Steps]

I have a paypal account set up with my ebay account, all UK registered. You can earn something in the region of £4000 before you are taxed in the UK. Consumer confidence is the reason for me thinking a UK registered account would be best and then just put on the description shiped from Thailand as a member has said. But if i am in Thailand, will the item location still show up as Thailand because of the IP address? If i did register a Thai account would this show up in the listings in the UK when searching for the specific items? I have done a search from the UK and it comes up with mainly UK locations and some world locations such as china, usa, thailand.

What are the tax laws for a registered Thai account?

Cheers

[Geekfreaklover]

You can have as many PAYPAL accounts as you have bank accounts and email addresses.

It is best to have two. One in your home country and one in the country you are trading in. As for tax in the UK, I believe you can earn up to 8k a year earnings tax free.

If trading in Thailand you should have a company set-up and pay 6% export tax on every item that is sent out.

As for the item location, that is simply an option whilst listing the item on eBay. But if you are pretending to trade in the UK whilst trading overseas you will have to take into consideration the difference in postage costs and delays and postage timescales.

[Steps]

You can have as many PAYPAL accounts as you have bank accounts and email addresses.

It is best to have two. One in your home country and one in the country you are trading in. As for tax in the UK, I believe you can earn up to 8k a year earnings tax free.

If trading in Thailand you should have a company set-up and pay 6% export tax on every item that is sent out.

As for the item location, that is simply an option whilst listing the item on eBay. But if you are pretending to trade in the UK whilst trading overseas you will have to take into consideration the difference in postage costs and delays and postage timescales.

Would you use the Uk paypal account to recieve payment, transfer the money (for free apparently) to the thai paypal account to be withdrawn from your thai bank account?

[Geekfreaklover]

You can have as many PAYPAL accounts as you have bank accounts and email addresses.

It is best to have two. One in your home country and one in the country you are trading in. As for tax in the UK, I believe you can earn up to 8k a year earnings tax free.

If trading in Thailand you should have a company set-up and pay 6% export tax on every item that is sent out.

As for the item location, that is simply an option whilst listing the item on eBay. But if you are pretending to trade in the UK whilst trading overseas you will have to take into consideration the difference in postage costs and delays and postage timescales.

Would you use the Uk paypal account to recieve payment, transfer the money (for free apparently) to the thai paypal account to be withdrawn from your thai bank account?

You could do yes. No problem. Depending on the amount (you are charged a small percentage for paypal transfers) You can transfer the money from the UK Paypal to Thailand paypal or Thailand paypal to UK paypal and wirthdraw to which ever bank is convienent. The paypal transfer is immidiate, the banks take about 5 days to clear.

[BSJ]

Anyone here trading on ebay have agents in other countries to handle the distribution of products? I was thinking along those lines to waylay the fears of people in each respective country. Set up that way I can order by the container load then distribute through the agents whilst still having maximum control over the general running of the business.

[Steps]

You can have as many PAYPAL accounts as you have bank accounts and email addresses.

It is best to have two. One in your home country and one in the country you are trading in. As for tax in the UK, I believe you can earn up to 8k a year earnings tax free.

If trading in Thailand you should have a company set-up and pay 6% export tax on every item that is sent out.

As for the item location, that is simply an option whilst listing the item on eBay. But if you are pretending to trade in the UK whilst trading overseas you will have to take into consideration the difference in postage costs and delays and postage timescales.

Would you use the Uk paypal account to recieve payment, transfer the money (for free apparently) to the thai paypal account to be withdrawn from your thai bank account?

You could do yes. No problem. Depending on the amount (you are charged a small percentage for paypal transfers) You can transfer the money from the UK Paypal to Thailand paypal or Thailand paypal to UK paypal and wirthdraw to which ever bank is convienent. The paypal transfer is immidiate, the banks take about 5 days to clear.

on the PayPal website it says that you can transfer the money for free between paypal accounts. I take it this is only between paypal UK accounts and not international?

[Geekfreaklover]

on the PayPal website it says that you can transfer the money for free between paypal accounts. I take it this is only between paypal UK accounts and not international?

Yes. If you could send money internationally for free on PAYPAL, then that would be the end of wire transfers, (telegraphic transfers). Everyone would be doing it. Money laundering would be epidemic.

You have to pay a percent. It's not much 2-4% of the value of the transfer. It can be a lot of money if you are shifting a large lump of cash. But for stuff like eBay it's hardly noticable.

[Nio]

For all the ebay sellers here, I have done some extensive research on Thai products selling on EBAY and there is only one product I found with any regularities that seems to sell.

The majority of Thai products never seem to have any bids at all or out of 1000 of the same product maybe one is sold.

Does any ebay seller in Thailand have any factual insight into this?

