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How online sales tax killed short term upgrading.
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33 posts in this topic

TLDR: Online sales tax has made short term upgrading too expensive.

 

Upgrading has gotten way more expensive for people in high sales tax states that are charged online tax.

For example, if I were to sell my $5,000 (copy A) comic to upgrade to another (copy B) also at $5,000 but live in a 10% sales tax state...

A same priced upgrade will cost me an additional $1,750 (35%) Sales tax twice, and 15% selling fees.

The 15% was sometimes gained from appreciation or an acceptable penalty.

I find a 35% increase just to break even too much of a demand on our dear old undercopies.  

my 2c

 

Apologies if you read this already in a reply, I wanted to focus the discussion for a broader audience. 

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.....

i wonder if sales tax will be an effect of all paypal transactions?

paypal invoices?

what about websites straight from the dealer, dave and adams website?

etc these may be options to find it cheaper at least if there is sales tax applied....

just have to avoid the ebay 10% along with the sales tax....

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I am including sales tax now on my bids. I am winning far less but I still win every once in a while. Its going to be interesting to see how Amazon and ebay do as more states start forcing them to charge sales tax. That was their number 1 advantage over local stores and now, for many, its gone.

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We don't have VAT / sales tax or import duty on comic books shipped from the US to the UK, just extortionate USPS rates.

If this changed, it would start to be quite prohibitive.

I'm surprised that in this time of ongoing 'austerity' here, this hasn't happened yet.

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14 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

TLDR: Online sales tax has made short term upgrading too expensive.

 

Upgrading has gotten way more expensive for people in high sales tax states that are charged online tax.

For example, if I were to sell my $5,000 (copy A) comic to upgrade to another (copy B) also at $5,000 but live in a 10% sales tax state...

A same priced upgrade will cost me an additional $1,750 (35%) Sales tax twice, and 15% selling fees.

The 15% was sometimes gained from appreciation or an acceptable penalty.

I find a 35% increase just to break even too much of a demand on our dear old undercopies.  

my 2c

I'm confused by your calculation.

If you own copy A and sell it for $5000, it's the buyer that would pay the sales tax.  Your upgrade B, purchased for some reason from a seller charging an additional 15% fee, would cost you $6250, or 25%  more than copy A.  If you bought the upgrade from a dealer or auction house not charging a seller's fee, your cost would be $5500.

Sales taxes are most certainly an added cost that negatively impact buying and put a crimp on commerce in general, so there are definite financial advantages to living in a state without a sales tax.  

 

Edited by namisgr
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14 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

.....

i wonder if sales tax will be an effect of all paypal transactions?

paypal invoices?

what about websites straight from the dealer, dave and adams website?

etc these may be options to find it cheaper at least if there is sales tax applied....

just have to avoid the ebay 10% along with the sales tax....

Yeah any dealer online or at cons who doesn’t charge tax is a good alternative, but they rarely have the selection of comic connect, comic link, heritage, and ebay.

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51 minutes ago, Knightsofold said:

Yeah any dealer online or at cons who doesn’t charge tax is a good alternative, but they rarely have the selection of comic connect, comic link, heritage, and ebay.

Maybe this sales tax surcharge will change that.... Have Hope :) 

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4 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

I pay the sales tax on both books if bought online.  And if I sell my 1st book with ebay and paypal then I pay fees that are almost 15%.  10%+10%+15%=35%.

While I do think that sales tax will have some impact on any comic buying, your calculation is still way off. First off, where is that 15% coming from. There is literally only 1 major auction house that charges that kind of buyers premium, that being Heritage. Easy enough to avoid that as I haven't bought from them in years and there are lots of other choices like CL and CC that don't charge any buyers premium. So throw the 15% out the window. Also, 10% sales tax? Where do you live? I'm in CA, which is a high tax state and I only pay 8%. So I'd be looking at 8%+8%=16%. Far cry from the 35% you are talking about. 

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15 minutes ago, LordRahl said:

While I do think that sales tax will have some impact on any comic buying, your calculation is still way off. First off, where is that 15% coming from. There is literally only 1 major auction house that charges that kind of buyers premium, that being Heritage. Easy enough to avoid that as I haven't bought from them in years and there are lots of other choices like CL and CC that don't charge any buyers premium. So throw the 15% out the window. Also, 10% sales tax? Where do you live? I'm in CA, which is a high tax state and I only pay 8%. So I'd be looking at 8%+8%=16%. Far cry from the 35% you are talking about. 

Your right but still a little off...

EBay = 10% from selling the book

PayPal =3% from selling the book

Sales tax Texas =8.25 % buying upgraded book

So I can see it getting to 21% total

Edited by ADAMANTIUM
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Won't the effects and the issues surrounding sales tax on internet transactions be a short-term issue?  I would tend to think that as more and more states and cities look to internet sales as revenue streams then overtime everyone will get used to the fact that they will be paying a sales tax.  At that point, it won't matter any longer.

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1 hour ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Your right but still a little off...

EBay = 10% from selling the book

PayPal =3% from selling the book

Sales tax Texas =8.25 % buying upgraded book

So I can see it getting to 21% total

Yes but if we're talking about fees for selling your book, that has always been part of the equation. It's not new. The only new part is the sales tax, so the net change is 16.5% with the Texas sales tax. 

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Heres an option I don't know if you've considered: open a PO Box in another state that has no Internet Tax and have a friend that lives in that state mail your comics to your house. Give that friend a nice comic annually (or small fee of cash) and pay for shipping -thats it though. :|

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10 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

Yeah, I’m hoping the online tax will make it possible to have more local shops and businesses, or at least more dealers at shows. There’s nothing like seeing a comic in person.

If we are strictly talking back issues here then nothing about a online sales tax will help what you want come true.  Most local comic shops only carry new comics, toys, and games.  What makes you think anything you just said will come true?   Dealers that want to do shows, do shows. (shrug)

If eBay has a book you want most people will just have to pay the online tax.  For the past 2 years I had to start charging California sales tax on my all eBay auctions.  My California sales are up two years in a row.  If you have a good drug, you will have buyers!

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9 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Your right but still a little off...

EBay = 10% from selling the book

PayPal =3% from selling the book

Sales tax Texas =8.25 % buying upgraded book

So I can see it getting to 21% total

What if they bought the book for $1000 and sold it for $2000?  They would still be up on the deal big time.

Everyone is assuming he or she paid X-amount and still sold for what they paid at X-amount.  

Also assuming they are buying the upgrade via eBay and selling their old copy on eBay.  You can sell it on your own for cash, personal check,  or non-eBay  auction site (less fees). 

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Here’s how I arrived at my numbers.  Originally I had 2% more for fees but I adjusted it.

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D900A07E-D141-496E-81D5-6B3E1E5925EB.thumb.jpeg.3bc6ef53af67b15dfccaceb6614dbcdd.jpeg

928E60A8-87A0-483E-9E36-811B364A198D.thumb.jpeg.ac5e5318fa83180acab87011de1070cb.jpeg

The main point here is still that upgrading big books online in the short term in many areas has been killed.

There’s a few other threads here that discuss how their buying has changed, and that it’s a somewhat unfair playing field now.

Also, two “the more you knows” because:

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AA4FC848-D77C-4F52-9ED9-B176BE3E2FA9.thumb.jpeg.955d64c5ca54a5f74303baf978f5f498.jpeg

EAA057A2-ACF4-4950-99A7-FA5DBFD10473.thumb.jpeg.84a1b1075e849bf45680c602ced29d75.jpeg

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