Final value fees are total **bleep**!

[i-b-ha-p-4-u]

I do not understand why taxes paid by buyer are added to sellers sale price to determine what seller pays-YET the amount is taken from ONLY sale price. For example-

I sold a bracelet for $3936.

Final value was assessed at $4211.52  (which includes the tax buyer paid) at 13% was $547.50

This was deducted from sale price of $3936 rather than the total amount of $4211.52

How is it fair to include taxes paid into final value-and then deduct it from sale price? 

This is a difference of $275.82 !!!

$3936-$547.50=$3388.20

$4211.52-$547.50=$3665.02

I don't think sellers are aware of this.

Looks like they are double dipping!!! and I don't even understand how they justify adding the buyers taxes onto our sale price-since SELLERS do not benefit in any way on taxes buyers pay.

[inhawaii]

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@i-b-ha-p-4-u wrote:

I don't think sellers are aware of this.

---

Smart sellers who read BEFORE they list something are aware of this. 

[klhmdg]

ALL fees are spelled out.

Very easy to understand and anyone who read About Selling and even watches the video "understanding fees" is not shocked.

Not double dipping at all. 

SMH!

[ebooksdiva]

eBay takes a small percentage as a fee for collecting and remitting sales tax for sellers , so we don’t have to do that ourselves. 
Also Adyen, the payment processor is not set up to exclude sales tax from the total amount of a buyers payment. No payment processor works that way. 

[4pawsup*]

Ebay is not the only selling venue that does this. You have been selling for a while and you just know noticed that? 

[ajs_coins_and_alchemy]

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@i-b-ha-p-4-u wrote:

I don't think sellers are aware of this.

---

All sellers who read before they list (like they should do) are aware of this.

New sellers who didn't read before listing are not aware of this, but should be...

Sellers (LIKE YOU) who have apparently sold over 3,000 items so far and have been on eBay for 17 years ... have no excuse.

[dbfolks166mt]

     What I cannot understand is how a seller who has been on eBay for almost 20 years, has over 3.0K in sales and 145 followers does not understand the eBay FVF policy and the state sales tax laws. You may want to read the following and refresh your memory on how fees are applied. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822&st=3&pos=1&query=Sellin... 

The following covers the application and collection of sales tax. For state and other sales tax laws you will need to review the 10,000+ individual state, county, city, parish............ sales tax laws if you want to fully understand the application of sales tax. 

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/paying-items/paying-tax-ebay-purchases?id=4771&st=3&pos=1&query=Pay...  

[laststopgeneralstore]

Well, you're wrong so let me help you out.

100% of all sellers that choose to sell on this platform are not only aware of how fee's are calculated & taken but are also aware of exactly how eBay works as every single one of us sellers that chose to sell on this platform have done our due diligence to not only read over all of the terms and condition that are very very clearly laid out but also accept all of those terms and conditions that we all did our due diligence on after carefully going over and reading said terms and condition thus concluding once again that we are all aware of every aspect of everything laid out in said terms and conditions that you, myself & all others have read thru carefully and accepted.

It is the sellers fault, in this case YOU, that you did not take the time to fully understand EXACTLY how selling on this platform works.

Yet again another one that refuses to take accountability for their actions & will blame eBay for their lack of comprehension of the terms and conditions.

Not that it matters but most, if not all payment processors charge their fee on the entire amount including the sales tax, shipping etc... That means every time you swipe your credit/debit card, the merchant gets charged a fee on the entire amount including the sales tax.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

One of the frustrations of doing retail business is being forced to be an unpaid tax collector.

When the marketplace taxes were created as a substitute for sales tax, Ebay decided it was not going to be an unpaid tax collector. It decided to monetize tax collection. It did so by requiring the source of all their revenues, the seller to foot the bill.

Either it is worth it to you or it is not.

There are some marketplaces which are serving as unpaid tax collectors, you can find one and hope your buyers visit it.

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@i-b-ha-p-4-u wrote:

I do not understand why taxes paid by buyer are added to sellers sale price to determine what seller pays-YET the amount is taken from ONLY sale price. For example-

I sold a bracelet for $3936.

Final value was assessed at $4211.52  (which includes the tax buyer paid) at 13% was $547.50

This was deducted from sale price of $3936 rather than the total amount of $4211.52

How is it fair to include taxes paid into final value-and then deduct it from sale price? 

This is a difference of $275.82 !!!

$3936-$547.50=$3388.20

$4211.52-$547.50=$3665.02

---

No, It's NOT a difference of $275.82!! You are doing this ALL wrong.

You sold a 'thing' for $3936.

13% of $3936 is $511.68

You would NET $3424

You got $3380 so why do you think you should get to keep the sales tax collected and get $3665??

This is only a difference of $44!

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

Lets not forget ebay actually get about 11% and the card processor is going to take 2.5 thereabouts.

