Fees on Taxes
Why do we get charged fees on taxes that we don't get in the first place? Does that sound like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen or is it just me?
49 comments
Why do we get charged fees on taxes that we don't get in the first place? Does that sound like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen or is it just me?
toonvette
·2 years agoSo I sold a book, didn't want to throw away a brand new book, Listed it for $1.99 , thought it might help someone. Buyer paid $5 shipping + tax, + tax on shipping! So buyer paid $8. Ebays fee is calculated on total also tax. I got 49 cents!!! EBay made $1.50 ==300% profit!!!
bonjourami
·2 years ago"So I sold a book, didn't want to throw away a brand new book, Listed it for $1.99 , thought it might help someone. Buyer paid $5 shipping + tax, + tax on shipping! So buyer paid $8. Ebays fee is calculated on total also tax. I got 49 cents!!! EBay made $1.50 ==300% profit!!!"
Im surprised you made anything on a $1.99 sale.
mam98031
·2 years ago@toonvette
As a seller you chose to list the item for almost exactly what your costs to sell it here would be. That isn't on Ebay, you set the 1.99 price.
8.00 x 15% = $1.20 + .30 cent transaction fee = $1.50 paid to Ebay.
For you, you received $1.99 + $5 = 6.99 - 1.50 FVFs -4.63 shipping = .86 cents.
FYI, 1.50 divided by 8.00 = 18.75%, not 300%
So that 1.50 that Ebay got goes towards the cost of running this site and supporting your listings and all the programs that go along with that.
Ebay is not at fault if YOU choose to price your items too low to make a decent profit. Next time you know you need to charge more. Except that you do this price range all the time, so you are well aware of this issue. You choose to continue to do it, so it must work for your needs.
inhawaii
·2 years agoKinda makes me wonder ... how long will we be seeing these kinds of posts?
5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
mam98031
·2 years agoI don't think they will ever end. It is so surprising how long it takes some members to even notice this.
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoYay! Another class action lawsuit!
Maybe one of those (hundreds? thousands?) who've posted suggesting doing it will follow through and come back and let us know how it went.
squinkercat59
·2 years agoI just looked it up, there are over 13,000 different sales tax districts in the United States. The small percentage we pay to Ebay to handle that all for us is worth it. I have an accountant, and even he wouldn't want to do it.
jerseyboymusic
·2 years ago@keepplayn
OHMYGOODNESSGIVEIT UP PEOPLEITAIN'TGONNAHAPPENANDREADTHEEBAYTOSFORGOODNESSSAKE
thelongball
·2 years agoSmall price to pay for all the work it involves. Cheaper than paying your book keeper or accountant to do it. Or worse yet having to do it all yourself.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoThe law requires eBay to do it for us, so the "price" we are paying is not protecting us from anything.
And since virtually every state has a threshold that a seller must meet before sales taxes apply, if the law did not require eBay to do it then most of would still not have to do it.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoThe law requires eBay to do it for us, so the "price" we are paying is not protecting us from anything.
And since virtually every state has a threshold that a seller must meet before sales taxes apply, if the law did not require eBay to do it then most of would still not have to do it.
The problem with those thresholds is you would still have to track individual sales through the year just in case you exceeded the threshold or the laws got changed during the year. You would also have to track each individual sale down to the item type and the precise location where the buyer was located and know precisely what percentage of sales tax would be required to be collected.
Then you face the issue of do you collect the sales tax at the time of the sale and hold it in your bank which seems unfair to the buyer if you never have to remit it. The alternative would be you paid the sales tax out of your profits if and when you were required to do so.
The states actually applied some logic when they passed the individual state laws which is surprising.
monica-sells
·2 years agoI agree and concur with many of your viewpoints..
but...I must digress on this statement......
Ny opinion is....
IF the existing marketplace facillator laws were not in place, do you believe for a second, that states would not "adjust" to the sales tax and create their own, individual solutions to get that revenue? I truly believe that they (the states) would not leave that money on the table once 1 state figured out how to get YOU to collect it and remit it. Forget the "ancient" thresholds that existed since 1950, and they would "get their money"
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoI agree and concur with many of your viewpoints..
but...I must digress on this statement......
Ny opinion is....
IF the existing marketplace facillator laws were not in place, do you believe for a second, that states would not "adjust" to the sales tax and create their own, individual solutions to get that revenue? I truly believe that they (the states) would not leave that money on the table once 1 state figured out how to get YOU to collect it and remit it. Forget the "ancient" thresholds that existed since 1950, and they would "get their money"
Totally agree. The 1099-K thresholds are a perfect example. Due to the lack of movement on the Fed's part several states have set their own limits. I live in Virginia and they established a $600 limit in 2020. The law passed in July but they made it retroactive back to 1/1/2020.
luckythewinner
·2 years agoWhy do we get charged fees on taxes that we don't get in the first place?
