WARNING SELLERS! Ebay is adding tax to your sales. You ARE losing sales because of it!

[congamonkie]

I don't mind paying tax in the state I've made a purchase from but to pay a sales tax to my state when I make a purchase from your state is simply WRONG!  Washington State has a GREED that keeps growing.  Ebay is now required to collect my states sales tax on all items I purchase no matter what state their from.    Here's where it is costing the Ebay sellers.  You have an item that I want to purchase.  Guess what. You have just lost a sale because I know Washington State TAX will be added to my purchase at checkout.  Unfair to you-unfair to me.  If I were a seller I would be pretty angry about this practice as Washington State is the only one who benefits from this.  End result is that my purchases on Ebay are now cut back to a very bare munimum.    I just want the sellers to be aware of their lost revenue and Ebay to understand the impact this practice is causing.  

[go-bad-chicken]

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@congamonkie wrote:

I don't mind paying tax in the state I've made a purchase from but to pay a sales tax to my state when I make a purchase from your state is simply WRONG!  Washington State has a GREED that keeps growing.  Ebay is now required to collect my states sales tax on all items I purchase no matter what state their from.    Here's where it is costing the Ebay sellers.  You have an item that I want to purchase.  Guess what. You have just lost a sale because I know Washington State TAX will be added to my purchase at checkout.  Unfair to you-unfair to me.  If I were a seller I would be pretty angry about this practice as Washington State is the only one who benefits from this.  End result is that my purchases on Ebay are now cut back to a very bare munimum.    I just want the sellers to be aware of their lost revenue and Ebay to understand the impact this practice is causing.  

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Personnaly if i were a Washighton state resident I would focus my efforts on eliminating the CORPORATE WELFARE / CORPORATE FREE RIDE-EASY PASS that Washington state is famous for.

By not collecting a corporate income tax, Washington state is placing the whole burden of the states financial requirements squarely on the shoulders of its citizens, by charging a high state sales tax rate as well as a high individual state income tax rate.

While I highly doubt that Washington state would ever eliminate its sales tax entirely I can not help but to think that if the corporations in your state (Amazon, MIcrosoft, Boeing, etc......  COUGH COUGH!) were at least paying their fair share, then its citizens might possibly end up paying a much lower state sales tax and or income tax rate.

On the other hand if this makes you really upset and you just want to stick it to the man, you can start using a freight forwarder located in Oregon for all of your major online purchases. 

[sharingtheland]

How many states have had Use Tax in the past/present ?  It's been a line that must contain a number in NC for a long time  - maybe 10 years? - and it's also on the VA state tax return (I don't know how long it's been in effect in VA).

[forgottenape]

ebays fault? maybe its the people YOU elect. guess its not surprising ebay gets blamed for the things YOU vote for. 

[vintagecraze50]

This has been coming for a long time and people fought it to the max and to no avail. Ebay is making possible for sellers to go about their business by collecting these taxes for them which I am greateful for because it would be a massive complicated mess if they did not for many if not all sellers on here. Everywhere a buyer will have to pay sales taxes on the internet. Not just here. 

[vintagecraze50]

Back when online sales were just a small percentage of all retail sales the GOVT really did not care. Now that people buy massively on the internet THEY ARE REALLY INTERESTED in getting a piece of the pie.

[go-bad-chicken]

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@sharingtheland wrote:

How many states have had Use Tax in the past/present ?  It's been a line that must contain a number in NC for a long time  - maybe 10 years? - and it's also on the VA state tax return (I don't know how long it's been in effect in VA).

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Acording to this Sales Tax Institute article 45 sates collect use tax.

Link to article. Push The Button Here!

"Currently, every state that imposes a general sales tax also imposes a use tax."

