Sales tax fees
I just noticed on fees for a recent sale I am being charged fees for sales tax. The tax money is not received by me - it goes to eBay to forward to the states. Shouldn't this be stopped. I'm paying fees on money that never goes into my account. That's not right!
24 comments
mam98031
·11 months ago@cardscoinsnmore
I'm sorry that you didn't realize this sooner. When PayPal was our money processor, they charged us their fee on the entire amount the buyer paid, to include sales tax. In the summer of 2020 Ebay started onboarding sellers to the Managed Payment process. So when you entered MP, PP was no longer your money processor and now MP charged the fee.
Then in August of 2020 Ebay went to a Simplified Fee structure and charge a single FVF on the total the buyer pays, again including sales tax.
So from the day you entered Managed Payments you have paid FVFs on the sales tax the buyer pays. This is also covered on the Seller Fee policy page.
hartungcards
·11 months agoYou lost me at, "I just noticed."
duffy4444
·11 months ago@cardscoinsnmore:
eBay pays it directly to the states for you and you want that stopped? Why? Would you rather be responsible for, and spending all that time, by yourself? We're talking about possibly thousands of tax entities across the US.
That being done by eBay for us is a freaking bargain for only a couple pennies on the dollar.
Cheers, Duffy
marnotom!
·11 months agoeBay bases its Final Value Fees on the total transaction value, and taxes add to the total transaction value.
Back in the PayPal days, PayPal also based its fees on the total transaction value.
When eBay dropped PayPal as its payment processor and folded payment processing fees into the Final Value Fees, the FVF were dropped slightly to compensate.
It's generally better to consider whether your fees as a dollar amount make sense than obsess about how those fees are made up.
reallynicestamps
·11 months agoTechnically you are not being charged fees on taxes.
You are being charged fees on the customer's payment for PROCESSING that payment.
Some of the payment goes ultimately to a shipper who will handle the delivery.
Some of the payment goes to various tax collectors ( over 200 in the USA alone, never mind the international ones).
Some of the payment goes to you.
And some goes to eBay for hosting the site, advertising your listings, and PROCESSING those payments to the shippers, the taxman, you and their own bank.
Which has been Standard Practice in the payment processing industry since Diners Club invented the credit card over 75 years ago.
tobaccocardyahoo
·11 months agoWith close to 1,000 low ticket sales in the past 90 days, you would not be happy if you had to deal with meeting the obligations of sales tax collection in all jurisdictions in the US.
You would join the rest of us who complained when we had to serve as unpaid tax collectors, and are extremely pleased to pay Ebay to handle this obligation which carries with it the risks of penalties for failure to pay on time.
When I ran a business in a state which had a sales tax, and exceeded a certain volume, my reporting requirement was changed from every quarter to every month. I had business customers who had not paid for their invoiced orders by the time the state got their money. The effects on my cash flow associated with this change was painful.
bdmh-enterprises
·11 months agoIt's been that way since we stopped having to collect and remit the tax ourselves..
How, after 150,000+ sales, you're "just noticing" this is baffling..
monroe67
·11 months agoYour feedback count is 42,636. That kinda indicates you've been selling (also possibly buying) on eBay for a long time.
Have you just now noticed that your fees for a recent sale included fees on sales tax?
eBay has been collecting their Final Value Fee on the Total Paid By The Buyer since, I'm not sure -- was it 2011?
That's 14 years ago.
Six years ago, 2019, was when some states enacted laws stating people had to pay sales tax on stuff they buy on-line. That meant that some Buyers' Totals included sales taxes. Over the intervening years, other states updated their state laws, and now all 45 states with state-wide sales taxes require eBay to collect and remit sales taxes on stuff that people buy on eBay.
Many other eBay sellers take the position that their buyers pay their eBay fees. My selling ID is one of them.
bonanza125
·11 months agoI am kind of surprised as much selling you do as a seller you didn't know about sales tax fees until now. Ebay collects the fees for you and processes it. They are doing the work so they will charge you for that work so they have the right to do it. When you click submit listing you agreed to the terms and conditions set by Ebay. Fees on item + shipping cost + sales tax are being charged to you. It's all in the policy. If you feel it's not right then do not click on submit listing.
stainlessenginecovers
·11 months ago3600 counties in the USA doing 4x a year would be at least 14000 reports to fill out and remit the correct $ for.
