Ebay sales tax problems
ifthevamzarockin
Posts: 8,902 ✭✭✭✭✭
Anyone else having problems with ebay charging sales tax in states that do not tax coin sales?
7
ifthevamzarockin
Posts: 8,902 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
I used to, but it's been a few months since I've had any trouble with it. I raised a stink with eBay about it, i think they might have finally resolved it for my state (Michigan).
This guy
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
I am in South Dakota and we have NO tax on coins or currency, but I just got charged tax for buying a coin out of state. First time they hit me with the sales tax. I regularly see sales tax added to purchases made from me from out of state buyers.
eBay is likely required to collect that.
I had two friends have it charged here in NC (tax exempt state) they had to get the tax refunded, it was a pain...
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About how long ago did these transactions take place?
.
.
It's looking like ebay has known about this for a while and is doing nothing to correct it.
It is more than 1 or 2 states that are affected.
I have been calling and making reports for 6 days and each CSR has a different line of BS.
Think of the thousands of dollars being collected every day that shouldn't be collected.
This is tax fraud on ebay's part.
Sure have, cost Ebay a sell.
It is total BS and easily fixable - all they have to do is exempt the "Coins" category from tax for the states where coins are tax-exempt. They are too lazy to do so, and as a result are paying sales tax to states where it is not payable.
It's not where you are, it's where the buyer is located.
Maybe those buyers' states charge ST.
It's been stated many times that eBay doesn't CHARGE sales tax , they COLLECT it.
I cancelled a purchase recently due to the sales tax. I had made a $550 offer which was declined. Then the next day I received a counter offer for $550, so I accepted and proceeded to the check-out. At that time $58 was added for tax as the shipping was to be free. $608. I messaged the seller and asked him to cancel the sale, which he did.
That is what they are doing. My state doesn't charge sales tax on coins and when I buy something that's in the Coins and paper money category that's not a coin, no sales tax is added.
Collector
75 Positive BST transactions buying and selling with 45 members and counting!
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AAARRRGGGHHHHHH! For the 1st time ebay is trying to make me pay sales tax in Ga.! Coins have been exempt from sales tax in Ga. even before ebay was in existence. I'm assuming it's a system glitch as I've bought hundreds of coins since ebay started collecting sales tax. I was even able to get a call from ebay on my minion account in 5 minutes. The rep wrote an email to the sales tax dept and said it would be 2-4 days before I receive a reply.
I'll chime in. eBay, as we know, is starting to, or already collecting taxes in and for many states. This is becoming a noticeable trend for on-line vendors everywhere as the taxmen all expect their due. We can complain, but it is happening and is probably never going away for large e-commerce sites.
I have also found that eBay is making (and acknowledges they have made) errors.
I was successful getting them to reverse an erroneous collection and refund me. I was not happy and it was a learning experience. In all that I found they are trying to implement all of the laws from all of the states, and they feel like they are still a ways out from automating everything (this was a conversation with a supervisor level employee). I suggested they need to get their stuff together quickly or they may be looking at class action issues (I was pissed enough to consider pursuing because I am sure they have collected taxes erroneously).
If you think tax was mis-appropriated from you, first of all, absolutely know the laws in your state.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
All this is fine if you have nothing to do. As for me, I would not pursue a refund less than $50 as it could take hours and way to much mental frustration dealing with it to be worth the while.
It's been about three months ago, nothing since, so I'm not sure if there's still the same problem or if they finally fixed it...
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I don’t like it when I get charged the tax on eBay, but I still end up buying the coin and paying the tax. But it’s just because I’m too lazy to do anything else but just pay and also because I feel I already am too far committed to not just buy it anyway.
Mr_Spud
I absolutely agree, and I was pissed because I do have plenty to do other than chase their ass around to get things right. But it was the principle of the matter (I pay plenty of taxes otherwise) ... and it was for more than 50.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Of course there are many people who list things in the wrong category on eBay. Also, not all states have the same rules on which coins are exempt from sales tax. Sales tax rules are a crazy quilt and certainly not "one size fits all".
I had a problem with this earlier in the year, eBay finally fixed it, and 3 days ago they are now trying to collect tax again and eBay currently owes me 313 dollars in taxes they illegally collected.
Just got an ebay CSR to admit in writing they are illegally collecting sale tax.
"We are already aware of the inconvenient you are having with the illegal additional charge of taxes for sales."
So this is the latest message from ebay. Because I was having no luck with the ebay phone CSR's I hit them up on Facebook. It would seem they want to just keep collecting taxes illegally and wait to see if the buyer asks for a refund. Any money not claimed they get to keep. No more buying coins on ebay for me until they get this fixed. Trying to get a refund from them is a total joke!
It's me again with eBay's Facebook Support. I wanted to check in with you about the latest info I received in regards to sales being added to coins. From what was said, coins and precious metals (gold/silver) are a different category for us. For these items, the eBay system won't change. However, I had been advised that if a member does purchase an item that is being invoiced the sales tax, we would encourage the payment to go through, but we ask that you let us know when that happens so we can work on a manual refund on the back end.
These are known as a manual payout that is sent to our manual payments team who will then review it. The reason for this process is because gold and silver are traded on the market all the time, but changes happen every day and could change in the middle of the day. While our Sales Tax team confirmed they do not handle these type of requests, we can help with the manual payout here on Facebook. With your unpaid item, once you purchase this, please let us know here with a new message so we can work on getting the money back to you. I hope this info helps!
