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Final value fees on sales tax????? Are you kidding?
I don't know why I didn't notice before, but I looked at a breakdown of 1 of my transactions and saw that I am being charged a final value fee on sales tax. I don't collect sales tax. eBay collects it from the buyer. It's bad enough being charged a final value fee on shipping. Sellers should only be charged a processing fee for the shipping charge, not a commission, but this FVF for sales tax goes too far. Call it what you want, but a FVF is a commission. Someone should start a class action against eBay, but the biggest problem would be the legal costs. That's probably why no one has yet
70 comments
kh-leslie
·2 years agoHi everyone,
Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.
Thank you for understanding.
reallynicestamps
·2 years ago@squarebiz99
I don't collect sales tax. eBay collects it from the buyer.
Exactly.
And eBay charges you a service fee for performing that service, rather than you assessing, charging, collecting and remitting sales taxes for some 200 different taxing bodies around the world.
FWIW - this has been Standard Practice in the payment processing industry since the Diners Club card was introduced in the 1940s.
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoDiners club or ANY payment processor DOES NOT charge you 13% to 15% of the sales tax. Utterly ridiculous, especially when you consider that most people posting here wouldn't have to pay any sales taxes AT ALL due to the individual state thresholds set in place to relieve the small seller from undue burden.
garyk18
·2 years agoNot to mention, they’re charging the fee based on the shipping the buyer paid as well. Customer Service isn’t helpful, I’ve even tried simplifying it for them and asked if they go shopping and sales tax is applied. Do they pay sales tax on top of the sales tax total?
dover0111
·2 years agoWhat does PayPal have to do with this? the question was why is there a fee assessed against the sales tax? The sales tax has absolutely nothing to do with the final value - final value and final cost are two different things. This is nothing more than a deceitful money grab.....
isaiah53-57
·3 years ago@squarebiz99
Seriously? You need to fire yourself and hire a new accountant - Just kidding - It sucks, but its one of the few things I don't concern myself with on this site considering they do all the sales tax remittance for you - its a fairly small fee for the work involved...
By the way - WOW - that Boehm "Great Horned Owl" is awesome!
anjofak
·3 years agoThink that's bad how about when you promote a item it sells to some fake non paying buyer that leads to a cancel it gets relisted for free but not promoted 🤔
keithcassie
·3 years agoMy biggest complaint with selling also! And they raised their take from 12.55% to 13.25%. One vendor I bought a lot of vintage bicycle decals decided these fees were too much and left this site. Later they found there own website wasn't getting them the exposure they needed to continue producing their fine product. The profit margin on such items was not enough to eat 13.25% of selling fees but they needed the worldwide platform to sell enough of them. So, **bleep** if you do and **bleep** if you don't. I was planning my retirement on selling my large inventory of restored vintage bicycles on this site, but I can't add the selling fees into a bicycle I have already too much of my own money and labor in and still making the price desirable to purchaser while myself making a profit. Guess plan B will have to be thought out.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoMy biggest complaint with selling also! And they raised their take from 12.55% to 13.25%. One vendor I bought a lot of vintage bicycle decals decided these fees were too much and left this site. Later they found there own website wasn't getting them the exposure they needed to continue producing their fine product. The profit margin on such items was not enough to eat 13.25% of selling fees but they needed the worldwide platform to sell enough of them. So, **bleep** if you do and **bleep** if you don't. I was planning my retirement on selling my large inventory of restored vintage bicycles on this site, but I can't add the selling fees into a bicycle I have already too much of my own money and labor in and still making the price desirable to purchaser while myself making a profit. Guess plan B will have to be thought out.
I can relate to and understand your situation. I have a lot of things that I don't list on eBay for a couple of reasons. As you mentioned the eBay fees simply consume the small profit margin and I cannot raise the price enough to cover some narrow profit margins and maintain price reasonableness in the marketplace. A bigger factor is shipping. Although I may be able to price with enough profit margin, not using free shipping, the cost to ship some larger/heavy items makes it unappealing to the buyer community. I would think maybe bicycles would fall in that arena.
