Selling jewelry online has gotten really expensive. Especially for our high priced ticket items.

[jewelry-super-center]

Hi everyone can someone please tell me why ebay charges 3 percent to ebay motors and 12 percent for fine jewelry? This is totally unfair since we have high ticket items that sell all the time. This needs to be addressed.... 

[coastaltechsolution]

12% for DVD/Blu-ray movies also 

I just price accordingly 

[pburn]

Without computing equivalency, there are a number of fees charged for listings on eBay Motors that other categories do not include.

Fees for selling vehicles on eBay Motors 

[femmefan1946]

EBay wants more "motors" listings. EBay wants fewer "fine jewelry" listings.

Set your prices where the transaction becomes profitable. In your category there will be more unique or scarce pieces , so comparison shopping is more difficult and impulse buying more common than with auto parts or DVDs.

Interestingly, the high FVF on jewelry sales makes it less profitable for the seller to use Free Shipping, which eBay generally promotes.

With Free Shipping, the cost of shipment (including packaging and insurance) is rolled into the asking price.

Which is cheaper : A $500 ring with $25 shipping or a s$525 ring with Free Shipping?

For the buyer the cost is the same. For the seller it costs 50c more to offer Free Shipping since her shipping costs are now charged at the 12% rate rather than the normal shipping rate of 10%.

It's not unfair. It's business.

-

[go-bad-chicken]

"Which is cheaper : A $500 ring with $25 shipping or a s$525 ring with Free Shipping?

For the buyer the cost is the same."

Actually that's not true.

Here in the U.S. 41% of the population lives in states where the shipping portion of an online transaction is sales tax exempt. Using the example that you provide above, for that 41% of buyers the $525 with Free Shipping will cost them more than the exact same listing that charges $500 for the item and $25 for shipping separately. 

As an example a buyer from California (9% sales tax) will pay $2.25 more in sales tax for the Free Shipping listing.

And here's the extra added kicker. The seller is going to pay eBay a FVF on that extra sales tax that they collected (about $0.26). All in the name of offering Free Shipping.

So sellers really should consider doing their buyers as well as them selves a favor and start charging buyers for shipping.

[pburn]

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@go-bad-chicken wrote:

Here in the U.S. 41% of the population lives in states where the shipping portion of an online transaction is sales tax exempt. Using the example that you provide above, for that 41% of buyers the $525 with Free Shipping will cost them more than the exact same listing that charges $500 for the item and $25 for shipping separately. 

As an example a buyer from California (9% sales tax) will pay $2.25 more in sales tax for the Free Shipping listing.

And here's the extra added kicker. The seller is going to pay eBay a FVF on that extra sales tax that they collected (about $0.26).

---

Hey! Your post reminds me: there have been threads off and on on the Buying board that eBay is charging sales tax on shipping even in states where it's exempt. Anyone hear whether that's still the case?

I know the laws are, IMO, rather ambiguous and depend on how the shipping charge is presented (for lack of a more precise description). When I was trying to do some research on it, I found the laws were written with the typical amount of legalese, making it virtually impossible for a lay person to really get hold of it. Generally, I interpreted the laws the same way you described.

Anyway--do you (or anyone reading this post) actually know whether eBay is exempting out any shipping charges in those states before computing/assessing the sales tax figure?

Just curious.

[vintagecraze50]

You have to adjust the prices up to compensate for this. It’s just the way it has to be. All sellers on here dealing with these types of items are on a level playing field here. If some want to give the stuff away by selling it low, I will buy it. Most retail jewelry stores up their prices sometimes at 5,000 percent the cost to buy it—just kidding but you know what I mean.

[krazzykats]

How about Oregonians, who have no state sales tax, we pay the same "fees%" as everyone else, on the sales tax portion that buyers pay???

Non-sales tax states, (there are a few more), should not be paying any fees on another state's sales tax? 

When I am charged fees on each eBay sale, my "fees%" include all sales taxes.

And if I drop ship items, (Gifts,-not to resell items), its billed to me in Oregon, and I pay states sales tax to the state its shipped to.

Some states that have no sales tax are now paying taxes, into other states.

[soh.maryl]

I don't exactly understand your message, so I hope you'll forgive me if I have misinterpreted it.

Evidently, you are a seller and you live in Oregon.  The state sales tax is based on the buyer's delivery location, not on the seller's location.  If I, in Ohio, buy from you, I will expect to pay Ohio state sales tax on my purchase.  If I lived in Oregon, or in one of the other states that does not have a state sales tax, like Alaska, I would not expect to pay state sales tax.

If you are referring to the fact that your eBay final value fee as a seller will be based on the price of the item + the shipping fee + the state sales tax if applicable, yes, that is true.  

"Some states that have no sales tax are now paying taxes, into other states." If you are referring to BUYERS in states that have no sales tax, they are NOT paying taxes to other states, because, again the state sales tax is based on the buyer's delivery location.  

[krazzykats]

I think Jewelry has a higher risk value.

Not as many fake car scams through eBay as, fake jewelry& coins, I'll bet...

