eBay

lawenv123 · ‎11-18-2019

Why are some sellers not shipping to California? I understand the will only ship to the continental US but I see a lot of items I'm trying to buy or bid on say; " NOTICE: I will NOT ship to California, if you win the auction and an pay online and I find your address is California I will promptly cancel and refund your money. I will not ship to California! If you have a California resale/sellers license than disregard this notice." No wonder Amazon is killing it. So does anyone know what's going on with this no shipping to commiefornia stuff?

hurryagain · ‎11-18-2019

@lawenv123

I am wondering if these seller's are thinking that they have to pay California's sales tax. If so, they are incorrect.

The buyer pays for any sales tax respective to the state that they reside in.

It would be interesting if you asked one of these sellers why they won't ship to you.

I suspect the tax thing only b/c in your post, you say that these sellers also say "If you have a California resale/sellers license than disregard this notice." which again makes me think that they think they have to pay the sales tax

(if you ship to wholesalers/resellers in your own state, you do not have to pay the sales tax)

mam98031 · ‎11-18-2019

I would agree with @hurryagain, it sounds to me like you have a seller that is clearly misunderstanding the newer sales tax laws.

Have you seen this on more than one seller's listings?

The seller or sellers won't be selling on Ebay for long as they can't legitimately refuse to ship to California as a seller on Ebay. So each time they do that will create a defect on their account as a seller, unless they are less than truthful with Ebay as to why they are cancelling the transaction.

If you want, reach out to that seller and ask them why. If they say it is due to the October 1st sales tax law that went into effect, which would really be the only reason they bring up a resale certificate, you may want to tell them that the tax is paid for by the buyer, collected by Ebay, remitted to the state by Ebay and no extra charge is made by Ebay for the seller.

Or you can give them a link to this thread, invite them to come ask their questions. Or you can even give them my Ebay ID as I'm be willing for them to contact me directly if they desire to and I'll help them through this issue so they don't damage themselves for no good purpose.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

alcoforever · ‎11-18-2019

I know of one seller who not only excludes CA, but all the Marketplace Facilitator states. He used to exclude only CA because he didn't want to have to deal with the 106 different taxing jurisdictions in CA. But now, excludes all the MF states. I expect his sales have taken a turn for the worse.

He is easy to find: just search for "NO CA SALES." Interesting diatribes about taxes in his descriptions.

mr_lincoln · ‎11-18-2019

@lawenv123 Have you tried asking the Sellers why they do not want to ship to California? I've had a few spurious issues with items shipped to California and being seriously damaged and some friends just recently had some serious damage on a California shipment.

On another point, back in 2016 33 Postal workers were arrested for stealing thousands of mail and packages ...

But personally, I wouldn't block the state ...

Regards,
Mr. Lincoln - Community Mentor

krazzykats · ‎11-18-2019

It may also be additional fees, and/or restrictions that California has recently enacted on certain items.

What "type" of items are you seeing this on?

KrazzyKats
Volunteer Community Mentor

hurryagain · ‎11-18-2019

I was wondering this myself...something like tobacco related items?

...so hard to keep up with every state's little nuisances now-a-days...

7606dennis · ‎11-18-2019

Unfortunately, there are some sellers that include unenforceable conditions in there listings. As far as I'm aware, a US seller cannot, at this time, refuse to sell to one of the original 48 states and the District of Columbia. They can refuse to ship to Alaska, Hawaii, APO & FPO and to addresses in US possessions & territories. However, I don't see why they would want to do that.

Of course, I'm not very fond of some of the political goings on in California and wouldn't want to live there but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't sell to the poor devils that do.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

mam98031 · ‎11-18-2019

@krazzykats wrote:
It may also be additional fees, and/or restrictions that California has recently enacted on certain items.

What "type" of items are you seeing this on?

If that were to be the issue then what does having a resale certificate matter. The OP said that the seller stated that in their listing. If there were restrictions on whatever product was being sold on their account, the same issues would be present even if the buyer had a resale certificate.

mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999

richard1rst · ‎11-19-2019

@lawenv123 wrote:
Why are some sellers not shipping to California?

Could it be they are assuming that since most of the state seems to be on fire and millions of people are without power that it just isn't worth the risk to ship to a disaster area? Without being familiar with California geography to know what areas are still standing that it is just easier to exclude the whole state.

lamber9347 · ‎11-19-2019

Hysterical reply.... cough, cough, most of the state is not on fire.... cough, cough....fans the flames....

reallynicestamps · ‎11-19-2019

Yes the buyer pays the tax.

And eBay remits it to the appropriate state government.

But Paypal charges the seller on the full payment that goes through the seller's account, item, shipping and sales tax.

I had a CA sale this past weekend with $142 in sales tax and I paid Paypal $4.82 for the privilege.

(We non-US sellers pay 3.4% PP fees on US payments).

If those are high priced items, the OP's seller offers, he may not be interested.

I've posted elsewhere the notice Ruby Lane sent to their sellers, which is also to charge a fee on state internet taxes. What does AZN do about them?

They pay directly to my bank account if I recall correctly. Sales there are abysmal.

richard1rst · ‎11-19-2019

@lamber9347 wrote:
Hysterical reply.... cough, cough, most of the state is not on fire.... cough, cough....fans the flames....

I'm afraid you missed the point.

I did not mean to suggest that their attitude was valid.

Only that it was their attitude.

Obviously someone able to place an order is not in the middle of the destruction zone. But who knows what some people believe?

There are sellers who will not ship to Puerto Rico because they think it is a foreign country.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎11-19-2019

@reallynicestamps wrote: ... I had a CA sale this past weekend with $142 in sales tax and I paid Paypal $4.82 for the privilege.... If those are high priced items, the OP's seller offers, he may not be interested.....

Sales tax doesn't account for singling out California. There are at least 34 states with sales taxes that eBay must collect as the "marketplace facilitator," and some have higher tax rates than California, once you factor-in the local rates that are added to the state's.