WE SELLERS PAY FINAL VALUE FEE'S ON SALES TAX WHY

[Anonymous]

I have been selling on the Ebay platform for 13 years or so. With the new ebay money management system 

we were told that we will save on fees by cutting out Paypal etc. I am a small seller and I have found that I actually pay more fees in the overall total. Ebay actually charges  my account (final value fees) on top of the sales tax that they collect (I am sure all sellers pay final value fees on tax collected by Ebay).

Ebay then forwards collected taxes to the US Taxation Department, normally the taxation department pays a percentage to the collector (Ebay gets the percentage). 

And on top of that percentage,  Ebay is charging us, the sellers, final value fees on the tax collected (percentage varies depending on category and seller).

I contacted Ebay  and after speaking with people in 3 different countries that could not answer my questions, I was forwarded  to a department in  Utah  where the supervisors answer was that the  final fees are calculated on total sale.  I understand, but why charge the fees on taxes and have sellers pay it?  His response was that was the way it was calculated. I asked to speak to the next level up  was told that he was as high as I could go, that I did not understand how the fee's were calculated. I told him that I knew how CEO's and boards work.  Their job is to figure out how to make more money for investors. By charging final value fees on hundreds of thousands and more on taxes collected while also getting the percentage that the taxation department normally gives to collector.

Questions: Do you think this practice is fair or unfair for the seller to pay final value fee's  on sales tax collected by ebay? If unfair what should be done about it? 

Your comments will be greatly appreciated. 

[atomic_treasures]

Ebay sellers know it is not ethical for eBay to be skimming off the top, from the sellers by taking the 13% fee for shipping and for state taxes. For example I just sold an item for $900, buyer was charge $75 for taxes, and also $10 to ship out in priority flat rate padded envelope. Ebay charge me the 13%( actually to be more precise 12.55%) on the $85. My total fee charged by eBay was "$124". On the ring alone it should be "$113" Ebay has taken an additional fee of "$11" for sales tax and shipping. This is in NO way fair, My question is this is it even legal?

[mrnotlob]

Unfortunately there aren't enough people who care enough to expose ebay for fleecing sellers every chance they get; now they are making ALL seller fees FINAL VALUE fees. Before the coming of "managed payments" ebay imposed a 10% charge on shipping costs in spite of doing NOTHING to get items shipped to buyers. At least PAYPAL only charged sellers about 3% to clear payments (which include shipping and sales tax) and they had access to their funds the next day; now sellers pay as much as 13% to clear the sale price, shipping cost and sales tax AND have to wait DAYS to get their $$$. 

Nice to see someone who is intelligent enough to understand how much ebay is sticking it to sellers once again in order to please shareholders. I sincerely thought there would be some legal challenge when they started stealing 10% of the shipping cost but nothing materialized; still hoped to see some kind of class action suit regarding "managed payments" but it seems like nobody wants to tangle with the battery of lawyers ebay has to protect their scheming interests. Thanks "atomic_treasures" for understanding what ALL sellers are up against but so few are willing to voice their resentment!

[dbfolks166mt]

ZOOMBIE thread. OP is over 5 months old. 

[scottofthesahara]

The thread may be old but the message is still the same; ebay continues to fleece sellers without any reservations. Even more depressing are the comments that keep coming from ebay sympathizers and supporters who suggest the age of a thread somehow makes the truth about ebay and their well orchestrated scheme “managed payments” less important. It will only get worse for sellers….count on it!

[dbfolks166mt]

     There have been hundred's of posting about FVF's and how they are calculated. Most of those complaining have failed to read the eBay fee structure file that has not changed that much in several years.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822 

     They are fleecing nobody. You are correct the age of a thread does not necessarily change the status or issue but at some point when you have 60+ responses the thread becomes mundane and not worth following. Start a new one this one has been beat to nauseam. 

     With the current rate of inflation I fully suspect the fees to go up at some point. PayPal just recently raised theirs and other third party financial processors and ecommerce sites are following suit. 

[scottofthesahara]

13% to clear both sales tax and shipping costs as “final VALUE fees” under managed payments vs 3% to process those costs through PAYPAL is FLEECING SELLERS at eBay’s finest! If you can’t understand that then why are you responding to this thread???? Start your own fresh thread and spread all the joys of being an eBay supporter!

