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Taxes on Ebay
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56 posts in this topic

My brain hurts. So now when I sell something for $20, the buyer will get an invoice for 20 + tax? I will get paid the total amount, but at the end of the month ebay will invoice me for fees plus sales taxes? This does take the regulatory burden off us. Heck, eBay may be earning its fees now! I guess I should update my listings to say prices do not include any applicable sales tax? How does it impact us? Buying on eBay became 4-9% more expensive for folks in these states ( and all states will eventually follow suit). That is money out of our pockets as selkers in theory, as comic budgets Will be adjusted. My shops do not charge sales tax on comics, even when I pay by CC. We'll see if all the tax nuances are absorbed. For example, in NY I think we don't pay local sales tax on clothing under $120 and on periodicals (but it is charged on books and art..)

Edited by the blob
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23 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Sales tax works based on the buyer's residence...not the seller's. If I buy something outside of CA...unless I buy it for the purpose of reselling it...I am required, by law, to report that and pay MY state and local sales tax to CA.

And, believe it or not, there ARE states who don't want to raise their sales tax, regardless of the money boon(doggle) that other states have contrived.

Are you supposed to be paying double sales tax or the difference between your tax and the out of state? Seems nuts to potentially be paying 18+% sales tax between multiple jurisdictions. Luckily I NEVER buy anything to bring back when I am in another state. Ever! (Except for the purpose of resale, of course) (rma... I am pretty sure this only applies to items brought home. You are not expected to pay CA sales tax on all the meals you ate while vacationing in Cleveland)

Edited by the blob
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3 minutes ago, the blob said:

Are you supposed to be paying double sales tax or the difference between your tax and the out of state? Seems nuts to potentially be paying 18+% sales tax between multiple jurisdictions. Luckily I NEVER buy anything to bring back when I am in another state. Ever!

The difference. For now.

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2 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

The difference. For now.

A governor could score some political points by having that eliminated on the tax form, or at least have some $ cut-off like $10k, given that 99% of the folks just ignore it anyway (but have 2 seconds of paranoia before they skip to the next section)

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1 hour ago, the blob said:

My brain hurts. So now when I sell something for $20, the buyer will get an invoice for 20 + tax? I will get paid the total amount, but at the end of the month ebay will invoice me for fees plus sales taxes? This does take the regulatory burden off us. Heck, eBay may be earning its fees now! I guess I should update my listings to say prices do not include any applicable sales tax? How does it impact us? Buying on eBay became 4-9% more expensive for folks in these states ( and all states will eventually follow suit). That is money out of our pockets as selkers in theory, as comic budgets Will be adjusted. My shops do not charge sales tax on comics, even when I pay by CC. We'll see if all the tax nuances are absorbed. For example, in NY I think we don't pay local sales tax on clothing under $120 and on periodicals (but it is charged on books and art..)

The way I read it is that eBay will charge the buyer the sales tax for their state, collect the tax, and send it in to each state.  I do not believe the seller will ever touch any of the tax revenue as eBay will handle all things sales tax.  I have a resale license and am required to collect sales tax for any sales within my state.  At this time, my state is not one of the ones on the list for eBay to collect so I must continue to collect and remit sales tax on all my in state sales.

I'm sure eBay will earn interest off all the sales tax they collect on behalf of their sellers.  Especially if they have to follow the same guidelines as I do and send payments in quarterly.

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52 minutes ago, Kreton said:

The way I read it is that eBay will charge the buyer the sales tax for their state, collect the tax, and send it in to each state.  I do not believe the seller will ever touch any of the tax revenue as eBay will handle all things sales tax.  I have a resale license and am required to collect sales tax for any sales within my state.  At this time, my state is not one of the ones on the list for eBay to collect so I must continue to collect and remit sales tax on all my in state sales.

I'm sure eBay will earn interest off all the sales tax they collect on behalf of their sellers.  Especially if they have to follow the same guidelines as I do and send payments in quarterly.

The interest earned should easily pay for their extra work. They'll probably make a profit, in fact. But they'll raise fees anyway.

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Still not at bad as over here!... In Belgium we pay 21% tax and the seller pays it as in Belgium you have to add the full price tag on with TAX included. You cannot have €10 plus TAX. It has to say €12,10. So when I sell something on ebay, TAX will be deducted from my total. And TAX is taken from everything and everyone, even if soled abroad (unless I have a company with a VAT number)

Ebay has been collecting this TAX in Belgium for many years. Or, as I like to cal it at 21%, "legal theft by the government". 

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31 minutes ago, 999ghosts said:

Still not at bad as over here!... In Belgium we pay 21% tax and the seller pays it as in Belgium you have to add the full price tag on with TAX included. You cannot have €10 plus TAX. It has to say €12,10. So when I sell something on ebay, TAX will be deducted from my total. And TAX is taken from everything and everyone, even if soled abroad (unless I have a company with a VAT number)

Ebay has been collecting this TAX in Belgium for many years. Or, as I like to cal it at 21%, "legal theft by the government". 

The Belgian government provides a lot of stuff through those taxes. You can pay $1300 a month for family health insurance or pay more taxes. You can go in debt $60k for university (and that is a public one here, private may be $200k) or get it free and pay via taxes. Not a judgment as to what is better. Frankly, I'm not sure I have a firm view I e way or the other. That view will probably change when my kids are in college and if I ever leave my job with cheap insurance and have to pay market rate.

