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?

lacemaker3 · ‎01-03-2019

Both buyers and sellers have been reporting that eBay is automatically collecting the sales tax for purchases being shipped to Washington. I think there will be fewer purchases to Minnesota that are affected becasue of the small business exemption.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/taxes-import-charges?id=4121#section4
...
Once eBay starts to collect tax in the above states, no action is required on your part, and there will be no charges or fees for eBay automatically calculating, collecting and remitting sales tax. The collection process will apply to all sales, whether the seller is located in or outside of the United States.
...

autopiacarcare · ‎01-03-2019

Thanks @lacemaker3 . My concern is that the way the tax information is displayed in our listings is different than how I am seeing it shown in other seller's listings. We have not had any sales to either state since Jan. 1, so I don't know for sure if it is working correctly, but the difference in the way it is displayed seems strange.

lacemaker3 · ‎01-03-2019

Hi @autopiacarcare, that's understandable.

It looks to me like eBay is calculating the Wshington state sales tax correctly according to the buyer's location (10%), not according to your sales tax table which would have been 8.76%. I think they're doing it right.

I don't think eBay will go in and change your sales tax table, but eBay blues have said that it will not be possible for a buyer to be double-charged for the sales tax. You could probably take Washington out of your sales tax table, and that might fix the display. Or it might continue to say "Multiple states" since you do have a lot of different states on there.

Anonymous · ‎01-03-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:

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?

Hi @autopiacarcare, you don't need to take any additional steps to properly collect tax for the states listed in our Help Page with effective dates that have passed. For any other states or states that we have not yet begun collecting sales tax, a seller would need to work to be in compliance with any regulations that apply. Keep an eye on our Help Page for updates as we are adding more information as needed.

tsme35 · ‎01-03-2019

trinton@ebay-- I've asked on several threads and called in to ebay rep, no answers "WILL" the buyer in WA see tax is collected before they got to pay or find out when they pay?????????????? I don't want to have a sale canceled or get a negative from a buyer because they didn't know

slippinjimmy · ‎01-03-2019

@tsme35 wrote:
trinton@ebay-- I've asked on several threads and called in to ebay rep, no answers "WILL" the buyer in WA see tax is collected before they got to pay or find out when they pay?????????????? I don't want to have a sale canceled or get a negative from a buyer because they didn't know

It's shown the same way as every other listing on eBay where sales tax is payable, on the shipping/payments tab.

On your listings it currently states "Sales tax may apply when shipping to: Minnesota , Washington ."

brian@ebay · ‎01-03-2019

@tsme35 wrote:
trinton@ebay-- I've asked on several threads and called in to ebay rep, no answers "WILL" the buyer in WA see tax is collected before they got to pay or find out when they pay?????????????? I don't want to have a sale canceled or get a negative from a buyer because they didn't know

Hi @tsme35! I want to confirm that the information @slippinjimmy provided is correct. Below is a screenshot of what a buyer will see on the Shipping and Payment tab within the listing:

Brian,
Community Team

tsme35 · ‎01-03-2019

Not good, I found that yesterday, ebay needs to put it in a better spot and make it larger-easier to find for buyers in states ebay collects taxes for. I didn't find it until I was actually went looking for it, not many buyers will see or click on that. I'll be revising all my listings next week for the new 1st class zone rating for USPS, I think I'll be adding "ebay is collecting sales tax for some states, Please click "see details" next to the shipping price to see if your state is collecting taxes"
One other question, is ebay collecting for MN or not, I've seen 2 announcements, one saying yes then the last one says no if your a small seller under $10k to MN
thanks for the info and just a giving a little feedback for the sticker shock for buyers who don't see it

slippinjimmy · ‎01-03-2019

@tsme35 wrote:
Not good, I found that yesterday, ebay needs to put it in a better spot and make it larger-easier to find for buyers in states ebay collects taxes for.

That is the place where the tax message has been displayed for more than 10 years. There are tens of thousands of sellers with millions of eBay listings with that tax message in that location. Now that tax message will appear on almost all .com listings.

eBay is actually much more transparent and upfront about taxes, shipping and payment options that most other sites. I really tire of having to go halfway through checkout to find a shipping cost or if tax will apply and that's a common situation elsewhere.

autopiacarcare · ‎01-03-2019

@lacemaker3 wrote:
Hi @autopiacarcare, that's understandable.

