EBay threat to secondhand shops
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[May 15, 2006]

EBay threat to secondhand shops

(Daily Mail (London) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 14--Is eBay, the internet auction site, killing off independent secondhand shops? Mike Rowland, who runs Memory Lane, a music shop specialising in records from the Fifties to the Eighties, thinks so. His business has been hit by the number of people shopping online.



"This is obviously my full-time career, but there are people who are using eBay and making far more money than me," says Mike, 51, from Croydon, south London.

About 68,000 British people now earn at least a quarter of their income through the website and the number of small businesses set up through it is growing rapidly.



There is no doubt that there is a keen appetite for secondhand goods. The trend for vintage fashion has made trawling thrift shops popular and charity shop numbers are holding steady at about 7,000.

But Richard Perks, a retail analyst at market researcher Mintel International, says: "It's not just eBay that is having an impact on secondhand shops, it's also low-price retailers like Primark. We are still in a consumer boom and people are not in recession mode, but they are spending their money in cheaper shops."

But Mike complains that eBay has an advantage over secondhand shops. "I can put my records on eBay, but because we are VAT-registered, I must declare it to eBay and become a registered VAT company with it," he says. "Someone else can sell an album on eBay, but often won't have to pay VAT."

Revenue & Customs says: "It is true that the UK is not in line with the same VAT rulings as other EU countries.

"As for taxation, someone can earn up to 8,500 a year before being liable for capital gains tax. Anyone trading regularly on eBay as a primary or secondary income should register as such with eBay."

An eBay spokesman says: "We are not aware that eBay has affected the secondhand retail market, or of the difference in tax laws.

"We comply with what the UK regulations require of us and if there are differences, these are a matter for the UK tax authorities."

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