Marketplace VAT plans: a prompt for sellers to check their own website

What the government is planning

The UK government plans to make online marketplaces responsible for collecting VAT on sales by larger domestic sellers, as reported by Ecommerce News. The report says the measure could raise up to 1 billion pounds a year for the Treasury. That money is meant to fund tax cuts for high street businesses.

These are plans at this stage. The detail may change before anything takes effect. This analysis does not cover how the rules would work or who would be liable. Sellers with questions about their own position should speak to their accountant or tax adviser.

The timing matters for another reason. Many sellers are now planning their Black Friday and Christmas trading. Any change to how a sales channel works, from fees to rules to admin, is a natural moment to ask a simple question. How much of the business depends on one place to sell?

Why your own website still earns its keep

Marketplaces give sellers reach, trust and ready-made traffic. For many small businesses they are an essential part of the mix. A seller's own website does a different job alongside them. It is the one channel where the business sets its own prices, owns its customer list and controls the checkout from start to finish.

Online shopping is a large share of UK retail. Online accounted for 27.3% of UK retail sales in August 2026, according to ONS figures gathered in Sayu's study. That was up from 26.1% in August 2025. The figure covers all online retail, marketplaces and shop websites together, and a single month can be affected by seasonal swings. It still shows how much buying now happens on a screen.

Speed is one of the easiest things to check. 70% of the 491,119 websites UK Chrome users visited on phones in September 2026 passed Google's Core Web Vitals, according to the same research team's structured data study. The rest were too slow to load, too jumpy or too slow to respond for at least a quarter of visits. These scores come from Chrome users on phones only, so they show one important slice of visitors rather than everyone. Phone shoppers are exactly the people who arrive in a hurry during peak season.

What this means for UK businesses

• Look at your channel mix. Work out roughly where your sales come from. If one channel carries most of your trade, consider how you would cope if its rules or costs changed.
• Leave tax questions to the experts. Ask your accountant how the marketplace VAT plans might affect you, and keep an eye on updates as the plans develop.
• Make your own site fast on phones. Many websites still fall short on Google's speed and stability checks, and peak season visitors have little patience.
• Make it easy to find. Check that your key product pages show up in search and that your shop name brings up your own site.
• Build your customer list. Your own checkout lets you invite buyers back with offers and news, on your terms.

Analysis compiled by Sayu (sayu.co.uk)