Because in a free country, that is how eBay chose to calculate them.
Does that sound like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen
No, because most lawyers will spend an hour scrutinizing the User Agreement and realize that no laws are being broken and that you agreed to it.
or is it just me?
It is not just you. Dozens or even hundreds of sellers have posted here who are unhappy with eBay's fee structure and threatened "class action lawsuits" that have never materialized.
monroe67
·2 years ago"Does that sound like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen
No, because most lawyers will spend an hour scrutinizing the User Agreement and realize that no laws are being broken and that you agreed to it."
Some lawyers might bill you for an hour at their billing rate, but most would not actually spend a full hour scrutinizing eBay's User Agreement. It is neatly organized with titles such as "5. Fees and Taxes" and "18. Legal Disputes". Anybody can look up the eBay User Agreement, read it for themselves, and spend that attorney fee money on doing something more enjoyable.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoThis question/statement gets posted so often I have a cut and paste canned answer that I use for all of them.
I have always considered the eBay FVF's on sales tax to be the best accounting bargain around. If you sell a $100 item to a buyer in a state with 8% sales tax the FVF on the $8.00 in sales tax amounts to 13.25% * $8.00 or $1.08 if you are promoting at 2% that adds another $.16 so the total FVF on the sales tax is $1.24.
For that $1.24 eBay keeps track of the 10,000 various state, county, city, parish, municipality..... sales tax rates, and laws, and applies and collects the proper sales tax from the buyer. The sales tax percentage may also vary depending on the type of items you are selling since some states, counties, cities…. Tax different items differently. Food and clothing for example. EBay then remits those collected funds to the 45 states with sales tax laws on whatever periodic basis is required. There is NO WAY I want to take on that burden as a seller for $1.24 +/- out of a $100 sale. "
fbusoni
·2 years agoExcellent perspective.
I have always regarded eBay's fees as a fact of life. And do my sourcing accordingly.
So much easier that way.
johnrj1226
·2 years agoLooks like you sell or buy under an other screen name on eBay or another on line site. Been an eBay member since April 2024 and no sold items in the last 30 days or FB as a buyer and/or seller. What say you?
fbusoni
·2 years agoIt may not be just you, but rest assured that there will not be any class action lawsuits, for the simple reason that eBay has the best lawyers that money can buy and in my estimation would not be doing anything that would expose the company to legal peril.
As for the fees... ideally your buyers should be paying all of those. regards
jtc323
·2 years ago1 open Class action lawsuit currently, and a nice record of settled or ordered payouts.
Tell me again how there will be "None"
inhawaii
·2 years agoWe'll take your word for it.
Congratulations!
monroe67
·2 years ago"1 open Class action lawsuit currently, and a nice record of settled or ordered payouts."
Please, do share:
1. The title of: the "1 open Class action lawsuit currently". (your words)
This would look something like "John Smith and others similarly situated v eBay, Inc., and DOES 1 through 1000."
The name of the court would also be helpful. That would look something like "US District Court for the Eastern District of California."
2. Since you say there is a "nice record", please give the titles of two lawsuits in which eBay faced "settled or ordered payouts". The name of the courts would also be helpful.
Don't cite the somewhat-recent decision from the District of Massachusetts, which ordered payments from eBay following the obvious criminal actions, years ago, against the Steiners. The facts of that case were nothing like the facts necessary to bring a class action lawsuit against eBay, especially for eBay collecting fees on legally mandated sales taxes.
Oh, by the way, what I'm asking does not violate any privacy laws.
Court records in the court system in the United States and all 50 states are public record.
monica-sells
·2 years agoA simple link to the active case would help support your claim.....
gone.c-33
·2 years agoAs the kids used to say, pics or it didn’t happen.
mam98031
·2 years ago@jtc323
Please give us a link to the lawsuit.
Since Ebay isn't doing anything against the laws, in fact they are following the laws, it is hard to believe any lawyer took this kind of a case much less getting a Judge to agree to allowing it to be a Class Action suit.
johnrj1226
·2 years agoAs far as I know ALL money processors now charge a fee to process funds from any source through the various system. Once upon at time in the mid1990s only American Express did it but soon others followed. Recall my first trip to Mexico to San Luis Potosi and found that many places, like a hotel, would not take American Express for that reason - glad I had US Dollars with me - the hotel took them without issue - probably got short changed on the exchange rate - got it back in my travel expense report..
meekamaye
·2 years agoThere are 50 states with different tax codes.
Would you want to determine which state gets the correct amount of taxes?
Ebay does this for you so you are not calculating, tearing your hair out to try to get the right amount to each state.
