besdata_top1 - still trading

We reported this seller to HMRC VAT Fraud team in 2014. They are still trading.

With Just one of the eBay accounts HMRC has gifted this seller at least £1500,000 in unpaid VAT so far. That’s 6.6% of the total £22.5m budget HMRC have allocated to tackle this fraud over the next 5 years

Case Study

There are now 10 eBay accounts associated with the same VAT numbers & company names. They are still trading, swapped their company name & VAT numbers multiply times.

Just one of the accounts, besdata_top1, made sales of £2,313,324 in 2014. This equates to £1,5000,000 of in VAT the last 4 years

The amount of VAT lost must be enormous and would cover a good proposition of the £22.5m budget HMRC have allocated to tackle this fraud over the next 5 years.

Secret Shopper

In July 2014 we asked besdta_top1 for a VAT invoice for an item we purchased. They told us “The items we sell on eBay are excluding VAT. If customers need a VAT invoice, they have to pay 20% extra”

Account 1 – besdata_top1 (changed name – was besdta_top)

eBayer Seller besdata_top1 started trading on eBay.co.uk on March 2011. They have used 3 company names and 2 VAT numbers.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390836102735
Company Name: UK LED LTD
VAT NUmber: NO VAT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390627376394
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182265995290
Company Name: OSAN ELECTRONIC HK LIMITED
VAT Number: GB 245951780

Account 2 – uk-top-outlet (changed name – was outlet_uk1911)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181018942862
Company Name: UK.Adapter sellers.ltd
VAT Number: NONE

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181572120864
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

Account 3 – v-good-seller (changed name – was uk_verygood_seller)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110756554079
Company Name: UK adapter .LTD
VAT number: None

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351500287632
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132040172990
Company Name: GUANGZHOU AIMENTE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 245955278

Account 4 – best-ukdata (changed name – was besdata)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371103083172
Company Name: 雪林张
VAT Number: None

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371779876385
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT Number: GB 151403845

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371474300743
Company Name: Guangzhou Aimente Electronic Technology CO.,LTD
VAT number: GB 245955278

Account 5 – easylife-3c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152310227730
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT Number: GB 151403845

Account 6 – all_mobilecompaccessories2010

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391653933727
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270983092038
Company Name: allmobilecompaccesories ltd
VAT number: NONE

Account 7 – oriental-pearl1314

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162558343448
Company Name: meiyuan wedding dress co., LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

Account 8 – amazing_4c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252902585268
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

Account 9 – 24hrs-mall

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291954213989
Company Name: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301704343790
Company Name: mcd ltd
VAT number: NONE

Account 10 – ledlighting-home

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252732705259

Company Number: GUANGZHOU TAIGUFENG ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO LTD
VAT number: GB 151403845

Daily Mirror

The Daily Mirror ran a series of articles in 2014 exposing Chinese iPad Case sellers that were not registered for VAT; besdta_top was one of them.
VAT evading Chinese firms are wiping out British business – 19 NOV 2014
Why are they listing other people’s VAT numbers? – 4 DEC 2014

Government Procurement

When a payment is made to kdata1688@hotmail.com via Paypal, the name on the Paypal receipt appears as Paypal *KDATA1688

We searched Google for the name on the Paypal invoice“KDATA1688” and found that the Government was purchasing items from the seller:

Chorley Borough Council – 26/04/2013 – Slim magnetic leather smart cover – £6.95
Chorley Borough Council – 07/05/2013 – 7 x Ultra thin magnetic covers for ipads – £41.65
Chorley Borough Council – 09/05/2013 – 2 x Ultra thin magnectic covers for ipads – £11.90
Solihull MBC – 22/11/2013 – IT Equipment & Software – £8.81
Solihull MBC – 28/11/2013 – IT Equipment & Software – £9.99
Solihull MBC – 14/05/2014 – IT Equipment & Software – £14.73

Why on earth is the UK Government procuring products from VAT Evading Chinese eBay sellers and not supporting UK Businesses?

Duplicate Listing Practice

This seller isn’t happy with just 4 eBay accounts. They also list the same products multi-able times on each account. They have a range of three “36w Nail Lamps”. We searched their eBay accounts for the products. These 3 products are listed over 300 times:

It is completely against eBay’s Duplicate Listing policy which states you are only allowed to list a product once.

Duplicate listings is standard practice for Chinese sellers.

Questions for HMRC to Answer

Why haven’t you taken any action in the past 4 years to remove this seller’s eBay accounts?

besdata_top1 – still trading