If you sell through Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or your own online store, all your UK sales count toward the same £90,000 VAT threshold — combined across every channel, not per platform. Here's what UK-based online sellers actually need to know.
Last updated: June 2026
No — the same UK VAT registration rules apply to marketplace sellers as to any other business. You must register once your total taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. The part that trips up online sellers is what counts as "your" turnover.
Your threshold is based on combined turnover across every sales channel — Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Shopify, your own website, trade shows, everything. Sellers sometimes assume each platform has its own separate threshold, or that only their "main" channel counts. It doesn't work that way: HMRC looks at your business's total taxable turnover, regardless of how many different platforms it came through.
Turnover is measured on the gross sale price paid by the customer, before marketplace fees, referral fees, or FBA fulfilment charges are deducted. If a customer pays £50 for an item and Amazon takes £12 in fees, your taxable turnover for that sale is still £50, not the £38 you actually received.
Since 1 January 2021, UK online marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and similar platforms) can become the "deemed supplier" responsible for charging and accounting for UK VAT on certain sales — but this mainly affects sellers based outside the UK, not UK-established businesses.
The deemed supplier rules generally don't apply to your domestic sales. You remain responsible for registering, charging, and accounting for VAT yourself once you cross the £90,000 threshold — the marketplace does not do this for you.
If you're a non-UK seller selling goods to UK consumers through a marketplace, the marketplace itself is typically treated as the supplier for VAT purposes and charges UK VAT to the customer on your behalf, particularly for consignments of £135 or less and for goods already located in the UK at the point of sale. You may still need a UK VAT registration for other purposes (importing stock, B2B sales, or reclaiming VAT), so this doesn't necessarily remove your obligations entirely.
Once you're VAT-registered, the VAT treatment of the fees marketplaces charge you (referral fees, FBA storage and fulfilment fees, subscription fees) depends on which entity is invoicing you and where your business is established. Many UK sellers are invoiced by an EU-based Amazon entity, in which case the fee is typically subject to the reverse charge — you self-account for UK VAT on the fee (declaring it as both output and input tax, which is usually VAT-neutral if you have full recovery), rather than Amazon charging you VAT directly.
Check the VAT treatment shown on your monthly seller fee invoice or statement rather than assuming — billing entities and VAT treatment can change, and getting this wrong on your VAT return is a common and avoidable error.
The VAT Flat Rate Scheme lets eligible businesses (turnover under £150,000 excluding VAT) pay a fixed percentage of gross turnover instead of calculating VAT on every transaction. For online retailers, the applicable category is usually "Retailing not elsewhere listed" — but the right category depends on exactly what you sell, and using the wrong one is a common HMRC compliance issue.
The Flat Rate Scheme can simplify bookkeeping, but it's often less favourable for online sellers who have significant reclaimable input VAT (stock purchases, Amazon/marketplace fees, packaging, shipping) since you generally can't reclaim VAT on individual purchases under the flat rate scheme, aside from certain capital assets over £2,000. Many sellers with high cost-of-goods find the standard VAT scheme works out cheaper once they account for reclaimable input VAT — it's worth modelling both before choosing.
No. There is one £90,000 threshold per business, based on your combined taxable turnover across every sales channel — not a separate threshold per platform. Sellers who only track one channel's revenue often miss that they've already crossed the threshold once other channels are included.
Yes, if you are the UK-established seller responsible for the sale (i.e. the deemed supplier rules don't shift the liability to the marketplace). You charge VAT at the appropriate rate and account for it on your VAT return in the normal way, the same as sales through your own website.
No. Marketplaces do not track your combined turnover across other sales channels and won't notify you when you're approaching or exceeding £90,000. Monitoring your own rolling 12-month taxable turnover across all channels is your responsibility.
In some cases, yes. You can generally reclaim VAT on goods you still hold in stock at the point of registration if they were bought within 4 years of registering, and on services received within 6 months before registration, subject to normal input VAT rules. Keep your purchase invoices.
Storing goods in another country for fulfilment can trigger a separate VAT registration obligation in that country, regardless of your UK turnover. This is a common issue for sellers using Amazon's pan-EU FBA programme. If your stock is held outside the UK, check the local VAT/OSS rules for each country your stock sits in.
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