"The reason for this process is because gold and silver are traded on the market all the time, but changes happen every day and could change in the middle of the day."
And what does this mean?
They can't correct the problem because of spot price?
How does gold & silver affect sales tax on a Lincoln Cent or a Buffalo Nickel?
Notice the sale tax team "do not handle these type of requests"
They are the ones that illegally took it from you shouldn't they be the one to return it to you?
How could they keep up with manual payments for all the coin transactions on ebay?
More smoke & mirrors to be able to steal money from buyers and not correct the problem.
I have filed a report with my State Tax Commission & the California State Tax Commission and also filed a report with the SEC. I don't know if any of these reports will do any good but it's worth a try. I would encourage anyone being charged sales tax by ebay when they shouldn't be to file a report with their state tax commission.
So as a buyer, if my state does not require a tax and eBay charges me a tax anyway, I should cancel the order, and list the reason for cancelation as added tax fees not required by the purchasers (in my) state. Not good for sellers but a way to change eBays ideology? With enough cancelations, eBay will have to address.
Kennedys are my quest...
Just now. Have $300 of coins in the cart and ebay is trying to charge $19 in sales tax to Illinois. I wonder if buying seperately rather than using the cart option makes any difference.
I have not had this problem before.
Collector, occasional seller
@ChrisH821 "I wonder if buying seperately rather than using the cart option makes any difference."
I have made single purchases and not used the cart and have been charged.
Ebay really is having some sort of software glitch. Bought 4 or 5 coins since the 1st time they charged me sales tax and then Bam!, charged me sales tax on another one yesterday. (which one is the angry emoticon?)
eBay is attempting to charge PA residents sales tax on bullion and coins when it’s explicitly excluded.
eBay has a mess on their hands and I also reported this to them.
Sellers need to start complaining. If I did follow thru on the transaction (which I did not) I would have promptly cancelled with the seller. This puts sellers in a bad position too
I backed out of transaction this weekend because of the tax (WA is exempt).
On a larger purchase several months ago, I was able to get a refund from WA DOR but it was a pain. Turns out gun safes are tax exempt and I didn't know it at the time.
Shouldn't matter if an item is tax exempt or not. If the tax is collected improperly then the state should refund your money because it's collected for THEM. Usually there is a form to fill out and you'll need proof that you paid the tax.
eBay sales tax collection
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
It's not a glitch......it's their new source of revenue. And they don't plan on changing it.
"For these items, the eBay system won't change."
Then answer me this, Why are the 5 purchases between the 2 I was charged sales tax on not taxed?
@amwldcoin Great question and I wish I had an answer.
here's one
well, if you continue using ebay for coins and bullion, let us know when you get charged and when you don't.
I recently made 1 exempt purchase and was not charged, everything else got charged. =>
why can't they not charge me, too?
I just bother buying on eBay. There's plenty of other options - Heritage, GC, Stacks, and private dealers - where I don't have to worry about it.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Sorry - that should have read "I just don't bother buying on eBay".
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Keep the pressure up, they are violating the law if your state does not charge taxes on these categories. I'm waiting for a class action lawsuit holding ebay accountable for breaking the law. I got refunded around $20 on a purchase from another state, but spent a lot of time calling in to ebay and raising issues with them. You can't contact their tax group directly and it takes days for the issue to be addressed by ebay on which you don't get a direct response only a refund if they decide to do that. This is a dysfunctional way of handling these issues. I complained to my state of CT senator and the state tax department replied that they could send a letter to ebay asking them to refund taxes not due.
what did you get hit on? (I'm in CT, too.)
A 200 plus year old coin that was not certified. I have provided ebay with my state sales and use tax number as well. At one point they asked for my business license which is not relevant or required. CT is the "Constitution state". Roger Sherman would be shocked at pusillanimous pipsqueaks who are taxing us when not due.
OMG. they've asked for a bus. lic. and don't get the sales tax number part.
Kind of reminds me of the 5 cent bottle deposit that's collected at point of sale. They know not everyone is going to return the bottles for the 5 cents. More $ for those involved.
Taxation without representation. Someone (class action) needs to file a cease and desist order. I just about lost a sale today but instead had to eat the tax (offered equivalent discount on invoice) to make the sale. BS. Because some 500 pound gorilla is overreaching their boundary.
More paperwork and write-offs. It's great to be an American. Love the "code".
They're gaming us all.
I can say, given the hassle of getting the tax refunded has about completely ruined my desire to buy coins on ebay lately.
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You need to let eBay know that.
Four months later and I am still being charged sales tax on every coin purchase.
It has slowed down my buying on ebay.
I have had to call for a refund on every purchase and a couple of them I waited the 10 days and had to call back to get a refund. I had a buyer that was making a lot of purchases and I saw ebay charged him tax when they shouldn't have. I sent him a message that he was being charged tax and how to get it back. He said he had not noticed the tax and would be in contact with ebay to get it back, he said they owed him hundreds of dollars and thanked me.
In 4 months of ebay collecting sales tax in states they shouldn't it has to add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars maybe even millions.
Seems ebay has plenty of time to change their system for Managed Payments.
Seems ebay has plenty of time to create a new selling view home page that is a mess.
But they don't have time to fix the problem of illegally collecting sales tax.
I eventually got (mostly) refunded by ebay after multiple calls on an issue of taxes collected contrary to state law.