IEIM901600 - Sellers
A ‘Seller’ is a Platform user that is registered during a Reportable Period on the Platform for the provision of Relevant Activities. Sellers can be individuals or entities. In this context ‘registered’ should be interpreted broadly. It can include, for example, instances where a Seller has created an account or profile on the Platform, as well as where they have entered into a contractual relationship with the Platform Operator (PO). However, see 901640 in relation to situations where an entity related to the PO sells goods or services via a Platform.
The Seller is the person who is registered on the Platform, even if that person is not the same as the one who is providing the goods or services. For example, if a property rental agency registers on a Platform on behalf of owners who are renting out their properties, the Seller would be the rental agency, and not the owners, even though the owners are providing the rental service and the rental payments may be made to them.
Where a company purchases goods from a wholesaler to sell on its own website, the wholesaler is not a Seller for the purposes of the rules as it did not register on the Platform for the purpose of being connected to Platform users for the sale of goods. Indeed, the website may not be a ‘Platform’ for the purposes of the reporting rules, unless its business model otherwise met the definition.
Sellers can be categorised into 3 types:
- ‘Active Sellers’ – these are Sellers that provide Relevant Activities during a Reportable Period, or who are paid or credited during a Reportable Period for providing those activities (see 901610)
- Reportable Sellers – these are Active Sellers, other than excluded ones, whose details will have to be reported by RPOs (see 901620)
- Excluded Sellers – these are certain categories of very low risk Sellers that are specifically excluded from the scope of the reporting rules (see 901630)