I just came up with what I think is a good question regarding sales tax and ebay

amwldcoin

Take a state like California which exempts coin from sales tax if the invoice is over $1500. I've had a couple of sales in the past where the buyer had to find over $1500 in my inventory so he didn't have to pay sales tax.

What if a buyer from California put $1500 worth of items in his sales cart and then went to check out. Would the buyer have to pay sales tax even if it was from different sellers?

johnny9434

I don't think so because it is over $1,500. more then likely they have that covered as well.
lets see what others have to say

Hemispherical

Pretty sure it has to be from a single seller.

The basket (sales cart) is just for convenience and the payments go to each seller separately.

blu62vette

In theory since ebay is the vendor they should not charge the tax.

In reality, I am sure they will claim something about items coming from different states triggering the tax.

ctf_error_coins

Single Seller

ricko

Yep... a politically imposed system to collect more money. Politicians were infuriated over people buying from other states to avoid their resident state tax.....just more disregard for people and desire for more funds to squander. Cheers, RickO

topstuf

eBay isn't the vendor.

jmlanzaf

@topstuf said:
eBay isn't the vendor.

They actually are the marketplace. They are the responsible party for the tax. The vendor does not collect or pay any tax

Ebeneezer

All tax in the United States is based solely on the honor system. Whether state sales tax, business tax or personal tax. Sticking to the topic of EBAY and their collection of the tax, someone in the financial department remits what was collected on a regular basis. Monthly, quarterly or what ever the state/federal require. Only upon auditing would the IRS know if the correct amount had been collected based on sales figures.

Why did I bring this up? Who's to say that the tax based on another state actually went to said state? Where is the proof?

stevek

Amazon is going to start collecting California sales tax beginning October 1.

Since it is now California law, I presume that Ebay will be doing the same.

Lakesammman

I just bought 3 pistol safes on ebay and they are exempt from WA tax.

Of course, ebay charged me tax. They can't refund my $$ so I have to go to WA State for the refund.

So, even though ebay is the "responsible party", I have to go to WA for the refund.

jmlanzaf

@Ebeneezer said:
All tax in the United States is based solely on the honor system. Whether state sales tax, business tax or personal tax. Sticking to the topic of EBAY and their collection of the tax, someone in the financial department remits what was collected on a regular basis. Monthly, quarterly or what ever the state/federal require. Only upon auditing would the IRS know if the correct amount had been collected based on sales figures.

Why did I bring this up? Who's to say that the tax based on another state actually went to said state? Where is the proof?

There's plenty of proof. Ebay has records. And an entity that large will likely get regular audits.

stevek

@jmlanzaf said:

@Ebeneezer said:
All tax in the United States is based solely on the honor system. Whether state sales tax, business tax or personal tax. Sticking to the topic of EBAY and their collection of the tax, someone in the financial department remits what was collected on a regular basis. Monthly, quarterly or what ever the state/federal require. Only upon auditing would the IRS know if the correct amount had been collected based on sales figures.

Why did I bring this up? Who's to say that the tax based on another state actually went to said state? Where is the proof?

There's plenty of proof. Ebay has records. And an entity that large will likely get regular audits.

Oh yea, I'd be sure that the states involved will have a crew doing nothing but constantly auditing the books of both Amazon and Ebay on a regular basis.

djm

@stevek said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@Ebeneezer said:
All tax in the United States is based solely on the honor system. Whether state sales tax, business tax or personal tax. Sticking to the topic of EBAY and their collection of the tax, someone in the financial department remits what was collected on a regular basis. Monthly, quarterly or what ever the state/federal require. Only upon auditing would the IRS know if the correct amount had been collected based on sales figures.

Why did I bring this up? Who's to say that the tax based on another state actually went to said state? Where is the proof?

There's plenty of proof. Ebay has records. And an entity that large will likely get regular audits.

Oh yea, I'd be sure that the states involved will have a crew doing nothing but constantly auditing the books of both Amazon and Ebay on a regular basis.

I heard that some people/companies are under constant audit.

amwldcoin

I'm 50-50 on whether they should pay tax. The reason I say this is most sellers would likely not meet the requirements to collect tax. Ebay as a selling venue is the reason and if all items are purchased at once through ebay at the same time the exemption may be met.

Anyone from California care to share their experiences or test it with the shopping cart?

jt88

eBay will start charge CA tax in October first.

derryb

I guess it won't be long before subdivision home owner associations who sponsor subdivision wide garage sales will be required to collect and pay state sales taxes on behalf of the individual homeowner sellers.