[7606dennis]

Actually, many states have had USE TAX laws on the books for years requiring residents of their states to a use tax equivalent to the sales tax that they would have had to pay had they purchased the item within the state.  This tax usually applies to any items purchased outside the state but delivered within for use there if sales tax was not paid at the time of purchase.  Thus, buyers may have already been liable for the tax long before those states that have passed laws requiring facilitators to collect it has done so.

[milehigh3131]

My state (CO) has literally 100s of different sales tax rates. Different for every town, city, county.

You can search (in quotes) "Colorado Sales Tax Rates by City" to see.

I haven't seen much online as to how that will be 'dealt with'.

Not going to stress out much over it, as I play to phase out my online selling hobby.

[krazzykats]

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@nc-daydreamer wrote:

On line sales tax - it's the new law and it affects everyone, every sale, every time. 

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Not for the 5 states that don't have sales tax. I am not being charged sales tax in Oregon on my purchases...

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[cashvaluerecovery2011]

Its funny that you warn us about this............when the real problem will be when ebay realizes they can force ebay sellers to pay the buyers sales tax and then charge a final value fee on it like they do shipping.

[gracieallen01]

Look on the bright side - you won't have to pay Use Tax on the items you by online, from out-of-state, when you file your state income tax. 

Of course, you DO pay any Use Tax that is required, right?

[go-bad-chicken]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

Look on the bright side - you won't have to pay Use Tax on the items you by online, from out-of-state, when you file your state income tax. 

Of course, you DO pay any Use Tax that is required, right?

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Exactly!!!! As sellers we would not be in this predicament that we now find ourselves in if every online buyer had chosen to be responsible citizens and had actually PAID THEIR TAXES THAT THEY OWED. Followed up by the occasional use tax audit by the complaining states of its own citizens, to emphasize its willinhness to actually enforce its own laws. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

[cherry*fizz]

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@gracieallen01 wrote:

Look on the bright side - you won't have to pay Use Tax on the items you by online, from out-of-state, when you file your state income tax. 

Of course, you DO pay any Use Tax that is required, right?

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If anything I've probably overpaid, since I've been ill and out of work for the last couple of years I haven't made that many online purchases, but I have been paying tax on them. I think we are excepted up to $770 or something, I doubt I hit that in the last few years. But again, I have no idea how any of this works out because I'm too dumb to understand the MN tax page that was posted for me. When I did have my taxes done they never asked me about how much I purchased from out of state. 

[moms**art**window**]

my fear is i would have to keep up with it,if they could give an option in promo's to offer a sales tax discount with BIN as promotion that might be attractive to buyers

[gracieallen01]

Most people don't want to hear 'why' states have gone this far with collecting Use Tax.  There are a number of reasons, but the internet is a, maybe perhaps even THE, major reason.  Before the Internet, Use Tax was collected at point-of-sale.  It used to be that the line of the tax form was only for interstate purchases.  Now, you don't even have to bother driving across the state line to a no-sales-tax state.

Can't find it in your town?  Perhaps it is because everybody and their brother, etc., is able to sell online.  Why bother to go down to the store?  Amazon or ebay will sell it, deliver it, guarantee it, accept returns, and YOU don't even have to get out of your PJs.  All you need is a smartphone and a credit card.

Wondering why there are only restaurants and bars and micro-breweries on main street nowadays - and an occasional drug store and 'smoke shop'?  Why bother having a speciality shop - nobody comes in to shop, but McD's doesn't deliver, yet.  It is all done online.  Why have a big department store?  Just have a bigger warehouse.  You can get it cheaper online - check out the 'hot sales' and the race to the bottom.  And, you don't have to pay tax!  (Why pay Use Tax? - just return it before you file)

Whoa, wait a minute here.  But, people still want schools, police and fire protection, parks, bike lanes, street repairs and public services.  How are those going to get paid?  Nobody is paying local sales tax.  Nobody is buying 'in town'.  There is no reason to have a store or shop because everybody is getting a 'smartphone implant' and not bothering to buy local.  It is ALL online!


(personal opinion - your mileage may vary)