eBay is closing....!

[ampapa1]

It won't happen today or tomorrow...  but the reason eBay is going to close is that Sellers when selling are being precluded by eBay trying to make money. It's no longer an auction site, it's too regulated and Sellers are always on the hook.

So I don't sell much on eBay anymore, in fact I avoid it like the plague...  for two main reasons:

   1) Their fees are ridiculous... do I need to say more.

   2) eBay looking for revenue streams, to make up for lost sales, are listing other sellers items in your auction before you even get to the description of the item that you're trying to sell.

Just venting about the system and how its morphed from what it used to be, really unique, to just another site trying to make money from the small guy.

[mam98031]

@tobaccocardyahoo 

"Ebay is not paid by any government for the taxes it collects and submits."

Not quite accurate.  The states to compensate Ebay for collecting and remitting sales tax to them due to the Marketplace Facilitators Laws.  The states give them discounts on the payments, so Ebay gets to keep a little to offset the costs of developing the software, updating as rates change, staffing to manage the program, etc.

This is an old article.  I'll see if I can find anything more current.

https://www.taxjar.com/blog/file/state-sales-tax-discounts

This one is a little more recent.

https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america/2021/10/vendor-discounts-for-filing-sales-tax-on-time....

[chapeau-noir]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@chapeau-noir wrote:

Nothing is like it was 20 years ago...well, my old Subaru wagon is still running, so I guess that is the same.

Twenty years is like 10 generations in ecommerce world.

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I retired my truck a couple years ago.  It was more than old enough to vote.

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My Subaru is a 1997 - in a few years when it turns 30 I'm going to take it to one of those XXX rated movies for 30 years and over.

I would like those 20 years back, though - they absconded with my youth.

[reallynicestamps]

EBay hasn't been an auction site since around 2002 when Stores went into Search, and sellers switched their listings  to being over 85% Fixed Price.

Even the less than 15% of listings that are still Auctions usually opt for either Best Offer or Buy It Now, either of which closes down the Auction for an immediate sale.

EBay is still unique among general merchandise sites* in having any auctions at all.

Auctions are still of some interest to collectors, mostly of high end and scarce items, but for mass merchandise and made for collection items, market price is well known and preferred by buyers.

An Auction listing is only up for seven to ten days, easily missed.

A Fixed Price auction is up for 30 days and relists if not sold automatically.

The listing cost of an Auction is the same as the cost of a Fixed Price listing, or higher since Stores have more "free" listings for FP.

Fees for Auctions and FB are the same.

Fixed Price listings can have Immediate Payment Required as an option for sellers.

Auctions have a higher percentage of Unpaid Items than Fixed Price listings.

Fees have not gone up in the 21st century, although they have changed.

• All online merchants must now collect and remit sales taxes. EBay charges a service fee for doing this.
• Fees on shipping were introduced in 2008, partly to end fee avoidance, and partly to encourage Free Shipping, which puts the seller's cost for shipping into the asking price.
• When fees on shipping were introduced, the fees on sales were reduced.
• When Managed Payments came in the fee schedule matched Paypal's but was more transparent. PP has since raised its fees.

*As opposed to hobby or product specific sites.

[terrycece62]

I love the fact that OP has not chosen to respond to any of the responses.

nice short rant   

[farmalljr]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

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@mksports03 wrote:

You failed to mention that the 13.25% also is charged on shipping and taxes, please explain why we should be paying 13.25% on taxes ebay collects, and gets paid monthly by the government, for holding and submitting.

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Ebay is not paid by any government for the taxes it collects and submits.

I have always resented, as a merchant, when I have been forced to serve as an unpaid tax collector.

Ebay has to pay credit card exchange fees on the taxes and maintain a complex system with a huge number of different jurisdiction and rates.

Ebay has decided, the seller pays to support tax collection. They can do it because they provide enough value to retain many seller, more than they need.

