After more than over 8 weeks & 7 or 8 phone calls I still don't have a refund!
This has been going on for over 6 months now.
I am not buying on ebay anymore.
I was an active buyer and would take quite a bit of my money from sales to purchase new inventory.
Thanks to all the great sellers I have purchased from, sorry I won't be back.
@amwldcoin said:
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?)
@ifthevamzarockin said:
After more than over 8 weeks & 7 or 8 phone calls I still don't have a refund!
This has been going on for over 6 months now.
I am not buying on ebay anymore.
I was an active buyer and would take quite a bit of my money from sales to purchase new inventory.
Thanks to all the great sellers I have purchased from, sorry I won't be back.
download your detailed statement and get all their info. there is NO reason for you or your sellers to miss out. you can still look at their offerings and if you've done a little business together, no reason to not do pp invoice. hope it helps.
@amwldcoin said:
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?)
oh ya baby, found the old link again (have to add these as images for now)
@ifthevamzarockin said: @gradeacoinsebay"I can't find anything that says Kentucky is tax exempt for coin sales. Doesn't appear to be."
Agree, everything I am seeing says Kentucky is not exempt.
I've had to explain to people that their state taxes coins. People got so used to not paying tax on the internet they seem to have forgotten or never known.
The state was Kansas not Kentucky. The buyer was upset and almost did not buy the coin. The buyer was going to contact eBay about the sales tax. I still see the collected tax amount on the order.
@ifthevamzarockin said:
A quick search for Kansas shows sales tax to be collected on "All coins except those made of gold or silver"
The coin was a 1921 Morgan, so there should be no sales tax.
Yep that's right. Kansas I think just passed something new again because the eBay tax section shows a new effective date of 7/1/21. So wonder if eBay has it fixed now? Unsure.
I wonder how they're making that determination too, since they can't do it by category like for example Washington Quarters where some of them are clad and some are silver. Could be by the item specifics section, though enough people still don't fill those out properly that collecting tax based on that would be a little odd. Certainly a bit challenging, don't envy whoever has to set up all those tables and rules at eBay. Yuck
@asheland said:
I had two friends have it charged here in NC (tax exempt state) they had to get the tax refunded, it was a pain...
I'm in North Carolina too. Won an eBay lot tonight and was charged over $5 tax. Since you said it was a pain to straighten out it's probably not worth the time and headache.
@asheland said:
I had two friends have it charged here in NC (tax exempt state) they had to get the tax refunded, it was a pain...
I'm in North Carolina too. Won an eBay lot tonight and was charged over $5 tax. Since you said it was a pain to straighten out it's probably not worth the time and headache.
The last one I did was about $15 in tax. Hardly worth it, but I did end up getting it back. 👍
@asheland said:
I had two friends have it charged here in NC (tax exempt state) they had to get the tax refunded, it was a pain...
I'm in North Carolina too. Won an eBay lot tonight and was charged over $5 tax. Since you said it was a pain to straighten out it's probably not worth the time and headache.
The last one I did was about $15 in tax. Hardly worth it, but I did end up getting it back. 👍
@asheland said:
I had two friends have it charged here in NC (tax exempt state) they had to get the tax refunded, it was a pain...
I'm in North Carolina too. Won an eBay lot tonight and was charged over $5 tax. Since you said it was a pain to straighten out it's probably not worth the time and headache.
The last one I did was about $15 in tax. Hardly worth it, but I did end up getting it back. 👍
Who do you send email too. eBay customer service?
In the eBay app, somewhere in the help menu, there’s a place to request a phone call back. They will call you.
I hate to see buyers taxed but I have no control over that. eBay is the one collecting and remitting the sales tax to the individual states.
I think many possibly unaware of the sales tax situation (law) for their state.
Wonder if my sales probably reduced for certain taxable states like if that money going to other venues like shows due to buyers not wanting pay tax on online purchases.
After waiting 16 days since my last call I contacted ebay again today.
After 5 different customer service reps and about an hour on the phone and I was told to wait 2 days for a response.
This beats the 10 days & 21 days I have been told in the past, but I have also been told 2 before.