I just lost a few dollars recently to a fake coin scam.

The fakes are really good!

I had a reputable jewelry store do this.😮

It sure looked like real silver, but there was an odd feeling & sound to the coins, so I decided to have one tested. I was lucky to receive most of my money back.

[krazzykats]

I guess its difficult to understand. I am a seller in Oregon, I pay eBay fees on the total just like everyone else.

Yes, you buy from me, and pay the sales tax. But I am charged the eBay fees on the sales tax you paid.

Why do I have to pay eBay fees, on the Ohio "sales tax portion of my fees?"

[go-bad-chicken]

---

@pburn wrote:

---

@go-bad-chicken wrote:

Here in the U.S. 41% of the population lives in states where the shipping portion of an online transaction is sales tax exempt. Using the example that you provide above, for that 41% of buyers the $525 with Free Shipping will cost them more than the exact same listing that charges $500 for the item and $25 for shipping separately. 

As an example a buyer from California (9% sales tax) will pay $2.25 more in sales tax for the Free Shipping listing.

And here's the extra added kicker. The seller is going to pay eBay a FVF on that extra sales tax that they collected (about $0.26).

---

Hey! Your post reminds me: there have been threads off and on on the Buying board that eBay is charging sales tax on shipping even in states where it's exempt. Anyone hear whether that's still the case?

I know the laws are, IMO, rather ambiguous and depend on how the shipping charge is presented (for lack of a more precise description). When I was trying to do some research on it, I found the laws were written with the typical amount of legalese, making it virtually impossible for a lay person to really get hold of it. Generally, I interpreted the laws the same way you described.

Anyway--do you (or anyone reading this post) actually know whether eBay is exempting out any shipping charges in those states before computing/assessing the sales tax figure?

Just curious.

---

I have looked, and looked through almost all of eBay's help pages, terms of service, and other documentation, in an attempt to find a list of states where they (eBay) definitively states that they are not collecting sales tax on shipping to these XX states.

What I do is I check my transaction details for most of my orders that are shipping to 1 of the 18 states. And most of the time I am able to mathematically figure out that sales tax was not charged on the shipping portion of a given transaction.

With that said, and for the knowledge and benefit of its sellers, eBay really does need to post something official that list the states where they are not collecting sales tax on the shipping portion of any given transaction. But this will probably only happen if enough sellers begin asking for or demanding that that information is made publicly available.

But then again it's not really in eBay's interest to post that data as it kind of blows a hole in their relentless campaigns to sellers to offer buyers "Free Shipping" within their listings.

i. e. "Buyers really want Free Shipping.", "Your doing buyers a favor by offering Free Shipping"

[go-bad-chicken]

"Yes, you buy from me, and pay the sales tax. But I am charged the eBay fees on the sales tax you paid."

Ever since MFLs or Marketplace Facilitator Laws have come into existence we seller's have always paid a fee on the sales which eBay collects and the distributes to the appropriate states.

The difference though is that in the past and before Managed Payments we would generally be paying PayPal a 2.9% on those sales tax which were collected. But now with eBay's Managed Payments sellers will pay all sorts of different rates on the sales tax which eBay collects for the various states. Those percentage rates applied to the sales tax portion can get really high.

i. e.  11.5%, 12.35%, 14.35%, 19.35%, and as high as 21% for certain sellers.

So most sellers found that paying a fee of 2.9% on sales tax collected palatable, fair and justifiable. And that fee was an across the board flat rate fee that was the same for every seller regardless of which category their wares happened to fall into. 

But not anymore. eBay sees an opportunity with mandatory sales tax collection has decided to monetize the process.

Except of course those sneaker sellers selling $5,000+++ Air Jordan's Sneakers. They pay absolutely nothing in fees for the collection of sales tax. Zero, Zip, Zilch, Nothing, Nada. Not one red cent.

[krazzykats]

lotzofuniquegoodies had a good diagram on shipping taxes too.

What happens with the gray states?

[go-bad-chicken]

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@krazzykats wrote:

lotzofuniquegoodies had a good diagram on shipping taxes too.

What happens with the gray states?

---

"What happens with the gray states?"

Well buyers such as yourself, who live in one of those grey states still pay 0% in sales tax on any portion of a transaction.

But I do understand your frustration as a seller. If I was a seller who lived in a no sales tax state such as Oregon, having to collect sales tax for other states would be a bitter pill to swallow.

But think about it. If sales tax were charged based on the state's sales tax laws where the purchase was being shipped from rather than the states sales tax of the state where the package was being shipped to, then every business located here in the U.S. would IMMEDIATELY RELOCATE THEIR BUSINESS'S to a no sales tax state. And I for one would be the first in line.

I'm not trying to be snarky here but if you truly do not wish to pay fees on sales tax collection for items that you sell to buyers in other states, eBay does offer you an option.

You can choose to set all of your listing to "local pick up" only. Its not a great option but none the less it is an option that does exist here on eBay for sellers who live in no sales tax states, and who feel the same way that you do.