Fortunately I am in a large metropolitan area and a number of local forums/venues provide me with a pretty large potential customer base. There are low, or no, fees on those forums so I can adjust my pricing accordingly. The buyer also does not have to worry about shipping cost. I may not have the worldwide exposure to the customer base that eBay has but that means little if I cannot sell those items.
islanddreamin
·3 years agoWell, Class action lawsuits are handled all the time for "no fee" by attorneys.... The problem is A) we all accepted an agreement based on eBays rules to do business on THEIR site. B) To accept a lawsuit on a no fee basis most of those attorneys want a high percentage of the settlement they achieve, and they do not want to take it to court (in fact they are encouraged by the court not to) the go to is to settle out of court ASAP they less time they spend the less they have in costs. To do this they settle for a lesser amount then what is filed and to encourage the business they are going after they recommend a hard money/soft money settlement.Hard money is a cash payment which is paid to that law firm that is suing the company the soft money is what is usually paid to someone like us an example of that would be us "wronged sellers" would receive something like no listing fees for a year or something that only occurs as something is sold...there would not be a significant settlement to each seller. Further eBay is a business if they have new operating costs due to a lawsuit etc. DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY WILL JUST EAT THOSE COSTS? Nope they will have a new costing schedule for us! So as aggravating as it may seem (I grind my teeth as well especially if I pay them a promotional fee that is doubled fee'd as well) Its still cheaper than building your own website and taking care of all the transactional costs yourself.......Class Action suits help the attorneys not the recipient's IMHO!
somanypostcards
·3 years agoI live in California. Here's what the CA Franchise Tax Board says are the marketplace facilitator and marketplace seller requirements:
"Beginning October 1, 2019, a marketplace facilitator is considered the seller and retailer for each sale facilitated through its marketplace, for example, an Internet shopping website, to determine whether the marketplace facilitator is required to register with CDTFA for a seller's permit or Certificate of Registration.
If you are a marketplace seller, beginning October 1, 2019, you are no longer considered the retailer of your sales of tangible merchandise facilitated through a marketplace, as defined by statute, provided the marketplace facilitator is registered or required to be registered for a seller's permit or Certificate of Registration – Use Tax."
So in California it appears 2 transactions occur. I, a marketplace seller, sell to eBay, the marketplace facilitator, with no taxes charged on my wholesale transaction as eBay is making a purchase that eBay plans to resell. eBay sells to the buyer and charges a sales tax on the eBay retail transaction. This being so, I should NOT be charged a FVF on the sales tax I did not collect in my wholesale transaction.
Also eBay has an Opt-Out form for new users so they can opt-out of the agreement to arbitrate within 30 days of accepting the user agreement.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoSo in California it appears 2 transactions occur. I, a marketplace seller, sell to eBay, the marketplace facilitator, with no taxes charged on my wholesale transaction as eBay is making a purchase that eBay plans to resell. eBay sells to the buyer and charges a sales tax on the eBay retail transaction. This being so, I should NOT be charged a FVF on the sales tax I did not collect in my wholesale transaction.
You are aware that CC companies charge merchant fees on the entire amount of the purchase and have done so for years. So the merchant is paying the 2-3% fee on your entire charge to include sales tax, tip (if you leave one in a restaurant)..........
If your buyer pays with a CC the CC company is no doubt charging eBay the 2-3% fee on the sales tax so out of the 13.25% fee eBay charges you 2-3% comes off the top leaving them with 10-11% of the actual fees. As to what they use that for see my other response.
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoAs I've said many times already, I get the 3% charge for processing, NOT a final value fee of 9-10% for God's sake
janet9988
·3 years agoEbay does NOT charge a 3% processing fee.