For instance, MN: if you eat it or wear it you don't tax it UNLESS you order take-out, eat at a fast food or elegant restaurant. There you pay a tax because you didn't prepare it at home. Another case, in the hair care aisle you have scrunchies, barrettes, headbands, etc. They are not taxed. Go over to accessories or shop in a clothing section for these items and they are considered luxuries and you tax them.
Do you really want to keep this straight for 50 states?? I don't... I'll let eBay do it for me and they are welcome to the percentage they take.
tsme35
·2 years agoNot only each state but also report to each county and city that collect. I think the fee ebay charges is a little too high but what ya gonna do but pay.
meekamaye
·2 years agoI just thought that 50 states (not sure about territories) was enough to mention. MN is the land of taxes instead of 10,000 lakes. We have entertainment taxes, lodging taxes, county taxes for roads, a wheelage tax for vehicles (unless it is tax except ag), you pay tax on deli items at the grocery stores (salads, etc), the list is endless and starting July and August first there are more taxes entering the books. I can't keep track of all the metro and larger town taxes when I travel. I just swallow hard and tell a few places I hope it goes for road repair.
tsme35
·2 years agoJust pointing out the different identities, our county and then the cities put internet tax on the ballots last year. Failed for the county and out of maybe 15 cities only 2 passed. Some counties around me have 2-20 different cities.
inhawaii
·2 years agoWe get charged fees on taxes?
That's insane!
doc-holmes
·2 years agoI mean, is this even legal?
mam98031
·2 years agoOMG, what law. Some posters want to keep saying this after all these years, but no one wants to actually tell us what law is being broken. Once you find it, we need to sue PayPal, all Credit card companies, other Money processors, etc. They ALL charge their fees on the entire amount of money processed. For some reason it only became illegal to some posters when Ebay became the money processor. Why?
monroe67
·2 years ago"@doc-holmes wrote:
I mean, is this even legal?"
I believe "inhawaii" and "doc-holmes" are using irony or sarcasm.
In fact, "inhawaii" is well-known on these boards for his use of irony.
mam98031
·2 years agoI'm not new to the threads. I've known @inhawaii for many years. He is a very nice guy and I'm fond of him. You are right, he often posts with sarcasm. It is also often quite funny. With that said, there are many times that other posters on a thread, especially the OP, do not know this about him and it can cause bad info to be digested.
If you go back and look at my post, I was NOT responding to what inhawaii said. I was responding to what @doc-holmes said.
doc-holmes
·2 years agoNo need to fret, I was indeed employing sarcasm.
mam98031
·2 years agoThat just proves my point.
lacemaker3
·2 years agoThat would be Karen's Law, of course.
#IDon'tLikeItSoItHasToBeIllegal
</sarcasm>
@inhawaii, @doc-holmes, @mam98031
wbsimsjr201
·1 year agoYea it just hit me today.. when I was making an excel sheet up to figure out total take of an item after fees and shipping.. Its like auto shops, charging tax on labor.. people don't notice it.. and in the daily scheme its only a few cents /dollars.. but at the end of the year.. it's hundreds of dollars they don't have to report.. Its just a lousy as the rates they're charging.. forcing returns and refunds for the most ridiculous reasons.. and hap hazard "help center" Ohhh and we can only leave positive feedback for loser buyers trying to scam us...
susanb1872
·1 year ago@wbsimsjr201 wrote "it's hundreds of dollars they don't have to report". Are you referring to the auto shops don't have to report it? State sales tax laws require them to charge sales tax on labor and then report/remit it to the state taxing authorities.
wbsimsjr201
·1 year agowhat state? And what states are those....because only a few do......
susanb1872
·1 year agoThe majority of states have taxes on labor but each state has different rules on what specific labor and services are taxed. If you feel a company is collecting sales tax illegally then you should report it.
mam98031
·1 year ago@wbsimsjr201
Who doesn't have to report? I don't think I follow.
Buyers pay sales tax per the laws of the State they are having the item shipped into. Ebay collects that tax from the buyer as they are REQUIRED to by LAW. Ebay then remits the taxes collected to the appropriate state.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoNo, sounds like business as usual.
All payment processors base their fee's on the total amount.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoCurious, when you make a purchase in a store or food outlet or whatever...cost of item plus tax and if you use a credit card...does the credit card only charge you for the cost of item and it's not with tax or cost of item and the tax? And we are using credit cards usually to buy on eBay
mam98031
·2 years agoNot quite a good comparison. The user of the card doesn't get charged the fee, the merchant does.
eburtonlab
·2 years agoThis topic has been discussed before:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&q=%22fees%20on%20taxes%22
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoTry reading up on the section entitled Legal Disputes in the eBay User Agreement.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behaviour-policies/user-agreement?id=4259