Anyone wanna make a bet if I have a refund in 2 days.
Someone should sue ebay, they are the ones that are illegally collecting tax and refuse to update their system or issue refunds for taxes after they have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Just exceedingly poor customer service all the way around.
I posted this in another thread about ebay sales tax problems but wanted to update this thread also.
eBay replied to my request today.
Hello,
A pleasant day to you. I hope this email reaches you well.
Good day. Thank you for reaching out to eBay customer support.
Thank you very much for sharing your concern about sales tax. We are more than glad to be of assistance to you in your needs. My name is Julius, your trusted eBay advisor.
Can you please provide full details about your concern in sales tax.
But for me to better assist you, I would like to confirm what resolution are we looking for today?
We trust that this information helps and we thank you for your patience. Again, thank you for choosing eBay. We appreciate your business with us. Stay safe always.
Best Regards,
Julius
eBay customer support
.
.
I talked to them 2 days ago and explained my concern about the illegal collection of sales tax.
I talked to them 2 days ago and and explained for the 10th time I would like my money back.
I'm right back where I started over 2 months ago!
This was just 1 of 3 communications with them today.
Another eBay rep sent me a link to justify why they were collecting sales tax in my state.
The link they sent clearly says "There is an exemption for the sale of currency and coins that is used as legal tender in any country. A purchase of any bars, nuggets, or bullion that is at least 50% pure is not currency and is taxable. However, all gold and silver coins are considered legal tender and still exempt."
Either they don't have the reading skills or the desire to read what they are sending.
It says exactly what I have been telling them since December.
I think to qualify for a job as a eBay CSR you need to have an IQ in the single digits.
I do not buy anything on ebay that is tax exempt in my state unless the item is listed as a buy it now and I can confirm no tax charges during checkout before finalizing the payment.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
@ifthevamzarockin said:
I posted this in another thread about ebay sales tax problems but wanted to update this thread also.
eBay replied to my request today.
Hello,
A pleasant day to you. I hope this email reaches you well.
Good day. Thank you for reaching out to eBay customer support.
Thank you very much for sharing your concern about sales tax. We are more than glad to be of assistance to you in your needs. My name is Julius, your trusted eBay advisor.
Can you please provide full details about your concern in sales tax.
But for me to better assist you, I would like to confirm what resolution are we looking for today?
We trust that this information helps and we thank you for your patience. Again, thank you for choosing eBay. We appreciate your business with us. Stay safe always.
Best Regards,
Julius
eBay customer support
.
.
I talked to them 2 days ago and explained my concern about the illegal collection of sales tax.
I talked to them 2 days ago and and explained for the 10th time I would like my money back.
I'm right back where I started over 2 months ago!
This was just 1 of 3 communications with them today.
Another eBay rep sent me a link to justify why they were collecting sales tax in my state.
The link they sent clearly says "There is an exemption for the sale of currency and coins that is used as legal tender in any country. A purchase of any bars, nuggets, or bullion that is at least 50% pure is not currency and is taxable. However, all gold and silver coins are considered legal tender and still exempt."
Either they don't have the reading skills or the desire to read what they are sending.
It says exactly what I have been telling them since December.
I think to qualify for a job as a eBay CSR you need to have an IQ in the single digits.
The response is probably a template with canned phrasing for all inquiries.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Well, another 10 days and still no refund.
Called again today and spoke to 3 different CSR's and spent about an hour on the phone.
First rep said "I understand the problem and let me transfer you to someone with the tax team."
Second rep was not with the tax team and had no clue what was going on. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor
Third rep said he was a supervisor with the "Managed Payments" team. I asked why I got someone with the managed payments team rather than someone from the tax team. He said "No problem I am going to get this taken care of." He also said "I understand the problem and I will call you Monday 7/26 with a solution."
I have been told this before, I will update.
Anyone want to bet IF I get a call back?
Anyone want to bet IF I have a refund in the next 10 days?
@zas107 said:
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.
Were you ever able to recover any or all of your $313?
