eBay

gwrocen · ‎11-30-2019

Does anyone know what the US and Canadian laws would be on this? Can eBay legally deposit and withdraw the tax, that eBay is required to collect, through MY PayPal account? I am really bothered by this. We do not have a nexus in the US and are not registered to collect taxes from anyone. I would like this to be spelled out very clearly.

Can anyone help on this?

Thanks.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-19-2019

Understood-- and boy you have some cool things! (Anything "Firefly"?)

When we look at the stats on answers and views, we can see that there are many members reading these posts who may never post themselves.

So I tend to over-explain.

melissasminis · ‎12-19-2019

At the end of the day, ebay sellers are paying fees on state taxes (on the whole sale amount, purchase price/shipping/taxes), ebay is required to pay these taxes, as they are based in the USA, but instead, it's being pawned off on the sellers. This state tax has scared my customers away completely, as 95% of my customers are in the USA, my sales have dropped about 95%. I have a store subscription until May 1st, which I will be cancelling, I wish I could cancel now. Tired of these scammers ebay and paypal, it's gotten out of hand what they get away with!

melissasminis · ‎12-19-2019

If collecting this state tax is legal, how come they only just started doing it now, and not years ago?

richardcm · ‎12-19-2019

Why not cancel your store now? If you have so few sales why pay out the store fees until May 1? Have you done the math to figure out of it is cost effective to cancel the store now versus keeping it?

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-20-2019

@melissasminis wrote:
If collecting this state tax is legal, how come they only just started doing it now, and not years ago?

The laws have changed. When a buyer in a state that had state sales tax made a purchase from a seller in another state they were supposed to submit the sales tax when they did their taxes. I doubt that most buyers were doing that. Now states have the option to require large sellers or a marketplace to collect the tax.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-20-2019

I should have mentioned that companies who had some sort of presence in a state already did charge tax for online sales but now a state can require that a seller who sells $xxxx to buyers in that state has to charge tax and they can also require marketplaces like eBay to collect them.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-20-2019

@melissasminis

You can cancel at any time. If you have an annual subscription, you will pay a penalty for cancelling.

You will have to research to learn if the cost of continuing the Store is greater or smaller than the cancellation fee.

Did you know you can double the number of Free Listings you have by listing on both dotCA (here) and dotCOM (the main site)?

That's up to 500 "Free" listings each month for a Basic Store and 100 for no Store.

You will have to list in USdollars on dotCOM
You are already using "free" /flat rate shipping, so that part doesn't change.
Be careful to allow for currency exchange.

The Internet Sales Tax is now being charged by more than 34 of the States.

It is not specific to eBay.

Every online venue (AZ, PoshMark, Ruby Lane, etsy, etc.) is now required by a ruling of the US Supreme Court to charge it.

Just as we saw when the GST arrived in 1984, it will take a year or so before consumers stop complaining about it.

Going only by FB left and received, you averaged six transactions a month. That seems to be on track this month too, although most sellers of hobby goods and collectibles find a drop off around the holiday period with a resurgence of sales in January. YMMV.

Most posters are very annoyed that we are paying a 3.4% fee on the Internet Sales Tax to Paypal, since it is eBay collecting and remitting the actual tax money to the applicable States.

This was not well thought through.

melissasminis · ‎12-20-2019

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I should have mentioned that companies who had some sort of presence in a state already did charge tax for online sales but now a state can require that a seller who sells $xxxx to buyers in that state has to charge tax and they can also require marketplaces like eBay to collect them.

What is the amount a person can sell before they are required to pay taxes to a state? I guarantee you I don't sell even close to the amount, so why am I responsible for having these taxes applied to my US customers, when it wasn't required before? Then paypal is charging fees on whole amount, instead of just purchase price and shipping like before, charging fees on taxes.

melissasminis · ‎12-20-2019

@richardcm wrote:
Why not cancel your store now? If you have so few sales why pay out the store fees until May 1? Have you done the math to figure out of it is cost effective to cancel the store now versus keeping it?

