New FL Tax?
 

It appears the FL politicians have slipped another new tax in on us with little or no fanfare or notice. I have been purchasing items on eBay for years and all of a sudden last week, for the first time ever, I was charged 7% FL sales tax on an item for which I was high bidder! Buyer beware!

I think the passed that year or two ago, it may have taken That long to be fully implemented? It was on news at time.

If you go to a store and buy a widget, you pay sales tax. Period. Why do some people think that sales from the internet should be exempt from tax????? On line purchases have skated for quite some time as the taxing authorities caught up with the new technology and internet commerce. Guess what---the free ride is over, and should have been a long time ago. That 7% difference has accounted for Amazon putting how many brick and mortar store out of business????

The adrenaline rush during the last couple minutes before the bids close is worth 7 %.....

LOL! Isn't that the truth!

sales tax on online purchasing has been going on for a while now, depending on which State you live in

The real kicker here is that eBay then charges you a percentage of that collected taxes for their fees! The recent change in what eBay collects has caused me to reconsider selling on eBay. Once they got rid of PayPal and started collected on their own, the fees went up. The average fee they now collect is 12.75%. That 12.75% is calculated based on final sale price + shipping + state tax collected.

It seems illegal to me that they collect the tax from the buyer and another 12.75% of the tax from the seller.

Thanks for the tip on the fees now, will not be selling my car this way.

The law passed a while ago. No one wants to pay tax. I worked for companies selling expensive photographic equipment. At a sales meeting the company owner shared that 80% of the sales were across state lines. The reason shipping was far less than sales tax.

Aside-you, the buyer, were supposed to pay the not collected tax.

I used to sell on ebay part of the reason I stopped. Today they demand your social security number. The can and I expect do report your sales. Imagine the bookkeeping nightmare of collecting tax and sending the money to 50 states and possibly foreign countries. Assuming all are honest, a retailer is not paid the cost of collecting tax. Collecting tax and not paying it to the government, has major penalties.

Credit cards-you buy mail order. You pay by credit card, paypal is the same thing, it is a matter of public record.

By law in all states with a sales tax, you are responsible to declare any purchases you make out of state and pay the appropriate sales tax. Everyone should be grateful that they have been getting away with not paying for years.

I've not sold on ebay in over 10 years. I have bought stuff more recently and I paid with paypal. Part of the reason why I stopped selling on ebay, was that I used it to sell my too much stuff before moving. My experience everyone paid with paypal the reason being the buyer is always right even when they are wrong and they simply take the money from the seller. The seller pays ebay commission and paypal fees on stuff like shipping. The buyer does not know or care. The fees, I think are higher than the 17.5%-closer to 22%. It does go down if you are selling more expensive items.

Most people are honest. Due to changes on ebay the seller can no longer leave negative feedback for any buyer. Thus, a buyer that you would never want to do business with will have only positive feedback.

Selling a car on ebay? My opinion, that is nuts. Shipping, tax etc etc etc. The buyer gets the car and complains you did not state in the listing that the serial number on the belt driving the alternator does not match.

Don't blame Florida....I just read this on EBAY's website:

"The following states do not currently have marketplace facilitator laws so eBay does not collect sales tax on orders shipped to their state:

Florida
Kansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
If an eBay seller has sales tax nexus in one of the above states, then it is still the seller’s, and not eBay’s, responsibility to collect tax from buyers in the state."

May just be a seller who is following the rules! (Not unlike some Village Residents collect and pay tax when renting out their homes down here, many DO NOT)!

Most states have this on there books and I’m glad . Why should a merchant in your own state have to pay it and someone outside the state doesn’t

Think that was a joke:a040:

Most reality is far more complex than the term fair. Our sales tax is 7%. That means if I can buy out of state and am not charged sales tax it is 7% cheaper. Taxing mail order sales is not a new idea it has been around for 30-40 years that I am aware of-likely longer than that.

My experience is with photo equipment. A regular event in a photo retail store, the reason why most are gone, a person buys a camera mail order and expects a PAID store employee to show them how to use it. Then, if, they need batteries, film, memory card etc they say it is less on mail order and I don't pay tax.

I am not innocent. Before I buy things, I look up mail order pricing and reviews. Mail order is truly tough to compete with. Next day delivery, sharp pricing compared to I can get it for you next week. Look at the trash how many boxes are obviously mail order?

Effective July 1 of this year

This only became effective July 1 of this year. Florida was one of the last states to implement this.

Not new

I think this relates to a national decision and companies have to collect the state sales tax even if they do not have employees or a physical location in the state.

Funny how it works. Some stuff from Amazon is no sales tax and some is taxed. Don't understand.

The fee structure on eBay motors is not the same as merchandise, it's a flat fee based on the selling price just as it always has been. I have sold several cars and RVs on eBay motors with great success.

It was effective on July 1 of this year. Amazon as well. Actually ANY purchase from anyone on eBay Amazon and every other site.