@ifthevamzarockin said:
Someone should sue ebay, they are the ones that are illegally collecting tax and refuse to update their system or issue refunds for taxes after they have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Just exceedingly poor customer service all the way around.
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes? For many reasons that is incredibly unlikely.
As an aside, It would be interesting to know what percentage of tax collection complaints to eBay are legitimate? I would guess a surprisingly large number of people are simply confused/misinformed. However, once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly.
@Davideo"Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes?"
Yes, I have been documenting the problems and have provided copies/documentation to law enforcement for a criminal case. I am not confused/misinformed.
There are also plenty of responses to this thread that others are having the same problem.
In another thread about ebay & sales tax it was said ebay's response was.... "Unfortunately, there is an ongoing issue with the system that is causing issues regarding sales tax being charged on gold and other precious metals in a few states. We have escalated this to our tax technology team and external vendors for a solution."
"once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly." Exactly!
@zas107 said:
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.
Were you ever able to recover any or all of your $313?
Yes I was it took quite some time for the refund to process. Thankfully haven't had any more issues lately.
Just the other day was charged state sales tax on a coin that is tax exempt in FL. Once I was able to get a rep on the phone the problem was easily resolved.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
@ifthevamzarockin said: @Davideo"Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes?"
Yes, I have been documenting the problems and have provided copies/documentation to law enforcement for a criminal case. I am not confused/misinformed.
There are also plenty of responses to this thread that others are having the same problem.
In another thread about ebay & sales tax it was said ebay's response was.... "Unfortunately, there is an ongoing issue with the system that is causing issues regarding sales tax being charged on gold and other precious metals in a few states. We have escalated this to our tax technology team and external vendors for a solution."
"once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly." Exactly!
No one is questioning that eBay has improperly charged sales tax. My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state. That is apparently your contention and is completely different. So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state? The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
@Davideo"No one is questioning that eBay has improperly charged sales tax."
If they are improperly/illegally collecting the tax why is it hard to believe that they could be improperly/illegally keeping it?
"My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state."
The purchases I have been refunded for were refunded by ebay not my state tax commission.
In all of my communications with ebay they have never said "you are going to need to request a refund from your state."
This would seem to indicate ebay is still in control of the funds.
"So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state?"
Like ebay would release any internal documents without a court order.
The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
There are many things ebay does that don't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense that they would not have simply refunded me 2 months ago.
@ifthevamzarockin said:
A quick search for Kansas shows sales tax to be collected on "All coins except those made of gold or silver"
The coin was a 1921 Morgan, so there should be no sales tax.
@ifthevamzarockin said: @Davideo"Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes?"
Yes, I have been documenting the problems and have provided copies/documentation to law enforcement for a criminal case. I am not confused/misinformed.
There are also plenty of responses to this thread that others are having the same problem.
In another thread about ebay & sales tax it was said ebay's response was.... "Unfortunately, there is an ongoing issue with the system that is causing issues regarding sales tax being charged on gold and other precious metals in a few states. We have escalated this to our tax technology team and external vendors for a solution."
"once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly." Exactly!
They could be inappropriately collecting it but submitting it to the State. I think that was @davideo point
If they are improperly/illegally collecting the tax why is it hard to believe that they could be improperly/illegally keeping it?
"My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state."
The purchases I have been refunded for were refunded by ebay not my state tax commission.
In all of my communications with ebay they have never said "you are going to need to request a refund from your state."
This would seem to indicate ebay is still in control of the funds.
"So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state?"
Like ebay would release any internal documents without a court order.
The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
There are many things ebay does that don't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense that they would not have simply refunded me 2 months ago.
EBay can easily refund you money that they paid to the state and then make the correction on their next filing. You are assuming too much. EBay would not risk enterprise fraud charges or FTC fines to skim a few bucks
If they are improperly/illegally collecting the tax why is it hard to believe that they could be improperly/illegally keeping it?
"My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state."
The purchases I have been refunded for were refunded by ebay not my state tax commission.
In all of my communications with ebay they have never said "you are going to need to request a refund from your state."
This would seem to indicate ebay is still in control of the funds.
"So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state?"
Like ebay would release any internal documents without a court order.
