Buying stuff on eBay for company use

[d000hg]

I needed a gadget for testing, and the best place price & choice-wise was eBay for a 2nd-hand one.

I'd rather buy as the company but have built up a reputation with my personal account and used that.

Is this any different to buying anything else personally and getting reimbursed?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Is this any different to buying anything else personally and getting reimbursed?

If you're purchasing on behalf of the company, there shouldn't be any implications and it shouldn't need to go on the P11D...however, I've always taken "purchased on behalf of the company" to mean the invoice should be in the company name.

However...I think if you make it clear to the seller you are purchasing on behalf of YourCo and they accept that and you have written evidence of this, that should be enough. Maybe you could ask the seller for an invoice in YourCo's name?

[FarmerPalmer]

Use your current ebay account, but add in a second billing address with the company name and use that, add your company credit card to paypal and use that.
Therefore invoiced to company, and paid for by company, and not a personal transaction.

[Contreras]

I needed a gadget for testing, and the best place price & choice-wise was eBay for a 2nd-hand one.

I'd rather buy as the company but have built up a reputation with my personal account and used that.

Is this any different to buying anything else personally and getting reimbursed?

No different to buying anything else personally and getting reimbursed. Same rules: wholly and exclusively, etc...

That said, I have separate Ebay/Paypal accounts for the company and me, the former being quite clearly in the company name. Nothing to hide but I don't really want Hector browsing my personal Ebay activity thank you.

If you do buy through a private Ebay account you can still pay via YourCo's Paypal account or company debit card and reimbursement would be a non-issue.

Does Ebay reputation even matter for buyers?

[d000hg]

Does Ebay reputation even matter for buyers?

Not sure. But I don't really want my personal account linked to my company credit card either, so I just bought it personally and will treat it like buying something from Tesco/Staples for the business - keep the receipt and claim it back.

[doodab]

Not sure. But I don't really want my personal account linked to my company credit card either, so I just bought it personally and will treat it like buying something from Tesco/Staples for the business - keep the receipt and claim it back.

That's what I do, bought a few servers, disks, RAM etc over the years, never had any problems. Client co source a lot of servers from eBay as well though I think they have an account in the name of the business.

Selling is probably a bit harder as you have to account for ebay & paypal deductions, I get around that by hoarding things and never actually selling them.

[DirtyDog]

Use your current ebay account, but add in a second billing address with the company name and use that, add your company credit card to paypal and use that.
Therefore invoiced to company, and paid for by company, and not a personal transaction.

That's what I do.

[VectraMan]

No different to buying anything else personally and getting reimbursed. Same rules: wholly and exclusively, etc...

Yep. I don't know why people worry about this sort of thing so much. If you buy a train ticket to get you to your contract, you don't ask for it to have the company name on it, and most would just buy it personally and refund.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Yep. I don't know why people worry about this sort of thing so much. If you buy a train ticket to get you to your contract, you don't ask for it to have the company name on it, and most would just buy it personally and refund.

The difference being, the train ticket would have to be reported on your P11D unless you have a dispensation and would strictly speaking be a taxable benefit unless you make an equivalent claim on your SAR.

Buying something on the company's behalf is legitimate (although it's always better to try and pay for things using the company card) but there should really be some evidence of this unless it's for something trivial like stamps/stationary.

In short, you're right, people probably worry too much about things like this but the more expensive it is, or the more likely it is that it could be construed as there being a personal benefit, or if it's a capital purchase, the more important it is to have proof it's in the company name.

[d000hg]

Buying something on the company's behalf is legitimate (although it's always better to try and pay for things using the company card) but there should really be some evidence of this unless it's for something trivial like stamps/stationary.

Well, there is - there is the receipt of me purchasing it personally, and the accompanying expenses entry in my company accounts.