Vinted accounting help

[popnrepop]

Hello everyone, I’ve been a professional seller on Vinted for 72 hours, and today I made my first sale as a professional. I’d like some advice on Vinted accounting. Currently, I’ve tried to do things as best as possible: I’ve created my SIRET number (micro-enterprise), created a professional account on the tax website, created a dedicated professional bank account for the activity, created an Indy account to simplify invoicing, obtained a consumer mediator, and an affiliation with Citeo for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

Now I’m a bit lost on the administrative side. I’ve made my first sale and need to issue an invoice and add it to my revenue log. My first question is, can I do all this at the time of payment for the item? Otherwise, how can I do it since my invoice cannot be modified if the customer doesn’t pick up or returns the package?

My second question is about the famous shipping costs. What should I do? Declare them on the invoice or not? And should they also be declared to URSSAF?

Third small question: the cents that Vinted refunds, if I understand correctly, are to be refunded to the tax authorities via intra-community VAT. But do they need to be declared to URSSAF?

And one last small question: Vinted tells us to include a return slip to print in the package. Can I simply send it to the customer by email?

Thank you to everyone who can help me.

[A0uru]

Welcome to the pros!

Well done for everything you’ve already done: the mediator, the EPR… it’s great, you’re very conscientious

For your invoice: for the sale of goods, it’s normally sent with the item and an invoice credit note is issued if you need to cancel it.

@clement is preparing an invoice module for us, he’s working on it so it should be ready soon… (I can’t wait!)

For the shipping costs: Vinted asks us to put them on the invoice. Here’s what Clément sent me on the subject: 3.2 What amount should appear on the invoice? The invoice amount must be equal to the price of the item, plus the price of the shipping label and the applicable VAT rate(s). Guide VINTED POUR LES VENDEURS PROFESSIONNELS | Vinted

=> even though I find it silly since they are prepaid and we don’t buy or sell them! it generates taxable turnover if we invoice them, so we’ll have to find a way to cancel them afterwards so as not to pay taxes and URSSAF on them, since you won’t actually receive them… As I know Indy is fully automated and based on the connections you grant it, we need to find a way for the shipping costs excluding tax not to be counted as sales, but rather in a suspense account that you can cancel later (I don’t know how it’s possible with this solution, I’m in a SAS with real accounting software so I manage it as I want…)

In any case, you will indeed have to pay VAT on the shipping costs: these are the small cents that Vinted refunds us on each transaction… There’s a topic about it here: https://www.vint-aide.com/t/declaration-urssaf-que-faire-des-centimes-ajoutes-par-vinted/2412/29

I’m quoting @sev: I pay these cents to the tax authorities every quarter, even if I’m not VAT registered, I requested an intra-community VAT number and every quarter I pay these cents via form No. 3310−CA3 on the line « Purchases of services from a taxable person not established in France »

Not everyone agrees on the subject, but these are indeed our obligations as a business (regardless of status)… You can choose to only invoice the amount of your items, but you will have to declare the VAT on the shipping costs to pay it…

And for the return form, I used to send it via messaging too, but it’s not very useful, if there’s a dispute, it will go through opening a dispute in your conversation for the transaction concerned…

Happy selling and see you very soon @

[popnrepop]

Thank you very much. So if I understood correctly regarding the famous cents reimbursed by Vinted, I don’t declare them to URSSAF but reverse them as intra-community VAT to the tax authorities. For shipping costs, in your opinion, if I don’t declare them but specify in my accounting records that it’s an amount excluding shipping costs (managed by the e-commerce platform) and also on my invoices?

And another small thing, how is a credit note issued? And in the case where, for example, I make a sale at the end of the month, I declare it to URSSAF and pay my percentage on it, but it ultimately doesn’t go through, how do I get back the amount of the sale paid to URSSAF? Am I really at risk if I declare the sale once it’s finalized?

[Bloom]

Hello,

Personally, that’s what I do! I’ve exchanged several emails about this with the tax authorities and URSSAF, and their answer is clear: you only declare what you receive in your bank account. I still include them on my invoices because Vinted requires us to, and in my revenue log, I put a line at the end of the month with the total shipping costs with the mention « not received » + a line for the VAT to be paid (which I also don’t declare in my turnover). The tax agent told me to indicate « disbursement costs, » but it doesn’t really fit… ^^

Anyway, everyone contradicts each other on the subject, so it’s hard to know exactly what to do… We’re all trying to do our best

[popnrepop]

Great, thank you very much, and when do you do your invoice? On order or on payment?

[Bloom]

Upon payment, otherwise, as you say, it causes problems in case of cancellation for whatever reason (lost package, return, etc.). And since the money is blocked for 14 days, it really complicates everything in terms of accounting… So it’s the only solution I found. I have a « draft » sales ledger where I note my sales every day and an « official » receipts ledger where I note orders once they are validated and cashed (I have to have 2, otherwise it’s impossible to keep track, you’ll quickly understand why ). I don’t know if that’s clear, but like you, I studied the subject thoroughly when I started 4 years ago. There were many inconsistencies and unfortunately, there wasn’t this kind of forum to help me, so I did the best I could. It’s certainly not entirely by the book, but we do our best

I hope I was able to help you! Perhaps others here will have a different way of proceeding and can explain it to you

[A0uru]

Legally, an invoice is created at the time of purchase, and a credit note is issued if the package is lost or the transaction is refunded due to a dispute… Then again, I know that with Vinted, and especially as a micro-business, it’s much simpler to do it based on the amount received. But if you compare it with other e-commerce or physical store sellers: you get your invoice when the package is shipped, or the receipt before leaving the store. And if the item is returned, you get a refund invoice (the credit note) or a negative receipt… (to elaborate: your invoice is linked to your stock, so as soon as you invoice, your product is officially out of stock, and if you get it back after a refund, it re-enters your stock; if the package is lost, it will impact your « losses » account and serves as proof for your insurance claim… everything is connected, it’s not just to annoy us )

@popnrepop For credit notes, all invoicing software does this: it’s simply the cancellation of what you invoiced, as I just explained above. So, if you don’t use proper invoicing software, you just put -1 instead of 1 for the refunded item (or -X% if it’s a partial refund, but that’s unlikely when going through Vinted).

Be careful: Excel invoices are prohibited, and there will be more and more checks with electronic invoicing, which is not just a PDF but an invoice that can be « read » by an automated system… And of course, with certified compliant software

[Faune]

I have a « draft » sales book where I note my sales every day and an « official » revenue book where I note orders once they are validated and cashed (I have to have 2, otherwise it’s impossible to keep track, you’ll quickly understand why ).

A « Shipped » / « Paid » field in the spreadsheet also does the job

[popnrepop]

Ok, great, thanks everyone, with all this I should manage, thank you very much