eBay charging sales tax on pure silver coins

[murphcrud]

Does anyone out there know how long it will take for eBay to issue refunds on incorrectly charged sales tax for pure silver items.  I have been waiting for close to two months.  I have been assured that it will get resolved as they have a long list to go through.  I couldn't get any other committment from the person that I was speaking to at eBay, as to timing.

Anybody received their refunds and what was the time frame??  I am wanting to hear  ONLY from sellers who have received their owed refunds.

Thanks

[marnotom!]

If I’m understanding your post correctly, you’re asking from a seller’s perspective about getting a refund of the FVF and tax on the FVF charged on the sales tax that you feel shouldn’t have been charged on the sale of the coins, correct?

[recped]

Why would SELLERS get a refund of incorrectly charged Sales Tax? Taxes are paid by BUYERS.

[rocketscollectibles]

You forget about selling fees on taxes, and taxes on fees. 

Not even talking about the fact buyers are willing to pay less because they have to add taxes, so it's the sellers losing. 

[murphcrud]

No.  I am a buyer.

[murphcrud]

Your assumption is incorrect - I am a buyer, not a seller

[murphcrud]

I guess that my original inquiry was incorrect when I stated 'sellers', I meant to say 'buyers'

Sorry for the confusion.

I now advise buyers of my pure silver products to monitor their invoice from eBay to insure that the tax is correct - I am quite sure that it still hasn't been amended and they continue to charge tax on pure silver items.  I cannot see a way around this as eBay doesn't know the difference between a pure silver item and a Sterling silver item and continues to charge tax as they do with any other item.   If seller identifies the item as being pure silver when in fact it is not, the buyer would have to lay claim to deemed incorrectly charged tax,  directly from eBay and how would eBay know if the tax was correctly or incorrectly charged. Of course, that may bring about other problems - for seller and buyer.  As I write this, I know that eBay is about 4-6 months behind in refunding buyers for incorrectly charging tax.  I have received two refunds to date, with still 7 more outstanding.  

This has been and continues to be, a real can of worms.

[marnotom!]

Keep in mind that a human being at eBay isn't the one who checks listings and decides whether or not the item in the listing is subject to tax.  That's all done as part of a computer subroutine.  And the only thing that the subroutine is able to check is the category and sub-categories that the item is listed it; it doesn't "know" what the item is specifically unless the sub-category is the item itself, such as a specific make and model of mobile phone.

And a quick search for pure silver coins reveals to me that some sellers aren't categorizing their coins properly, either categorizing something as "bullion" when it isn't or else listing it (or cross-listing it) in a sub-category that includes taxable coins.  And if coin sellers can't even get this right, well. . . .

By the way, the reason I thought you might be posting from a seller's perspective is because you posted this in the Seller Central forum.  

[byto253]

Nuance is not a strong suit.