Miriam - an ongoing problem!!

[duujogl]

WHY does ebay and PayPal still let Canadian buyers pay without including tax(es) even though the seller has indicated everywhere possible that he/she is a registered merchant and the amount of tax to be collected from each province? So what good does that do? NONE!! If buyers pay before I can invoice them, taxes are NOT added. What is the good of a so-called checkout system that doesn't include taxes? Either get it right, or scrap it!!!

I realize that this is not something that you personally can correct, but PLEASE convey our frustration with this ongoing problem to the appropriate department! This could be the straw that breaks this particular camel's back!!!

Thanks, Glenda

[fenian]

I hear you Glenda ! When invoicing via eBay, sometimes the system will let me put in the BC 7% PST and will calculate it in the invoice total. Sometimes, the system will refuse to accept the 7% PST, and I have to enter the sales tax as a "seller charge", with an explanation for the buyer. This is very frustrating, and must confuse many buyers. >>> Michael

[westernstargifts]

I haven't had a problem recently with the tax not calculating at all....I have in the past.....but I am sure the customers wonder what the heck is going on when the Ontario 8% PST is shown as 8.003% or some other such strange figure. That happens frequently.

Judy

[bits-n-pieces]

I object to the way the tax is calculated. As far as I understand, in Ontario we (those registered for pst) are required to charge the tax to Ontario residents on the item price - not on the total which included postage. The ebay invoice calculates the tax on the total, so I would have to figure it out correctly and make an adjustment - on seller charges. Easier to just add it to seller charges. I also am getting really tired of buyers paying immediately and not adding the tax or estimating what they think the postage should be. THEY DON'T READ THE TERMS. I would prefer it if Paypal stopped them paying until an invoice has been issued.

[duujogl]

"I would prefer it if Paypal stopped them paying until an invoice has been issued."

That would certainly be the easiest solution! And shouldn't be too difficult for eBay's and PayPal's programmers to implemement! Heck, if they have a problem, our own Monique could probably point them in the right direction!!

And I think a lot of them DO read the terms (a lot of mine are repeat buyers so they know the ropes!) - they're hoping we'll think it's not worth the effort to go after them for the difference - they're just plain deliberate tax avoiders!

[miriam@ebay.com]

Hi duujogl,

Thanks for this thread. I've passed it over to Rodney, our Product lead in the office. We've got three or four different tax issues referenced here - I'll see if he can swing by and respond to the concerns here.

Thanks,

Miriam

[redshoshk]

I also charge tax, however I have never had any problem, the thing that you guys are missing is that tax does not have to do anything with eBay, you have to set up your tax with Paypal and when you do, no matter if you send the invoice or not, Paypal will charge all the costumers from the countries that you specified when you set up the taxes on Paypal.

When you go to your paypal, search for tax and you will find the necessary link to set it up, once you do, you will never going to miss anything.

Regards,
Alireza

[momoftwingles2]

Hi Alireza,

Thank you for sharing this tip! I use Blackthorne so when I send out my info e-mail it shows the tax. However, I've always had to input the tax on my eBay invoice. I've been fortunate that my buyers do read and follow directions and wait for an invoice!

Again...THANK YOU! Your tip is very much appreciated!
Susan
momoftwingles2

[duujogl]

I also charge tax, however I have never had any problem, the thing that you guys are missing is that tax does not have to do anything with eBay, you have to set up your tax with Paypal and when you do, no matter if you send the invoice or not, Paypal will charge all the costumers from the countries that you specified when you set up the taxes on Paypal. When you go to your paypal, search for tax and you will find the necessary link to set it up, once you do, you will never going to miss anything.

Regards,
Alireza

I wish it were that simple! And yes, if ebay has a checkout system set up, it DOES have a lot to do with ebay!

Anyhow, I've been here long enough that I KNOW I have to set up paypal -- I've set up the taxes on paypal long ago, and every time there's a problem I go back and make sure that everything is still set up correctly (usually it is but sometimes the ubiquitous glitch has set in!), but when my buyers pay before I invoice them, they don't get charged the tax! The ONLY time I have a problem is when the buyer pays before I've had a chance to send a checkout invoice, (and checkout is definitely ebay!) so I have to believe ebay is sending paypal the info.

If we could send checkout invoices as soon as each item is over, there might not be a problem but we have no way of knowing if a bidder will be successful on other items as well!

[duujogl]

Miriam, thanks for your help on this - I sure hope Rodney will come around and that he can see the problem and help to fix it! I know I'm not alone on this ...

Glenda

[lockotronic]

the problem I noticed lately is when I have a buyer wanting to pickup the item and I have to invoice him again without the shipping fee, the invoice then DOES NOT add the taxes anymore. It's a bug for sure. I have all my tax table working with paypal and ebay before. This only happens in the last few days.

[bare_bright]

Just disable ebay checkout in seller preferances, that will give you time to send a invoice, also disable let Buyer edit Total "that's also in seller prefencess"

Hope This helps

:)

[redshoshk]

I wish it were that simple! And yes, if ebay has a checkout system set up, it DOES have a lot to do with ebay!

