eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

Perhaps someone has already answered this question, but I haven't found it. Will eBay now base their final value fee on the total of item price+shipping+taxes? I hope not. Charging a fee for a service that isn't provided (shipping) is bad enough, but a tax on a tax??

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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

Yes sadly, the final value fee will be based on the Total Transaction - item + shipping + taxes, the same way it has been since last July for sales to Europe (with VAT) and the US sales tax for the past couple of years.

This is why the few times I do ship to Europe the fees are the highest (Vat tax is 21%!!), at least we're not that bad!

Message 2 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

marnotom!
Community Member
You’re being charged a fee on a tax, not a tax on a tax, and as suggested earlier, this fee structure is already in place for many sales you make to buyers outside of Canada. Yes, this means most of your sales to US buyers.
Message 3 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@aramatic wrote:

Perhaps someone has already answered this question, but I haven't found it. Will eBay now base their final value fee on the total of item price+shipping+taxes? I hope not. Charging a fee for a service that isn't provided (shipping) is bad enough, but a tax on a tax??


The base amount for fee calculations has included Sales Tax since July of 2020.

 

With PayPal, their fee portion included Sales Tax since 2016 (or 2017 don't remember exactly).

 

eBay fees are NOT a "tax" and what matters is the amount of the fees not how they are calculated.

 

 



"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 4 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

ALL payment processors , including Paypal, which most sellers are used to, and Moneris, which those who have merchant credit card accounts often use,  charge their fees on the entire payment they process.

 

We had been paying fees on the sales taxes we collected (and the shipping we charged) since the early 80s when our shop got its first credit card machine  (remember Chargex?).

 

EBay has been subject to legal requirements to collect and remit sales taxes for most of the United States, for Australia, for the UK, and for the EU for some years. 

Whether the processing is handled by Paypal or by Managed Payments, there are still fees on the entire customer payment.

Message 5 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

Collecting tax is one thing. Charging a fee on an item including tax is another. The tax has nothing to do with the value of the item. I don't really care if Paypal or anyone else does this. It's wrong, and not a God-given law or right.

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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

Fee, tax, surchage, call it what you like. It's a charge on top of a charge and has nothing to do with the service eBay (or anyone else) provides. Including shipping in the final value fee is already unscrupulous; we don't need another money grab. The government's grab is legal, eBay's is just greed.

Message 7 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@aramatic wrote:

Fee, tax, surchage, call it what you like. It's a charge on top of a charge and has nothing to do with the service eBay (or anyone else) provides. Including shipping in the final value fee is already unscrupulous; we don't need another money grab. The government's grab is legal, eBay's is just greed.


Would you feel better if eBay stopped using tax for the fee base and instead raised the fee percentage by 2%?

 

You are selling an old calculator for $10, I think it should be $5.....must be GREED!

 

 



"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 8 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

ccm005
Community Member

I remember when I started ebay fees were only like 2.75% or something like that.  I guess they provide the platform, and we use it for monetary gain so when that kind of situation happens, everyone wants their cut.  Us old timers built ebay from the start and now they want to screw us all.  The biggest sham is, most of the merchadise on ebay is second hand or used and there is supposed to be NO TAX on used goods.  I suppose it's the service they are technically providing, but we the sellers and buyers provide the REAL service.  Class Action maybe??  When I started ebay back in 2002, they were still putting up substantial profit so I am tending to agree with one of the posters......ebay greed!

 

Message 9 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@ccm005 wrote:

I remember when I started ebay fees were only like 2.75% or something like that.  I guess they provide the platform, and we use it for monetary gain so when that kind of situation happens, everyone wants their cut.  Us old timers built ebay from the start and now they want to screw us all.  The biggest sham is, most of the merchadise on ebay is second hand or used and there is supposed to be NO TAX on used goods.  I suppose it's the service they are technically providing, but we the sellers and buyers provide the REAL service.  Class Action maybe??  When I started ebay back in 2002, they were still putting up substantial profit so I am tending to agree with one of the posters......ebay greed!

 


On what planet is that true?

 

Not in Canada, Not in any country on planet earth that I am aware of.



"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 10 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@recped wrote:

You are selling an old calculator for $10, I think it should be $5.....must be GREED!


And if that $10 calculator were being sold for a friend on a commission basis, and that commission were the same amount that eBay charged in FVF, I bet the seller wouldn't find that amount nearly enough to cover all the work they did.

