FleaPay Now Collecting Sales Taxes

[launderess]

As of earlier this week eBay has vastly expanded number of states they "must" collect applicable sales taxes. Where applied these rates come on top of shipping...

Needless to say sellers weren't warned in advance and many are not happy as they are seeing a drop off in sales, and or buyers complaining about the new charges.

Needless to say going forward people should carefully look at total prices including shipping and sales taxes if their state imposes on whatever item. On large appliances and or anything else that costs much you are now likely looking at much higher final sales price than previously.

 

[turquoisedude]

Yes, I had heard about this (at length... LOL) from a neighbour who sells on eBay as a source of income. She was saying she was getting hate mail from buyers and experienced a lot of cancelled bids but had no idea about the new sales tax rules!

 

[launderess]

Days of buying large appliance or anything else

On FleaPay cheaply are over for ourselves. Don't want to even think about what it would cost for say a $1,000 laundry appliance or some such.

Again remember this sales tax comes on top of shipping. So unless one is getting that for free be prepared to pay.

Wonder if U-ship is adding sales taxes to final bills as well.

 

[turquoisedude]

Truth be told, I've not bought any major appliances off of FleaPay for quite some time. Now, when they start cracking down on Facebook Marketplace or craigslist.... LOL

Although I'm sure a certain Hubby will be pleased to hear that I'm not likely to be buying any big stuff, I'm a little ticked because I do still manage to find spares for the hoard from time to time. And I will admit that if I absolutely need a part and I've got to cough up a few more bucks for it, I'll bite the bullet and pay the price.

 

[iowabear]

I was complaining about this in another thread as it's been in place for Iowa for several months now.

 

To add insult to injury, if shipping is not "free" (i.e. not built into the selling price) Iowa charges sales tax on shipping costs as well.

 

Good old days are over.

 

 

 

[tomturbomatic]

I don't understand them collecting sales tax on a service which is what it seems like shipping is. It sounds more like eBay has found another way to rip off its customers. Are sellers required to handle the tax payments to the states? That would be onerous. I can't see people withdrawing a bid over a small percentage like a sales tax.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I, too, was quite befuddled, seeing sales tax and of even a mere Ten-Cents, wondering what dealer, as I would understand if I have to in my own state, but all my items (they are in a “shopping cart”, actually; I’m just getting an estimate on when I will have the actual money to pony up for the goods) are from other states, and one or two maybe also from Canada and the UK...

— Dave

 

[iowabear]

See the following eBay help page for the states and dates where they will automatically be charging and remitting sales taxes.

 

For me this appeared as a separate Paypal transaction.  I had one to the seller and a smaller one to eBay (for the sales tax.)

Security Measure

www.ebay.com

 

[DADoES]

 
Regards to shipping being taxed, TX rules say yes for shipping being a service directly related to the sale (doesn't matter if shipping is a line-item on the original invoice or invoiced separately later) ... unless 1) the merchandise is tax-exempt; 2) items are shipped by a 3rd-party/non-seller entity whose only role is shipping; 3) the buyer instructs the seller to ship items to a 3rd-party recipient.

So figure all that out ...

 

[deltablu]

Here in South Dakota

the law was passed last year that all online merchants doing business in SD must collect state sales tax in the same way it is collected by in-state merchants. If we as a brick-and-mortar business shipped something, we have to collect sales tax on what we charge people for that service, so it's the same for online companies. Personally, I'm surprised it took so long to be mandated in so many states.

 

[sudsmaster]

I don't think CA taxes shipping, but larger eBay sellers have been charging sales tax for some time now. It's a bit inconsistent. The tax doesn't bother me; I order things online that I cannot find locally, and sometimes the price is dramatically lower than local as well.

Bottom line is that I have accumulated too much flotsam and jetsam, so less acquisition of more stuff is a good thing.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> IowaBear
>> I was complaining about this in another thread as it's been in place for Iowa for several months now.

>> deltablu
>> Personally, I'm surprised it took so long to be mandated in so many states.

Some states also have a "Use Tax". Wisconsin, for example.
Purchase something online from another state where you weren't charged a sales tax, and you are/were expected to keep a running inventory of these costs, and pay the state their dues when you file your income taxes...

Keeping track of that was a pain, especially during the transition when some merchants charged tax, but others didn't.
NOT paying that tax, in this day and age, was basically begging to be audited. The presumption now is that *everyone* orders items online.

 

[tomturbomatic]

In cruising the bay yesterday, I noticed several places (businesses, not individual mom & pop sellers) offering free shipping and no tax.

 

[cadman]

Check those spam folders....

Unfortunately, this has been in the works for a long time. Ebay tried to rally sellers to vote against the proposition of tax on internet sales; they were pushing pretty hard the last two years but couldn't gain traction. Now that it's passed, I suspect the same sellers that couldn't be bothered to read those weekly eBay newsletters are the same ones crying uncle. Surprise!

 

[tomturbomatic]

I bought an item from a company on eBay. Today an Amazon box was on the porch. It was what I bought yesterday. Have you ever had that happen when buying something on eBay?

 

[sfh074]

Not Amazon but, bought on ebay .......

then had a Walmart.com box show up with the item I purchased that shipped from a walmart distribution center.

 

[lowefficiency]

That's called "Drop Shipping". Per eBay rules, it's allowable to drop-ship from a wholesale supplier, but not from a third-party retailer where items are purchased after-the-fact. Amazon and Walmart.com would fall into the "not allowed" category.

The reason people do it is that it's easy, and requires no inventory handling or storage by the seller.
Find a reliably-available item on Amazon. Add $4-5 to the price and list it on eBay. Wait for an order, then purchase via Amazon with the eBay buyer's address as the ship-to address. Enjoy your profit for being a no-contact middle-man. Slight risk though, as returns would be problematic, and you can't provide any proof of what you shipped. And again, it's against eBay's policies, so sellers are rolling the dice that they won't get caught.

All that being said, do however note that most folks are now drowning in boxes from their online orders. If I was selling on eBay, I'd ship just about everything out in reused Amazon boxes, because I have dozens of them in all shapes and sizes. No reason to spend money buying generic boxes anymore, when we all receive and trash/recycle so many of them. So receiving an eBay order in a box with a major retailer's markings would not necessarily mean it was drop-shipped...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thank you for explaining. Very interesting.