Ebay adding $.03 to customer's invoice if sales tax is being collected by ebay?

[rgsalez]

As a retired accountant, I notice little things like a $.03 variance ebay shows on my item sale if the transaction has sales tax collected by ebay. Example- item $9.99, Shipping $5.62, I received $15.61. But the sales record shows 15.64 before the sales tax is added. This is the case with all such sales I checked where ebay added sales tax. FYI, when a business remits sales tax, they get a discount which means they get to keep some of the tax collected. If Ebay is charging customers and collecting the discount....bad dog...

Also, note some states charge the tax on both the purchase price and shipping. In these states (PA for example), Ebay adds $.03 like the others but then seems to deduct $.03 from the actual tax amount stated on the invoice (not visible to seller).

Customer service was supposed to have someone call me but doubtful anyone will...

[mansons2005]

"FYI, when a business remits sales tax, they get a discount which means they get to keep some of the tax collected. If Ebay is charging customers and collecting the discount....bad dog..."

You should be aware that in many instances the new laws require the Market Place Facilitator to collect and remit the tax, not the seller. So IF there is any discount, eBay is entitled to it as they are the are the entity legally required to remit it. That is also the reason that the tax is charged as a separate transaction. They can not "roll" it into the transaction and then take those funds from the seller.

[rgsalez]

Like I said, ebay is entitled to the discount. Charging the buyer a $.03 fee is the topic/question. Sorry if you were confused thinking the seller is effected at all, the buyer is who gets the charge. Most sellers will be oblivious/won't care for that reason.

[the_fancy_fox]

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@mansons2005 wrote:
"FYI, when a business remits sales tax, they get a discount which means they get to keep some of the tax collected. If Ebay is charging customers and collecting the discount....bad dog..."

You should be aware that in many instances the new laws require the Market Place Facilitator to collect and remit the tax, not the seller. So IF there is any discount, eBay is entitled to it as they are the are the entity legally required to remit it. That is also the reason that the tax is charged as a separate transaction. They can not "roll" it into the transaction and then take those funds from the seller.

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Don’t try that on California. The law is clear. If you over collect you can either refund the customer or remit it to the state. You can not keep it.

[femmefan1946]

@the_fancy_fox 

When we were registered to collect and remit sales taxes in Ontario, we got a discount on the amount we collected as a sort of fee for doing the paperwork.

If we made $100K in sales that month, we collected $15,000 in provincial and federal sales taxes. We got a 5% rebate as our fee. So the Governments got $14,250 and we kept $750.

We've been retired for a few years now, but I think those were the figures.

This wasn't actually a profit centre, but it covered the expenses of bookkeeping, etc.

It makes sense to reward the one actually collecting the money for their labour.

[diecastpast]

the $.03 appears to be a charge/fee by ebay, it is NOT being collected as tax. Tried asking a buyer to give me details in invoice...didn't reply. I can imagine ebay figuring they should charge an extra fee for transactions involving tax, without considering states allow a discount when remitting as payment for the collection. So is the double-dipping intentional or inadvertent fraud? If a glitch where the buyers will be repaid .03/transaction (from ebay)?