eBay sales tax on coin purchases

Herb_T

Last year the State of Ohio changed the tax laws for gold and silver purchases to be exempt from state sales tax. I kept track of my purchases and tax amounts.

In August of this year I submitted a form (found on the sales tax site for Ohio) asking the state to refund me the tax withheld in error by eBay. I had given up on the refund when out of the blue I was contacted by the tax office in Columbus. There were several hoops I had to jump through. It wasn’t enough to submit the sales slip from eBay, they also wanted to see how they were paid for and confirmation of payment. In this case since I paid with credit cards I just went to the web site and took screen shots.

In the end, I am getting a refund of $2500, they even included interest. While it took some digging it has been worth it in the end.

Chevyrose

I never use eBay. Too much tax. Too much percentage taken from sales

Nice you got the money back after jumping through some hoops, good for you

I usually pay cash for all purchases or a cashiers check

Keep Uncle Sam out of my pocket

jmlanzaf

Yeah 8% for 10 million eyeballs is a killer.

Chevyrose

More like 8% for 300-400 eyeballs

Not worth it

Then again if you buy high quality, when it’s time to move the coin it will sell itself

daltex

@Herb_T said:
Last year the State of Ohio changed the tax laws for gold and silver purchases to be exempt from state sales tax. I kept track of my purchases and tax amounts.

In August of this year I submitted a form (found on the sales tax site for Ohio) asking the state to refund me the tax withheld in error by eBay. I had given up on the refund when out of the blue I was contacted by the tax office in Columbus. There were several hoops I had to jump through. It wasn’t enough to submit the sales slip from eBay, they also wanted to see how they were paid for and confirmation of payment. In this case since I paid with credit cards I just went to the web site and took screen shots.

In the end, I am getting a refund of $2500, they even included interest. While it took some digging it has been worth it in the end.

I'd do an awful lot of digging for $2500.

ricko

Good work.... $2500 is worth the effort. Cheers, RickO

BStrauss3

You got lucky with state laws. Many states only refund the overpayment to the company that remitted it unless you file a notarized form where the remitter agrees to have the state pay it to you.

LanceNewmanOCC

@Chevyrose said:
More like 8% for 300-400 eyeballs

Not worth it

Then again if you buy high quality, when it’s time to move the coin it will sell itself

i'm not trying to get some big semantical debate going but fwiw, the listings actually get impressions, where a person can see that the item is up, 1 pic and a price. if they are more interested, they go to the listing but last time i checked, i get tens of thousands of impressions across my many listings. maybe more or less, i really don't count that number too much as the conversion rate or whatever it is called is extremely low but as we scroll down the listings and see promoted listings scattered all over the place for the 1 trillion listings on ebay (not just coins), there are a lot of eyes looking.

when the pandemic really kicked in and supply chains started seriously suffering, random sales went through the roof as people couldn't get stuff as easily at their local stores. SO i think the problem isn't necessarily just not enough eyes, it is that there are SOOOOO many listings for different stuff for people to spend their money on. those of us that sell coins should be quite happy things are doing as well as they are considering all the other options have to spend their money on. go numismatics!

i question their algorithm and preferential tactics and perhaps some other tech stuff not intended for this thread.

just adding some useful tidbits.

LanceNewmanOCC

@Herb_T said:
Last year the State of Ohio changed the tax laws for gold and silver purchases to be exempt from state sales tax. I kept track of my purchases and tax amounts.

In August of this year I submitted a form (found on the sales tax site for Ohio) asking the state to refund me the tax withheld in error by eBay. I had given up on the refund when out of the blue I was contacted by the tax office in Columbus. There were several hoops I had to jump through. It wasn’t enough to submit the sales slip from eBay, they also wanted to see how they were paid for and confirmation of payment. In this case since I paid with credit cards I just went to the web site and took screen shots.

In the end, I am getting a refund of $2500, they even included interest. While it took some digging it has been worth it in the end.

well done going through official channels. i really respect those that use the resources provided (not rioting and stealing justified by hardship) to get a lawful and favorable outcome despite frustrations, challenges, unfamiliarity etc.

no excuses, you saw something that wasn't right in your estimation, you set some goals, accomplished them and now you have reaped the rewards. kudos sir, kudos. (perhaps even inspired some others along the way)

Broadstruck

@Herb_T Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

johnny9434

Same tax problems here in Connecticut with taxes