Anyone from Illinois buy coins from eBay today (sales tax)
U1chicago
Posts: 6,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
A thread recently mentioned that Illinois was added to the list of states where eBay would add sales tax starting January 1, 2020.
Today I experimented by adding different coins to my cart and there is an estimated tax to be collected. The only time I didn’t get the estimated tax is when adding something from the bullion category.
Can anyone confirm (in Illinois who has completed a purchase) if the tax is being charged now? According to the law, coins are exempt from sales tax, but it appears that eBay is only exempting items in the bullion subcategories.
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Contact eBay and point them at aa) from https://www2.illinois.gov/rev/research/legalinformation/regs/Documents/part130/130-120.pdf
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
That is what I was referencing. I’ll try to contact them but my hopes aren’t high that someone there will fix it.
They were charging sales tax in WA early on as well but I believe they have fixed that.
Did you ever contact someone at eBay about it or was it just fixed one day?
I completely forgot about this and was waiting for eBay bucks to buy a watch and now really regretting that since the new taxes are about the same amount as my eBay bucks. This watch may be my last eBay purchase for a long time.
The watch might have already been taxed. There were some non-coin items I bought last year that included taxes (like the shoes category).
Another thing that I wonder about is if the tax will be applied before or after bucks? I guess I'll find out when I use mine.
I’ll assume that was the case with the watch to make me feel better about burning money lol
I live in Illinois like I needed another reason to stop buying on ebay
Pretty sure the peeps in Illinois were busy buying things other than coins today.
Hope they get your tax sorted out. Still no coin or bullion tax here in the commonwealth. They did start collecting in other categories though, like collectables and jewelry where sometimes coins are listed.
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Yep; I saw the news reports of lines going several blocks for the hottest new item in Illinois. If only coins generated that kind of excitement.
I'm hoping it gets sorted out too. Other categories should be taxed (even if I'm not a fan of it), but coins and paper money should not be according to the law.
I just tested a gold coin from bullion and there was estimated tax added, I live in Illinois. I just tried other items in bullion and I wasn't charged tax. Only this one not sure why.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2019-5-American-Gold-Eagle-1-10-oz-PCGS-MS69-First-Strike-Flag-Label/173734989343?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144
That’s odd. Is the “coins” subcategory of bullion also taxed then? That is the only thing I noticed about the listing that could potentially explain it.
From what fleaBay said, tax is applied based on the category the item is listed in. If they set the switches incorrectly, it would have the observed effect. A call to customer service alerting them to the problem would not be out of line.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
I’ll try to call when I have time. However, I’m not very confident in eBay resolving this (especially after reading some of the threads).
Here is one about Washington state. It appears they may have fixed the issue (as per lakes earlier comment in this thread), but it sure did take a lot of time (and likely multiple complaints).
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Washington-Incorrect-Sales-Tax/m-p/29491368#M53565
I have reported this to eBay this morning. I am confident they will address it either to correct it (most likely) or stand by their error (my contact has the Illinois regulatory tax document referenced above). eBay has always been responsive to my support needs. Unfortunately, they said it may take a week or two to resolve.
Thank you! Hopefully it’ll be resolved.
Don't buy until it's fixed unless the coin is a must have or the amount of tax improperly collected is worth the effort to recover it. Worked for me.
I still buy via eBay if the price, quality and tax is the best deal.
Part of the problem is probably the lack of matches between eBay's categories and the several states definitions.
For example, the Illinois rules referenced above say
Illinois, the government of the United States of America or the government of any
foreign country and bullion [35 ILCS 120/2-5(18)], unless the items are transferred as
jewelry and therefore subject to tax.
That would seem to be a pretty clean match to Illinois
but
Not so much other states.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Thinking about this for a moment, Ebay has our home and box addresses and knows where we live. So along with the spam emails, they could alert buyers to taxation procedures in their states and ultimately i suppose, cities. One could be informed as to the categories that will be taxed and even inform sellers that they may be eligible for a tax exemption if they qualify as a business.
But Ebay always misses the boat on this stuff. particularly in the coin category where an item can carry a tax hit of a couple hundred bucks or more. For stuff like $30 books, no big deal as it is only a nuisance.
I have noticed California tax being collected on some of my sales from customers. I have no control over this as this something initiated by the courts and eBay. Cali is a big money state and accounts for many sales especially retail. I am concerned this could have neg impact on my online sales. This at a time when making enough clear table fee from shows / get decent retail sales very challenging due to market conditions.
I will lookout c what happens with Illinois, another big money strong retail buyer state. Other big money states NJ, FLA, NY.
I view taxes as Opex similar Cost class to shipping, supplies, travel, meals, fees, etc al fixed costs which have to be recovered by the business via the markup equation.
The big difference is that California law says there is sales tax on coin purchases under $1,500 while Illinois law says there is no sales tax at all on coins.
But yes tax in general hurts coin sales.
I sure won’t be trading a car in now since Illinois now taxes the trade-in that is valued at 10K $ or more. Which you already paid tax on when you purchased it. Plus you pay tax on the vehicle your purchasing.
What a New Year deal! I hope to get out of this miserable state when I retire.