Ebay charges final value fees.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoAs I've said many times already, I get the 3% charge for processing, NOT a final value fee of 9-10% for God's sake
The easiest solution may be for you to find an alternative site to sell on. I cannot see eBay changing this policy but anything is possible. Personally I don't really care I factor it into the cost of the items when I list them so in reality the buyer is covering those fees just not directly.
house*of*paws
·3 years ago@somanypostcards
Did you happen to ask an attorney to interpret that verbiage for you?
As I read it ... CA sellers are merely being told that it is no longer their responsibility to collect tax from buyers IF they are selling on a platform that collects the tax for them. It says nothing about being charged fees ... OR what the fees should be based on.
eBay is the marketplace facilitator ... and NOT the seller.
somanypostcards
·3 years agohouse*of*paws
·3 years ago@somanypostcards
Hardly ... I file taxes to the CA Franchise Tax Board yearly.
I disagree with your interpretation of what the Board says.
monroe67
·3 years agoI also live in California. (BTW, for non-Californios, the Franchise Tax Board is our state taxation department. It does not apply only to business franchises.)
While I thank you for quoting a CA Franchise Tax Board publication, I think your interpretation is incorrect.
That quote you -- well -- quoted, says not one word nor one letter or number relating to whether eBay, as the marketplace facilitator, should or should not charge Final Value Fees (FVFs) on sales tax. I wouldn't be surprised if eBay's legal department people would find your interpretation or inference or suggestion that we eBay sellers first "sell" our items to eBay -- to be humorous. You are not considered a "wholesaler" just because you list an item for sale on eBay's platform.
The South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. decision by the US Supreme Court in June of 2018 created the concept of Marketplace Facilitators. For purposes of sales taxes, Marketplace Facilitators are not the same as Retailers. Rules for collection of sales taxes are different for Retailers and Marketplace Facilitators.
OK, eBay does offer new users a chance to opt-out of the arbitration agreement.
Does that pertain to FVFs on sales tax in any way?
somanypostcards
·3 years ago@monroe67
The US Supreme Court date is 2018. In 2019 the California Franchise Tax Board said:
"Beginning October 1, 2019, a marketplace facilitator is considered the seller and retailer for each sale facilitated through its marketplace, for example, an Internet shopping website, to determine whether the marketplace facilitator is required to register with CDTFA for a seller's permit or Certificate of Registration."
So in California where the marketplace facilitator is also the retailer the rules for collection of sales tax would be the same.
Because the OP mentioned class-action law suit and some participants stated this wasn't possible due to eBay's user agreement, I mentioned the opt-out option as it is tangentially part of this discussion.
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoJust when I though we may get through a week without seeing another one of these we start of the week with one. As others mentioned there are hundreds if not thousands of posts about this same topic. I have finally saved a canned response answer.
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. They then remit 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. "
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoOK, why don't we all cave in once again to the almighty eBay's seller unfriendly policies. The list is long. I've been at this for 20 years and have seen it all
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoOK, why don't we all cave in once again to the almighty eBay's seller unfriendly policies. The list is long. I've been at this for 20 years and have seen it all
One is always free to advocate for change. Trust me I am not an eBay cheerleader and I have been at this a long time also. I don't like or agree with many of their policies and/or processes, especially the lack of seller protection, but some things it is just easier to adjust or adapt to than it is to try and change.
There are a LOT of things in life that I don't like or agree with, most of them at the Federal and State governmental level, but I don't have the time or energy to fight against. I just finished doing my income taxes which I have hated doing since the day I started working but getting that changed is not a a battle I am willing to engage in.
techoutrepairs
·3 years agoYour reply actually made this ok with me. Didn't think about that. They do all the sales tax reporting and collection for you so they charge a fee on it. Also final value on shipping isn't the worst you save a big % buying labels on eBay so i don't know why you wouldn't take advantage of that.
handsonthewatch
·3 years agoI really wish this false hood would end already. We small sellers wouldn't be doing sales tax for any state we sell in! The people that keep saying " well, if ebay didn't help you, you'd be doing it!". No. Not a single states requirements, would have 99.9% of ebay sellers qualifying to collect sales tax. Each state has specific guidlines and amounts, and we don't quality. Ebay qualifies, because ebay sellers don't actually work for ourselves. Ebay is the seller, which means that ebay, sells enough in every state, to qualify to collect sales tax.
