IEIM901730 - Knowledge of Amount

The reporting rules work on the premise that Reporting Platform Operators (RPOs) only report Consideration if they know the amount that has been paid or credited to the Seller. If the Platform Operator (PO) does not know how much the Seller has received for a relevant activity the payment is not treated as Consideration. 

This could provide opportunities to circumvent the rules if an RPO claimed that it did not know the amount paid to a Seller as that payment would not have to be reported. To prevent this, the definition of Consideration includes references to an amount which is ‘reasonably knowable’ by the PO.

A PO may reasonably know the amount of Consideration where it can use available information to calculate or determine the amount payable to the Seller. For example:

• the PO receives or withholds a fee or commission calculated by reference to the amounts paid by users;
• the PO assumes contractual obligations in respect of providing the Relevant Activities, such as providing refunds or other forms of buyer protection;
• the Platform provides functionality which shows the terms of agreement between users and Sellers including the amount of the underlying Consideration;
• the Platform provides visibility over the amount of Consideration to the PO.

A PO is also expected to consider and take into account the knowledge of any service providers or other POs about the amount of the Consideration. For example, if a PO subcontracts the processing of payments to Sellers to a third-party service provider, it would be expected to reasonably know the amount of Consideration from the information available to the service provider about the payments made to Sellers. The RPO would need to ensure that the contractual arrangements between it and the third-party service provider facilitated its access to the information.

The PO does not have to know the amount of Consideration at the time that a Seller is providing goods or services. There may be cases where the PO knows the amount of Consideration only after the Seller has provided the relevant goods or services, or when the payment has been made.

Where the Platform only lists a guide price or an estimated amount for the provision of goods or services, the PO may not be able to determine the amount paid or credited to the Seller. If the PO does not know the amount paid or credited to a Seller, and cannot determine the amount from reasonably available information, the Consideration condition is not met and there is no reporting obligation.