Coffee Pods are Being Taxed in States where they are Tax Exempt
I sell coffee pods. They are being taxed in states where coffee from grocery stores are tax exempt. eBay customer service confirms that the charges are incorrect. In the meantime buyers are going elsewhere and I am paying selling fees on the tax that should never have been charged. My margins are very thin and this is a huge issue.
I might add, in Amazon the exact item is NOT being charged tax. The states and eBay are raking it in from this "error" but the customers are losing out and the incorrect fees are also eating into my bottom line.
Customer service has said the only said that they will not change this, but my customers must ask for a refund. They have not said I will get the fees back, only the customer.
This is obviously unfair, but customers do not want to buy in the first place when they see the tax
ryry-jj
·4 months agoCheck the category they are listed under. Also some states will charge tax if for business while being tax exempt for home consumption.
California should be tax exempt on coffee pods
powell-collectibles
·4 months agoI just tested it out – added one of your coffee items to my cart, and it showed sales tax due. Added the same item on Amazon, it showed tax-free.
onefootflipper
·4 months agoMany of the tax codes are written where the out of state sales are actually written as "use tax" with none of the regular exceptions. While Amazon is shipping their coffee from in state warehouses thus they are only delivering it locally.
You actually have customers, as in more than one, buying things, seeing the complete price, seeing the tax, buying it anyway and then asking for a refund? The answer to that is NO. None of your neutral or negative feedbacks mention tax in any way.
bashort
·4 months agoebay gets a cut of all sales tax, any more questions
fixser73
·4 months agoI live in CA, recently I've purchased three sets of Nespresso vertuo coffee pods, one from Texas, one from Colorado and another from Delaware, all charged me California taxes. Seems unavoidable.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoIf CA is one of the states that charges state sales tax on coffee pods, that makes sense, since the state sales tax is charged based on the residence state of the buyer, not the seller, so it would not matter from what state the Californian buys his coffee pods.
quadcitypickers
·4 months agoMy state does not charge tax on ground/packaged coffee.
I added a few random coffees from different sellers, all showed up with sales taxes at checkout.
I added a few things from this category:
Home & Garden
No tax.
So it might be a bug where sales tax is incorrectly getting charged. I would switch your listings to that category, people don't really browse by category anymore anyway.
krazzykats
·4 months agoSometimes it is taxable, and sometimes it's not. Depends on location.
Is There Tax on Coffee? Prepared vs. Grocery Rules Legal Clarity
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soh.maryl
·4 months agoUnder which category are you listing your coffee pods?
meme6253
·4 months agoHow long have you been selling coffee pods?, Is this something new that happened?
go-bad-chicken
·4 months ago@le-virtuoso WOW! You are in the business of selling coffee pods. Good for you.
Considering the fact that 40 states out of 50 DO NOT CHARGE SALES TAX ON COFFEE that is unprepared, I would keep at it.
As @caldreamer states below I would write to eBay at:
EBAY Corporate
2145 Hamilton Ave., San Jose, California 95125
Attn: Xiaodi Zhang, VP Seller Experience
Start there and see where that gets you.
go-bad-chicken
·4 months agoIve found that this site breaks down the states that charge sales tax on unprepared coffee (whole beans or ground) much better than most. Most articles are comparing unprepared coffee (whole beans or ground) vs. prepared coffee (think starbucks, coffee served at restraunt, etc.), and that really muddies the water when trying to asses whether or not a state charges sales tax for coffee.
https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/b95be594-451d-49b7-9295-53b36a86b806/page/PGmXF
Source:
Sales Tax on Bulk Coffee by US State
https://thosecoffeepeople.com/sales-tax-on-coffee/
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoEbay is not very good at exception handling.
Marketplace Fulfillment Taxes often simplify calculation of the taxes. It is conceivable that the Marketplace Fulfillment Tax differs from sales tax rules in this case. Only researching a state's marketplace fulfillment tax in depth would identify whether this tax is justified or not.
Since it is safer for Ebay to charge the tax than get hit with penalties for not charging the tax, I would bet Ebay charges it.
caldreamer
·4 months agoEBAY Customer Service Rep have no authority to do anything. I suggest you write a letter to EBAY Corporate Office and ask why coffee pods at taxed on EBAY.
EBAY Corporate
2145 Hamilton Ave., San Jose, California 95125
Attn: Xiaodi Zhang, VP Seller Experience
Sales tax on coffee pods sold online varies by state. In general, coffee pods are considered taxable items in many states, but there are exceptions. Some states treat them as grocery items and exempt them from sales tax, while others classify them as taxable convenience items or processed foods.