So stop praising ebay. They aren't helping us out of the kindness of their hearts. If we all had our own private stores, 99.9% of us would not be collecting sales tax in any of the states we sell in. None of us are big enough.
And another thing. Ebay isn't charging us because it costs them money to do sales tax. Most states PAY ebay a percentage, to collect sales tax. They not only make money from us, they make money from the states. Ebay LOVES sales tax.
And even more so, everyone needs to stop comparing this to paypal. Paypal charges a fee for the processing of money. They didn't care what it was for. Money went into their account and then to ours. They charged us for it. EBAY, is charging us not just a processing fee, but a VALUE fee on the entire amount, as if WE earned that money. Or do you people really believe, even without the states paying ebay, that it would in any way cost ebay 13% per transaction.
Remember, it takes ebay the same amount of effort to collect $1 in sales tax, as it does $1000 in sales tax. And yet, a seller now has to pay ebay $130 to collect that money??? Really? You people are able to actually look at this, and rationalize it as ok? Ebay did $130 worth of work collecting that $1000?
handsonthewatch
·3 years agoEbay always collected sales tax for places that had it. Funny how it wasn't a problem then. but suddenly it's a problem now? Ebay GETS PAID by many, if not most states, to collect taxes. And the problem is, we can't control what percent the tax is. Unlike paypal, the amount of tax, doesn't cost them more or less money. It's the same amount of work for whatever the amount is. Paypal charged us, because it costs them more money for a $1000 transaction than it does for a $100 transaction. It does NOT cost ebay more money for $1000 in sales tax, than it does for $100 in sales tax. And yet the seller has to pay more money to ebay, for a sales tax percentage we don't even have a say in? We can't control which state buys from us. Some states have it, some don't. Some have a little, Some have a lot. So now it costs us more money to sell to certain states, even tho we can't say no to those sales?
But it's all ok, because ebay is all super nice and stuff, and does us a favor by collecting sales tax for us.
They collect sales tax for THEM. Not for US. We wouldn't even need to do it, if it wasn't for ebay. So please guys, stop thanking ebay.
rngrannie
·3 years agoPrior to getting rid of PayPal but after they were required to collect sales tax on all transactions, eBay never charged final value fees on the sales tax people paid. The always charged the 10% final value fees on the shipping, but never on the sales taxes collected.
Ebay still kept track of all of the things you mention in your post with regard to states, counties, cities, parishes, etc., and the sales tax rates and laws. They dispersed the taxes collected, as well, without charging final value fees on the taxes collected. So, nothing has changed with regard to what eBay does.
Now, since getting rid of paypal, they are charging final value fees on the sales tax as well, even though nothing has changed with regard to what they have to do to collect or to disperse the taxes.
Yes, Paypal always charged a final value fee on the entire transaction, including the sales tax.
But Paypal's fee was only 2.9%. So, the fee on the sales tax was minimal.
Ebay is charging fees on the sales tax of 12.55% or more since taking over for paypal.
Quite a scam in my opinion.
Now, since taking over payment processing and getting rid of Paypal,
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoPrior to getting rid of PayPal but after they were required to collect sales tax on all transactions, eBay never charged final value fees on the sales tax people paid. The always charged the 10% final value fees on the shipping, but never on the sales taxes collected.
Ebay still kept track of all of the things you mention in your post with regard to states, counties, cities, parishes, etc., and the sales tax rates and laws. They dispersed the taxes collected, as well, without charging final value fees on the taxes collected. So, nothing has changed with regard to what eBay does.
