Why is Ebay charging me a FVF on a higher amount than was collected?

[jupiterkm1]

I just sold an item to a Floridian for $28.00, free shipping, no sales taxes charged or collected by me or Ebay.  Yet, on the payment transaction details page, Ebay calculated the final value as $29.96, and that's the amount they calculated the FVF on. I didn't collect or charge the additional $1.96, but it was deducted from my proceeds. Surprisingly, the $1.96 is exactly 7% of the lower sale price, but Florida's new internet tax (effective July 1, 2021) is 6% on sales over $100,000/year.  I certainly don't meet the sales threshold. So what am I missing?   

[soh.maryl]

Effective the 1st of July, 2021, the state of Florida has jumped on the state sales tax bandwagon and is requiring eBay to charge state sales tax on purchases delivered to that state.  Your sale on July 3rd would be eligible for that charge and the FVF is calculated on the total of the item price, plus shipping, if any, and the STATE SALES TAX CHARGED TO THE BUYER.  The state sales tax in the area where that item is being delivered is apparently 7%.  

Your information about taxes appears to apply to your income tax statement at the end of the year.

[caldreamer]

States want their tax dollars and have allowed EBAY to collect tax on behalf of all sellers.    $100,000 threshold does not allow by EBAY is filing for all sellers combined.

FVF based on (purchase price + shipping costs + sales tax) plus 30 cent handling fees.

[jupiterkm1]

Unless Ebay is now keeping sales taxes charged & collected from buyers completely hidden from sellers, I can assure you on the payment transaction screen for this transaction, there is NO state sales taxes shown. Zero.  That bother me alot. 

[donsdetour]

You were paying fees on that Florida sale tax due to the purchaser lives in that state..

Look up  order details and you will see this there.

[jupiterkm1]

Thanks. I just read about the Market Place Facilitators, so using Ebay does not exempt me from collecting the sales tax even though I'm not personally meeting the $100,000 sales. Tough for me I guess.

[donsdetour]

ebay collect the tax, and you get charged a final value fee for it also.

You never see the tax.

Again go to order details and scroll down the page to see what your purchaser paid.

[nuclearomen]

right, but ebay didn't charge the tax, they said that clearly in their post, "$28.00, free shipping, no tax charged" - and ebay doesn't charge fee on free shipping. Can't calculate the FVF on something we don't know what was sold, but it should had been FVF on item + $0.30 Transaction Fee. 

[justafemster]

You are misinterpreting the $100,000 threshold.  It's for the VENUE, not the individual seller.  

This is the service ebay has negotiated FOR us.  We don't need to know the tax laws of every city, county, state, etc.  Ebay takes care of that for us.  And for that, we pay ebay 12.55% of the sales tax collected on OUR behalf.   

I'm not cheerleading.  I'm realistic.  I don't want to spend hours of my day (or any time of my day) figuring out what the tax rate to kalamazoo is, on every single sale.  Then remitting that tax, then getting another tax form at the end of the tax year, from EVERY SINGLE tax board.  

[donsdetour]

Again go to your my ebay page: go to all orders:

Under that find the item that was ordered:

Click on order details and scroll down to the item details and see what was charged to the seller.

[lacemaker3]

@jupiterkm1,

I see that you sold an item on July 3, which is after eBay started charging sales tax for deliveries to Florida. I can't check your closed listing, and you don't have any active listings now, so I checked the sales tax situation for a very similar item, in the same category, and close in price, using a made up address in Florida.

Some states don't charge sales tax on items in this category (which is why I searched for a similar item), but Florida apparently does. This listing would have charged $2.41 / ($30 + $4.45) = 7% sales tax. 

In your case, $1.96 is 7% of the purchase price of $28, with zero added for free shipping. So that is the same amount of sales tax.

I think the 6% you found out, would be for high-volume sellers who now have to charge sales tax if their total sales to Florida are over $100K, if they are NOT selling through a marketplace facilitator (which is required to charge the sales tax for all sales delivered to Florida).

 

[jack-falstaff]

From a buyer's perspective this is actually a very good thing too (considering eBay has no choice now).  Before, it was the sellers responsibility to charge tax and remit it to the states.  The thing was, the seller got to put in any tax rate they wanted and would pocket the difference.  An old, sneaky trick by dishonest sellers that is gone.

[soh.maryl]

Hard to figure out why a seller would be able to say "no tax charged" when the charging of the state sales tax when applicable is handled by eBay and thus basically out of the seller's control.  

[soh.maryl]

eBay itself is completely in charge of collecting the state sales tax.

I don't understand why you believe you are the one who collects it.

Surely you are not collecting state sales tax from buyers when eBay is also collecting it, are you?  

[dugoldstuff]

No, it's NOT for the Venue.

It is for the individual seller if they DON'T have an internet Marketplace Facilitator.

If there's NO Marketplace Facilitator (but eBay has now become one by putting its mitts on sellers' money), there has to be a physical nexus and financial nexus before the individual states' threshold kicks in for an individual seller.