That was another of the many new laws that started January 1. It certainly won't help car sales as more people will be keeping their cars longer.
I live in Rockford, Illinois and I have 2 items in my cart for a total of $68.00 with Free Shipping.
Tax is $4.25
Guessing it's a tax of 6.25%
Later, Paul.
I believe it is 6.25% (that is the state portion of the sales tax).
I just bought a Seated Dime and got hit for $9+. Pi$$ed me off when I saw the extra charge!
I just created a shopify account as an experiment. As a small fish, I would be below the taxing limit in the states that have "small fish" exemptions. So a customer could buy from me via the shopify account - which can be synched to eBay - and avoid the sales tax.
Ebay was better when it could be done loophole free. Guess we are down to about 32 months now.
cue @ErrorsOnCoins
Coinstartled will not take a cash bet on that topic.
He will not put his money where his mouth is.
I will even give him odds.
He does not believe in what he says.
I believe it what I say. Truth matters.
Down 1.13% today.
At this pace, the stock will be worthless on April first.
Take the bet
All right, EOC, here is the proposed wager. Either pass or play.
32 months takes us to September 2022.
I don't want to get cash involved as it will upset the rule cart, but something much more valuable to us both.
The loser does not post on this forum for one year.
If we get to September, 1, 2022 and Ebay is still a going concern and not in bankruptcy, you win.
If anytime before that, Ebay declares bankruptcy or ceases to exist under the Ebay name, I win.
Yes or no?
I can't hear you!
That doesn't work because you have got a new handle at least once, in the past that I know of. History shows me that you will do it again. Besides, no way you can keep quiet for one year, no way. Stupid bet for me because I have to post for business promotion.
I will bet you cash or coin, JM can hold it .
This is why I will not bet you on silence ......
I'll be nice here, EOC as that is my 2020 resolution.
You have just exposed why a wager of any sort is not a good idea.
You wanted to wager $10,000 a few months ago, but now don't trust that i will hold up my end of a non moneatry bet.
You don't like the terms as you figure your stakes would be higher as you find added value in spamming your wares here.
You want a third party of your choice to hold the wager proceeds. How about the intermediary of my choice?
We haven't even gotten to dissecting the terms. Chapter 7, Chapter 13, what if the distressed Ebay gets picked up for a song by AMZN just to get the pesky competitor out of the way?
I got stung a few years ago on a medium length wager when the terms were not fully disclosed. Still waiting for an apology or at least a bit of contrition from the guys who set the thing up. No dice.
So let's agree to move on and watch the Ebay chaos and confusion play out.
What is wrong is you will not move on and continue to spout BS about eBay.
I suggest a real cash bet, we both send the cash to jm or ricko and they hold it for 32 months.
Take the bet or be quiet and not spout BS about a wonderful company that helps the small guy big time.
CS....I hate to say this. but to bet anything on Ebay going under is not a very smart move. They are to big. We coin buyers are but a very very very very small part of their sales.
What do you mean by taxing limit. Taxing sales on coins will not stop me from buying, but if there is a way out I would like to know it.
I offered a wager but the stakes of not posting were beyond your means.
Maybe next time.
Thank you for the advice, Dime. General Motors once owned 60% of the US auto market. They got lazy and went bust. K-mart owned the discount retail business, too corrupt from the top down and they went bust twice (they were a customer of mine a generation ago. ) Both were headquartered in my hometown so you watched the decline day by day.
Ebay is mimicking that pathway to failure. They got an early jump in 1995 and had a decade of strong management. They have flopped since then with erratic promotions and alienation of many of their non preferred vendors.
The recent taxation requirements will be Ebay's downfall, Even though these changes have been expected for 5 or more years, even the regular users are left guessing as witnessed by the multiple threads here.
Poor management will always be poorly prepared for change.
Your wager is based on fake identities, fact.
My wager is based on cash held by a third party.
A lot of the states have a minimum sales requirement to qualify for nexus selling into the state. Often it's 100 to 200 transactions and/or $100,000 to $500,000 in annual sales. For a small fish like myself, I don't do that much volume in any one state so I would not have to collect/file sales tax in those states.
So, ironically, if I sell through eBay, the "marketplace" component of the tax law forces them to collect sales tax on my sales. If I sell directly via the internet, I'm not required to collect sales tax on the very same sale.
To be fair, what do you have to lose by taking his bet? You still get bragging rights even if he cheats. And if he doesn't cheat, you don't have to hear him complain about eBay for a year.
Can I take the bet? I won't even cheat. [And half the forum would be cheering for @coinstartled to win!
]
How about the wager be something related with charity. Loser donates to a legitimate charity picked by the winner. And then no one has to go on exile.
So, there is no way around for me to get out of paying the tax ……. is what you are saying.
Did they fix this ? I ran a couple checks and I'm not getting tax on coins or paper money. Did a check in sports memorabilia and I got tax.
You can only buy from small sellers who are exempt. You could also have a resale certificate. But there is no other way for you to LEGALLY evade your State Sales Tax.
Contrary to the whiners around here, eBay is trying to get it right. They can't legally collect sales tax that isn't owed.
Just found a coin I was charged tax. Wonder if it has something to do with sellers state.