[Geekfreaklover]

For all the ebay sellers here, I have done some extensive research on Thai products selling on EBAY and there is only one product I found with any regularities that seems to sell.

The majority of Thai products never seem to have any bids at all or out of 1000 of the same product maybe one is sold.

Does any ebay seller in Thailand have any factual insight into this?

What is the one product that sells??

[geriatrickid]

Pick the country that offers the better legal framework to protect your "privacy". Financial service e-commerce is comprimised/hacked on a daily basis. The companies that incur losses usually will not tell you unless they are legally compelled to do so. Some countries oblige the financial services entity to assume some responsibility for the loss of data and funds within the system. Although paypal may have a higher level of respect for the duty to inform han other companies, it can still pass the buck to the Thai institution if it is a Thai governed transaction. On the other hand, if the transaction is deemed to be governed by EU or US laws, then a greater responsibility may be imposed upon paypal.

In respect to tax issues, bear in mind that there are multiple tax treaties in place that facilitate the various departments of revenue from gathering e data. Do not assume that because the transaction is "centered" in a foreign locale that the homeland where one is a citizen will not eventually obtain the data in respect to personal income. There are presently alot of Americans and Europeans with soiled underwear subsequent to the US DOJ/IRS legal victory in respect to the Swiss banking system that facilitated thousands of tax evaders. Last month, the Canadian and Australian governments quietly took advantage of the US victory. They join the Italian, French and German revenue services in the search for missing tax revenues.

[Steps]

on the PayPal website it says that you can transfer the money for free between paypal accounts. I take it this is only between paypal UK accounts and not international?

Yes. If you could send money internationally for free on PAYPAL, then that would be the end of wire transfers, (telegraphic transfers). Everyone would be doing it. Money laundering would be epidemic.

You have to pay a percent. It's not much 2-4% of the value of the transfer. It can be a lot of money if you are shifting a large lump of cash. But for stuff like eBay it's hardly noticable.

Cheers Geek freek, your a star!

[Steps]

Pick the country that offers the better legal framework to protect your "privacy". Financial service e-commerce is comprimised/hacked on a daily basis. The companies that incur losses usually will not tell you unless they are legally compelled to do so. Some countries oblige the financial services entity to assume some responsibility for the loss of data and funds within the system. Although paypal may have a higher level of respect for the duty to inform han other companies, it can still pass the buck to the Thai institution if it is a Thai governed transaction. On the other hand, if the transaction is deemed to be governed by EU or US laws, then a greater responsibility may be imposed upon paypal.

In respect to tax issues, bear in mind that there are multiple tax treaties in place that facilitate the various departments of revenue from gathering e data. Do not assume that because the transaction is "centered" in a foreign locale that the homeland where one is a citizen will not eventually obtain the data in respect to personal income. There are presently alot of Americans and Europeans with soiled underwear subsequent to the US DOJ/IRS legal victory in respect to the Swiss banking system that facilitated thousands of tax evaders. Last month, the Canadian and Australian governments quietly took advantage of the US victory. They join the Italian, French and German revenue services in the search for missing tax revenues.

So are you an ebay trader then? what is your experience with such issues? or is this just your 2 pence worth

[surangw]

did you look on ebay for the items you are planning on selling to see how much if it is there now, and if there is not so much competition to make it a loosing plan?

as to paypal, I set up an account in thailand for my daughter, money is sent directly there from customers and transfer to bkk bank is no cost over a small limit.

[Steps]

did you look on ebay for the items you are planning on selling to see how much if it is there now, and if there is not so much competition to make it a loosing plan?

as to paypal, I set up an account in thailand for my daughter, money is sent directly there from customers and transfer to bkk bank is no cost over a small limit.

Yes i have done some market research and the items are listed, prices have been checked and there is some competition. However, i am predicting that there is room for another trader.

I wonder if i could set up my UK Ebay account with a Thai PayPal account? OR would that defeat the object? UK account to target the UK market and encourage consumer confidence and Thai PayPal account for convenience of transactions and access to moneys.

[surangw]

did you look on ebay for the items you are planning on selling to see how much if it is there now, and if there is not so much competition to make it a loosing plan?

as to paypal, I set up an account in thailand for my daughter, money is sent directly there from customers and transfer to bkk bank is no cost over a small limit.

Yes i have done some market research and the items are listed, prices have been checked and there is some competition. However, i am predicting that there is room for another trader.

I wonder if i could set up my UK Ebay account with a Thai PayPal account? OR would that defeat the object? UK account to target the UK market and encourage consumer confidence and Thai PayPal account for convenience of transactions and access to moneys.

I think you could open a thai bank account and use it to get a paypal account in thiland, making transfer of money easy from thai paypal account to thai bank account.

if you send the money from uk paypal to thai paypal I think you will be charged a percentage

probably easy enough just to email paypal with your questions and get definite answers

[Geekfreaklover]

To the OP. I've been running eBay operations in Thailand for the last 10 years. I'm in a good mood. If you want to ask any more specific questions feel free to PM me.

