Understanding eBay's Sales Tax Policies
Summary: al-kal-r_0 raised concerns about discrepancies in eBay's sales tax calculations compared to manual calculations based on state rates. tobaccocardyahoo mentioned that marketplace facilitator tax rates might differ due to simplification, and sellers generally don’t handle this tax directly as it's collected by eBay. al-kal-r_0 also noted an inconsistency in tax application for a specific Florida address between eBay and Amazon. tobaccocardyahoo confirmed issues with Florida Freight Forwarder tax exemptions but highlighted that sellers typically have no direct influence over these processes.
Has anyone else experienced issues with eBay's sales tax calculations when selling items? I recently noticed discrepancies in the tax amounts compared to what I calculated manually based on state tax rates. For example, I sold items to different states, and the tax applied did not align with the expected percentages. How have others navigated understanding or resolving these discrepancies? If you've faced similar issues, did you contact eBay support, and was the outcome satisfactory? Sharing your experiences could be beneficial for those of us trying to understand and potentially contest these charges.
1786davycrockett
·3 weeks ago@al-kal-r_0
Since it is the buyer -- and NOT the seller -- who is paying the sales tax, why do you believe that this is your concern?
Keep in mind, as well, that many cities, counties, and municipal "clusters" have additional sales taxes and fees which are in addition to the state sales tax.
For instance -- Minnesota has an additional fee of 50 cents on delivery packages priced in excess of $100.00; and Colorado includes a 27 cent fee (which may have been increased) on each package delivery.
But attempting to keep track of EVERY individual sales tax in EVERY state, county, municipality and "cluster" is totally unnecessary -- that's why eBay does it for us!
pastimpressions
·3 weeks agoKeep in mind that some States charge sales tax on the items sold only while others charge on the total order (item+shipping)
Please also note that as online/ecommerce usually top sales tax rates apply.
By example, if I own a B&M store in my home State that resides in a jurisdiction benefitting from an "Enterprise Zone" reduced sales tax rate, that rate will NOT apply if someone purchases from me online/ecommerce.
Best of luck with shop and sales
tobaccocardyahoo
·3 weeks agoIn some states, the marketplace facilitator tax rates are simplified, in either rate or number of jurisdictions. So they may not be identical to what would be paid in sales tax.
It is unlikely that as a seller you have any standing to contest the tax since the buyer pays the tax, Ebay collects it, and you never get your hands on any of the money.
al-kal-r_0
OP3 weeks agoThanks for your quick feedback on the above
also i noticed when using one address in FL in Amazon, the tax was caclulated as tax-free address and where when using the address in ebay, the tax is calculated ?
The address i am using for this comparsion is as follow:
7950 NW 77th St
Medley, FL 33195-2137
United States
I went an extra mile on this and asked the freight forwarding address i am using in FL and request for tax-free certifcate and shared with ebay support and have not hear back for a while
Appreciate if you have any previous experiance on what could be the issue here and how can be fixed
thanks
tobaccocardyahoo
·3 weeks agoThe Florida Freight Forwarder tax exemption has been reported as a problem by some buyers.
It is not clear to me that as a seller, you have any role in this process.