Ebay and charging tax for out of state purchases??
sushihotwings
Posts: 452 ✭✭✭
So, I live in Ohio and the seller is shipping from Florida and is trying to charge me sales tax. Has anyone run into this before and how should I handle it? Is there something specific about orders from Florida I am not aware of?
On the hunt high grade Star Basketball.
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I've bought from sellers in my homestate of Massachusetts where i was charged a sales tax but never from a seller out of state.
from google: Here's the scoop on sales tax on eBay: In order to charge the buyer state sales tax, the seller has to be in the buyer's state or have a presence in that state, like a warehouse or a store. . And he can only charge tax according to that state's tax rate. In your case, that should be 6%.
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Buying-Selling-Basics/Sales-Tax-on-Out-of-State-Ebay-Purchases/qaq-p/26100020
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
This is crazy. This is the list of states he says he charges sales tax to. How can this be legit? Can anyone think how this would make sense? Alabama (AL) 9.000 % Arizona (AZ) 5.600 % Arkansas (AR)* 8.570 % California (CA) 8.500 % Colorado (CO)* 2.900 % Connecticut (CT)* 6.350 % Florida (FL) 6.500 % Georgia (GA)* 7.250 % Illinois (IL) 6.250 % Indiana (IN)* 7.000 % Iowa (IA) 7.000 % Kansas (KS)* 6.500 % Kentucky (KY)* 6.000 % Louisiana (LA) 5.000 % Maine (ME) 5.500 % Massachusetts (MA) 6.250 % Michigan (MI)* 6.000 % Mississippi (MS)* 7.000 % Missouri (MO) 6.000 % Nebraska (NE)* 6.500 % Nevada (NV)* 7.000 % New Jersey (NJ)* 6.875 % New York (NY)* 8.875 % North Carolina (NC)* 7.000 % Ohio (OH)* 7.250 % Oklahoma (OK) 8.000 % Pennsylvania (PA)* 6.000 % South Dakota (SD)* 5.500 % Texas (TX)* 7.000 % Virginia (VA) 5.300 % Washington (WA)* 8.000 %What a hassle, to report sales tax to all 50 states
I'm guessing that those are all of the states that charge a sales tax. I don't see NH there who doesn't charge a sales tax.
I would tell that seller that he's gotta cover it himself or he loses the sale unless this is a HTF PC piece that rarely comes up.
The few times i paid that Mass sales tax were all low dollar purchases were it really wasn't noticeable.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
https://taxfoundation.org/state-and-local-sales-tax-rates-in-2017/
According to this article, only 5 states don't have sales tax. He is collecting sales tax in 31 states. This guy is not a major auction house or one of the biggest sellers and certainly doesn't have a physical presence in all of these states. I am still waiting to hear back from him to reply with an explanation. The items are not one of kind.
Sounds like he's scamming his customers pretty good. Who knows if they do anything about it but i would let ebay know this guy is doing this. Maybe even leave a comment about it in his feedback if you still make the deal.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
WIthout knowing who the seller is, is it possible that the seller uses a drop shipper for some of his orders? For example, if you purchase an item from said dealer in Florida and he sends the order to a vendor based in a different state to ship out. From past experiences, I believe nexus (a physical presence for tax purposes) has been established when this is done.
Perhaps. Thanks for the added information. Unfortunately, he still hasn't answered my messages asking his reasoning for charging the tax which is causing my frustration to grow. On his website he gives conflicting information. The list of 31 states he collects sales tax for pops up in the shipping details section but in his FAQ section on his website which I took a screenshot of and sent to him says this.
"Will you charge sales tax on my order?"
Sales in Florida only are subject to a 7.0% sales tax.
I called Ebay and showed them the FAQ section of his EBay store showing this...
"Will you charge sales tax on my order?"
Sales in Florida only are subject to a 7.0% sales tax.
They couldn't figure out why he was trying to collect sales tax either. They suggested I just cancel the purchase which I haven't paid for yet and so Ebay facilitated that for me.
Whatever the seller is doing, in my opinion they seem quite skilled at it...and that isn't a compliment.
Absolutely ridiculous. Who is this seller? I want to make sure I don't buy anything from him/her.
Agreed, please share who the seller is.
This! IF he is collecting it, he better be paying it, or he is committing fraud.
I collect: 80’s Rookies and 86 Fleer Basketball
He is either very confused about tax rules or as others have said he is trying to scam folks out of a few extra $$.
You might not even have to pay sales tax when selling in your owns state!
When first selling on ebay, wanting to follow the rules, I was going to charge sales tax on sales within my state.
Even though I offered free shipping on my first sale within the state (Minnesota), the buyer whined like a little kitty cat about it, saying he had a tax number or some garbage and didn't want to pay the sales tax.
I called the State of Minnesota and was told that unless I was selling a LOT (I was not given a dollar amount), Minnesota considered online sales like a "garage sale" and I didn't have to charge sales tax.
I think it's a scam. I had a similar situation about a year ago. I'm in CA, and the guy tried to charge me tax from MA. His list for charging taxes was as big as the OP. I told him that I would call ebay and have them look into it, and immediately the tax was removed from my invoice. I'm sure it will continue until he gets busted.
It's somewhat rare when I make a purchase on ebay and I pay Maryland sales tax. I don't charge sales tax when I sell items on ebay.
1952 Topps Collector.