Sales tax on shipping charges

[sw44magnumman]

Why does ebay charge sales tax on shipping charges? USPS doesn't charge sales tax on shipping fees. 

[rfmtm]

USPS postage is non-taxable under federal regulations, but your state gets to decides when ebay taxes shipping.

[kensgiftshop · Accepted solution]

@sw44magnumman 

Because your state says they have to.

Some state require sales tax to be applied to shipping charges also.

[woodland_gnome]

eBay doesn't.  YOUR state lawmakers do.  eBay just collects it and remits it to your state according to the law of your state (or rather the state you are having the item shipped to).

Note that even for those states that generally do not consider the shipping fee you pay the seller (you are NOT paying the carrier, the seller is) as part of the price, there is often fine print requiring it to be collected in certain circumstances (which happen to coincide with the circumstances in most eBay transactions).

[sw44magnumman]

Thank you both! I wasn't aware of that. What a rip off. We're paying sales tax on USPS sevices. That's the only service that I know of that we pay sales tax on in South Carolina. Plumbers, electricians, or doctors don't charge sales tax. 

[wooden_flower]

Don't think of it as a separate service - it is an integral part of your purchase.

If the seller put the shipping in the item price, and then offered free shipping, you would not think it was strange to pay tax on the total.