I have a yearly subscription, if I cancel early, isn't there a penalty, don't they make me pay anyway?

melissasminis · ‎12-20-2019

Thanks so much for all the good info, greatly appreciated! I do have an account on dotcom, I haven't used it in a while. I might start selling on there again.

What is the penalty charge for cancelling a subscription early, if you know? I'll have to do the math and see, I thought I had to wait until subscription renewal.

Christmas time for many years has been my busiest time, summer was my slowest time, but it hasn't been as busy for the last 2-3 years now, this year being the worst year by far. Since they added the tax to US buyers, I've only had a sale here and there.

I think it's wrong that paypal charges fees on the tax amount, doesn't seem right.

richardcm · ‎12-20-2019

How to close an eBay store

https://www.ebay.ca/help/selling/ebay-stores/close-ebay-store?id=4091

Store terms of service

https://pages.ebay.ca/stores/subscriptionterms.html

Section 4 Cancelling your subscription - see Early termination fee

Four month (Jan through April) penalty is $26.60 for a basic store.

richardcm · ‎12-20-2019

You can use your existing account on any eBay site. So your account opened on eBay.ca can list on eBay Canada and on eBay.com. You get the number of free listing on each site. So if no store you get 50 free on both sites for a total of 100. But you only have Canada Post shipping options on eBay.ca. On eBay.com you have to use generic shipping options like Standard shipping from outside USA.

pjcdn2005 · ‎12-20-2019

@melissasminis wrote:
@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I should have mentioned that companies who had some sort of presence in a state already did charge tax for online sales but now a state can require that a seller who sells $xxxx to buyers in that state has to charge tax and they can also require marketplaces like eBay to collect them.
What is the amount a person can sell before they are required to pay taxes to a state? I guarantee you I don't sell even close to the amount, so why am I responsible for having these taxes applied to my US customers, when it wasn't required before? Then paypal is charging fees on whole amount, instead of just purchase price and shipping like before, charging fees on taxes.

The amount varies by state but that’s important if you are selling on your own website. Sites such as eBay and Amazon are considered as marketplace facilitators because they provide the infrastructure for third party sellers to sell on one platform. Those states with the new facilitator law require those marketplace sites to collect and remit taxes on behalf of the sellers regardless of how much each sellers sells to that state.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-20-2019

I do have an account on dotcom, I haven't used it in a while. I might start selling on there again.

No.

The point is to use the same account and just list on both sites. You can list on any site from any registered account.

If you have two accounts (dotCA being melissasminis and dotCOM being frinstance minimelissa ) and neither has a Store subscription, you have 50 Free Listings on each account on each site, for a total of 200 Free Listings.

I think it's wrong that paypal charges fees on the tax amount, doesn't seem right.

Pretty sure every seller here agrees on that. It's probably legal for Paypal to do it, but it was unethical for eBay to set it up so we pay those fee.

lady.stark · ‎12-20-2019

@femmefan1946 wrote:
Understood-- and boy you have some cool things! (Anything "Firefly"?)

Thanks! Unfortunately, nothing specifically on Firefly no. But I might have some articles, posters and/or cards in my French magazines like Series Addict, etc.

marnotom! · ‎12-21-2019

@femmefan1946 wrote:

I think it's wrong that paypal charges fees on the tax amount, doesn't seem right.

Pretty sure every seller here agrees on that. It's probably legal for Paypal to do it, but it was unethical for eBay to set it up so we pay those fee.

It's not so much about whether it's "legal" for PayPal to do this, but whether it's abiding by its own terms and conditions, and unfortunately, it is.

PayPal's fees are based on the transaction amount. Full stop. The "transaction amount" is what the buyer pays. Since the buyer pays the sales tax, PayPal charges fees on the sales tax.

A PayPal account is not a bank account. There's probably laws that are applicable to bank accounts that aren't applicable to PayPal accounts.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎12-21-2019

@marnotom!

You've raised a very interesting point with your last post. Why is it sellers are left to determine if something is legal/above board before something like this is implemented? Might have been less of an uproar and preventing the shreddies from "hitting the fan" so to speak if that had all been handled properly prior?

-LotZ