Message 11 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

"The biggest sham is, most of the merchadise on ebay is second hand or used and there is supposed to be NO TAX on used goods."

 We have been round and round on this and YES used goods are taxable...even in retail outlets that sell used/second-hand goods..

and there we have it>yet another who thinks "Class Action" will fix anything and everything...

well, good luck with that and be sure to return to the forums with your success story, as we'd all truely love to hear one!

BTW, have you increased any of your item prices and/or shipping costs since 2002?...if so, MUST be GREED!

 

 

 

Message 12 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

Yes.My very first experience just few minutes back.Ebay charge FVF on a total incl.HST.so we pay FVF on HST and on a top of this  we pay HST on FVF (((

Message 13 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@raanana wrote:

Yes.My very first experience just few minutes back.Ebay charge FVF on a total incl.HST.so we pay FVF on HST and on a top of this  we pay HST on FVF (((


It's probably not exactly your first experience if you ship worldwide.  If you shipped to a country where eBay has already been charging taxes on items at the point of sale (e.g. the United States, the EU), your FVF would have been calculated on the total transaction value as well.  That means including the taxes the buyer paid.

People tend to forget or not realize that PayPal also bases its fees on the entire transaction value and that when Managed Payments was phased in, eBay dropped the FVF percentage to compensate for the fact that they'd be charging FVF based on the transaction value.  Of course, eBay has bumped up FVF since then, but PayPal has also increased its percentage.

Message 14 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

byto253
Community Member

Yup, government legislation triggered the collection of HST, even from sellers that are sub $30k in sales but eBay's interests are aligned as it provides a nice little back door fee increase for them.   

Message 15 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?


@byto253 wrote:

Yup, government legislation triggered the collection of HST, even from sellers that are sub $30k in sales but eBay's interests are aligned as it provides a nice little back door fee increase for them.   


It's a small amount, eBay has always gotten a cut of the GST/HST I've charged, same goes for all the major sellers on eBay and while that represents a small(ish) number of sellers it does represent the bulk of the Dollar volume of goods sold on eBay.

 

On the downside for eBay, if collecting GST/HST is such a horrible thing that it's going to chase buyers away that would cost eBay more than the amount by which fees go up.

 

 



"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 16 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

“ Yup, government legislation triggered the collection of HST, even from sellers that are sub $30k in sales. . .”

Technically speaking, under the new legislation and the agreement some sellers signed with eBay, the tax is being collected and remitted by eBay, not the seller.

You know that already, of course, but I’m just posting this for others who may be fuzzy on the concept.
Message 17 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

yeah, I calculated a few so far and fees are running at around 15% (meaning slightly over, not below) on all of them.

Message 18 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

@ccm005 

 

there is supposed to be NO TAX on used goods.

 

Tell that to Sally Ann--

 

thrift store receipt 1.jpeg

 

 

when I started ebay fees were only like 2.75% or something like that.

When I opened my first account in 1998, we paid upfront for every listing and every picture. That fee was non-refundable.

And there were no Fixed Price sales.

Later there were Stores, but they were not in Search and only appeared if there were not "enough" Auction listings in the category.

While we were allowed to accept personal cheques, cash, or money orders,  eBay had no way to determine if the payment had been made and no way to force shipping of the product until they came up with BillPoint at the turn of the millennium.

Fees dropped over the next five or ten years, but have started to creep up to those early levels.

Message 19 of 22
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eBay fees now based on total including taxes?

I can relate to the fees frustration. 

 

The only thing that I find undermining is that ebay charges fees on the total invoice (Item - tax - shipping). 

 

BUT, they deduct the tax inclusive fee from the total invoice MINUS the taxes.  

 

I do lose $12.00 to sometimes $35.00 a sale on that teeny tiny 'thing' that ebay has in their fees policy.

 

Yes, they can do it, as they make their own policies.  Yes, it's legal, as I agree to sell on the platform.  Yes, that means the cost to do business increases slightly.  Yes, this all means that I, as a seller have to increase my prices to compensate a loss on collectible items.  

 

It's the way business is. 

 

Besides,  EVERYBODY has frustrations.  eBay senior leaders, complain...ebay sellers, complain...ebay buyers, complain...do you see where I'm going with all this?  

 

Live it, learn to like it, or leave it. 

 

Venting is OK...that's why this forum is here.  Take it all with a grain of humility and try to refrain from badgering those who may not have ALL the knowledge.  

 

We all need to give each other a break...read, and move-on. 

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