eBay

autopiacarcare · ‎01-03-2019

We know that eBay has said starting January 1, they will be collecting and remitting sales tax for WA and MN. We have not yet had a sale to either of these states this year, but have noticed a difference between our listings and other sellers listings.

Our listings still show in the sales tax tab "Seller charges sales tax in multiple states" with "multiple states" being a link that takes you to the tax rate table as we had previously set it up, which shows WA at 8.76% and nothing for MN. (Listing ID 253474630872 for example)

However, if we look at another seller's listing for the same item (253975812991), they show " FL*(7.0%), MN*, WA*."

@Anonymousor one of the other blues, can you let us know if this is a glitch or if there is something we need to do to update our listings so eBay will be properly collecting and remitting tax for WA and MN?

7606dennis · ‎02-05-2019

@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
Thanks. For right now I have enough on my plate, so I'll see how this plays out moving forward. It may also be because I never collected in state ST because it was such a hassle with ebay only providing one rate and this state having moved to destination based.

Just easier on the few in state sales to work it out myself and remit from profits lol

I'm curious as to how you avoided collecting sales tax to in state buyers if you are required to collect it. Are you saying that you paid the buyer's sales tax obligation for them? Geez! That was generous of you.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

autopiacarcare · ‎02-06-2019

@Anonymous - I also just tested by revising a listing and unchecking the "Charge sales tax according to the sales tax table" box. With that box not checked, the listing shows

Taxes

Sales tax may apply when shipping to: Iowa*, Minnesota*, Washington*.

* Tax applies to subtotal + S&H for these states only

If I go back and re-check the box in the listing, it reverts back to our tax rate table that does not show Iowa or Minnesota at all and shows the previous tax rate we had set for Washington. So the issue is definitely with the tax rate table.

Anonymous · ‎02-06-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:

Thanks @Anonymous - Yes the actual collection of tax is working correctly. My issue at this time is just the display of the tax table in the listings. I am concerned about the negative affect it may have on the buyer experience when their state is not shown in the tax table in the "shipping and payments" tab on the listing, but they are charged tax by eBay when they checkout.

We don't use third party listing tools. We create the listings directly in eBay using the advanced listing form. Our listings are all Good Til Canceled. We use "Sell Similar" occasionally, mostly to relist products that may have been previously ended. The tax rate table displays the same both for listings that were created from scratch and for listings that were created from "sell similar."

All of the listings have checked the option that says "Charge sales tax according to the sales tax table." I have tried editing our tax rate table and then doing a bulk update/edit to "refresh" the listings, but that does not apply the new tax information for WA, MN and IA.

Hi @autopiacarcare, thank you so much for the additional details. I'm working with our tech teams to have this reviewed and resolve any issues with how the tax table/rate is displayed. Definitely understand how this could lead to some concerns for your customers and will let you know if I need anything else in this investigation!

autopiacarcare · ‎02-06-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
Hi @autopiacarcare, thank you so much for the additional details. I'm working with our tech teams to have this reviewed and resolve any issues with how the tax table/rate is displayed. Definitely understand how this could lead to some concerns for your customers and will let you know if I need anything else in this investigation!

Thanks @Anonymous . I just received a notice from our accounting department that I need to add additional states to our tax rate table. Now when I go to edit the tax table, WA, IA, and MN are grayed out and it won't let me input anything for those rates. Those states are also not being displayed in the listings under the "shipping and payments tab".

This has caused a new issue. MN is one of the states I was just notified to add because we meet the requirements to collect tax due to sales across multiple channels, but our sales to that state just through eBay are not over $10,000. If I'm reading the information here correctly, that means eBay will not be collecting and remitting tax for MN for us and we will need to do it directly. However, I am not able to enter a rate in the tax rate table for MN because it is grayed out in the tax rate table settings. I have confirmed that none of our sales to MN since Jan 1. have had tax collected by eBay and if I test with a MN address on one of our listings, it does not show any tax applied.

This leaves us in a position where we are legally required to collect sales tax and eBay's system is preventing us from doing so. Please advise ASAP.

dtexley3 · ‎02-06-2019

Seriously, eBay doesn't have tax lawyers reviewing the impact these changes have? The design teams and the UAT teams should include SME staff checking all this carefully. It's shameful that eBay continues to have this many issues in areas that have serious financial impacts on sellers.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

autopiacarcare · ‎02-06-2019

I just tried calling CS about this issue. The CS rep was very rude, didn't understand my question and when I asked for a supervisor, they put me on hold and transferred me to PayPal.

dtexley3 · ‎02-06-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:
I just tried calling CS about this issue. The CS rep was very rude, didn't understand my question and when I asked for a supervisor, they put me on hold and transferred me to PayPal.

@Anonymous CS needs some attention I think.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

autopiacarcare · ‎02-06-2019

I called back and got someone else who said "this is a known bug that has been reported since January 12th". He was at least polite and attempted to be helpful, but the end result was "I'll put you on the list of affected accounts and we'll email you once this bug is resolved." No answer about what we are supposed to do in the mean time or what eBay will do if there is a negative impact to our business because their system won't allow us to fulfill our legal obligations.

Anonymous · ‎02-08-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:

I just tried calling CS about this issue. The CS rep was very rude, didn't understand my question and when I asked for a supervisor, they put me on hold and transferred me to PayPal.

Hi @autopiacarcare, I'll have this call reviewed for appropriate coaching. Thank you for letting me know!

autopiacarcare · ‎02-08-2019

Thanks @Anonymous - Just an update, it looks like they have fixed the display issue. Our listings are now correctly displaying all of the states where tax is collected.

Now we just need to get the collecting of Minnesota taxes sorted out and we should be good to go.

Anonymous · ‎02-08-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:

Thanks @Anonymous - Just an update, it looks like they have fixed the display issue. Our listings are now correctly displaying all of the states where tax is collected.

Now we just need to get the collecting of Minnesota taxes sorted out and we should be good to go.

Fantastic news, @autopiacarcare! I will keep working on getting some more information for you regarding Minnesota, no problem.

autopiacarcare · ‎03-15-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
@autopiacarcare wrote:
Thanks @Anonymous - Just an update, it looks like they have fixed the display issue. Our listings are now correctly displaying all of the states where tax is collected.

Now we just need to get the collecting of Minnesota taxes sorted out and we should be good to go.
Fantastic news, @autopiacarcare! I will keep working on getting some more information for you regarding Minnesota, no problem.

I just wanted to update real quick and say thanks to @Anonymous - eBay was able to get the Minnesota tax issue resolved by adding us to the list of sellers that they are collecting tax for . I have confirmed that eBay is now collecting and remitting the tax to MN for us.

klrman · ‎10-11-2019

I just made a purchase from WA and was charged 10% tax, I did not have any warning whatsoever. I was upset because I thought I should pay sales tax for my state of Co which is 4.65 % about half as much. I am steering clear of Ebay until I understand this tax mess

mansons2005 · ‎10-11-2019

The easiest way to understand it is that you are paying taxes based on the destination. So you are paying the taxes based on your address, which should include the 4 digit addendum to your zip code. Update your address and see if that corrects the issue.

thevintagesilvershop · ‎10-11-2019

@klrman wrote:
I just made a purchase from WA and was charged 10% tax, I did not have any warning whatsoever. I was upset because I thought I should pay sales tax for my state of Co which is 4.65 % about half as much. I am steering clear of Ebay until I understand this tax mess

I live in CO and have the correct 4 digit extra on my zip code and was properly charged 4.9% (for LaPlata County, I live rural).