Actually a lot changed. Prior to switching to Managed Payments eBay never kept track of the sales tax laws, collected or disbursed any of the sales tax funds collected PayPal did all of that. EBay had no overhead associated with that function. The eBay/PayPal split took place in 2015 with a gradual transition to MP which finished up for US sellers in 2020. The US Supreme court decision in Wayfair vs South Dakota was not handed down until 2018 and no states had sales tax laws covering ecommerce transactions. After the USSC decision states began to implement ecommerce sales tax laws with Missouri being the last state to do so effective January 1, 2023. So yes a LOT has changed.
Now, since getting rid of paypal, they are charging final value fees on the sales tax as well, even though nothing has changed with regard to what they have to do to collect or to disperse the taxes.
The change was not because of the split from PayPal but a result of the courts decision and the new laws.
Yes, Paypal always charged a final value fee on the entire transaction, including the sales tax.
But Paypal's fee was only 2.9%. So, the fee on the sales tax was minimal.
It still is minimal and amounts to about $1 on a $100 sale depending on variables. If your profit margins are that tight do what most due when change happens adjust your costing model and increase your prices.
Ebay is charging fees on the sales tax of 12.55% or more since taking over for paypal.
Quite a scam in my opinion.
Now, since taking over payment processing and getting rid of Paypal,
yesterdays_treasures_44
·3 years agoFound the ebay shill. How much is ebay paying you?
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoFound the ebay shill. How much is ebay paying you?
I don't work for or get paid by eBay but I do understand how things work on the site and adjust my business and pricing accordingly. Trust me I am no shill or cheerleader which if you read some of my other postings would be obvious.
fern*wood
·3 years agoI'm thankful ebay handles the collection and remittance of these taxes. I sure wouldn't want to. I wish they would charge us a set fee instead of a percentage of tax collected, but no one asked me.
rustydalmatian
·3 years agoI've posted this before, but it needs to be repeated. For the privilege of collecting, filing and sending sales tax which you, as the seller are required to collect, eBay charges you the sum of 6/10 of a cent for every dollar sent to the respective state. This is based on 6% sales tax.
Would you like to do all that on a $100 sale? 60 cents out of your pocket. Worth it? It's one of the few services eBay does right to help sellers.
albertabrightalberta
·3 years agoSo whose fault is that that you didn't notice nor didn't read the user agreement?
kensgiftshop
·3 years agoWhile they are at it, might as well add Pay Pal, credit cards and other payment processors.
They all base their fee's on the total amount the buyer pays.
There isn't one, because there's no need for one, there isn't anything illegal about it.
monroe67
·3 years agoI had to double check the date of this post. I thought it might have been "resurrected" [sorry] from a year or two ago.
eBay's User Agreement specifically prohibits class action lawsuits.
I wonder if the OP reads these community boards very often. eBay's Final Value Fees, which are charged on the total amount paid by the buyer (which may or may not include any sales tax), have been discussed here to infinity and beyond.
There is a lot of great info here, for those who take the time to read and make the effort to understand.
sweet-as-can-be
·2 years agoJust curious…
I’ve see that eBay’s SA specifically prohibits class action lawsuits. Does this mean that whatever they put in the SA supersedes all laws?
For example: if they put in the SA that eBay shall be held not liable for damages for any reason including negligence and/or fraud or that they can’t be sued by anyone who’s last name starts with one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet, does that mean the SA will be honored in a court of law by the mere fact that eBay users agreed to the terms of the SA?
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoJust curious…
I’ve see that eBay’s SA specifically prohibits class action lawsuits. Does this mean that whatever they put in the SA supersedes all laws?
For example: if they put in the SA that eBay shall be held not liable for damages for any reason including negligence and/or fraud or that they can’t be sued by anyone who’s last name starts with one of the 26 letters of the English alphabet, does that mean the SA will be honored in a court of law by the mere fact that eBay users agreed to the terms of the SA?
Basically eBay can put whatever they want in the SA but it means nothing if it attempts to override or circumvent existing laws. EBay has had multiple class actions filed against it and been sued more than once. Some they won some they lost.