The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
There are many things ebay does that don't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense that they would not have simply refunded me 2 months ago.
Yes, it is very hard to believe that eBay is using separate, but theoretically identical, categorization systems for collecting sales tax vs transmitting sales tax. That would be completely asinine.
eBay refunding vs telling you to request a refund from the state does not indicate they are in control of the funds. Companies pay out funds they are not in control of/out of profits all the time. In fact, their delays in paying out make this more likely to be the case. They don't want to pay out sales tax refunds if they are not getting the money back from the state. They can correct their filings, but maybe they don't have a good system to do so for cases like this.
The assertion that eBay is intentionally and systematically committing incredibly risky sales tax fraud for ridiculously tiny benefit is ludicrous. Let's have dozens of employees cover up very serious crimes so their multi-billion dollar employer can make potentially tens of thousands of dollars is not a viable strategy.
You frequently mention eBay being incompetent. Isn't incompetence a much, much more likely cause instead of intentional fraud?
@jmlanzaf said:
They could be inappropriately collecting it but submitting it to the State. I think that was @davideo point
Scenario 1: eBay collects tax they know is not required and keeps the money.
Scenario 2: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due and remits it to the state.
Thought experiment...
Scenario 1: eBay thinks they won't get caught.
Scenario 2: The state accepts the payments received from eBay without confirming that all the taxes collected are actually due.
@jmlanzaf said:
They could be inappropriately collecting it but submitting it to the State. I think that was @davideo point
Scenario 1: eBay collects tax they know is not required and keeps the money.
Scenario 2: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due and remits it to the state.
Thought experiment...
Scenario 1: eBay thinks they won't get caught.
Scenario 2: The state accepts the payments received from eBay without confirming that all the taxes collected are actually due.
The problem I have is "once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly."
You both mentioned "ridiculously tiny benefit" & "a few bucks"
I would think with this being a nationwide problem that has gone on for over 6 months the amount could be very large.
I have not been buying for about 2 months so I had not checked in a while to see if they have corrected the problem.
I just checked and they are still collecting tax for my state.
Ebay has known about this problem for over 6 months.
It has gone long enough that if it were a glitch or technical problem there is no reason it could not have been corrected by now.
@jmlanzaf said:
They could be inappropriately collecting it but submitting it to the State. I think that was @davideo point
Scenario 1: eBay collects tax they know is not required and keeps the money.
Scenario 2: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due and remits it to the state.
Thought experiment...
Scenario 1: eBay thinks they won't get caught.
Scenario 2: The state accepts the payments received from eBay without confirming that all the taxes collected are actually due.
Which is more likely?
Scenario 3: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due.
Scenario 3: eBay thinks they won't get caught and keeps the money.
I know this whole thing is crazy.
If someone told me this same story and everything they had done to get a refund I would call them a liar.
I would also tell them if they have made contact with ebay that many times they are doing something wrong while talking to them.
I have fallen in some strange time warp thing with ebay.
It's not about the amount of money, I have spent way too much time trying to recover a small amount.
It's the principal of the thing and all the small amounts nationwide add up to a very large amount.
I'm not saying eBay is blameless. They should be able to do better than this, but it's a huge company and there probably are only a handful of people there who can snap their fingers and get something done stat. Have you seen the movie Office Space? Imagine that, but on steroids.
From reading this thread, I get the impression That people think eBay is just a little incompetent and wouldn't risk outright fraudulent behaviour.
I would take issue with that. Senior eBay employees were arrested for stalking owners of a website in Mass recently. The arrests led to #1 and the CEO Devin Wenig resigned. The arrests followed some very horrific behaviour. It's well documented and when you read the press release from the Boston FBI field office, you'll gasp.
I don't put anything past eBay. They've had several years to get the sales tax thing right. It's not right for a reason.
@streeter said:
From reading this thread, I get the impression That people think eBay is just a little incompetent and wouldn't risk outright fraudulent behaviour.
I would take issue with that. Senior eBay employees were arrested for stalking owners of a website in Mass recently. The arrests led to #1 and the CEO Devin Wenig resigned. The arrests followed some very horrific behaviour. It's well documented and when you read the press release from the Boston FBI field office, you'll gasp.
