eBay

kuriouskeepsakes · ‎10-04-2021

I just pieced this together in my mind. EBay calculates sales tax based on purchaser's location. EBay sends an invoice including those taxes. Buyer send payment through eBay's payment system. EBay takes the taxes out before releasing the remaining funds (after fees) to me.

So, I have nothing to do with charging, collecting, or disbursing the taxes. In fact, I never have access to that money even for a second. Yet, eBay charges me VFV on those taxes. It just seems like this can't be right.

donsdetour · ‎10-05-2021

@luckythewinner wrote:
@donsdetour wrote:
With the new laws you or eBay has to collect em: which do you prefer?
The new laws require eBay to collect and remit sales tax, not me.

So if eBay is collecting that fee to help someone comply with the law, the someone they are helping is eBay, not me.

The only scenario where I would be required to collect and remit sales taxes to the states as a result of selling on eBay would be if the new laws were completely different. But they are not.

Ok lets stop the fee on tax:

and go to say 19 percent to sell on eBay with out it. Item cost +shipping and then a final value fee of 19 percent on that:

I am sure eBay would like to do that.....

Work for all of you???

cthompsonc · ‎10-28-2021

Yes , I just got off the phone with customer service trying to explain how this doesn't make any sense

cthompsonc · ‎10-28-2021

I dont run a store. I'm just selling odds and ends. Not sure why I'm being taxed to begin with. I'm basically having a yardsale

releasethekraken_1 · ‎10-28-2021

@cthompsonc wrote:
I dont run a store. I'm just selling odds and ends. Not sure why I'm being taxed to begin with. I'm basically having a yardsale

Sales tax is paid by the buyer.

soh.maryl · ‎10-29-2021

What part does not make any sense?

eBay collects state sales tax for about 45 states. The method you have described is the way it is done.

If eBay did not do this, sellers would be required to know the tax rates for those states, to make sure the buyer was charged the correct state sales tax for the buyer's delivery location and to then remit those funds to the appropriate department of the affected state.

Fortunately, eBay does that for us sellers. Seems like it makes sense for eBay to handle what would probably be a complicated transaction for a seller and to charge for that service. Which they do by calculating the FVF on the total paid to the seller by the buyer.

svbooks · ‎11-17-2021

It's bad enough that eBay charges fees on sales tax collected on domestic orders -- above the, say, 2-3.5% range that merchant banks/credit card processors would charge.

Sales tax is typically in the 5-10% range, so 11.7% of that for example works out to an extra 1%, give or take.

However, I JUST realized they also charge those fees on VAT tax collected, for example for sales to the EU. That can be more like 15 - 25%. Now that 11.7% extra fee is more like an extra 2 or 3% one is out!

Guess it's time to raise our shipping costs to EU countries 😠

buyologist-3 · ‎11-17-2021

" The solution for sellers is of course to raise prices enough to cover this additional COMMISSION on Taxes and Shipping."~~~And let's hope buyers are good sports about prices going up all the time for these markups! Do ya think they're noticing?

maxine*j · ‎11-17-2021

@luckythewinner wrote:
@donsdetour wrote:
The alternative is you learn all tax rates including the international ones: collect them your self: file all that paper work: and hold and pay them taxes...
Again, I would be exempt from that in every single state.

Almost every state has a $100K threshold before it is required.

I don't do $100K in an entire year.

You are right, as it stands.

However, if states had been unable to finally enact "marketplace facilitator" legislation, I think those thresholds would have been lowered dramatically. States were losing far too much sales tax revenue in on-line sales, and I think they would have gone after individual sellers, no matter how small their annual sales and with goodness-knows-what reporting / collecting / remitting requirements, if the states had been unable to do the "marketplace facilitator" thing.

Or, there would have been legislation at the federal level. I know of three bills introduced in between 2011 and 2015 that would have allowed states to tax remote sales. (Marketplace Fairness Act, Remote Transactions Parity Act, Online Sales Simplification Act). None of the bills were passed, of course, but such legislation was definitely "in the air." Then in 2018, U.S. the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota vs Wayfair made all the bills irrelevant.

=

slippinjimmy · ‎11-17-2021

@svbooks wrote:
It's bad enough that eBay charges fees on sales tax collected on domestic orders -- above the, say, 2-3.5% range that merchant banks/credit card processors would charge.

Sales tax is typically in the 5-10% range, so 11.7% of that for example works out to an extra 1%, give or take.

However, I JUST realized they also charge those fees on VAT tax collected, for example for sales to the EU. That can be more like 15 - 25%. Now that 11.7% extra fee is more like an extra 2 or 3% one is out!

Guess it's time to raise our shipping costs to EU countries 😠

Actually the time to increase shipping for the UK was January 1, 2021 and for the EU July 1, 2021 (for Australia it was in 2020).

One positive about International sales is that your fees are based on the Item + Tax + Shipping BUT the shipping amount is your lowest DOMESTIC shipping charge not what the International buyer actually paid.

For example:

$25 item sale in an EU buyer with $20 shipping (domestic shipping for the same item is $4)

Your fees are based on $25 + $4 shipping + Tax NOT $25 + $20 + Tax

Helps balance off the high rates of VAT in Europe.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎11-17-2021

@luckythewinner They are collecting that fee to help eBay comply with the law.

Yes; and if I have a business that a new law goes into effect that costs me more money (time is money and/or) then that cost gets passed on to my customers/users.

Liquor Stores don't want to charge $10 for a pack of smokes or $30 for that bottle of Vodka; but because there is $6 in taxes on Tobacco and $15 in taxes on alcohol, I'm passing that cost on to you...my customer.

What's the difference?

ryanrobyn · ‎11-17-2021

the only thing that bothers me is that many times the tax rates are incorrect and the seller can do nothing to correct that

stainlessenginecovers · ‎11-17-2021

There are 3600 counties in the US: many with different tax rates.

How would you know if they are incorrect? If incorrect for your zip, you need to use 9 digit as 5 digit can be 'blanket' area and be incorrect.

svbooks · ‎11-17-2021

@slippinjimmy wrote:

Actually the time to increase shipping for the UK was January 1, 2021 and for the EU July 1, 2021 (for Australia it was in 2020).

One positive about International sales is that your fees are based on the Item + Tax + Shipping BUT the shipping amount is your lowest DOMESTIC shipping charge not what the International buyer actually paid.

For example: $25 item sale in an EU buyer with $20 shipping (domestic shipping for the same item is $4)

Your fees are based on $25 + $4 shipping + Tax NOT $25 + $20 + Tax

Helps balance off the high rates of VAT in Europe.

Right, but I didn't look into it on eBay in a timely manner. On other sites we sell on, like Abebooks for example, we don't pay ANY fees on the VAT taxes (just on sales tax, as we would on our own site).

Yes, I did think about the shipping aspect of the fees today because a couple of items that went to the EU had "free shipping" in the U.S. vs. actual shipping costs charged to the buyer abroad. So we made a little extra in effect since we weren't out the "free shipping" or any fees on the shipping.

However, that would have been the case to ANY international destination. I just sucks that because they were to EU countries, we were out several dollars extra. (One item was $135, too bad it wasn't $150 or above to avoid eBay's collection and fees.)