Getting a rash of ebay tax complaints again
jdimmick
Posts: 9,729 ✭✭✭✭✭
Getting a rash of tax complaints again from ebay buyers, many expecting me to remove it, I explain, I have no control , and its assessed by ebay per state requirements. Several are cancelling the sale, which costs me time and expense.
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For problems such as this it might be a good idea to have a popup when a buyer places a bid that says your state requires we collect taxes and then have them check off that they are aware. Just a thought. The same for when a seller's auction photo is NOT the coin the buyer will receive. Stop a lot of returns.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Ebay has been adding tax for awhile now - figure people should be used to that by now.
Maybe incorporate something like this in your auction description?
"Please Note: If eBay is required to collect taxes in your jurisdiction, eBay will add the tax as a separate charge on your seller invoice which is automatic from eBay and totally out of my control"
"When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"
Steven59. As a buyer I think that is an excellent ,excellent idea. It’s pro-active and something that a seller can do now! Just saying 👍🏼
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
New negotiation tactic?
What's the expense?
I would consider loss of sale an expense.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
I may be wrong, but I suspect the issue Jim is having is the following:
In many states, coins and or bullion are tax exempt.
Ebay collects taxes on behalf of states on goods if they are taxable in the state they are being delivered to.
lets say you sell a coin on ebay for $1000. It is being sold to someone who lives in a state that levies sales tax of 6% on coins. Ebay would charge $60 during the checkout process for tax in addition to the $1000.
Now hypothetically you sell a coin on ebay for $1000, and it is being sold to someone in a state where coins are NOT taxable, such as Pennsylvania, Texas, Alaska, Delaware Etc. The purchaser would pay $1000 and that would be that.
Now every few months, Ebay completely wreaks havoc with their tax collection, and they ILLEGALY tax non taxable items. Sometimes even if you have a tax exemption certificate on file. You call customer service, and they are clueless. You provide them with a copy of your states Tax collection information directly from your states Department of Revenue, but unfortunately they cannot or do not want to read, and if you are lucky 4 to 5 months later after you have spent 11 hours on the phone with ebay, and filed multiple complaints with your State's department of revenue, you just might get the illegally collected tax back.
It appears that as of a few hours ago, ebay's tax collection software started taxing non taxable goods for people in various states, whether it be coins, clothing etc. This is likely the issue Jdimmick is having. The buyers do not understand that the people at the multibillion dollar company eBay cannot figure out when they should and should not collect tax.
Ebay is an open venue for new customers who have joined recently, as well as years ago. Some stagnated and come back.
Given that, it doesn't matter if they have "been adding tax for awhile now", it could very well be NEW news for many
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I include this in my description:
"Ebay is now automatically collecting taxes for sales to some states. I do not add sales tax to your purchase. If your total purchase price includes state sales taxes, they were added by ebay. If ebay is adding taxes to your purchase from me, they are adding it to your purchases from all sellers. I have no control over ebay adding taxes to your purchase, it is built into their algorithm as they are complying with recent changes to individual state sales tax laws that now affect internet purchases. As Pink Floyd says: "welcome to the machine."
Repetition of ignorance is ignorance raised to the power two.
In the past, the fact that items could be purchased on ebay and not pay sales tax, was definitely a positive factor for many people. Various states recognized they were losing revenue this way. A combined force persuaded ebay to add this tax to sales... They still have not perfected it, but the states are happy getting money now. I am not an attorney, but I think such a system could be challenged in court... After all, one can travel to a state with no sales tax and purchase items... also purchase items online from many websites and not pay taxes. The states have bullied the big operations (ebay, amazon) into submission... However, there are other venues. Cheers, RickO
I just sent this message to a guy that has a resale certificate filed with eBay asking me to remove the sales tax after his purchase:
Hi, XXXXXX
Unfortunately us sellers have no control over ebay collecting the tax. Unfortunately the only solution is to contact ebay and it's a pain in the behind. They will tell you to pay for the item and then they will issue a refund, which sometimes takes a few calls. I wish there was an easier solution and ebay would get their software corrected. If you want to make the calls to ebay then just go ahead and pay as it will not make any difference other than you will get the coin quicker. I will be heading to the Post office in around an hour and can ship today if you pay.
Thanks and Best Regards, XXXXXX
Surprisingly he went ahead and paid and sent me a message thanking me for my help!