Anyhow, I've been here long enough that I KNOW I have to set up paypal -- I've set up the taxes on paypal long ago, and every time there's a problem I go back and make sure that everything is still set up correctly (usually it is but sometimes the ubiquitous glitch has set in!), but when my buyers pay before I invoice them, they don't get charged the tax! The ONLY time I have a problem is when the buyer pays before I've had a chance to send a checkout invoice, (and checkout is definitely ebay!) so I have to believe ebay is sending paypal the info.

If we could send checkout invoices as soon as each item is over, there might not be a problem but we have no way of knowing if a bidder will be successful on other items as well!

Then I do not know what exactly your problem is coming from, as I said, I have been charging tax for past two years and over 60% of my costumers pay before receiving an invoice from me and I have never had or missed any tax from my costumers, perhaps, you might forgot to do something in your preferences and also when you are listing, there is a small check box for the tax on the first page of listing, make sure you select that box as well.

Regards,
Alireza

[miriam@ebay.com]

Hello all,

I shared this thread with Rodney, and he raised the roof with the developers to get this fixed. It's an intermittent bug, which is why some folks are having no problems with sales tax while others are getting a totally broken experience.

Thanks for flagging this one and giving us more ammunition to get developer time on this fix. I will keep you posted.

Miriam

[duujogl]

Thank you Miriam. Glad to hear I'm NOT going crazy and also that I haven't suddenly lost it technologically!!!

It's also wonderful to hear that ebay is taking this seriously rather than giving us the usual "empty your cache and cookies" runaround! I think you've worked a miracle already just getting the right department to take notice!

Glenda

[omega_collectables423]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.

I identified this issue 6 mths ago and escalated through eBay to the Office of the President and never got resolution.

The bug still exists. Great progress huh?

[tech-dudes]

I am having the tax issues as well. But it's not only ebay I'm having tax issues with. I'm also having problem with paypal shopping cart on my website. I have sales tax enabled for through out canada and paypal is not charging tax any more. I contacted paypal to find out what's going on and they never gave me an answer and put me on hold for more than 20 minutes at a time and coming back without a satifying answer. They said that it's an issue that paypal is having and it's been an on going issue since February 22, 2008. They will do nothing to rectify what happened and they said that I have to contact buyers and request for money on tax that they didn't pay. Hmmmm.... some customer support that paypal has for merchants....

[futuretech_liquidations]

The double-talk we are getting from both eBaY & Paypal is just deplorable to say the least.

If this was an issue on the US site I bet it would have been given much higher priority but because it is us Canadians it does not mean a whole hell of a lot to them.

This has been an ongoing problem since day one of them release their crappy code.

Don't hold your breath because it will not be fixed anytime soon - they are more concerned with working on BEST MATCH and DSR algorythms designed to grab those nasty sellers out there!!!

[westernstargifts]

Don't hold your breath because it will not be fixed anytime soon - they are more concerned with working on BEST MATCH and DSR algorythms designed to grab those nasty sellers out there!!!

I read some of the links on the algorithms that eBay will be using for best match. I compared my listings against a competitor with 3 user id's selling identical items under each id. Their listings showed up better than mine and yet:
1) My feedback percentage is higher although their total feedback is MUCH higher than mine.
2) I show the flat rating shipping charge at the bottom of the listing and they don't. I don't charge excessive shipping and they do.
3) My DSR's are MUCH better than any of their's.
4) I host my pictures on eBay, not elsewhere (don't know about them)
5) I use eBay checkout. They use Marketworks.
6) I sell SOLID real genuine 100 percent copper jewelry. They sell an alloy that can have as little as 5% copper content but they call it solid 100 percent wh...e copper.

Could Best Match be more geared towards those that list thousands of items every week and have much higher numbers of positive feedback as opposed to the small sellers with better ratings but fewer listings and total feedback?

If that is the case then Best Match and all the changes will do nothing to stop the big sellers who charge excessive S/H. They may lose PS status and the discount but will still make up the majority of sales because of their listing volume and better placement in searches.

I hope I am wrong but that is the way I see it happening thus far.

[futuretech_liquidations]

I am concerned about the BEST MATCH search thing because it definately gives eBaY way to much control over what you get to see on their site. Sure they give it a fancy name like BEST MATCH but the real name should be PREFERRED MATCH because that's exactly what you are getting, a list of PREFERRED VENDORS.

Just think if the airline industry decided to charge FIRST CLASS RATES for all seats but then at time of boarding they choose who actually got to sit in first class.

The BEST MATCH search will definately be abused by eBaY to its "full revenue generating" potential as it is only of one their new arsenauls of tools designed to tap more cash out of their system.

Take a look at this interesting recent article and you will see what I mean.

http://www.internetnews.com:80/ec-news/article.php/3731751/eBay+Warns+of+Revenue+Risks.htm

TIM @ FTL