FVF

[9tara9]

is it legal for ebay to charge me as part of my FVF, 12.35% on the sales tax, paid by the buyer,  as part of my final value fee, that money goes to the state where ebay pays the sales tax to

[tdumonde2014]

Yes.

[usmediamass]

@9tara9 

     It is not clear yet.   State requiring online sellers to collect sales tax is really new in most states.  Laws vary state by state and online sales tax laws have many new unsolved issues.  States pay sellers to collect, record and pay sales tax.  I do not know about all states, in Florida it is .25%.  That is the amount of money the state of Florida has calculated that it cost retailers to collect, record and pay sales tax.  So the 12.35% does seem over the top, way over the top.  It is illegal for retailers to charge people extra for sales tax, and the extra fees in these cases are solely related to the collection of sales tax.  Most of it may boil down to the book keeping by ebay of the FVF; and which is a processing fee to collect the sales tax and what is consider fee to collect the tax.  Another concern would be, in some state there is not sales tax collected for shipping, unless the shipping charges included handling, and then the total amount is taxable.  If shipping is more than actually cost and sales tax in not charged, is it ebay's or the seller's fault?

     There are unsolved issues with ebay about returns and sales tax.  Issues where although sales tax was never actually given to the ebay seller, the refund for sales tax to the buyer is taken from the seller's account, and then only a partial credit for the amount of tax ebay collected is returned to the seller.   Basically this means ebay collected money for sales tax that was not paid to the state.  Issues like this and many more  may slowly find there way to the state courts to be resolved, or may not. 

     What allows ebay to currently charge you is you user agreement.  It states that it is one of their fees and you signed up for it, and if you didn't sign up for that, your user agreement allows ebay to add or increase fees anytime they want, for any reason.  As an ebay member, whether you were aware or not, you also signed an agreement never to enter into a class action against ebay.   So you, as an ebay member  have little options, pay or leave.  Is that all legal?  Until each question shows up in court, in each state, we will never really know.  

    As a fellow ebay seller, I feel ebay needs to know the concerns of each member about the new FVF on sales tax and smaller discounts on shipping from USPS and the negative impact it has on each of our businesses.  So speak up and let ebay know how it makes it impossible to compete with other online platforms.  ebay's fees must be added to the cost of our sales, and online the more something costs the less it sales.  

I hope this helps and good luck.  

[handyhandz4u]

Yes it is, they have an agreement with every single state. You pay fees to ebay, for the use of their program. Because honestly, nobody wants to deal with 50 different state taxes.

[usmediamass]

@9tara9 

ebay does collect tax nor pay sales tax in all fifty states.  

Online platforms are required by some states to collect sales tax.  

Many other sites do it without additional fees.  

Fees to sellers should be the same, regardless if sales tax is collected or not. 

The states pay ebay a small percentage of the tax collected for collecting the tax.

ebay then charges you 10% to collect it.  

It is not always what is right or wrong but what you signed up for. 

You use their program, you have no rights.   

[johnrj1226]

Yes it is  legal.   I feel confident that eBay's legal team checked it all out.  Also, PayPal fees were/are assessed on the the total amount paid by the buyer.

[usmediamass]

@johnrj1226 

You know it is legal, or you think ebay's team checked it out?

In Florida I do know it is illegal to charge someone extra for sales tax.

Are all the states the same?

Also, PayPal fees on sales tax never included the additional 10% final value fee on above the processing fee.  

[crescentstation]

PayPal charged you their processing fee on the Sales Tax, which as I recall was 2.9%. This would be the same arrangement if you accepted credit cards and ran them through your own terminal (like ye days of olde).

However, eBay is charging you a Final Value Fee on the entire transaction (i.e. including shipping and sales tax), which in our case is 12.35% plus $.30. It may be legal, but it sure isn't "right".  They just keep making it harder for Sellers to make a buck (because effectively, your fees are roughly 17-18%+ on the price of the item you sold) and eventually we will just stop selling here and go somewhere else or create our own site.

[usmediamass]

@crescentstation @9tara9 @tdumonde2014 @handyhandz4u @johnrj1226 

This thread got moved, and ended up way down on the second page. 

Seem like some of my listings.   

That does not seem right either.  

[johnrj1226]

No one is getting charged  "extra" for  sales tax.  The buyer pays the due  sales tax % period.    They seller does not collect the sales tax, eBay does. The seller simply gets charged a  selling fee based on the total  amount the buyer paid -  that total includes any applicable sales tax.  No kiting of the sales tax.

It is an SOP in today's business world that a  companies legal council "scrub" every document, policy, agreements, etc to ensure that they comply  appropriate laws before they are published/enacted.  Worked for 4 large companies in my career & they all  did.  This is why I feel very confident eBay did.  Of course, I don't have first hand knowledge about eBay.

[9tara9]

thanks for your response, i learned a few things

[one-troyounce]

It's not about 'extra' for sales tax, it's about collecting 12+% on top of it.  PayPal only charged a reasonable 2.9%.  eBay is robbing their sellers yet again.  The double digit fees on top of the sales tax are unreasonable no matter how you look at it. 

[busymom_23]

Same question....I not sure how you can make a profit on collected sales tax.  The percentage sales tax for each state is different, plus in most states the sales tax under $100 reusable clothing sale is only 4.5% and the top sales tax collecter is 10% so if ebay is charging 12.55% on set aside sales tax they are making a profit and I not sure that is allowed either.  

So when I go into work and we charge 8.875% on items, and I decide to charge 12.55% fee to customers I don't think they will return to my shop.  So WHY is EBAY doing that to us sellers?  Charge your fees EBAY but to charge a fee for sales is not correct.  Also the fact that EBAY Lobbied to avoid the added sales tax and lost so now they charge the sales tax it plus more?  I don't like it

[buyselljack2016]

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@busymom_23 wrote:

Same question....I not sure how you can make a profit on collected sales tax.  The percentage sales tax for each state is different, plus in most states the sales tax under $100 reusable clothing sale is only 4.5% and the top sales tax collecter is 10% so if ebay is charging 12.55% on set aside sales tax they are making a profit and I not sure that is allowed either.  

So when I go into work and we charge 8.875% on items, and I decide to charge 12.55% fee to customers I don't think they will return to my shop.  So WHY is EBAY doing that to us sellers?  Charge your fees EBAY but to charge a fee for sales is not correct.  Also the fact that EBAY Lobbied to avoid the added sales tax and lost so now they charge the sales tax it plus more?  I don't like it

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eBay does not charge sales tax. They collect/remit the sales tax as required by the states that have a law requiring that they do it.

eBay/MP fees are about the same as eBay/PP fees.  Run the #'s, and check it out. Be sure to use the new PP rates when comparing.

[busymom_23]

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