I don't put anything past eBay. They've had several years to get the sales tax thing right. It's not right for a reason.
It's a crime you can't get away with. You take $10 from 100,000 people, hundreds of them are going to notice.
Those individuals were caught and no longer with them. Their actions were taken individually. This sales tax alleged fraud would have to be a corporate policy.
It's also a ridiculous allegation because if eBay wants more money, they could simply raise fees.
Comments
>
This ... and I wish I could find a couple lawyers that wanted to take this as a Class Action and really go after them.
Like @asheland , the more BS eBay pulls, the less it makes me care whether I support their business model
“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
After more than over 8 weeks & 7 or 8 phone calls I still don't have a refund!
This has been going on for over 6 months now.
I am not buying on ebay anymore.
I was an active buyer and would take quite a bit of my money from sales to purchase new inventory.
Thanks to all the great sellers I have purchased from, sorry I won't be back.
download your detailed statement and get all their info. there is NO reason for you or your sellers to miss out. you can still look at their offerings and if you've done a little business together, no reason to not do pp invoice. hope it helps.
Yes,
I had a buyer in Kansas that was charged sales tax on a coin purchase. Coin sales are tax exempt in Kansas. > @gradeacoinsebay said:
My bad, it was Kansas.
Item subtotal $219.48
Shipping$ 0.00
Sales tax (eBay collected) $16.46
Total**$235.94
I can't find anything that says Kentucky is tax exempt for coin sales. Doesn't appear to be. Can you post a source then I can forward on to eBay? Ty
oh ya baby, found the old link again (have to add these as images for now)
https://us.v-cdn.net/6027503/uploads/expressions/Ubermad.gif
@gradeacoinsebay "I can't find anything that says Kentucky is tax exempt for coin sales. Doesn't appear to be."
Agree, everything I am seeing says Kentucky is not exempt.
I've had to explain to people that their state taxes coins. People got so used to not paying tax on the internet they seem to have forgotten or never known.
The state was Kansas not Kentucky. The buyer was upset and almost did not buy the coin. The buyer was going to contact eBay about the sales tax. I still see the collected tax amount on the order.
A quick search for Kansas shows sales tax to be collected on "All coins except those made of gold or silver"
The coin was a 1921 Morgan, so there should be no sales tax.
Yep that's right. Kansas I think just passed something new again because the eBay tax section shows a new effective date of 7/1/21. So wonder if eBay has it fixed now? Unsure.
I wonder how they're making that determination too, since they can't do it by category like for example Washington Quarters where some of them are clad and some are silver. Could be by the item specifics section, though enough people still don't fill those out properly that collecting tax based on that would be a little odd. Certainly a bit challenging, don't envy whoever has to set up all those tables and rules at eBay. Yuck
I'm in North Carolina too. Won an eBay lot tonight and was charged over $5 tax. Since you said it was a pain to straighten out it's probably not worth the time and headache.
The last one I did was about $15 in tax. Hardly worth it, but I did end up getting it back. 👍
My YouTube Channel
Who do you send email too. eBay customer service?
In the eBay app, somewhere in the help menu, there’s a place to request a phone call back. They will call you.
My YouTube Channel
I hate to see buyers taxed but I have no control over that. eBay is the one collecting and remitting the sales tax to the individual states.
I think many possibly unaware of the sales tax situation (law) for their state.
Wonder if my sales probably reduced for certain taxable states like if that money going to other venues like shows due to buyers not wanting pay tax on online purchases.
They know you have been bad mouthing them on the forum.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
After waiting 16 days since my last call I contacted ebay again today.
After 5 different customer service reps and about an hour on the phone and I was told to wait 2 days for a response.
This beats the 10 days & 21 days I have been told in the past, but I have also been told 2 before.
Anyone wanna make a bet if I have a refund in 2 days.
eBay should sue Wayfair
Someone should sue ebay, they are the ones that are illegally collecting tax and refuse to update their system or issue refunds for taxes after they have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Just exceedingly poor customer service all the way around.
