Sold something on eBay the other day

[CountAllVotes]

I'm not a big time ebay seller or anything like that.

Once in a great while I might sell something I have two of or something that I no longer want or need as was the case with the item I sold for ~$35.00.

The buyer's invoice showed taxes due on the win.

He did not care to pay taxes and canceled his bid after the auction ended. I paid seller's fees but got them back.

Has anyone else had this problem?

If so, has it affected your selling on ebay?

Curious to read about what you may have to say about this as I let the guy off the hook and sold it to the next highest bidder (no tax was due on the 2nd highest bidder). A bit confused I am, are you too?

Thanks for your replies.

CountAllVotes

[Cattledog]

1. Depends on the state the buyer is in if taxes are applied.

[CountAllVotes]

7. He is in Washington

I guess the sales tax thing just hit there.

I am in California.

It has not hit here yet but was told it will come Oct. 1st.

If I want to buy something, a few extra bucks for sales tax is not going to prevent me from buying whatever it is. In fact, I just bought a used laptop on there and wowza, what a great deal for $180.00 (saved me a bundle not having to buy a new one, esp. when I did not care to purchase a new one).

It seems to be hit and miss best I can tell.

Thank you for your reply.

[aliza20]

11. Tax

The buyer pays taxes.

[customerserviceguy]

2. I don't sell much on eBay

but if the buyer and the seller are in the same state, sales tax (if applicable) will be added to the purchase price by eBay, and the seller will be responsible for remitting them to the appropriate state tax authorities.

I'd do one of two things, either have your auction listing state that, "If you are the successful bidder, and your mailing address is in (name of state) then eBay will add sales tax to this purchase", or if the amount was not significant, I'd eat the sales tax, especially if that would bring me more money than selling to the next highest bidder. Your call.

At some point, we will surely have a system that collects taxes for every state with a sales tax, and automatically remits it to state tax authorities. A lot of commerce has shifted from brick-and-mortar to online transactions, and that's a lot of tax money being lost.

[stopdiggin]

3. thanks, good info, and yes

--"At some point, we will surely have a system that collects taxes for every state with a sales tax, and automatically remits it to state tax authorities."--
No excuse why we aren't there already. This has been blatantly obvious (and lagging) for years. And it's not really the proprietors or the platforms .. it's the spineless pols.

[customerserviceguy]

4. You're welcome!

What it would take is a bipartisan effort to change the law that allows exemption from sales tax for goods going across state lines, the exemption was cemented in place by a SCOTUS decision many years ago, back when Sears and Montgomery Ward had catalog businesses that were doing a tiny fraction of retail selling.

[stopdiggin]

5. hard to see it now as anything other than a special exemption (nt)

[CountAllVotes]

6. I tried to remove the tax

Ebay won't allow you to remove it now.

Hence, the invoice goes with the tax on it.

The guy was angry at me.

He should be angry at someone else or ebay as others mentioned.

I think this is something that just started to happen (where the tax is on the invoice being sent).

Seems they need to seriously get their act together like yesterday.

*sigh*

[CountAllVotes]

8. So, as far as the paid tax goes ...

Does ebay get that or what?

Do I have to file more paperwork with the State where I live if I received said tax rather than ebay?

Many don't pay state taxes depending upon their situation financially.

???

[customerserviceguy]

9. It should be a part of the remittance that came from the buyer

Yes, you're supposed to remit it to the state, but on small casual sales, a lot of people don't do that, and states don't have the resources to track everyone down for a few bucks. But, there are a lot of people who use eBay for a business activity that makes them a substantial part of their income, and the state will be looking out for them.

[CountAllVotes]

10. Thank you customerserviceguy

I really appreciate your help.