Selling on Whatnot: What Are the VAT Rules?

Whatnot: how it works for a seller

Whatnot is a live shopping platform: you sell live on camera, mostly by auction. Founded in 2019 in California and valued at around 20 billion US dollars in 2026, it has become the leading live-commerce platform. The UK (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is one of its open seller markets.

The principle is simple. You go live, present your items, and buyers bid in real time in the chat. Whatnot generates the pre-paid shipping label, the buyer pays for postage at checkout, and your earnings become available after delivery. The core categories are trading cards (Pokémon, sports cards), collectibles, sneakers and second-hand fashion.

This selling format changes nothing about your tax obligations. Selling live on an American platform is still selling: the same VAT and income tax rules apply as on any other channel. The difficulty lies elsewhere, in the exact role Whatnot plays in the VAT chain.

Who pays the VAT on Whatnot? (not the platform)

On Whatnot, the seller charges and remits the VAT, not the platform. This is a key difference from a marketplace like Amazon, and the source of most mistakes. Many sellers assume the platform handles VAT for them, as Amazon or eBay do in some cases. On Whatnot that is not true for most transactions. Whatnot says so itself in its terms: VAT-registered sellers are responsible for charging and remitting the tax, and Whatnot accepts no liability if a seller fails to register when required. Prices shown are VAT-inclusive.

In practice, once you are VAT-registered you charge UK VAT on your sales, report it and pay it to HMRC. The platform simply passes the money through. The rules depend on the flow.

The one case where Whatnot collects: low-value imports

Whatnot only acts as the deemed supplier for imported goods of low value. When goods are shipped from outside the UK and the consignment is worth £135 or less, Whatnot collects UK VAT at the point of sale. The same logic applies to consignments into the EU under 150 €, and to the cross-border UK to EU and EU to UK flows under those thresholds. In that last case, it is Whatnot that invoices, not you.

Above £135, the rule changes: the buyer pays import VAT and duty on delivery.

UK digital platform reporting: Whatnot reports you to HMRC

Platform reporting is a transparency obligation, not a tax. This is a confusion worth clearing up straight away. The UK does not apply the EU's DAC7 rules; instead it applies the OECD "reporting rules for digital platforms", in force since 1 January 2024, with the first reports due to HMRC by 31 January 2025. Platforms operating in the UK, including Whatnot, must report their sellers' identity and income to HMRC.

You are reportable once you exceed 30 sales or about £1,700 (roughly 2,000 €) in a calendar year (below both cumulative thresholds you are excluded). Crossing that line does not create a tax by itself, but you now appear on HMRC's radar. The real risk is a mismatch: if Whatnot reports income you have not declared, you expose yourself to an enquiry. Note too that if you refuse to provide your tax details, the platform must close your account or block your payouts.

Registering for VAT and filing with HMRC

To sell as a business on Whatnot, you register for VAT with HMRC once you cross the threshold. Unlike some countries, the UK has no "small-business VAT exemption" that lets you trade below a fixed figure while formally VAT-registered: you simply are not required to register until your taxable turnover passes £90,000 over any 12 rolling months (voluntary registration is possible below that, for example to reclaim input VAT). Once registered, you receive a GB VAT number, charge VAT and file a VAT Return, usually quarterly, under Making Tax Digital, which requires digital records and MTD-compatible software.

The standard UK VAT rate is 20%, with a 5% reduced rate on some goods and a zero rate on others (most food, books, children's clothing).

Reverse charge on Whatnot's commission

If you give Whatnot your VAT number, you account for the VAT on its commission yourself. Whatnot charges its fees (around 6.67% commission plus a payment-processing fee) without VAT once you enter a valid VAT number. As Whatnot Europe Limited is established in Ireland, this is a cross-border service: you, the customer, account for the VAT under the reverse charge on your VAT Return (output tax and input tax on the same return). For a business with full input-VAT recovery, this is cash-neutral.

Which Whatnot statements to use for your bookkeeping

Your source documents are the monthly and annual seller statements, not the net amount paid into your bank. Whatnot provides several documents in the Seller Hub:

• Seller Statements (monthly and annual): the source of truth, showing gross sales, commission, processing fees, VAT on fees, refunds and balance.
• VAT invoices issued by Whatnot (around the 10th of the month): they evidence the reverse charge on the commission.
• Order history export (CSV): useful for preparing your VAT Return.

The VAT margin scheme: VAT for second-hand sellers

When you resell second-hand goods bought from private individuals, VAT is due only on your margin, not on the full selling price. This is the natural framework for most Whatnot sellers: cards, vintage and second-hand clothing bought from people who do not charge VAT. The VAT margin scheme avoids taxing the same item twice: you pay VAT of 1/6 (16.67%) on the difference between your selling price and your purchase price.

The scheme comes with strict formal rules that are often overlooked:

• The invoice must state "Margin scheme: second-hand goods".
• VAT must not be shown separately on the invoice.
• You must keep a stock book and retain the purchase evidence for each item, for six years.
• The scheme does not work for goods bought with VAT charged to you.

For large numbers of low-value items such as card lots, the Global Accounting Scheme lets you calculate the margin across the period rather than item by item.

Selling to the EU and beyond

As a UK seller, you have no access to the EU's OSS scheme; your dispatches to EU consumers become exports and then imports. Below 150 €, you can use the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) to collect EU VAT at checkout, but as a non-EU business you must appoint an IOSS intermediary in the EU, or rely on Whatnot acting as deemed reseller for UK-to-EU flows under 150 € (in which case you do not issue the invoice). Above 150 €, import VAT and duty are paid at the destination, by the buyer or by you if you sell on a delivered-duty-paid basis.

If you hold stock inside the EU or exceed local rules, you will need to register for VAT in the relevant EU country. This is exactly where Eurofiscalis supports UK sellers.

Non-established sellers

A seller who is not established in the UK but makes taxable sales there must register from the first sale. There is no £90,000 threshold for a non-established taxable person: registration is required from the very first taxable UK sale. HMRC may require a UK-based VAT representative, jointly liable for the VAT, although most non-established sellers register directly and use a VAT agent for filings.

What if you only sell occasionally?

Someone selling their own personal belongings is not in the same position as a business seller. If you clear out your collection or wardrobe without buying to resell, you are selling privately, which is generally outside VAT. For income tax, a trading allowance of £1,000 means you do not need to report casual trading income below that figure; above it, you register for Self Assessment.

The tipping point to business status is one thing: buying to resell, regularly. Once you build up lots to sell in your lives, you are trading, which brings registration and tax obligations, with no floor.

Need support selling on Whatnot?

Whatnot leaves you to handle your own VAT: registration, choosing a scheme, VAT Returns, the margin scheme, and EU registrations when you sell across borders. Eurofiscalis takes care of all of this for e-commerce sellers, in the UK and across the European Union.

Talk to a VAT specialist