Sending an invoice to buyer in Washington State...ebay is adding

[pheasantvillecollectables519]

an extra couple of lines. Line says "Tax is applicable to shipping and handling" with a checkbox beside it.  The line above wants you to put in which state the buyer is in and gives a tax rate.

I have never seen this before.

Is anyone else seeing this?

[pheasantvillecollectables519]

Here's a screenshot.  Hope it helps.

[pheasantvillecollectables519]

Hm, that's pretty small.  I'll do a larger one.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I had this happen to me a few times lately when I sent out an invoice to the US. First time it freaked me out, but then I remembered the announcement made about it. And it isn't every state that collects the tax, but only a few right now.

[brettjet38]

Get used to it, this is the new normal.

Americans who live in certain states will be paying tax on all internet purchases, eBay will charge and collect it by adding it to the invoice the Buyer pays.

New Jersey is another of the states as of May 1st..

The scary thing is the Buyers in those states do not seem to realize they will be paying tax...

[brettjet38]

"As a seller, you will not need to take any action. eBay will calculate this new sales tax, charge buyers, and remit sales tax for orders "shipped to customers in the following states on the following schedule:" 

Washington—Starting January 1, 2019
Minnesota—Starting January 1, 2019
Iowa—Starting February 1, 2019
Connecticut—Starting April 1, 2019
New Jersey—Starting May 1 2019
Alabama—Starting July 1, 2019
Pennsylvania—Starting July 1, 2019
Oklahoma—Starting July 1, 2019

[femmefan1946]

Everything your customer buys online will now have that tax.

EBay sellers are not responsible for the tax and if you have a customer than complains, refer them to their state representative.

Your customer has also been paying a state sales tax for many years, every time they entered a retail establishment.

It's nothing new (except online) they have probably paid it before (but may not have noticed) and you do not have to do anything about it.

[hlmacdon]

The marketplace is assumed to have nexus with the destination regardless of where the product is shipped from.  Ship from China to WA state and the buyer pays state tax. This is the real reason Wenig is throwing a hissy fit because it gives small businesses a direct advantage when they sell outside of ebay through their own venues not subject to the taxation requirements. Otherwise he loves the increased GMV they get to fudge.

This is indeed a new thing for many US buyers shopping internationally via marketplaces and other large retailers and issues occasionally pop up although coverage of the rollout of out of state tax collection has been widespread enough that the smarter buyers realize what is appropriate. 

[marnotom!]

Just pointing out again that 40-odd US states have had "use tax" on out of state purchases on the books for ages, but the means to collect it were pretty much toothless and this coupled with consumer ignorance meant that applicable use tax often went/goes unpaid. Now that the US Courts have given individual states more muscle to collect taxes on out of state purchases, this is what we're seeing.

[pheasantvillecollectables519]

Thanks everyone.  It really did freak me out. 

Maybe it's happened before but I didn't see it since I have Immediate Payment on many of my listings so I never needed to send an invoice.

New normal, indeed.

[teenytrinkets]

I live in BC, so when I buy on Ebay, I have items shipped to an address in WA to save the shipping/import costs (and because generally a large percentage of US sellers don't ship to Canada).

This year, I started noticing a separate PayPal charge for everything I bought. Bloody taxes!  And it wasn't cheap - like 8.5%!  And it calculates it on shipping charges, too.  As if I don't get taxed enough in BC - good grief!

But, it's happening for all online orders, so I guess it's not unique to Ebay.  It's just because it's a separate charge that it stands out more!

[hlmacdon]

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@teenytrinkets wrote:

But, it's happening for all online orders, so I guess it's not unique to Ebay.  It's just because it's a separate charge that it stands out more!

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If it is a marketplace or large ecommerce or brick and mortar retailer you'll be taxed. The Supreme Court has left it up to the US government to actually define the criteria where tax collection should be mandatory but since the case they ruled on had a threshold of > $100,000 in transactions or 200 or more transactions sold into the state that is the effective thing most parties are looking at. Most retailers are playing it safe and opting to collect as the various states roll out their tax changes as they don't want to get hit with retroactive collection. I would imagine there are quite a few Canadian sellers near borders that buy product to flip back on ebay so this is a new wrinkle for them to deal with. if you order supplies for your business, it's probably cheaper to source internationally, have it come into the US under their $800 USD de minimis exemption then import back into Canada.