It looks to me like eBay is calculating the Wshington state sales tax correctly according to the buyer's location (10%), not according to your sales tax table which would have been 8.76%. I think they're doing it right.

I don't think eBay will go in and change your sales tax table, but eBay blues have said that it will not be possible for a buyer to be double-charged for the sales tax. You could probably take Washington out of your sales tax table, and that might fix the display. Or it might continue to say "Multiple states" since you do have a lot of different states on there.

@Anonymous This brings up an interesting point that goes along with @tsme35 s concerns. If someone clicks on the link in the listing under sales tax in multiple states, it is showing what we had set up in our tax rate table, which was 8.76%. However, if you add the item to the cart and put in a Washington zip code, it is showing 10% tax amount, as @lacemaker3 pointed out. This could be very confusing for buyers.

If eBay is over-riding the tax table, it shouldn't be showing the percentage for WA, just like in the screen shot brian@ebay posted, right? Or at least it shouldn't be showing a different percentage than they will actually be charged by eBay.

So, is this a glitch in how eBay is handling listings that previously had tax tables set up or do we actually need to go in and change our tax table settings to make sure it displays correctly?

tsme35 · ‎01-03-2019

I just say that because some listings I see post say like " MO resident's will pay ?% tax" in the description, I didn't even know "see details" was there until yesterday and I've been selling and buying over 10 yrs

lacemaker3 · ‎01-03-2019

@autopiacarcare wrote:
...

So, is this a glitch in how eBay is handling listings that previously had tax tables set up or do we actually need to go in and change our tax table settings to make sure it displays correctly?

I think it would be great if you would go in and change your tax table to remove the (un-needed) Washington state info, and let us know what happens. There isn't really a down-side to this, becauase it's superfluous now.

Once you've done that, someone can check what your listings look like (or you can do it while not logged in, or in different browser) and let us know. That's how most things about eBay are figured out -- trial and error.

autopiacarcare · ‎01-03-2019

@lacemaker3 wrote:
I think it would be great if you would go in and change your tax table to remove the (un-needed) Washington state info, and let us know what happens. There isn't really a down-side to this, becauase it's superfluous now.

Once you've done that, someone can check what your listings look like (or you can do it while not logged in, or in different browser) and let us know. That's how most things about eBay are figured out -- trial and error.

That may be fine for a small one person operation, but not every seller on eBay fits that description. We are a large company which sells on multiple platforms and multiple direct websites with operations in multiple locations and yearly sales that put us over most of the thresholds that have been passed so far. I have accounting and technical departments both at my location and corporate in another state which are involved in this issue. I'm seeking actual answers from eBay to make sure I know what needs to be done and that I have accurate and correct information before I engage those departments in making these changes internally.

Just a few months ago when eBay had a glitch that accidentally displayed the WA tax setting early, it showed WA "greyed out" in the tax rate table and wouldn't allow us to entire a rate at all for that state. We thought that may be how eBay was going to handle the issue, but that is not what we are seeing now. Also, MN doesn't show in our list of states at all, but for other sellers it does show that tax "may" be collected for MN, regardless of whether the tax actually shows up in the shopping cart or not.

What is being displayed in our listings is not taking into account the changes eBay has made for those states. I don't think it's out of line to ask for eBay to look into this issue or clarify how this transition is supposed to work with previously set up tax rate tables.

lacemaker3 · ‎01-04-2019

alan@ebay, @Anonymous, tyler@ebay (I tried to tag the blues who I can remember commenting or answering about the sales tax implementation. Sorry if I missed someone.)

I think @autopiacarcare makes a good point in his last post just above this one. Could you review it, and let us know what is going on with the sales tax tables, which appear to be displayed incorrectly on his listings now that eBay is collecting sales tax for Washington and Minnesota? Should he update his tax tables now, because they are not correct for Washington, and possibly not for Minnesota either?

Also, how is eBay determining which sellers to collect sales tax for, on Minnesota purchases? I assume that you will only be able to take into account sales that occur on eBay, but how is the seller to know how much has been collected on their sales, becuase the eBay sales may put their overall total sales over the limit which requires them to collect and remit sales to MInnesota?