Nobody persuaded ebay to do it. They were REQUIRED to do it.
@jmlanzaf ... OK, however, it still leaves many businesses out there that do not collect taxes....Cheers, RickO
Per usual ebay doesn’t understand the problem and states they are required to collect these taxes on non taxable items
I even tried to buy socks to see if they were taxing clothing and sure enough they wanted taxes on them. How does a muli-billion dollar company fail this hard?
What state do you live in? My State taxes clothing and a majority of states do likewise. Matter of fact, I do not know of any Sate that exempts clothing from taxation.
Please enlighten me with the name of a major or national known business that does not charge you a sales tax if you live in a State that charges a sales tax. I'd like to do business with them.
New York state has occasional tax holidays on clothing.
People don't understand what a mess it is with 10,000 different taxing jurisdictions all with their own rules. It is also hard for eBay to even know what taxing category to put certain items because they are listed by eBay sellers not eBay itself.
eBay has struggled to fix the problems at times. I'm surprised at how long it has taken in some cases. But it is much more complicated than people seem to think.
@OPA ... I am not referring to 'major' sites.... There are multiple sources - small websites - available that do not charge taxes. Of course if one travels to other states, no one asks for your residence. Obviously Amazon and other huge retailers will charge tax. Cheers, RickO
I think RickO was thinking more about smaller business like coin businesses.
To @RickO most states did have exemptions for smaller businesses doing business OUT OF STATE. Frankly, it's a bit unfair to larger entities. But, anyway, they do exist.
This is not a question of choice or options. Businesses that are REQUIRED to collect taxes on out-of-state sales - like Amazon, eBay, Wayfair, Heritage etc. - collect sales tax. Those that have been blessed by state legislatures with an exemption do not.
This is simply not an eBay CHOICE. They fought it in court and lost.
I have a small disclaimer in all my listings about eBay collecting tax as well. I haven’t seen an uptick in complaints but have had a couple people make offers that mention they calculated the cost of sales tax into the offer price. Have only had one item go unpaid recently and that was an auction with no response from bidder.
My Ebay Store
Indeed, but when they reach the NEXUS law for the State that they are selling to, which btw can be as low as 10k per year, they will also be required to collect sales tax.
https://www.avalara.com/us/en/learn/guides/state-by-state-guide-economic-nexus-laws.html
edited to get a more utd NEXUS per State
For one, Minnesota has never taxed clothing which is one major reason that the Mall Of America has more visitors each year than either Disneyland or Disney World.
I've gotten some of those, too. Usually, I'll thank them for the offer and tell them I understand their situation but I don't want to pay their sales tax, either.
Disagree. Who’s going to travel to save a few bucks on taxes. They come because someone built it. It’s an attraction.
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Ebay has been illegally collecting sales sales tax in states that do not charge sales tax on coins & paper money for over a year.
This is a source of free money for ebay and in over a year the amount they have collected is hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions. Ebay will not quit stealing from buyers, there is no incentive to do so.
I recently spoke with a past ANA president to try to get some help with this matter. He said ebay has been notified by the ANA about the sales tax problem and refuses to take action. He also said they have made a big push with ebay to help stop counterfeit coin sales. The ANA offered experts free of charge to review and remove counterfeit coin listings, this would cost ebay nothing other than lost seller fees, they refused the help. It's all about collecting seller fees and nothing about protecting our hobby.
Ebay is a dishonest fraudulent company and nothing short of a major class action suit will get them to stop.
Depends on how far away you are. For a family of 4, the taxes could be more than a "few bucks".
We have an outlet mall nearby. We also have a border 80 miles away. (Canada). Before Covid, there were actually bus trips from Ontario Canada to the outlet mall.
People also routinely go the 90 miles South or East to get to Pennsylvania or the 120 miles East to get to Ohio to purchase things that are either illegal in NY or heavily taxed in NY.
And we all know about the Indian Reservations and their duty free shop, don't we?
Ebay has done some type of update and wiped out tax info, I live in a state that doesnt tax coins nor bullion, AND have a tax resale certificate on file with Ebay. But Ebay can not locate my resale certificate nor can they find any info concerning state exceptions for coins and bullion.
Help em out! Seriously that is not good I hope this gets resolved.
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
If you have had an issue with being taxed on coins if you live in a state where they are non taxable you can file a complaint with your department of revenue about illegal sales tax collection. :-)