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39 minutes ago, the blob said:

The Belgian government provides a lot of stuff through those taxes. You can pay $1300 a month for family health insurance or pay more taxes. You can go in debt $60k for university (and that is a public one here, private may be $200k) or get it free and pay via taxes. Not a judgment as to what is better. Frankly, I'm not sure I have a firm view I e way or the other. That view will probably change when my kids are in college and if I ever leave my job with cheap insurance and have to pay market rate.

Quality is the difference.

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25 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Quality is the difference.

Again, I am torn both ways on these issues. My European relatives and friends don't complain about their health system and university costs, but I do hear complaints about taxes. But like you I live in a socialist state republic, so my fed + local taxes are nearly Euro-style and I don't get the health coverage (although I pay under $500 for a family of 4, so I am not crying too much, and our state colleges are under $8K for tuition). I can't really be outraged about the notion of sales tax collection via ebay so long as I don't have to deal with the paperwork.

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29 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Quality is the difference.

are you talking about Healthcare or University? 

Healthcare wise we didn't see any issues or service gaps during our years in Belgium (and we had a range of health needs and services provided, including surgery)

University, I'd agree at the top level there is a difference (there are only a few European universities that match up to the top US universities), but mid-grade US universities (ie State universities) are pretty on par with European universities. The only catch is that US universities don't always recognize EU degrees (gee I wonder why, it's almost like there's a competitive and economic incentive to not!).

 

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2 minutes ago, miraclemet said:
38 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Quality is the difference.

are you talking about Healthcare or University? 

Healthcare wise we didn't see any issues or service gaps during our years in Belgium (and we had a range of health needs and services provided, including surgery)

University, I'd agree at the top level there is a difference (there are only a few European universities that match up to the top US universities), but mid-grade US universities (ie State universities) are pretty on par with European universities. The only catch is that US universities don't always recognize EU degrees (gee I wonder why, it's almost like there's a competitive and economic incentive to not!).

Without getting into politics, one of the foundational principles of economics is that those who have an incentive to provide better quality will do so, while those who do not, will not, because they don't have to.

There's no getting around that fact.

Anything run by a bureau that has no incentive to be better will, necessarily, provide lower quality service at (usually much) higher prices. Not NO quality...but certainly lower, and often much lower, because of simple human nature. 

It's why competition is vital, and the lack of competition so destructive. Don't like how the DMV works...? Too bad; you have no other options. Don't like how the USPS works? Hey, you've got other options!

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24 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Without getting into politics, one of the foundational principles of economics is that those who have an incentive to provide better quality will do so, while those who do not, will not, because they don't have to.

There's no getting around that fact.

Anything run by a bureau that has no incentive to be better will, necessarily, provide lower quality service at (usually much) higher prices. Not NO quality...but certainly lower, and often much lower, because of simple human nature. 

It's why competition is vital, and the lack of competition so destructive. Don't like how the DMV works...? Too bad; you have no other options. Don't like how the USPS works? Hey, you've got other options!

Without getting into politics, our existing healthcare system is not a free and competitive marketplace. I am not saying socialized medicine is necessarily better, but the warped insurance cartel disaster we currently have isn't working...and the recent "fixes" haven't done much to help. 

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The laws of economics dictate of the three, the most you can ever have is two of the three at the same time. This is something governments ignore in order to dupe the people into letting government take over more and more.

good fast cheap government plan.jpg

However, it is possible to deliver all three of these at the same time and the government excels in this: BAD, SLOW, EXPEN$IVE.

Edited by Jaylam
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1 hour ago, october said:

Without getting into politics, our existing healthcare system is not a free and competitive marketplace. I am not saying socialized medicine is necessarily better, but the warped insurance cartel disaster we currently have isn't working...and the recent "fixes" haven't done much to help. 

I don't remotely disagree with you. 

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Understanding exactly how this is going to roll out and my responsibilities to eBay as well as other states is seemingly beyond my comprehension. 

Guess I would just do more consignments and Facebook and Craigslist’s sales I guess.

is there a simple cheat sheet to understand what to do?  eBay itself doesn’t seem to be too clear on the issue. 

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2 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

Understanding exactly how this is going to roll out and my responsibilities to eBay as well as other states is seemingly beyond my comprehension. 

Guess I would just do more consignments and Facebook and Craigslist’s sales I guess.

is there a simple cheat sheet to understand what to do?  eBay itself doesn’t seem to be too clear on the issue. 

I've thought about calling ebay and asking, but I don't think that it would do me any good lol 

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I should be as simple as this: whatever state the buyer is in, ebay collects the sales tax for that state (by automatically adding to the purchase price). Ebay collects and distributes the appropriate taxes to each state for the seller. Seller is left out of the loop completely. Ebay should have the ways and means to do this just like any other business. If they want to keep sellers on their site, especially smaller sellers like myself, they will do this, otherwise, I will look for other venues to sell my stuff. There are plenty of auction houses out there where I don't have to worry about all this and they will get my business if ebay can't or won't streamline this whole sales tax business. 

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