I posted this in another thread about ebay sales tax problems but wanted to update this thread also.
eBay replied to my request today.
Hello,
A pleasant day to you. I hope this email reaches you well.
Good day. Thank you for reaching out to eBay customer support.
Thank you very much for sharing your concern about sales tax. We are more than glad to be of assistance to you in your needs. My name is Julius, your trusted eBay advisor.
Can you please provide full details about your concern in sales tax.
But for me to better assist you, I would like to confirm what resolution are we looking for today?
We trust that this information helps and we thank you for your patience. Again, thank you for choosing eBay. We appreciate your business with us. Stay safe always.
Best Regards,
Julius
eBay customer support
.
.
I talked to them 2 days ago and explained my concern about the illegal collection of sales tax.
I talked to them 2 days ago and and explained for the 10th time I would like my money back.
I'm right back where I started over 2 months ago!
This was just 1 of 3 communications with them today.
Another eBay rep sent me a link to justify why they were collecting sales tax in my state.
The link they sent clearly says "There is an exemption for the sale of currency and coins that is used as legal tender in any country. A purchase of any bars, nuggets, or bullion that is at least 50% pure is not currency and is taxable. However, all gold and silver coins are considered legal tender and still exempt."
Either they don't have the reading skills or the desire to read what they are sending.
It says exactly what I have been telling them since December.
I think to qualify for a job as a eBay CSR you need to have an IQ in the single digits.
I do not buy anything on ebay that is tax exempt in my state unless the item is listed as a buy it now and I can confirm no tax charges during checkout before finalizing the payment.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
The response is probably a template with canned phrasing for all inquiries.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
They're giving people all the more reason to reach around outside Ebay when they can...it's easy to find dealers directly.
Early American Copper, Bust and Seated.
Well, another 10 days and still no refund.
Called again today and spoke to 3 different CSR's and spent about an hour on the phone.
First rep said "I understand the problem and let me transfer you to someone with the tax team."
Second rep was not with the tax team and had no clue what was going on. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor
Third rep said he was a supervisor with the "Managed Payments" team. I asked why I got someone with the managed payments team rather than someone from the tax team. He said "No problem I am going to get this taken care of." He also said "I understand the problem and I will call you Monday 7/26 with a solution."
I have been told this before, I will update.
Anyone want to bet IF I get a call back?
Anyone want to bet IF I have a refund in the next 10 days?
Were you ever able to recover any or all of your $313?
Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes? For many reasons that is incredibly unlikely.
As an aside, It would be interesting to know what percentage of tax collection complaints to eBay are legitimate? I would guess a surprisingly large number of people are simply confused/misinformed. However, once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly.
@Davideo "Do you have any evidence whatsoever that eBay is keeping improperly collected taxes?"
Yes, I have been documenting the problems and have provided copies/documentation to law enforcement for a criminal case. I am not confused/misinformed.
There are also plenty of responses to this thread that others are having the same problem.
In another thread about ebay & sales tax it was said ebay's response was....
"Unfortunately, there is an ongoing issue with the system that is causing issues regarding sales tax being charged on gold and other precious metals in a few states. We have escalated this to our tax technology team and external vendors for a solution."
"once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly."
Exactly!
Yes I was it took quite some time for the refund to process. Thankfully haven't had any more issues lately.
state consumer affairs, too?
Just the other day was charged state sales tax on a coin that is tax exempt in FL. Once I was able to get a rep on the phone the problem was easily resolved.
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
No one is questioning that eBay has improperly charged sales tax. My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state. That is apparently your contention and is completely different. So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state? The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
@Davideo "No one is questioning that eBay has improperly charged sales tax."
If they are improperly/illegally collecting the tax why is it hard to believe that they could be improperly/illegally keeping it?
"My question is regarding evidence that eBay is keeping this tax and not passing it to the state."
The purchases I have been refunded for were refunded by ebay not my state tax commission.
In all of my communications with ebay they have never said "you are going to need to request a refund from your state."
This would seem to indicate ebay is still in control of the funds.
"So you have internal eBay documents and/or records showing sales tax submissions to your state?"