It's the same reason eBay's policies mean nothing in the even of a buyer chargeback because the CC companies operate under existing Federal laws when it comes to dealing with those, some of which are in conflict with eBay's own policies.
goodbrakes
·3 years agoYAWN......
hartungcards
·3 years agoIf you call Saul Goodman, the legal costs wouldn't be that bad.
maxine*j
·3 years agoEvery time you use your own credit card for a purchase, the merchant you buy from pays the fee based on the total you paid in the transaction. This has been the universal practice since the invention of the credit card.
If you believe this is unconscionable or illegal, be sure that you do not participate in the practice yourself. Tear up your credit cards. Never use them again for any purchase anywhere.
.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years ago1st; if it were illegal and they could be 'sued' and all that was collected was 'reversed', they wouldn't be doing it.
2nd- class action lawsuits don't cost a dime. Attny's are paid when the CAS is settled. No Attny will take it on because there is nothing to win.
3rd- if I'm wrong on both counts above; they could just 'bypass' that fee and charge 20% FVF instead.
maxine*j
·3 years agoYou may care to read some of the many hundreds of threads posted on this topic:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&q=fees%20on%20sales%20tax
-
djvp53
·3 years agoThere are lots of reasons people don't start a class action about this. The biggest on is that such a lawsuit is unwinnable. Ebay's fees are perfectly legal and clearly disclosed so there are no viable grounds for a lawsuit. Then, you get into issues like the user agreement, which bars class action lawsuits.
The uncomfortable thing for you should be that this escaped your attention for this long. What else are you ignoring that's costing you money? Try to pay attention to those things now.
chris13
·3 years agoeBay collects tax for you then provides evidence/reporting for that tax being remitted to 46/50 states.
This is a service for which they can charge. I personally dislike that the 'fee' is based the amount of tax since each service instance is essentially the same effort - but I understand that it's a service provided as a way for my choice to sell here to meet current legal tax collection requirements.
I'd hate to collect all that tax myself and send quarterly tax checks to 46 states while aggregating my own reports for potential audits, but that's just me.
duffy4444
·3 years ago@squarebiz99 :
You've been around for just shy of 20 years, are approaching 24,000 in feedback, and you were not aware of the breakdown in eBay fees? And you didn't think it through, that with every credit card sale at any store, the merchant is charged a percentage on the entire transaction including sales tax?
There seems to be a lot of online sellers who need to pay closer attention to eBay's TOS that they agreed to. In addition to that, they're not keeping things in perspective without getting their socks in a wad and spouting off about a "class action" case which would be easily dismissed in about 10 seconds. SMH...
Cheers, Duffy
sakic92710
·3 years agoThe people who think eBay is their buddy will defend them & say it is better to pay that fee instead of having to take care of collecting the tax yourself, etc. As far as I am concerned, eBay TAKES a % of the S/H for offering no service at all so that more than covers the cost of them having to handle the tax issue.
stainlessenginecovers
·3 years agoPeople that defend ebay simply understand how business works and therefore do what ANY and ALL businesses have been doing forever.....
Pass the cost on to the buyer.
house*of*paws
·3 years agoHi @squarebiz99
Payment processors customarily base their fees on the total amount of the buyer’s payment … without regard to the components of the payment. PayPal did that as well. It’s legal … so suing won’t be fruitful. ☹ï¸
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@squarebiz99 "I don't know why I didn't notice before, but I looked at a breakdown of 1 of my transactions and saw that I am being charged a final value fee on sales tax. "
You didn't notice it before because you haven't been paying attention. It has been this way for a long time. It has been discussed countless times on this Board. It is legal.
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoHow is it legal to charge me a fee on a tax paid by the buyer and passed on to eBay for payment to the respective state? I know the shipping charge has been in effect for several years now. I do pay attention as I've been at this for 20 years, but the sales tax? People just don't fight hard enough for what's right and also due to the size of almighty eBay, people simply get discouraged.
my-cottage-books-and-antiques
·3 years ago@squarebiz99 "How is it legal to charge me a fee on a tax paid by the buyer and passed on to eBay for payment to the respective state?"