Cheers,

GFL.

[mizzi39]

For all the ebay sellers here, I have done some extensive research on Thai products selling on EBAY and there is only one product I found with any regularities that seems to sell.

The majority of Thai products never seem to have any bids at all or out of 1000 of the same product maybe one is sold.

Does any ebay seller in Thailand have any factual insight into this?

Factually, Whatever you find on Sukumvit,, Sathorn, the night bizzare in Lampini (you get the drift) are usually very poor sellers on eBay. Thailand does have many unique products found outside of major tourist areas, especially many OTOP products, but it is best to go to the source which depending on where you are can require some travel. Find a niche product for your niche market.

Example: I have a Japanese friend whose parents and some other relatives came for a visit last year and went to some of the silk villages in Surin and said that they had never seen such fine quality silk and patterns. Understandable, since Surin is known to produce probably the finest silk in the whole kingdom as well as SE Asia (and no, this is not my niche ) but it could be a very lucrative product to sell if you had a buyer on the other end.

"Jim Thompson Company" which is known to sell very high end silk, commissions the silk villages in Surin to produce about 90% of their silk products.Once these products hit Bangkok, and other major cities in Asia, the mark up is enormous. If you know where to go you can get this silk for a fraction of the price. Knowing your market is key.

[geriatrickid]

So are you an ebay trader then? what is your experience with such issues? or is this just your 2 pence worth

I suggest you do a bit of research into compromised systems. Although ebay which owns paypal has one of the better approaches, that approach and the attaching liability is still governed by the jurisdiction which governs the transaction. Where would you be safer? In a EU domain where paypal is registered as a bank, or in the USA where paypal is registered and governed under the less strict financial intermediary rules or in Thailand where the attaching liabilitiy is............ You might want to look at how ebay processes its transactions too, as in the entity that is used as the transaction vehicle.

Before you scoff, consider the cost of having to advise hundreds of thousands of clients that the financial institution information stored online was compromised. Then toss in the obligatory remediation expenses if those clients are protected under EU or US law.

I know that if my transactions are Thai based, then Thai laws will most likely govern as per the user service agreements. If I have a commercial dispute, i.e. my data is compromised, I'd prefer to be under EU, US, Australian law than any jurisdiction in SE Asia. If this isn't a concern to you, then hey, no need to worry.

[dave111223]

In my opinion selling products from Thailand from a UK account looks dodgy and feels like the seller is dishonest and misrepresenting where the products are actually coming from.

Personally i think the seller should have their account in the location that they are selling/shipping from.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

In my opinion selling products from Thailand from a UK account looks dodgy and feels like the seller is dishonest and misrepresenting where the products are actually coming from.

Personally i think the seller should have their account in the location that they are selling/shipping from.

it's so complicated now. Many products I like to buy are a good value in the US but they might be mfg'd in China, Malaysia, Korea, Thailand etc for the US/EU markets and not even available in the production country.

It's probably not a big deal at all as long as the product information and shipping information is on the level.

Good thread BTW !

[Steps]

Ye, i think the only real issue concerning shipped from Thailand is consumer confidence. As long as all the details are stated i dont really think there is a problem.

I have done a little bit more searching and now know that if you get VAT registered in the UK you will become exempt from paying vat on PayPal fees, not sure about sellers fees. As for "how much can i earn before paying tax in the UK" here is a link http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm . Hope you understand it.

[Steps]

Here is a link concerning PayPal. Looks like there are challenges ahead

[elektrified]

You want to set up your account in the country in which you are a legal citizen of, so in your case the UK. The UK will show up as your "location" as long as you are using an account to register that is based in the UK. In your descriptions you can put "All items ship from Thailand" so please allow X amount of time for delivery. As far as taxes are concerned you need to check your country's tax policy. In the US you are allowed to make X amount a year before filing on your tax returns.

Be prepared to get many conflicting opinions about the legalities concerning your post. If i can be of help PM me.

That is not true. I have had 2 eBay accounts for more than 11 years now. I can change the "location" country any time I like.

Uh taxes???

[elektrified]

For all the ebay sellers here, I have done some extensive research on Thai products selling on EBAY and there is only one product I found with any regularities that seems to sell.

The majority of Thai products never seem to have any bids at all or out of 1000 of the same product maybe one is sold.

Does any ebay seller in Thailand have any factual insight into this?

I tend to agree with you. There are thousands of listings each week for handicrafts, clothing, amulets, etc. originating in Thailand that result in zero sales.

[Steps]

Here is a link concerning PayPal. Looks like there are challenges ahead

Must have forgot to put the link in http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Paypal-t126451.html