eBay fees

[vintagepan]

So now eBay raised their final value fee to 12.9% (+.30!) for most categories. Okay, everything is going up, BUT charging their fee on the state sales tax they now tack on is a little much. I have nothing to do with that, and I don't appreciate eBay making more money from me by doing that. Is there a lawyer out there reading this that will start a class action suit against eBay? It's gotta be illegal. (or at least really greedy) WAKE UP EBAY.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I was typing on a rather small device and the spell check was not so great.. ill type this again

I'll make the statement again in a different way..

Please show me, where any court on the planet has made a ruling which allows eBay or any other company to charge a fee on taxes as if it was a good or service being sold.

I ask this because it seems people keep saying it's not illegal. If it's not illegal then surely there must be a court case which allows eBay and others to charge fees ( make money off taxes) on taxes.

Let me be crystal clear.

The fee on taxes is not a fee on some service. I keep seeing people claim ebay is charging the fee for taxes because its actually a fee to collect the taxes... Ebay clearly shows that the fee on the tax is part of the item being sold and not a fee on collecting taxes. Prove me wrong..

Now,

If you worded your response to ask a question if there is a law wich has already stated it's illegal to make money off taxes as a service or a good.. please refer to the racketeering laws. I'll explain.

These seller fees, including the tax fee is called "sellers fees* and "final value fees".  There is no other fees called surcharges, convinience fees or collection fees or tax collecting fees like many of you keep claiming.

When I goto the store and buy something, I am charged for the item then Im charges a sales tax depending on the state the item is purchased in. There is not extra fee that is tacted on to the tax. AM I wrong? I dont think so. I see ONLY ebay charging a fee on the state sales tax.

A sales tax fee and a transaction fee is completely different.

Ill show you a bit more with clairty

There is no such thing as a transaction fee anywhere in the charges laid out on a sellers final fee page. Show me where the wording of ANY of these fees are labeled as collection of taxes or a processing fee? There isnt! Thats because ebay is charging the whole transaction, taxes and all as ONE service or good that was sold. This means ebay is stating that a tax is a good or service that the seller sold with the item.

A seller doesn't sell a tax nor do they sell a shipping service therefore those things should NOT be charged a fee. The only thing that should be charged a fee is the item sold.

If eBay wants to create a surcharge or a transaction/processing fee for the taxes they collect then it should be categorized as a seperate and specific fee for a tax related/processing service. As it is now, it looks like ebay is making a claim that the seller sold an item AND a tax to the buyer. THIS IS PRESUMABLY, FRAUD.  This is where many people are saying this tax fee is WRONG>

( I dont NOT want ebay suspended my account over my OPINIONS again) There is still such thing as free speech

The taxes are NOT a goods that was sold along with the item. Therefore this looks like It is profiting off of the TAXES and not just the item that was sold.  Hence a Rico violation. White Collar Crime.

People claim this tax fee is the same as a credit card transaction fee. IT IS NOT.

Creditcard transactions fees are fees for processing the movement of money from one bank to another.

AGAIN,

Ebay is stating in the fees break down that they are charging a fee on the entire transaction as ONE TRANSACTION which includes the item, shipping and taxes and this one transaction is considered a good or service the seller sold.  However, only one of those items is a good or service and its NOT the taxes.

 Ebay does NOT state in any part on their contract that this tax fee is a transaction/processing fee.  Prove me wrong. Maybe I'm wrong however I haven't see it and it's clear to me what it says on my eBay fees screen where again, it shows in clear language that the fees are all being charged as one service or goods and not some transactio/processing fee.

These are my opinions and I'm not a lawyer nor am I giving legal advice.

[Anonymous]

CLARIFICATION.........These seller fees are called "sellers fees* which are a total of   TWO "final value fees".  The first final value fee is calculated as one transaction which includes the price item  was sold for, shipping seller charged and tax which ebay charges the buyer. The second final value fee is a flat rate fee of usually 30 cents. That fee is not taxed. There is no other fees called surcharges, convinience fees or collection fees or tax collecting fees like many of you keep claiming.

[varebelrose]

"Ebay has been charging a percentage on the full amount of the sale (which includes tax and shipping)"

eBay only started including the sales tax as part of it when they moved to Managed Payments. So for many sellers it is a recent change. Previously, Paypal handled the sales tax portion, at 3%, not eBay at 12+%.

[varebelrose]

"Look around, ebay is the cheapest place to sell."

Not by a long shot. They may have the traffic and therefor more sales, but I assure you that there are other sites with lower fees.

[dnasilver]

Show me a law that says I can walk around barefoot in my own house? I won't hold my breath.

How about you showing a law that says they cannot? That is how life works. You stop your car at a stop sign. The law says you should. Do you stop your car when there is no stop sign? What law says you do not have to stop when there is no stop sign? I won't hold my breath.

[Anonymous]

After reading my lengthy explaiantions...

TELL ME

EXACTLY

What is a 30 cent final value fee for?

If people claim the tax fee is fot the processing of those taxes .. then what is that 30 cent fee for?

My point is

Ebay is in a legal situation here. In my opinion.

For you people that keep saying that tax fee is for processing and transaction services.. then what is the 30 sent fee for?

The way most of us see it, as I explained in detail..That tax fee is is considered a part of the item being sold..

Please tell me how I can be charged a fee on something I never aquired much less, sold?

WHy am I saying this may be a rico law violation?

Ill quote  a wiki page that explains what racketerring is and then you can decide if this tax fee is racketering

Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a racket) to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.[1]

Originally and often still specifically, racketeering may refer to an organized criminal act in which the perpetrators offer a service that will not be put into effect, offer a service to solve a nonexistent problem, or offer a service that solves a problem that would not exist without the racket.

