Is this another "Because they can?"

[retromedia2]

I actually believe they CAN'T!

Someone rationally explain to me WHY eBay is entitled to take a commission on the buyer's due "sales tax?

This is not an "earning" on the part of the seller - or in fact anything to do with him/her. The seller doesn't even handle/see it! It is a charge payable by the buyer so just HOW does it become commissionable to EBay? This is a rort!

[kensgiftshop]

Because they say so.

Actually they can.

[dhbookds]

One of the justifications is that they collect/transfer the $$ to the state........would you rather do it yourself?

[pikabo-icu]

@retromedia2 

Yep @dhbookds  Nailed it..

There are dozens of states that all charge differing amounts of sales tax.

eBay calculates & remits payment to them all, for us.

The tiny amount we pay in fees on the tax is well worth it. 

[harborauction]

It's a great source of revenue for ebay, they are in business to make a profit for their investors 

And yes, because they can

[lacemaker3]

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@retromedia2 wrote:

I actually believe they CAN'T!

Someone rationally explain to me WHY eBay is entitled to take a commission on the buyer's due "sales tax?

This is not an "earning" on the part of the seller - or in fact anything to do with him/her. The seller doesn't even handle/see it! It is a charge payable by the buyer so just HOW does it become commissionable to EBay? This is a rort!

---

@retromedia2 

The bottom line is that eBay is not processing the payment, that is Adyen, which eBay has contracted to process their payments.

Adyen charges their fees on the full amount that the buyer pays. That is the industry-standard process. All payment processors charge fees on the full amount of the payment that they process. PayPal did the same thing, when they were processing payments for eBay.

eBay has to pay a fee to Adyen based on the full amount of the buyer's payment. So eBay has to charge sellers the same way. If they didn't, then eBay would have to pay some of the fee to Adyen, and they don't want to do that. (eBay management can't do that, because eBay's responsibility is to produce a profit for their shareholders.)

eBay wants needs to pass the full amount of the fee they have to pay on to the seller. If eBay management did not do that, they would not be fulfilling their responsibility to their shareholders. So the shareholders would fire the eBay management, and replace them with management who would do the right/best  thing for the shareholders. (Shareholders have done this in the past, and forced changes onto eBay  management.)

There are lots of ways that people can try to rationalize this, but the bottom line is, eBay is not going to pay for processing any of the buyer's payment. eBay can't do that, because that would not be in their (eBay's) shareholders' interest.

The seller gets the profit, the seller has to pay the fees. On the full amount that the buyer paid. That's how capitalism, and payment processing, works.

That's how it works. That's how the world works. There's no point in arguing about it.

[janet9988]

All payment processors  charge fees on the total amount the buyer pays. Not just ebay.

Paypal does it also.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@janet9988 wrote:

All payment processors  charge fees on the total amount the buyer pays. Not just ebay.

Paypal does it also.

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@retromedia2 

And when you go to Trader Joes, Bloomingdales, Lowes, Home Depot, Whole Foods and even McDonald's and Taco Bell, when you pay with a credit card, every one of those merchants pay fees to the payment processors charge fees to each of those businesses. And the fees are based on the total payment you made to the businesses.

[stainlessenginecovers]

'believe' in one hand and xx in the other and see which one fills up faster. 

It's simply the way they do it.

Although they could just raise the regular rate to cover the 'largest sales tax %' across the board, and then a seller will be paying more on the 6 states that don't even do 'sales' tax. 

[movieman630]

Would you rather get a tax id in all 50 states, collect and file those taxes every quarter?

[chapeau-noir]

What brought this on all of a sudden? eBay has been doing this for quite a while.

[inhawaii]

Ok, instead of using the "Because they can" justification, how about I use this one...

"Because you agreed to it."

[luckythewinner]

Someone rationally explain to me WHY eBay is entitled to take a commission on the buyer's due "sales tax?

They aren't "entitled" to do it, they simply do it.

And they continue to do it because an overwhelming majority of sellers accepted it and continued to sell here afterward.

Including you. 

[gurlcat]

@retromedia2  Sincere question: Do you know how to use the search bar for Community posts, to see if maybe ... anyone .... has already posted about whatever outrage you just found out about? 

Also, what is a "rort"? 

[dy60609]

a fraudulent scheme : trick