If you cannot meet your profit goals on Ebay, there are other Internet marketplaces. You could add more or use them to replace Ebay. Given what you sell, there is an excellent chance you would not be allowed to sell these items on some of the other marketplaces, so you might need Ebay more than they need you.

I have sold on multiple online marketplaces. I cannot say that I love or even like any of them. I am selling on Ebay now because it is more welcome to what I sell than other marketplaces.

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When you start a post stating something false, the rest of your post is suspect. eBay IS paid to collect the taxes. You are either ignorant of the facts or are just not telling the truth. You do realize that the states allow eBay to keep a percentage of the sales taxes collected right? 

You ALSO know that eBay makes money on the "discounted rate" they sell us labels for, right? eBay pays less for the USPS labels then they charge us, THEN they also charge a FVF on the label. 

Before you go sounding off on how eBay needs to charge to stay profitable, maybe you should know where they are actually making money, instead of assuming. They do make money on sales tax collection, in more ways than one. Same thing with shipping labels. They double dip on everything. 

As far as CC processing, eBay likely is only paying 1-1.5%. I only do about 20K in CC sales a year and I only pay 2.6%. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

@mam98031 

An interesting and positive move. BUT does not say it applies to Marketplace Taxes and in some states is capped way too low to pay Ebay for the work.

[reallynicestamps]

You do realize that the states allow eBay to keep a percentage of the sales taxes collected right? 

Some do and some don't.

Ontario used to allow the vendor to keep part of the tax remitted if the money was paid before the monthly deadline.

But they stopped doing that about 20 years ago.

Given the number of authorities that receive collected taxes from eBay, I suspect more than just one Canadian province does not give the vendor any break.

[mam98031]

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@tobaccocardyahoo wrote:

@mam98031 

An interesting and positive move. BUT does not say it applies to Marketplace Taxes and in some states is capped way too low to pay Ebay for the work.

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Well all I can do is give the info, it is up to those reading it to accept or reject it.  

Part of the SCOTUS ruling that created the ability for states to pass MFLs [Marketplace Facilitator Laws] stated that states could NOT cause or require undue expenses by a company in the effort to collect and remit taxes.  Which is exactly why they went to a higher level, the Marketplaces.

Now states could not require Ebay to create the software, hire the staff to maintain the system, collect and remit the sales taxes all at Ebay's expense.  That would be a huge financial burden for any Marketplace of any size.  

Ebay started collecting and remitting sales tax in January of 2019.  Washington State was the first state to get them MFL in place.  As months went on, all the other states that have sales tax passed their MFLs.  

Ebay charged sellers NOTHING for collecting and remitting sales taxes until Ebay brought Managed Payments online for all sellers.  They started onboarding sellers in July/August of 2020 and it continued until December of 2021.  

Some members try to convince others that Ebay started the FVF on sales tax to pay for the process of collecting and remitting sales tax.  That simply is not true.  Ebay is paid by the states for this service.  The FVF on sales tax first started as the processing fee due to Ebay now being our Money processor.

The same type of fee that PayPal charged us on the total amount of money paid by the buyer.  But then Ebay had the idea to make their fees a Simplified Fee.  One fee that covered the Money Processing fee AND the Selling fees.  So sellers could no longer breakout what was the money processing fee and what was the seller fees, it is now all one fee.

Ebay is the ONLY site that I've found that charges selling fees on sales tax and they accomplish this by having just the one fee for all.  There may be some out there that do, but none of the more common competitors do.

[mam98031]

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

You do realize that the states allow eBay to keep a percentage of the sales taxes collected right? 

Some do and some don't.

Ontario used to allow the vendor to keep part of the tax remitted if the money was paid before the monthly deadline.

But they stopped doing that about 20 years ago.

Given the number of authorities that receive collected taxes from eBay, I suspect more than just one Canadian province does not give the vendor any break.

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Sales tax is for items delivered into the USA.