Sales tax . . . the problem has begun

[k-mansparts]

SCOTUS  has ruled 

the problems will be enormous 

[abfabvintage]

I don't have Amazon Prime. Last 3 books I ordered, charged sales tax. On a paper shredder I purchased (it was an Amazon product), charged sales tax. I live in Maryland and their billing came out of Seattle. 

[ebbyisme]

If possible (eventually) they will require the marketplaces to handle it (at least for state and any new federal sales tax).... the problem with that is it won't be cheap and eBay will be charging for the service.... 15% FVFs for everyone! Higher fees AND taxes means even less profit, when too many aren't making money now... some seemingly oblivious to that fact.

[fuestor0]

Here's an example of me just losing 7k a  quarter in profits.

97k in total sales

1.5k in instate sales

so now i have to pay whatever % they choose... by 95,500$   so looking at around another $6-7k in profits lost each quarter. such **bleep** 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

The question is whether you bought it from Amazon or a third party seller. Prime isn't really relevant to the tax question.

[fuestor0]

The only solution is for ebay to make a blanket tax charge. We will lose our shirts otherwise. That way ALL sellers have to charge it, because you know the undercutters won't charge tax, because they don't pay it to begin with! 

[fjbet13]

Another problem is that  some items are tax exempt in some states and are not in other states. For example shipping is taxable in some states and others are not. Clothing is taxable in some states and not in others.  My state, Florida has sales tax holidays on school supplies and hurricane preparedness supplies at certain times of the year. There are services which handle the bookkeeping for this, but the sellers would be required to register in each state and file returns to remit funds to each jurisdiction. Hopefully eBay will help.

[scalemotorcars]

Now I could be wrong but Im going to guess that states will put a minimum sale amount before you have to pay tax. If not you can say goodbye to 90% or more of the US sellers on eBay. For the little they make they are not going to deal with the thousands of tax districts.  And Im sure eBay will pass all this off on the seller based on their recent track record. 

Does anyone know how this may affect the sellers from places like China and Hong Kong? How about getting rid of those insanely cheap ePackets and give the US sellers a chance to compete. 

[m60driver]

The Supreme Court decision is a little too late as Amazon has already knocked out most of the local brick and mortar competition due to a combination of factors, with the early avoidance of imposing

sales tax being a major component.  It was one thing to compete against higher efficiency, but the added 10% gross advantage (sales tax) in my state was a major contributor to my decision to close my store back in 2014 while we were still nominally profitable.

I am sure Ebay will be happy to oblige the court in order to collect their fvf percentage on the sales tax as well, as will Paypal and Ayden.  And expect processing fees to increase to cover the service of maintaining the data base which will need to be for each individual street address due to the complexities of local tax codes encompassing State, County, City, and special taxing districts.

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@electrola_man wrote:

I sure hope it doesn't come down to every seller filing 50 Sales Tax returns instead of one.

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If you are going by state only, it would be less than 50.  Oregon has no sales tax (except on Cannabis; but even then, it is pretty cheap here and prices already take that tax into account, and that can't be sold via mail order due to the interstate commerce thing.)

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@abfabvintage wrote:

I don't have Amazon Prime. Last 3 books I ordered, charged sales tax. On a paper shredder I purchased (it was an Amazon product), charged sales tax. I live in Maryland and their billing came out of Seattle. 

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Chances are, Amazon has a warehouse in MD (aka a physical presence in your state), that is why you had to pay sales tax.

[skatefool]

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@nowthatsjustducky wrote:

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@electrola_man wrote:

I sure hope it doesn't come down to every seller filing 50 Sales Tax returns instead of one.

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If you are going by state only, it would be less than 50.  Oregon has no sales tax (except on Cannabis; but even then, it is pretty cheap here and prices already take that tax into account, and that can't be sold via mail order due to the interstate commerce thing.)

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More than 50.  States, counties and cities collect tax at different rates on different services and items.  Oregon residents would be shocked at the different levels of sales tax.

[abfabvintage]

@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth

I only added that scenario in case those that have Prime, the tax situation would be different. Geesh.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

@abfabvintageI'm not criticizing, I'm trying to understand how Prime has anything to do with sales tax? I have Prime.

[fjbet13]

The seller does pay the sales tax the buyer does. However, the seller is responsible for collecting the sales tax from the buyer and remitting it to the taxing jurisdiction 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Amazon charges sales tax in my State for items bought from Amazon. I'm asking whether they currently charge sales tax for third party sales. I don't sell on Amazon. Some have said they do, and some have said they don't.

I think all my third party purchases have been clothing so they wouldn't be taxable anyway.