Sales Tax On Ebay.

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Phonofreak
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Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Phonofreak »

After Jan. 1, 2019, ebay is now adding sales tax on purchases on states with sales tax. Right now, it's WA State, and Minnesota. I'm sure the other sales tax states will join the bandwagon. I have pretty much curtailed my buying on ebsy, unless the item is super cheap, or free shipping. I'm sure now online purchases are going to have sales tax added. I guess that will kill ebay and online shopping. Any thoughts on this? Thank goodness for this Forum that we don't have to deal with this crap.
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Mormon S
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Mormon S »

I think this will force Ebay to lower their seller fees (which in my opinion are too high).

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Phonofreak
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Phonofreak »

But what about buyers? I forgot to mention that sales tax is added to shipping. In this case, it's not ebay's fault. It's the greedy states looking for a cash cow.
Harvey Kravitz
Mormon S wrote:I think this will force Ebay to lower their seller fees (which in my opinion are too high).

Martin

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Mormon S
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Mormon S »

Phonofreak wrote:But what about buyers? I forgot to mention that sales tax is added to shipping. In this case, it's not ebay's fault. It's the greedy states looking for a cash cow.
Harvey Kravitz
Mormon S wrote:I think this will force Ebay to lower their seller fees (which in my opinion are too high).

Martin
If the seller fees is brought down, maybe the seller will have more flexibility in price, which in turn counteracts the sales tax.

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startgroove
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by startgroove »

The most likely scenario is that Ebay will not budge from their greedy position, and Buyers will bid accordingly to include the tax as part of the purchase price. The Seller will be the one who will really be paying the tax.

BTW, there are five states that do not have state sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.

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Raphael
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Raphael »

The fact of the matter is, the state sales taxes have been applicable all along and if not assessed and collected by the seller, the buyer was supposed to voluntarily remit the proper amount to the state as "Use Tax". In Florida, for many years the state has intercepted inbound trucks, airwaybills, etc. and sent invoices to the buyers. The only way around it was if the buyer had a valid Resale Certificate. Voluntarily compliance was, as can be expected, very low, but the state was relentless. I learned the hard way, because in 1999 they hauled me in, and without a resale certificate at the time, charged me sales tax on every item that I had bought & sold, plus a 100% penalty, plus 18% interest.

Several years ago, they performed a multi-year(5-year)audit on me, and even though I came out clean, they discovered that some of my sales were to customers in states that they have a reciprocity agreement with. So, they turned over that data to those respective states, who then took their own compliance measures.

State sales taxes are an important revenue stream in Florida (we have no income tax here) and elsewhere, even where there are income taxes. I have often said that, having dealt with the Florida Department of Revenue several times over the years, they make the I.R.S. look like pussycats.

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gramophone-georg
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by gramophone-georg »

startgroove wrote:The most likely scenario is that Ebay will not budge from their greedy position, and Buyers will bid accordingly to include the tax as part of the purchase price. The Seller will be the one who will really be paying the tax.

BTW, there are five states that do not have state sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.
I'm always one to call out eBay for its money grabs, but this isn't eBay- the Supreme Court overturned the Wayfair decision that kept Internet sales tax free. eBay has zero choice or say in this matter. In fact, eBay lobbied quite extensively against Wayfair being overturned.

EDIT- Actually the case that was overturned was "Quill", sorry. Wayfair overturned the Quill precedent.
Last edited by gramophone-georg on Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dave D
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Dave D »

Is Ebay collecting the tax or is the seller responsible?
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Re: Sales Tax On Ebay.

Post by Phonofreak »

Dave, ebay automatically collects the sales tax through pay pal. The seller does not need to do anything. Ebay does it all.
Harvey Kravitz
Dave D wrote:Is Ebay collecting the tax or is the seller responsible?
Dave

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