Like ebay would release any internal documents without a court order.
The assertion that eBay is collecting tax and then keeping it does not make any sense.
There are many things ebay does that don't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense that they would not have simply refunded me 2 months ago.
Local tv news with those “consumer assistance” segments can also be contacted
I have been contacting people for 6 months and no one cares.
They could be inappropriately collecting it but submitting it to the State. I think that was @davideo point
EBay can easily refund you money that they paid to the state and then make the correction on their next filing. You are assuming too much. EBay would not risk enterprise fraud charges or FTC fines to skim a few bucks
Yes, it is very hard to believe that eBay is using separate, but theoretically identical, categorization systems for collecting sales tax vs transmitting sales tax. That would be completely asinine.
eBay refunding vs telling you to request a refund from the state does not indicate they are in control of the funds. Companies pay out funds they are not in control of/out of profits all the time. In fact, their delays in paying out make this more likely to be the case. They don't want to pay out sales tax refunds if they are not getting the money back from the state. They can correct their filings, but maybe they don't have a good system to do so for cases like this.
The assertion that eBay is intentionally and systematically committing incredibly risky sales tax fraud for ridiculously tiny benefit is ludicrous. Let's have dozens of employees cover up very serious crimes so their multi-billion dollar employer can make potentially tens of thousands of dollars is not a viable strategy.
You frequently mention eBay being incompetent. Isn't incompetence a much, much more likely cause instead of intentional fraud?
Scenario 1: eBay collects tax they know is not required and keeps the money.
Scenario 2: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due and remits it to the state.
Thought experiment...
Scenario 1: eBay thinks they won't get caught.
Scenario 2: The state accepts the payments received from eBay without confirming that all the taxes collected are actually due.
Which is more likely?
Depends on how much you hate ebay. Lol
@jmlanzaf & @Davideo I like and agree with what you are saying.
The problem I have is
"once eBay realizes/is shown that the collection was improper then it should be refunded promptly."
You both mentioned "ridiculously tiny benefit" & "a few bucks"
I would think with this being a nationwide problem that has gone on for over 6 months the amount could be very large.
I have not been buying for about 2 months so I had not checked in a while to see if they have corrected the problem.
I just checked and they are still collecting tax for my state.
Ebay has known about this problem for over 6 months.
It has gone long enough that if it were a glitch or technical problem there is no reason it could not have been corrected by now.
Who gets all the money that was collected improperly that the buyer got discouraged and gave up trying to get a refund?
Probably the state it was collected for. What is their incentive to return it?
Scenario 3: eBay collects tax they mistakenly believe is due.
Scenario 3: eBay thinks they won't get caught and keeps the money.
I know this whole thing is crazy.
If someone told me this same story and everything they had done to get a refund I would call them a liar.
I would also tell them if they have made contact with ebay that many times they are doing something wrong while talking to them.
I have fallen in some strange time warp thing with ebay.
It's not about the amount of money, I have spent way too much time trying to recover a small amount.
It's the principal of the thing and all the small amounts nationwide add up to a very large amount.
I'm not saying eBay is blameless. They should be able to do better than this, but it's a huge company and there probably are only a handful of people there who can snap their fingers and get something done stat. Have you seen the movie Office Space? Imagine that, but on steroids.
From reading this thread, I get the impression That people think eBay is just a little incompetent and wouldn't risk outright fraudulent behaviour.
I would take issue with that. Senior eBay employees were arrested for stalking owners of a website in Mass recently. The arrests led to #1 and the CEO Devin Wenig resigned. The arrests followed some very horrific behaviour. It's well documented and when you read the press release from the Boston FBI field office, you'll gasp.
I don't put anything past eBay. They've had several years to get the sales tax thing right. It's not right for a reason.
Google: eBay Mass arrests
It's a crime you can't get away with. You take $10 from 100,000 people, hundreds of them are going to notice.
Those individuals were caught and no longer with them. Their actions were taken individually. This sales tax alleged fraud would have to be a corporate policy.
It's also a ridiculous allegation because if eBay wants more money, they could simply raise fees.