is Ebay the Wild West

[psmitch]

how is it possible for Ebay sellers to charge GST when they are not a registered business??

[ypdc_dennis]

eBay collects GST for all Canadian sellers under marketplace tax rules (in effect since 2022).

Regardless of whether the seller is registered or not.

[habibwahab]

On eBay Canada, GST isn’t always charged by the seller. In many cases, eBay collects and remits GST on behalf of the seller, even if the seller isn’t a registered business. This is required under Canadian tax rules for online marketplaces. The tax is added at checkout automatically, not set by the seller.

[marnotom!]

Just a small correction: eBay collects and remits the GST for all sales from Canadian sellers to Canadian buyers now, even if the seller is GST-registered.

[electronicifycanada]

eBay is required to do it by law.

Something I learned is you don't actually need a busineed number to file gst to. You can leave the business number field blank and still file it. Sub contractors do this all the time.

Where the business number becomes law is your local government. For me it's my city has a law no doing business without a license.

[mrdutch1001]

As a longtime member of eBay why would you not know the rules, policies of eBay?  It has been several years now since the ruling came into effect regarding Marketplace Facillitators like eBay have been required to collect the applicable taxes. eBay posted the announcement back in 2022.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Update-from-eBay-Canada-and-collecting-Canadian-sales-tax...