You are not the first person here to raise this question. If you can show the law that prohibits it, then you would be the first person to back up your claim that it is illegal.
I do not like it. I like it even less that ebay does the same thing with Promoted Listing Standard fees, but I have found nothing that says it is illegal.
hartungcards
·3 years agoYou've been at this for 20 years and you finally took a look at one of your final value fee breakdowns?
reallynicestamps
·3 years agoHow is it legal to charge me a fee on a tax paid by the buyer and passed on to eBay for payment to the respective state?
Because you are not being charged a fee on a tax paid by the buyer.
You are being charged a fee on PROCESSING the ENTIRE amount the buyer paid you.
The selling price.
The shipping price.*
The sales tax.
Which is what the buyer paid.
And in addition to those, a 30c non-refundable service charge.
*And many sellers happily charge thier buyer the Calculated Shipping which the seller would pay at the PO counter, although we can get discounts on many shipping services purchased through eBay, or use other discounted shipping methods.
714ricki
·3 years agoIt's very legal! Try asking any business owner who has a credit card terminal. Their financial institute charges them a fee based on the entire purchase.....& that includes the sales tax. Please read up on the numerous threads here about the topic.
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoAs I've said many times already, I get the 3% charge for processing, NOT a final value fee of 9-10% for God's sake
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoI have been paying attention, as this thread that I started was to see how others view this issue and the results are 50/50. Half with the eBay huggers and half with the conscious business owners
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoI have been paying attention, as this thread that I started was to see how others view this issue and the results are 50/50. Half with the eBay huggers and half with the conscious business owners
You could probably split the eBay huggers into two groups. Those that have simply adapted and adjusted and those that think eBay can do no wrong which of course we know is not always accurate.
donsdetour
·3 years agoWhen I see such I look and see how long the user has been on ebay. Fact is that Paypal charged a fee for all the transaction amount including tax if any on a purchase through them. Did not see users on ebay or else were gripping about it.
Usually such topics show me that a person had no idea what they were paying in fees on ebay or else were.
That use to shock me, but now it is just what it is. Manged payments has taught the ignorant what the cost are and have been.
handsonthewatch
·3 years agoStop comparing this to paypal, for the love of god. Please. Of course no one complained about it. Why would we? It was a valid charged! They processed the money, no matter where it came from, and it costs them money to do so. Money was money, tax or not. It looked exactly the same to paypal. Ebay doesn't charge us to process the money. They charge us for the money existing. unlike paypal, ebay knows what money is sales tax. JUST like they know how much is paid for shipping, so the old excuse about that, is ignorant as well. There is no $100 shipping for a $1 item. which one of us doesn't use calculated shipping through ebay? So ebay knows how much shipping costs. and they knew it back then too. They didn't have to charge everyone for the actions of a few. They EASILY could have stopped that. But no, they didn't want to. They wanted more money.
And FYI, ebay also counts the amount into our total sales, as if it was money we earned.
isaiah53-57
·3 years ago@handsonthewatch
I appreciate what you are saying on your posts - Its the Kool-aid - I have said similar things when I see people giving poor ebay a pass because a negligible percentage of sellers were using the old $100 shipping for a $1 item ploy. In my opinion, the company had lots of options on the table to deal with the matter - They chose the one that would cost the sellers the most in fees, the one that would keep shipping costs at their highest to maximize fees, and the one where they could report shipping as revenue and essentially add the shipping cost into the item's valuation so they could show a watered down rate - Now thats some brilliant take rate strategy right there...(not a compliment by the way).
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoStop comparing this to paypal, for the love of god.