[67bird67]

I felt the same anger and disgust when this policy was enacted.  In the “Wild West” days when eBay was the “online garage sale” states didn’t care about the sales taxes.  But, today EBay has far more high dollar sellers, even national retailers and the stakes are high.

Over the last couple of years we’ve seen almost no states even trying to collect taxes to where it is today with only a handful that don’t collect.

 It is the sellers responsibility to be sure appropriate taxes are paid.  I don’t know about you, I sure don’t want to deal deal with 40+ state tax collecting agencies.  eBay has removed that burden and there is a cost associated with it.  I won’t get into a discussion as to whether the FVF is the correct way or a flat fee basis, I’m just glad I don’t have to mess with it and I pass the added expense on and concentrate on bigger issues.

 Thanks 

[67bird67]

Agree 100%….and nausea is an appropriate response to state sales taxes for on line sales.  That’s the real debate.  

[67bird67]

Credit card fees are legalized loan sharking.  

[67bird67]

It is true the fees have been there.  The real culprits are the states.  Just two years ago only a handful charged sales tax for on line sales.  Now all but a VERY small number charge.

 It’s our birthright to complain about taxes, just ask the guys at the Boston Tea Party, but the reality still is, there are only two certainties death and taxes.  Keep up the good fight, though I think we’ll conquer death before taxes🤪

[mam98031]

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@slippinjimmy wrote:

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@fashunu4eeuh wrote: ... Ebay has been charging a percentage on the full amount of the sale (which includes tax and shipping) since the beginning of time....

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Since 2011.

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Shipping, yes since 2011

Sales Tax, started July 2020 "Simplified Fees" for those in Managed Payments at that time.

Prior to MP only PayPal charged fees on Sales Tax.

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Just for clarity, it was August 1st, 2020 when the Simplified Fees started being charged on Sales Tax.

[mam98031]

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@coolections wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

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Ebay is about 10% HIGHER than any of the businesses you stated.  That is well beyond a HUGE difference.

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Not a fair comparison. Ebay was already charging 12.5% FVF. The amount they are getting from the tax portion is well below the 3% your quoted from Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, etc.

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First I didn't quote that Visa, MC or PP charged 3%.  I know what PP charged, which was 2.9% now it is as high as 3.49%.  I do not know how much the CCCs charged PP or are charging MP.

Neither of which really matters as it is a small percentage.  It would have to be, otherwise MP would not likely be profitable for Ebay if they had to dip into what they get paid for the FVF on the actual sale amount BEFORE MP started. 

Meaning Ebay collected about 10.20% pre MP from Sellers for whatever they sold without having any of the FVF being assessed against the portion the buyer paid for sales tax, in most categories and without a store.

So we entered MP.  Ebay still charged the 10.20% FVF and added a money processing fee of 2.35% which was 0.55% LOWER than we were paying before entering MP but we now have the Entire 12.55% being assessed against the sales tax the buyer pays, that is a new fee for sellers.

Somewhere in that 2.35% Ebay would have to cover the costs of CCC fees and for Adyen with some left over for Ebay.  So if the CCCs where charging a larger fee, then to cover it, Ebay would have to dip into the part of the fees for the product sale.  It is highly doubtful Ebay would have spent all this time and money developing MP only to lose money on it.

[mam98031]

@Anonymous 

There isn't a law that says Ebay has the right to charge fees on Sales tax, anymore than there is a law that says Ebay can charge a fee on sales that happen on the site.  

@coolections is correct, it would be the other way around.  A law that doesn't allow Ebay to charge a fee on sales tax and to my knowledge none exist.  

If it is illegal, then what they asked for was a link to the law.  You say there is one, so simply provide the link to it so that we can all update ourselves.  I'm willing to learn.

Something being wrong in your opinion and something being illegal are worlds apart many times.

Now if charging fees on sales tax was illegal, then why hasn't anyone gone after all the Credit Card companies and other Money processors for doing this.  They all do it, they ALL charge their fees on the total amount processed to include shipping and sales tax.  So if it isn't illegal for them, what makes it illegal for Ebay.

With that said, I do not like the fact that Ebay charges the full simplified fee on sales tax.  I do thing that is wrong.  I doubt it is illegal, but I can certainly agree it is wrong.  

If Ebay was only processing the portion of the fee that is for money processing against the sales tax portion, I could live with that, however that isn't what Ebay does.  They charge us About 10% against sales tax that IMHO they should not.

Etsy charges the full fee on sales tax.  Amazon does NOT.

[mam98031]

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@Anonymous wrote:

CLARIFICATION.........These seller fees are called "sellers fees* which are a total of   TWO "final value fees".  The first final value fee is calculated as one transaction which includes the price item  was sold for, shipping seller charged and tax which ebay charges the buyer. The second final value fee is a flat rate fee of usually 30 cents. That fee is not taxed. There is no other fees called surcharges, convinience fees or collection fees or tax collecting fees like many of you keep claiming.

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The 30 cent fee is NOT a FVF, it is a per transaction fee.  It does not fluctuate no matter how much the sale was for.

You keep bolding "Ebay charges", which I'm not sure why you do that as Ebay charges it because they are REQUIRED BY LAW to do so, NOT just because they want to.  

[mam98031]

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@varebelrose wrote:

"Look around, ebay is the cheapest place to sell."

Not by a long shot. They may have the traffic and therefor more sales, but I assure you that there are other sites with lower fees.

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And there are other sites that charge more.  It is a mixed bag with mixed results.