Greeniejr

@ricko said:
Yep... a politically imposed system to collect more money. Politicians were infuriated over people buying from other states to avoid their resident state tax.....just more disregard for people and desire for more funds to squander. Cheers, RickO

You are 100% incorrect. There was absolutely nothing political about what happened. This entire mess is based on 2 supreme court rulings that were completely apolitical. Both parties liked the first and hated the second. The first is Quill vs. North Dakota. My explanations are oversimplified because I am not a lawyer or constitutional scholar. Quill, being a mail order supply company made a commerce clause argument that because they did not have physical presence in most states, they should not have to pay sales and use tax in those states. This was in the early days of the internet and nobody anticipated the eBays, Amazons and other mega-retailers. The supreme court ruled that tax does not need to be collected. This was a windfall for over 2 decades for small businesses.
As the internet grew from something only available in big businesses and universities, to something at home which we could only access an hour a day (early AOL) to now being something we have access to 24/7 on our phones, shopping habits changed. All those huge retailers established fulfillment in every state and essentially every seller big or small could easily sell to anyone, anywhere, any time. Since they were everywhere the big retailers had to pay taxes everywhere. Small businesses still did not. Fast forward to 2017 and we get supreme court case Wayfair vs. South Dakota. Wayfair and other big corporations argued that because of the internet technically every business has a presence everywhere. While this wasn't the exact reasoning, the court ruled that physical presence is not required in a state in order to make you subject to their sales tax rules. Again this was rule based on existing law and precedent. In the decision they mention that there will be significant negative consequences and a solution needs to be legislated. You can argue that the reason why this has not been fixed is political but the origins of the problem are not political.

MFeld

@amwldcoin said:
I'm 50-50 on whether they should pay tax. The reason I say this is most sellers would likely not meet the requirements to collect tax. Ebay as a selling venue is the reason and if all items are purchased at once through ebay at the same time the exemption may be met.

Anyone from California care to share their experiences or test it with the shopping cart?

Are all items “purchased at once” or paid for at once?

BAJJERFAN

@MFeld said:

@amwldcoin said:
I'm 50-50 on whether they should pay tax. The reason I say this is most sellers would likely not meet the requirements to collect tax. Ebay as a selling venue is the reason and if all items are purchased at once through ebay at the same time the exemption may be met.

Anyone from California care to share their experiences or test it with the shopping cart?

Are all items “purchased at once” or paid for at once?

The sales and sales taxes are itemized individually on your PP statement.

Still the OP should get his answer from eBay or the California revenue dept. I wonder who is eating the CC fees collected on behalf of the states. Has to be substantial amount I would think.

amwldcoin

If they are all in the cart and you buy them from the cart they are purchased and paid for at the same time b the buyer. As @BAJJERFAN states obviously ebay has to pay each seller individually.

My point is the buyer is making a $1500.00 purchase on ebay with 1 click!

@MFeld said:

@amwldcoin said:
I'm 50-50 on whether they should pay tax. The reason I say this is most sellers would likely not meet the requirements to collect tax. Ebay as a selling venue is the reason and if all items are purchased at once through ebay at the same time the exemption may be met.

Anyone from California care to share their experiences or test it with the shopping cart?

Are all items “purchased at once” or paid for at once?

BAJJERFAN

@amwldcoin said:
If they are all in the cart and you buy them from the cart they are purchased and paid for at the same time b the buyer. As @BAJJERFAN states obviously ebay has to pay each seller individually.

My point is the buyer is making a $1500.00 purchase on ebay with 1 click!

@MFeld said:

@amwldcoin said:
I'm 50-50 on whether they should pay tax. The reason I say this is most sellers would likely not meet the requirements to collect tax. Ebay as a selling venue is the reason and if all items are purchased at once through ebay at the same time the exemption may be met.

Anyone from California care to share their experiences or test it with the shopping cart?

Are all items “purchased at once” or paid for at once?

I would still go to eBay and ask there instead of just assuming; or better yet the Californy taxing authority and get it in writing.

BStrauss3

Stop asking here - idiots like us offer advise worth what you pay for it...

Google for: statename sales tax wayfair

Every state has a page up with the FAQs for this.

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/industry/wayfair.htm
and
https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/cdtfa758.pdf

Collector coins
Taxable In general, tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property, including
coins as collector’s items or an investment; except for, but not limited to,
certain commemorative “California Gold” medallions.
R&TC 6354
Regulation 1599

http://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/vol1/sutr/1599.html

(A) The sale is in bulk amount. For sales occurring on or before December 31, 2008, a sale in bulk occurs if the total market value of the monetized bullion, nonmonetized gold or silver bullion, and numismatic coins sold in a single transaction is $1,000 or more.

Adding: Just because they are in the same cart, eBay often treats them as separate transactions and makes multiple charges to the credit card...

messydesk

If eBay isn't seen as the vendor, a better question (to which I already know the answer) would be how eBay will help recover sales tax collected where none was due because the seller didn't reach a threshold that required out-of-state taxes to be paid.

jmlanzaf

@messydesk said:
If eBay isn't seen as the vendor, a better question (to which I already know the answer) would be how eBay will help recover sales tax collected where none was due because the seller didn't reach a threshold that required out-of-state taxes to be paid.

Irrelevant. The seller does not collect or pay the sales tax, the marketplace does. The laws are written that way.

There is NO SELLER THRESHOLD if you sell on ebay.

Coinstartled

Ebay sure had a nice run. Coin liquidity was never better.

Sunday night was insane with a couple hundred better coins ending with no reserve.

Too good to be true I suppose.