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Sales tax at ComicLink
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67 posts in this topic

10 minutes ago, oldwhy said:

Just got charged sales tax by Comiclink for the first time. I’m in CA, does this mean they opened an office here or was there a change in tax law?

I got a notice (dialog box) last auction.  My "address" was also in CA.  I can't remember the exact text, but they just said they had to start charging it.

Malvin

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21 minutes ago, oldwhy said:

Just got charged sales tax by Comiclink for the first time. I’m in CA, does this mean they opened an office here or was there a change in tax law?

Wayfair Tax Ruling

Heritage, eBay, ComicConnect and Comiclink were all affected equally by this decision.

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21 minutes ago, WoWitHurts said:

Look up Quill Decision. Supreme Court Ruling. Some states still are getting no sales tax from Comiclink.

Great, first he messes up the plan to defeat Thanos, and now he's responsible for interstate sales tax. Way to go, Starlord.

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13 hours ago, Spiderturtle said:

sucks for comiclink sellers/buyers because hammer prices will go down about 10 percent.  went down that much on a couple books I was tracking.  

Why does that suck for buyers?

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21 hours ago, WoWitHurts said:

Look up Quill Decision. Supreme Court Ruling. Some states still are getting no sales tax from Comiclink.

Texas is one that still doesn’t charge.  That’s why I prefer to buy from Clink and CC over Heritage.  Heritage collects since they have their brick and mortar HQ here

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10 minutes ago, Spiderturtle said:

Now have to pay 10 percent extra.  That doesnt suck?

but you said hammer prices go down about 10%? So it all pans out in the end.

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27 minutes ago, Bird said:

but you said hammer prices go down about 10%? So it all pans out in the end.

Which states are taxed/not taxed.  End up losing to not taxed bidders.  Only times I win on heritage is when the book sells for 10 less than gpa.  Not even playing field

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1 minute ago, Spiderturtle said:

Which states are taxed/not taxed.  End up losing to not taxed bidders.  Only times I win on heritage is when the book sells for 10 less than gpa.  Not even playing field

You have no idea where people who overbid you live

Edited by Bird
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3 hours ago, Bird said:

You have no idea where people who overbid you live

The end result for me in California is that I will reduce my bid by 10 percent if it’s something I can purchase elsewhere without having to pay that tax.   I’ve already done that over at heritage.   If it’s rare item not available elsewhere then the 10 percent rule doesn’t apply 

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8 hours ago, Spiderturtle said:

Now have to pay 10 percent extra.  That doesnt suck?

Not for me. I live in NJ and we and a few other states always had to deal with the sales tax in mind as we bid while a lot of others didn't. For us, it just levels the playing field.

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16 hours ago, Spiderturtle said:
16 hours ago, Bird said:

but you said hammer prices go down about 10%? So it all pans out in the end.

Which states are taxed/not taxed.  End up losing to not taxed bidders.  Only times I win on heritage is when the book sells for 10 less than gpa.  Not even playing field

Sounds pretty good for bidders from non-taxed jurisdictions then!  

This is all theory.  I can tell you that in actual practice, at least based on the last Heritage Signature Auction, which I believe was the first major Heritage comic auction to happen under the new tax rules, there was zero impact on bidding.  Prices were most definitely not 7-8% down from the previous auction.  To the extent that bidders did lower their bids as a result, they simply went from looney-tunes to looney-tunes-less-8% (or whatever their state tax rate was).

I am a bidder from a non-taxed jurisdiction and I did not win more nor did I feel like I was winning at lower prices.  Easy money and inflated asset prices totally trumps the new application of sales tax. (no pun intended)

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5 hours ago, tth2 said:

I can tell you that in actual practice, at least based on the last Heritage Signature Auction, which I believe was the first major Heritage comic auction to happen under the new tax rules, there was zero impact on bidding. 

Zero impact is overstating the case - just because the market remains strong doesn't mean there was zero impact. There's the underlying growth in the market less any drag from the tax impact. I don't know what that nets out to, but, it could be that the growth overshadowed the tax drag. Or, even if the tax drag took off a percent or two or three, let's face it, no one would likely have even noticed since prices are up year-over-year. :preach: 

Not to mention:

- many of the states with the highest concentration of buyers (e.g., CA, NY, NJ) were being taxed long before the latest round of mandated tax collections (for Heritage, that is)

- many buyers do not pay sales tax (e.g., dealers, those living in no sales tax states or some overseas countries, those actively avoiding sales tax by routing their shipments through no-tax jurisdictions, etc.)

As such, I would have expected, for Heritage anyway, that the impact would be very muted (like 1-2%, and that's even before considering the underlying rate of appreciation). The impact may be felt more at ComicLink, where CA and NY (among others) are getting hit for the first time, but, they will also still have a sizable pool of buyers largely unaffected by these changes and, as such, I would expect any drag to be relatively small, especially netted against the underlying appreciation in the market.  

That said, one should also realize that the introduction of another middleman taking a piece of the action also reduces the net amount you may receive consigning to auction houses as a seller (and may also impact dealer sales to affected clients). Even if the market sucks it up in the short-term, one should not be under any delusion that this is not going to have any long-term economic impact.

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I can tell you that I bid considerably less often and am less inclined to actively participate in the live bidding on HA given their egregious BP and the sales tax hit. It costs HA and consignors and tax collectors for every bid I don’t make, win or lose. To the extent that I am not affected (for now) by the tax on CL is to the advantage of CL, consignors, and even tax collectors,  win or lose....provided I shift bidding to CL. That will only occur in the presence of 2 things- better consignments and, for gods sake, a better, modern, more sophisticated auction website. Their auction site sucks. it really sucks. I say again, IT SUCKS, and they are fools to continue to ignore it. 

Edited by MYNAMEISLEGION
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