When you use a credit/debit card at any retailer online or offline they pay the card processor fee's which are based on the total sale.  eBay's always been one of the most affordable venues when it comes to fee's.  Back when places such as iDeal, uBid, Auction World, Onsale, Surplus Direct all big B2C points of sale fee's were over 20% from word go and that was 20 years ago.

Now if someone want do a real "Compare!" then look eBay rates 20 years ago versus the US Postal Service Rates now.  Back then, I could send Priority mail with a USPS Box for $3.95, now, that same box and service  is $15+ bucks, 400% higher with no end in sight.

[monroe67]

"I do not understand why taxes paid by buyer are added to sellers sale price to determine what seller pays-YET the amount is taken from ONLY sale price. For example-

I sold a bracelet for $3936.

Final value was assessed at $4211.52  (which includes the tax buyer paid) at 13% was $547.50

This was deducted from sale price of $3936 rather than the total amount of $4211.52

How is it fair to include taxes paid into final value-and then deduct it from sale price? 

This is a difference of $275.82 !!!

$3936-$547.50=$3388.20

$4211.52-$547.50=$3665.02

I don't think sellers are aware of this.

Looks like they are double dipping!!! and I don't even understand how they justify adding the buyers taxes onto our sale price-since SELLERS do not benefit in any way on taxes buyers pay."

Oh, The Outrage !!   These lines appear to contain the crux of your problem:

"I do not understand why taxes paid by buyer are added to sellers sale price to determine what seller pays-YET the amount is taken from ONLY sale price. For example-

I sold a bracelet for $3936.

Final value was assessed at $4211.52  (which includes the tax buyer paid) at 13% was $547.50

This was deducted from sale price of $3936 rather than the total amount of $4211.52

How is it fair to include taxes paid into final value-and then deduct it from sale price?"

OK -- in your example, you listed that bracelet with free shipping. 
Therefore, your buyer paid only the Item Price ($3,936) plus Sales Tax ($275.52).
I arrived at the sales tax amount by doing some third-grade math:  
$4,211.52 (total paid by your buyer) - $3,936 (agreed price for the Item) = $275.52.

So your buyer paid only two designated amounts:  Item and Sales Tax.
eBay is required to collect sales taxes on sales that are conducted on their platform.  AND eBay is required to submit those taxes to the appropriate states.  In your example of this one sale, after eBay sends $275.52 to the buyer's state, that leaves only the Item Price.  

Of course, eBay's fees are going to come out of the Item Price!  Where else would they come from?  
Of course, the final payouts to eBay sellers from virtually any and all sales are going to be reduced by eBay's fees! 
Have you never noticed this before in any of your previous sales? 
BTW, you are privileged  that eBay's percentage fees on the sale of that particular bracelet were "only" $547.50!   If my selling ID had listed and sold it, she would have paid $631.73 to eBay!  Why?  My selling ID does not have A Store, and you do, so you get  to pay eBay only 13% in Final Value Fees for jewelry sales, when I would have to pay 15%.  

Maybe you should have held out for the full $4,373 . . . but that would have meant more fees for eBay . . . oooh, baaad.  

" . . . I don't even understand how they justify adding the buyers taxes onto our sale price-since SELLERS do not benefit in any way on taxes buyers pay."

"Justify"??  The United States Supreme Court decision in South Dakota -- South Dakota v Wayfair, Inc., issued in June of 2018, and all the state laws that followed that decision require eBay to collect sales taxes on transactions done on their platform.  It's the law.  

[mam98031]

@i-b-ha-p-4-u 

You have been selling a long time for this to just be coming up now.  That is a head scratcher in and of itself.  However if you are confused about this, it is important that you get some help you to understand the process so that you don't remain frustrated by it.

Since we changed over to Ebay being our money processor, we have paid fees to Ebay on the sales tax that a buyer pays.  Before that we paid those fees to PayPal.  Oh yes, we paid Paypal their fees on sales tax too.

Your math is a bit off which is likely why you are confused.  No seller keeps the sales tax the buyer pays.  Ebay is required by law to remit that to the appropriate state, so they remove it for those purposes.  Your figures appear to suggest that you should get to keep the sales tax paid by the buyer.

So from your numbers I get the following.

$3,936.00  Your sell price for the item including shipping.

       275.52   Sales Tax paid buy buyer

$4,211.52

$4211.52 X 13% FVF = $547.50

So out of the total money processed by Ebay that included sales tax of $4,211.52 you subtract the Sales Tax that gets paid to the appropriate state and your FVFs to come up with your Gross payment before shipping.

$4,211.52  Total sale including sales tax

      275.82  Less sales tax paid to the appropriate state

      547.50  Less your FVFs to Ebay

$3,388.50  Paid to you 

Then if you ship it via Ebay shipping that amount paid to your carrier will be deducted from what you were paid above.

[chapeau-noir]

I don't think sellers are aware of this.

If sellers weren't aware of this before, they certainly are now with the 48975945 threads on this forum complaining about it.

[theteamsetguy]

@chapeau-noir ,

That it? I thought the number would be much greater? I lost count after 101.