[gloryglorygifts]

Seems like a reasonable thing for me as I DO NOT want to keep records and file sales taxes to 50 states. It was bad enough tracking sales in my own state for all our years in business before they took it over. It's a surcharge and a cost of doing business on here.

Personally I have more of an issue on them taking a fee on the postage. Don't claim to be "saving us postage", which they aren't, and then hitting us with a fee on the back end. That's just misleading and incorrect to say they are saving us anything. It's costing more.

[5594shelleys]

Legal Theft is my opinion on the FVF on sales tax demanded by eBay. Long time seller here with no intention of leaving and have survived the ever changing rules, upgrades, and nonsense but I’m awaiting a class action lawsuit letter any year now on this particular maneuver by eBay. 

One peak into JUST  the CEO compensation agreement will answer questions on why sellers are hit so hard with ever increasing fees. 
https://contracts.justia.com/companies/ebay-441/contract/109720/

[5594shelleys]

Not the issue tho is it. 

[soh.maryl]

Back in the "good old days", when eBay's Final Value Fee was based solely on the item price, not the shipping charge, there were apparently quite a few items sold for a buck with $100 shipping, which made the FVF on that sale about 12 cents.  

Now, a seller can charge $15 plus $5 shipping.  Or $5 with $15 shipping.  Or $20 with free shipping.

And the final value fee will be the same (disregarding the variation in state sales tax).  BTW, that fee schedule has been in place since 2008.  

[scottofthesahara]

States were NEVER interested in making individual sellers on eBay responsible for collecting sales tax themselves; the reason eBay cried to sellers for help in fighting against sales tax was because they knew THEY would be required to collect the taxes, not individual sellers on eBay. Now that they are responsible for collecting the taxes they decided  to create a new definition for “FINAL VALUE FEES”. The new definition calls for shipping costs and sales tax to be considered the same as the sale price of the actual item sold. Conveniently for eBay, the new definition of “FVF” “manages” assesses the fees on shipping and sales tax at the same rate as the actual item sale price (now as much as 13% when only 3% previously through PAYPAL) So with the advent of our savior “managed payments” (and 2 fee increases in a little more than one year) our savior, “managed payments” is squeezing sellers for every penny it was designed to produce for eBay. Wake up people; nobody at eBay is doing you a favor regardless what the eBay sympathizers will tell you.

[scottofthesahara]

Legal theft by changing the meaning of Final Value Fee to include shipping and sales tax to be assessed at the same rate. Blackmail to force sellers to accept “managed payments” and the new definition of  FVF in order to continue to sell on this site. I was hoping for a class action suit to be filed YEARS AGO when ebay started stealing 10% of the shipping cost without doing a thing for that fee; don’t hold your breath for anyone to take up the fight against the army of lawyers ebay has at their disposal now. Just understand the facts and wait for the next fee increase.

[worldwide_ship]

I've been saying this the entire time. I think it should be illegal for anyone else to benefit off this tax except for the states because then every company will vote for the tax. Their bottom lines will be proped up at the cost of the American people. I can't imagine how much money eBay has raked in since starting to charge fees on sales taxes. I amost feel like it's a kind of double taxation. I guarantee you at some point the laws will change that will stop venues from charging fees on tax and hopefully shipping income too. 

[dbfolks166mt]

13% to clear both sales tax and shipping costs as “final VALUE fees” under managed payments vs 3% to process those costs through PAYPAL is FLEECING SELLERS at eBay’s finest! If you can’t understand that then why are you responding to this thread???? Start your own fresh thread and spread all the joys of being an eBay supporter!

     It's pretty obvious that you have/had NO clue what the FVF's were prior to MP nor do you have a clear understanding of the current fee structure. The FVF's prior to MP included the PayPal 2.9% fee along with eBay's approximate 10% fee for about 12.9% in total FVF's and yes PayPal charged the FVF on the total transaction just as eBay now does. As an FYI if you still use PayPal to handle third party financial transactions their fee is now 3.49% + FF and it is applied to the full amount of the transaction. 

     The main reason I responded to this thread was to get the eBay monitors to archive and close it out. I am not what you would call an "eBay supporter" but I do fully understand the fee structure and the rest of the guidelines of being a seller on eBay. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     If there is a class action law suit it would not only be against eBay but every CC company out there. Their merchant fees are applied to the total amount of the sale which includes sales tax and if you happen to be paying a restaurant bill is also applied to the tip.