Help with variable Sales Tax

[mrlu-7991]

Does anyone know what the HIGHEST sales tax is in the nation? I am trying to price items accordingly now as I  took a loss due to a high sales tax rate. I am thinking the only way to prevent that is to either

1-Not ship to that state 

2- Price items higher but run the risk of losing sales

How do you guys deal with this issue? Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated

**DISCLAIMER This is NOT the ID I am selling the items from***

[dhbookds]

As far as I know 10% is the highest rate..........so on $100, it's $10 and 13% of that would be $1.30 so if you lost money on a sale because of $1.30.......you have more problems than the sales tax........

You can't exclude states........except HI and Alaska........

[heckofagame]

47 of the 50 states have sales tax collected by eBay. Not shipping to states that require collection does not seem like a good business model.

Keep in mind that you are not paying the tax, the buyer is, however, you do pay 12.9% processing fees on that tax.

[buyselljack2016]

As other posted, about 10% seems to be it, but  you could shoot a bit lower using the national average, but then that's a crapshoot, because your sales $ total may not ship at that average. Higher price items might go to a 10% + location, and your low $ items might go to a low/no tax location.

$11 item X sales tax X eBay FVF  = not enough to be concerned about.  My margins are good.

[buyselljack2016]

$11 item X sales tax X eBay FVF = not enough to be concerned about. My margins are good.

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Not applicable. The NOT the ID I am selling the items from slipped back out of my head as I edited adding that line to my previous post.

Going to go sit in the corner now, and reflect upon the error of my ways. (as a child, I had to stand in the corner, but old now, and must sit)

[krazzykats]

How did you take a loss on sales tax, can you explain this a bit more?

The buyer pays the sales tax, you pay ebay fees.

[motortown_inc]

I try and account for all costs when setting a sell price, shipping, tax , ebay fees, overhead and the likes. To make a true margin , it is the only way to ensure you will end up on the positive side after the sale. Review all of your cost and then come up with a margin that will ensure a profit. 

[hartungcards]

It all evens out in the end.

[mrlu-7991]

Simple. it wasn't high markup to begin with. The extra fee on the Higher tax made the loss. I didn't calculate for it in the pricing

[soh.maryl]

I don't get it.  Honestly, I am saying that more and more often these days.

Your buyer pays the state sales tax, not you, the seller.

And, if you're referring to the fact that the FVF is charged on the state sales tax that the buyer pays, how much can that be, honestly?  

Why not just routinely add a small percentage to the price of the item? 

[mrlu-7991]

That is my intent. I am just trying gauge how others handle it. I know I will "win" on most transactions but dont want to overprice items.

[mrlu-7991]

Dont want to charge too much 

[monroe67]

"Simple. it wasn't high markup to begin with."

And whose fault is it that the markup wasn't high enough to begin with?  

"The extra fee on the Higher tax made the loss. I didn't calculate for it in the pricing"

The fee on most categories in eBay is 12.9%.  You can round that up to 13% for your initial calculations.
That 12.9% is charged on the total paid by your buyer: 
Item price + any handling charge + postage that the buyer pays + any sales tax + any other applicable charge.  
And each order on eBay is subject to a flat 30 cent fee.   An "order" can be one item purchased by a buyer, or more than one item, from separate listings by the same seller, purchased by the same buyer.  

This type of question has been asked and ranted about many times here on this board.  
A lot of sellers simply do a preliminary estimate of eBay's total fees as roughly 20% to 30% of the item's price. 
Granted, that is not going to give you a promise that you will receive 70% to 80% of the item's price. 

But it does give you a rough idea, for your own mind, of what your payout will be.  

[nobody*s_perfect]

The average sales tax rate is about 6 - 6.5% and the highest is about 10%, not including potential local add-ons. And a few states have no sales tax at all.  So pricing your items to allow for the extra final value fee for about 7 or 8% should cover you.

[mrlu-7991]

Thanks for your feedback. I never placed the blame on anyone other than myself. I am just looking for a simple solution to a problem. When I set my prices I set them for a LOW profit because these particular items usually sell in quantities. Also, I have had them listed for a while BEFORE eBay started collecting the sales tax. So now it is becoming a MINOR issue...