That would be a good idea since prior to to the Supreme Court decision in Wayfair vs. South Dakota, which was decided in 2018, there was almost no sales tax on interstate ecommerce sales. EBay and PayPal split in 2015 with a 5 year transition window so by 2018 most sellers had been transitioned to MP and PayPal was out of the picture. It took several years for a lot of states to pass sales tax laws covering interstate ecommerce transactions so PayPal collected very little sales tax and only had minimal revenues from the fees on the sales tax.
Please. Of course no one complained about it. Why would we? It was a valid charged! They processed the money, no matter where it came from, and it costs them money to do so. Money was money, tax or not. It looked exactly the same to paypal. Ebay doesn't charge us to process the money.
You are correct under MP eBay replaced PayPal with Adyen who now handles the cash flow and transactions.
They charge us for the money existing. unlike paypal, ebay knows what money is sales tax. JUST like they know how much is paid for shipping, so the old excuse about that, is ignorant as well. There is no $100 shipping for a $1 item. which one of us doesn't use calculated shipping through ebay? So ebay knows how much shipping costs. and they knew it back then too.
EBay may or may not know how much shipping costs either what the buyer pays or what the actual shipping is. A lot of sellers incorporate the shipping costs to the buyer into the price of the item and list it with free shipping and a lot of sellers purchase their postage through other venues where eBay has no way of knowing what the seller paid for the actual shipping label.
They didn't have to charge everyone for the actions of a few. They EASILY could have stopped that. But no, they didn't want to. They wanted more money.
Totally agree eBay had other options and they simply took the path of least resistance and the one that was easiest to implement from a programming perspective. There is a flip side to this coin. Had eBay take another path and not started charging FVF on shipping sellers may have taken a look at whether they ever wanted to list anything with free shipping given they have baked the shipping cost into their price. Why would you continue to offer free shipping when you could have simply used calculated or a flat rate to all buyers and avoided paying any fees on that portion of the transaction.
While I thing the fees are high compared some other sites, lower than others, I simply adjust my costing model and listing price based on the selling costs associated with the individual platforms. In some instances I cannot remain price competitive in the eBay market place and therefore simply don't list the items on the site but use other alternatives.
bsatizzfydd
·3 years agoBack in the PayPal days there was no tax collected
dbfolks166mt
·3 years agoBack in the PayPal days there was no tax collected
Part of the reason for that was the PayPal days were before the Supreme Court ruling in Wayfair vs South Dakota (2018) and all the individual state ecommerce tax laws that were passed. Missouri's just became effective 1 January 2023.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoI would think that "conscious business owners" (taking a shot at what that is actually trying to say) would pretty much accept the conditions of conducting a business on this platform. Is that the same as "eBay huggers"?
varebelrose
·3 years ago"...the biggest problem would be the legal costs. That's probably why no one has yet""
Or the user agreement that everyone who sells here has agreed to.
By the way, even paypal charged you a percentage of sales tax collected, it was just a smaller bite so less noticeable. It works the same way for brick and mortar stores that accept credit cards, the fee is always based on the total amount of the transaction, including tax.
squarebiz99
OP3 years agoAs I said, I wouldn't have a problem if it were just a processing as before with pay pal
house*of*paws
·3 years ago@squarebiz99
eBay adjusted (lowered) the percentage of the fee at the time it took over from PayPal to compensate for the FVF being based on tax. [Fees did NOT increase. Most objectors either aren’t aware of this or ignore it.]
cyranojones
·3 years agoJust because eBay has it in their agreement doesn't make it right. Retailers collect the sales tax, eBay sellers do not and should not be charged a fee on money that is not in our part of the transaction. Of course eBay can get away with it because they can.
albertabrightalberta
·3 years agoRetailers collect the sales tax just as ebay collects the sales tax and both retailers and ebay forward those taxes to the respective states.
And when you pay for your purchases with a credit card, those retailers (who don't retain the tax) are still also charged the card company's fee even though those taxes are not going into the retailers' pockets.
The full payment made by the buyer IS part of the transaction.
inhawaii
·3 years agoIf i were you I would end my 3,000+listings and take my business elsewhere, to a more reputable site.