*Moderators - please leave this post in the selling section. This issue affects sellers as they will pay extra fees and will bear the brunt of any negative feedback or chargebacks from this issue.*
I've seen several reports here in the community and on Twitter of exorbitant tax amounts being charged on batteries.
Looking at the amounts involved, it appears to me that eBay made an error with an update that presumably was meant to address various state regulations regarding fees for sale/recycling of lead acid batteries for cars, boats, RVs etc. but eBay was applying these fees to all batteries instead.
One example from Twitter was a 10 pack of watch batteries for $3.89 which incurred $5.31 in sales tax. The buyer was in New York and said tax is usually 8% for his location. That should have been $0.31. The extra $5 appears to possibly be a "return incentive payment" per NY regulations for Lead Acid Batteries. Other states have similar lead acid battery regulations at different amounts.
Other examples in this thread from @rarehorology showed the fees really added up for multiple quantities! Presumably eBay was applying whatever the applicable state fee was on a per battery basis.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying/363-sales-tax/m-p/31449192/highlight/true#M333083
While I'm not sure how many people would have completed checkout on a $50 order with $500 tax, many smaller orders may have slipped through. The Twitter example I provided was a completed and shipped sale.
Reports are that the calculation error may be fixed now, but there are multiple concerns here. First, eBay needs to make a public announcement acknowledging the error and immediately refund any excess taxes paid. Not only is it the right thing to do for buyers, it may head off negative feedback and chargebacks for sellers as well.
Secondly, eBay needs to refund any and all excess fees sellers paid on those incorrect tax amounts. Sellers using PayPal would have been charged 2.9%. Managed Payments sellers are on the hook for the full simplified fee on that amount. Regardless of the payment processor used, this is 100% eBay's responsibility to rectify.
eBay also needs to protect sellers from any negative consequences of this error by removing negative feedback and making sure any related claims or defects do not hurt the seller's account in any way.
This issue has been brought to eBay's attention and tyler@ebay says he has passed it on to get more clarity. While I understand we are in the midst of the holidays, I do hope eBay addresses this issue before end of year.
Thanks @valueaddedresource and @wastingtime101 - I appreciate the examples and offers of additional ones (if found).
I do not have further updates at this time, but will let you know once I do.
Thanks!
@valueaddedresource wrote:
I have heard from one affected buyer that they received an email confirming a refund for the overcharge today.
tyler@ebay please confirm if eBay is proactively reaching out to all affected buyers and confirm if affected sellers are also receiving refunds for the additional fees.
Hi @valueaddedresource - I'm not able to confirm this. The last interaction with the tax team I had (last week) was that anyone who felt that they were charged tax incorrectly should contact Customer Service and request that a ticket be filed with them (the tax team).
I have been working with them since to help them understand (again) the nature of what we saw happen, that it appeared to be systemic in nature and less of an isolated incident, and what kind of resolution the community expects in this situation. They have not responded.
