Why do Final Value Fees include Sales Tax?

[amazingabe]

This is unfair and very anti business. In a large way...stealing money from the little guy. Ebay is a billion dollar enterprise? So why steal money This way? There is NO value of the used item by the way of added the tax to the total value. When will wealthy corporate men and women have enough? There are other up and coming reseller sites coming up and soon they will start to bite your market share. To many examples of corporate greed and their fall from grace is littered in our history to ignore this. Stop the practice. I like ebay. But I cannot make enough money to make the effort I will and have joined others and soon as the years go by they will collectively take over and eBay will be a foot note in history. Like the others. 

[joliztoyco]

You cannot tell a majority of sellers this. They are clueless. I've been saying THIS all along.
I have no problem with Ebay if they would have said " We will now be adding a 2.9% fee for processing sales taxes."
They didn't.
They said "We will now be adding a 12.9% to process your sales taxes."
Which is just flat out money grabbing greed.  Hence the nickname "Feebay".
But the sellers that defend this??
I laugh at them. Just how much of their profits will they give up before they finally say "I give up"?
There are sellers in states without sales tax that have a vast advantage over most of them. Not only do they NOT have to charge sales tax...they don't have to pay 12.9% more in fees on it. And it shows up in their prices AND profits!! 
Ebay COULD level the playing field a little by just reducing the fees on sales tax to 3%. But they won't. And really...I don't care about "other sellers". Because they defend the present status quo.
I live in a state where we don't pay state income tax. And I use THAT advantage in pricing.
And it also increases MY profits. 
But what they are doing is hurting small sellers. (Which, once again, most sellers on here could care less about.)
But I do. Which is why I'm dead-set against the 12.9% enrichment of Ebay's coffers.....

[inhawaii]

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@joliztoyco wrote:

But the sellers that defend this??

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I don't defend the fees. Who wants to pay more fees?  Nobody.

I just don't understand why people choose to pay the fees, say it's unfair, yet continue to sell and come here to complain about it. 

[monica-sells]

@joliztoyco 

"...There are sellers in states without sales tax that have a vast advantage over most of them. Not only do they NOT have to charge sales tax...they don't have to pay 12.9% more in fees on it. And it shows up in their prices AND profits!!..."

In my eternal quest for knowledge, how does this scenario give you an advantage in pricing? 

Not being confontational, I just don't ubderstand how you, being based in a non-sales tax state, can price lower than me, who lives in a state that charges sales tax.....

thanks

[sapphire_studio]

I live in Oregon and I can Source my beauty products cheaper than other people because I don't have to pay sales tax when I buy them and then I can list items cheaper (or make more profit).

[sapphire_studio]

So you're laughing at them and wondering when they're going to give up but you yourself haven't given up yet? I'm confused and I agree with @inhawaii that people are not defending the fees they just get annoyed and people constantly complaining about them especially when they are still choosing to pay them. 

[monica-sells]

@sapphire_studio 

Thanks for the input...that makes sense....

but, that is NOT what the post said/implied

"...There are sellers in states without sales tax that have a vast advantage over most of them. Not only do they NOT have to charge sales tax...they don't have to pay 12.9% more in fees on it.,,"

("they" clearly meaning sellers in non sales-tax states)

[tdrake]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@joliztoyco wrote:

But the sellers that defend this??

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I don't defend the fees. Who wants to pay more fees?  Nobody.

I just don't understand why people choose to pay the fees, say it's unfair, yet continue to sell and come here to complain about it. 

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I'm with you. I don't like paying fees either. But I can't for the life of me understand why some many sellers complain - go as far as saying eBay is stealing from them - yet they stay here year after year. Since they "know" they are getting ripped off, and they know the grass is greener elsewhere, why on earth stay here with those of us that are too stupid to realize eBay is fleecing us? Duh...

[sapphire_studio]

Oh you are right I definitely didn't read that right. I have no idea what he's talking about.

[joliztoyco]

Hi Monica...and in the same quest to not be confrontational, my state does have sales tax. But we don't have state income tax. Which saves me several thousands of dollars a year. Which I can use to keep my pricing a little lower than my competitors, or use to offer free shipping, even though it lowers my profit margin. It really is an advantage. Because if sellers aren't taking into account the cost of what they're paying in state income tax, they're not doing something right. And making less than they think they are. Hope this helps....take care.

[susanb1872]

I agree with others that as a seller I am not defending the fees. I also agree with you that there is a big difference in fees between ebay and Paypal. PP is basically a bank with money in/money out-not too complicated. And on the surface it might look like that is what ebay is all about but it's a lot more. Ebay has to support a platform that has sellers listing millions of items for sale and must keep track of all the nuances associated with those sales. As we all know, it is not a perfect system but the fee schedule is always there to review.

[slippinjimmy]

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@sapphire_studio wrote:

I live in Oregon and I can Source my beauty products cheaper than other people because I don't have to pay sales tax when I buy them and then I can list items cheaper (or make more profit).

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Smart sellers don't pay Sales Tax when they purchase goods for resale no matter which State they live in or operate from.

[top*shelfsales]

Its a big tech corporate and government ripoff of the small sellers on these platforms.  The latest scam was with the mandatory reporting to big brother of any sales over $600.   eBay put out a sign up to help fight back against the $600 reporting scam knowing that it takes a bill change in congress to stop it.  But, the fees on top of taxes is a scam eBay has full control over but refuses to stop doing it.   When I joined eBay back in the '90s they hadn't resorted to such unscrupulous means to pad their pockets.   I took a long break from eBay because they would not protect their sellers.  Did the pro store, made power seller status, did the Google ad-sense thing etc.  Don't mean to sound disgruntled because I'm not.  I know that Karma eventually redeems all wrong doing.  These tax on tax issues will be no different.  It just may not happen fast enough for some.  No doubt, the love of money being the root of all evil has permeated the financial and economic ethics of corporate governance.   

[monica-sells]

@joliztoyco 

Thanks for the clarification....seeing this thread was about sales tax, and your statement indicated "sales tax" I did not consider state income tax (which certainly is a factor in the grand scheme of things)

"...There are sellers in states without sales tax that have a vast advantage over most of them. Not only do they NOT have to charge sales tax...they don't have to pay 12.9% more in fees on it.,,"

[secondlifetreasures-llc]

It is an industry standard. Payment processors charge a fee based on the total amount charged. When you swipe your credit card at a store, they are being charged a fee on the full amount of the sale. Also, eBay collects and remits sales tax on your behalf. I'm sure you'd rather have that handled for you than have to do it yourself in addition to filing income tax returns. 

[buyselljack2016]

, eBay collects and remits sales tax on your behalf. I'm sure you'd rather have that handled for you than have to do it yourself

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Something I would never be concerned with, as I would have no requirement to do that outside of my own state.

With the supreme court decision the laws written by most states were done with the intent not to burden "small sellers". I would not meet the thresholds set for requiring collection/remittance. I understand that some wrote with very low, or no minimums, but could you see say Idaho coming after a seller for not collecting/remitting $1.42.

And no, those states would likely just rewrite those laws. I, as a small seller would not have to remit sales tax to 40 plus states.

Many states already have tax laws where the buyer is required to pay the state sales tax due on out of state purchases when sales tax was not charged for the buyer's state.

That being said. Yes, just even having eBay do it for my state is nice.