Texas Sellers - Do You Like Paying Additional Fees?
As many of you are surely aware, as of October 1, 2025, eBay has been charging Texas sellers a sales tax on transaction fees and monthly store fees. This was a change as a result of a new interpretation of Texas Administrative Code § 3.330 which now levies tax on "data processing charges". I haven't heard any real uproar of this change and so yesterday I decided to write to my local Texas House Representative. I received a call back today (the next day) from a worker at the Representative's office wanting to know more about my email. I reiterated that due to this new change, online sellers in the State of Texas were now paying a tax on top of FEES we're already being charged. He agreed that this probably wasn't the intended outcome and would talk it over with the Representative.
My email alone may not make much of a difference, BUT if we all contact our local Reps and (civilly) request a 2nd look at what I hope is an unintended consequence of this new interpretation, then maybe it can get changed.
I really didn't think that my email would go anywhere, but who knows?
To find your local Texas representative:
wrm [dot] capitol [dot] Texas [dot] gov / home
Thanks for Reading,
Andrew H.
Five Little Ducks Resale LLC
Waxahachie, Texas
bigtexasyardsale
·9 months agoWhere would I look to see this? I just tried transaction history and I don't see anything that sounds like this hitting my account.
I would think it should be deductable as an expense on my federal taxes. If I can find it.
hotwheelsbum
·9 months agoJust Sold a Shirt last night on Poshmark. $18 something dollar sale. Texas Fee was .20 cents.
Was it enough to make me want to call my State Representative over, ESPECIALLY knowing that there's nothing I can say or do to change it?
Nope
Prices you have your items priced at, that Fee is going to mean nothing to you. Choose your battles. Be more productive. List more. Complain less.
monroe67
·9 months ago"Prices you have your items priced at, that Fee is going to mean nothing to you.
Choose your battles. Be more productive. List more. Complain less."
BINGO !!
jdbelt1960
·9 months agoTexas advertises itself as tax free but they do have fees. Apparently as long as you call taxes fees people are okay with it.
slippinjimmy
·9 months agoYeah the 9 States that claim to be "tax free" (No State Income Tax), have high rates of Sales Tax, high rates of Property Tax, high rates of User Fees, high rates of anything they can find to extract money from the residents.
That said, States like Texas do need money to fix their derelict electrical grid and many other problems that exist in Texas.
draftqueen
·9 months agoTexas does not have a state income tax. Texas has property taxes and sales taxes.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoFeel free to BOMBARD your legislators with your complaints; however, since this is an additional revenue stream for your state, don't count on seeing this law/rule repealed.
Your realize that the final value fee you're paying to eBay is income for eBay, but this new thing for Texas and probably eventually other states is income for the State of Texas, right?
monroe67
·9 months ago"I received a call back today (the next day) from a worker at the Representative's office wanting to know more about my email. I reiterated that due to this new change, online sellers in the State of Texas were now paying a tax on top of FEES we're already being charged. He agreed that this probably wasn't the intended outcome and would talk it over with the Representative."
That may just be a little "smoke," perhaps an attempt to placate you and get you off the phone.
I am pretty sure that the Texas legislature (or whatever organization created these new regulations) fully intended to increase the state's revenue from taxing services, similar to the way they tax sales.
As "stainless" stated above, I won't be surprised if other states implement a similar tax in future years.
ltldpr
·9 months agoDid the representative tell you what the intention was, if it wasn't to tax us for fees?
I should know more about it, but life has been a little hectic and it slipped by me.
Also, howdy, neighbor! (East Bernard here)
stainlessenginecovers
·9 months agoFYI; that's a thing coming eventually to ALL states. Just another 'tax' that won't get changed.