eBay

eriyoueri · ‎04-01-2019

Hello,

I am trying to purchase an item listed with free shipping to my postal code. when I go to check out the sales tax is calculated at 35%. The sales tax in my province is actually 15%.

I contacted the seller who suggested that the charge might actually be for shipping as the only subsidize shipping up to $50 CAD (though this is listed no where in the add or shipping policy). I explained that in the price break down that the shipping is listed as "Free Shipping" and that sales is calculated at 35%. The seller did not respond to me.

My question is: Can an ebay seller charge more than government required sales tax? I cannot find any information about this.

Erika

femmefan1946 · ‎04-01-2019

Is the seller in Canada?

Ask the seller for his GST number.

Do NOT explain what GST is.

A surprising number of sellers (not a lot but a surprising number) charge sales tax without being registered to remit taxes.

Revenue Canada finds this less than amusing.

There is tax on postage,as well as a fuel fee, and this is not seen in the face value of the stamps or shipping label.

Most sellers treat this as a handling fee. It is not a line item like what you describe.

Free shipping means the (entire) cost of shipping is included in the selling price.

Which is cheaper? A $10 item with $5 shipping or a $15 item with Free Shipping.

The buyer in all transactions is paying for shipping. It just gets called different things.

A screenshot of your invoice might be useful.

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-01-2019

The sellers explanation doesn’t make sense. Is the seller in Canada?

It might help if we could look at the listing or a screenshot of the invoice with personal info blacked out.

eriyoueri · ‎04-30-2019

Sorry for my late reply. I ended up buying from a big box store as I didn't trust the seller. The situation is still annoying me as I do not think it is legal to charge 35% tax (and if the additional 20% was supposed to be a shipping charge then it should have been listed as so). I have attached a photo of the add, a photo of the shipping breakdown to my address, a photo showing a 35% tax charge for my location (though is actually 15%), and a photo of our conversation. Please let me know if they photos are unreadable.

eriyoueri · ‎04-30-2019

Hi,

I have replied to a response with some screenshots. Thank you for your help! Any advice?

eriyoueri · ‎04-30-2019

Hi,

I have replied to another response with some screenshots. Thank you for your help! Any advice?

pjcdn2005 · ‎04-30-2019

Wow, that is totally unethical for the seller to do. They are advertising free shipping and actually charging for shipping by adding the incorrect amount of tax to each province. If there is a report seller on the arrow dropdown on your purchase history, you should report the seller. If not, you could phone ebay about it. I don't know if they can help with this purchase but ebay should know about it.

I would also find another seller to make the purchase from as this one is obviously dishonest. If you don't pay and the seller files an unpaid item, you should be able to get the strike taken off by contacting ebay and explaining the situation.

I am going to notify one of the ebay board reps about this thread and he will hopefully contact you about it.

tyler@ebay

A seller who does that reflects on all ebay sellers!

ypdc_dennis · ‎04-30-2019

@eriyoueri wrote:
I contacted the seller who suggested that the charge might actually be for shipping as the only subsidize shipping up to $50 CAD (though this is listed no where in the add or shipping policy). I explained that in the price break down that the shipping is listed as "Free Shipping" and that sales is calculated at 35%. The seller did not respond to me.

My question is: Can an ebay seller charge more than government required sales tax? I cannot find any information about this.

No they can not.

The problem is that eBay.CA allows each seller to set up a sales tax table with no checking for accuracy. Judging from what the Seller told you he is deliberately committing fraud.

personallifefitness is using a tax table he set up years ago since several provinces are undercharged at their old rate. As it currently stands (assuming he is registered to collect any sales tax) his tax table is only correct for 3 provinces.

bad bad tax table

tyler@ebay · ‎05-01-2019

@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Wow, that is totally unethical for the seller to do. They are advertising free shipping and actually charging for shipping by adding the incorrect amount of tax to each province. If there is a report seller on the arrow dropdown on your purchase history, you should report the seller. If not, you could phone ebay about it. I don't know if they can help with this purchase but ebay should know about it.

I would also find another seller to make the purchase from as this one is obviously dishonest. If you don't pay and the seller files an unpaid item, you should be able to get the strike taken off by contacting ebay and explaining the situation.

I am going to notify one of the ebay board reps about this thread and he will hopefully contact you about it.

tyler@ebay

A seller who does that reflects on all ebay sellers!

Thanks for bringing this to my attention @pjcdn2005! There's a lot going on here that is incorrect.

Hi @eriyoueri - I'm glad you ended up going with a different seller on your purchase, it sounds like the vendor you originally found is misusing the tax table in order to recoup shipping costs. This is not how those tables should be used.

As a side note, there IS an entirely acceptable way to do this - called 'Shipping rate tables' or a 'Shipping Surcharge'. This lets a member set specific areas where additional shipping costs would be added based on the potential buyer's registered shipping address. This member is either unaware of that fact, or is intentionally gaming the system. Either way, I'm going to report the situation to the right folks who can take proper action.

Thanks!

Tyler,