This work is not free.
toysaver
·11 months agoI don't think eBay accomplishes the task of disbursing the funds without effort and cost and they deserve a cut. When I had a B&M store sales tax was a booking keeping nightmare and I'm happy to pass the task off.
babyers88
·11 months agopretty cheap alternative to having to do it yourself.
I suppose one could get tax software and have it sort of automated, but that software is going to need to be updated daily, which means maintenance fee and sending out payments for every item sold.
tax rates get changed all the time when you look at the grand picture, there could be a temporary increased rate in timbuktwo, who know's
monica-sells
·11 months agoMy Mom used to say "if you can't say anything nice, just be quiet"....
I think I will follow her advice
kingsriverboy
·11 months agoWhat makes you think you were doing so just now.... So many around here remind me of old photos of people pummeling a baby seal. Nobody expects ebay to not make money. Nobody expects a compelled collection of and proper dispensing of taxes to not have a cost, But this is a very specific consistent fixed cost once the software is set with occasional rate adjustments costing much much lower than the rate a high percentage we are charged, which negatively effects us all because the end price is that much higher for buyers. Sales taxation is regressive, to make it worse is even more regressive and cannot help sales over all. I don't know about all states but many offer discounts on the sales tax collected if paid within a certain amount of time. So the invisible hand is likely double dipping, triple if you count interest gained while holding it all, and not showing it. It's the not showing it which bothers me most. Because we paid early too.
roccotacodad54
·11 months ago"So many around here remind me of old photos of people pummeling a baby seal"
Whoa..............OK.................
dhbookds
·11 months agoBeen like that for years...........ebay maintains the sales tax base for all state/city/county taxes.....they mail to the states, they handle the transfer of money........ would you rather do it yourself?
ulfesharpe
·11 months agoCompletely misleading answer since in reality it is Ebay that is selling the items — sellers are merely suppliers in a modified manner.
dryophelia
·11 months ago@ulfesharpe
eBay sells ad space to sellers.
ulfesharpe
·11 months ago@dryophelia
I know, I have promos at 5% and only 3 views. They want more — much more!
monroe67
·11 months ago"Completely misleading answer since in reality it is Ebay that is selling the items — sellers are merely suppliers in a modified manner."
Nope. That is not the true, legal "reality."
In reality, eBay sells no physical items, no physical products, no physical "things" to consumers.
In the United States of America, people who (try to) sell things on eBay are Marketplace Sellers. eBay is an online Marketplace, one of several online Marketplaces on or with which sellers can choose to list products they want to sell.
For purposes of sales taxation, eBay is a Marketplace Facilitator. Thus eBay is required by the laws of 45 of the United States to collect and remit sales taxes on the prices of applicable items sold by Marketplace Sellers on the eBay Marketplace.
(Further edited to add: Of course, sales taxation laws might be very different in Portugal . . . . .)
(Further, further edited to add: Your response above was directed to a post from "dhbookds", Response No. 3, above,
I believe, which is absolutely legally accurate.)
ulfesharpe
·11 months agoSounds like you checked with AI... There's many definitions of goods... and many definitions of things, even legally. Ebay sells goods, services, otherwise they wouldn't end up with billions squeezed from our wallets each year. They have a store front. Buyers check the windows you supply with stuff. More, things are sold at window price, not at the seller's price. And even more, ebay collects all the money and manages it and then it charges you for it, which I believe is the indignation expressed by the OP: charging to manage money and taxes no one asked them to manage. Fyi they even charge for currency conversion at exchange rates that are already spiked by 3-5% or more and — as if that wasn't already smart enough — it's higher than standard when they're converting in their benefit and it's lower than standard when they're converting in the seller's benefit.
Also, as an international site (.com) there is no obligation by non-US sellers to collect US taxes, that was the argument I was originally replying to — aka "would you rather do it yourself if Ebay didn't?"
Two things ebay never lacks: excessive fees and aggressive cheerleaders.
monroe67
·11 months agoOh, boy. I guess I did always want to be a cheerleader, especially an aggressive one.
I would have shaken my pom-poms in the faces of all those high school athletes who called me names behind my back.
Done a high kick right into their shins (or chins?)
ulfesharpe
·11 months agoMy remark wasn't directed at you actually — and I used the word cheerleaders because could't find a better one to describe many users here that are always siding with Ebay and attacking reasonable questions and doubts from users that feel that there are many things aren't alright. What's wrong with that? Nothing that I can see.
And obviously there's nothing wrong with pom-poms either.
heckofagame
·11 months agoIt's been that way since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. They didn't like it either.