Even better when you SELL something on eBay and eBay collects the sales tax and submits it for you at no extra charge, they still hit you with new 13% seller fee on the sales tax which you never see. It also takes much longer to get paid because they no longer pay you through PayPal they to a transfer to your bank account. So instead of immediate payment from buyer it takes 2-4 days. Been selling on eBay for well over 20 years (no so much now) but they really suck the life out of you.

I was an ebay seller for a few years, and I used to fume over how they nickel and dime'd sellers to death. They were always changing the fee structure. I remember years ago they wouldn't include the shipping in the total for the fees but then they said sellers were overcharging in order to make money off shipping so that was their rationale.

I was angry when buyers had to pay sales tax but ebay couldn't do anything about that. It was a bad decision, borne out of government greed. They were just itching to get their hands on more tax money, even from small sellers like me. The whole concept behind internet commerce is that you didn't have to pay sales tax, it was like a duty-free zone. And by the way, collecting sales tax did nothing to help "brick and mortar" businesses stay afloat. It was inconsequential and a false, straw man argument.

But you're right- it seems there might be something illegal about charging the seller a fee on the sales tax that the buyer is paying.

All you complainers are silly. It was a nationally recognized policy not to tax e-commerce sales for many years, to help grow the industry itself. The state's over the last several years have all decided that they need more revenue which of course they always need more revenue. Or would you prefer a Florida income tax? And eBay is a for-profit company giving you a service and making you money, if you can complain about the percentage just consider what it costs to open a retail store and the national reach eBay has as well as dozens of other e-commerce companies. So I ask you would you refer a Florida income tax or just to pay 7% on the few things you buying on eBay or Amazon?

In New York State paying sales tax on a Ebay purchase has been going now for over a year. So much for saving dollars making a purchase on Ebay. I am certain the State politicians and Amazon had all to do with the new sales tax on Ebay. You have to be a smart consumer even more so now making a purchase on ebay. I believe in all fairness a sales tax on Ebay should only be on new items not preowned / used items.

You mean like the "fairness" when you go down to a car dealership and only pay sales tax on the new auto, not the pre-owned?????

Internet sellers didn't have to charge sales tax in states where they didn't have a physical presence. Buyer was supposed to pay use tax. In states where there is a state income tax filing there is a line for tax on purchases where you didn't pay sales tax. FL had to go to sellers since buyers apparently weren't paying the use tax.

You have always been required to report sales you did not pay tax on. So many don’t so they fixed the loop hole

Unfair
 

You know Fl. will get it's taxes out of you if not through ebay they'll find another way. These on line stores where putting brick and mortar stores at a disadvantage and should have been collecting tax from the beginning.

Sell your car to Carmax or a dealer. Prices are high right now. Carmax offered me $22,000 for a car I bought three years ago for $24,000. Took it to my dealer and they matched the price for a trade.

This is true. Back in the mid 80's, I had an acquaintance that purchased an expensive car part only available out of state. He did not pay sales tax to the company selling the item BUT the state of Florida DID contact him and force him to pay the sales tax on the item. At that time, Florida did not require a company without any
physical present (warehouse, store, etc.) in the state selling the item to collect the sales tax but they did require them to notify the state of major purchases. A couple of years ago, they did announce that they were changing the enforcement of the sales tax law and now require the seller to collect the taxes.

Why should you pay tax on a used item ? It’s double taxation…

This has been going on for several years. You just didn’t notice. Before that, for a number of years, there was no tax if the item was shipped from out of state and the seller had no presence on the ground in the state where you lived. But of course now Amazon has distribution warehouses in every state. I believe nearly all states except Delaware are charging sales tax on online purchases. One good thing is that if you buy something from Europe, you don’t have to pay VAT, which is much higher than sales tax, and I’ve never had to pay Customs fees, including for expensive musical instruments and paintings.

Not quite on topic, but maybe interesting to you. Yesterday I sold an old music book on Amazon for $5. The buyer paid $5 plus $3.99 for shipping, so $8.99 total. My actual shipping cost was $3.19. The cardboard mailer cost me $0.75. Perhaps a dime in tape and interior packing. I bought the shipping through Amazon, having done the measuring and taping myself, and got a discount. I mailed it when I picked up my mail, so no extra cost. After various Amazon fees and tax that I was charged, what was my total profit out of the $8.99 the buyer paid? Twenty-seven cents.

Check out how eBay calculates their fees. It used to be only on the item you sold, not the cost of shipping or other fees. You used to be able to sell an item for $5 and charge $100 shipping and you would only get charged an eBay fee on the $5. I’m not sure that has changed. As a buyer your paying the sales tax

New Tax
 

Last month EBay announced they would be collecting sales tax across EBay based on your registered home address. This in every state not just Florida. This has been in progress for several years. All EBay members were notified via an email with the option to opt out and discontinue their EBay account.

I agree with you. Suppose if one worked remotely for a business online that was in another state would they think they wouldn’t have to pay income tax?

Hmm..
Buying something and paying a sales tax.

Unheard of.

That game of no sales tax ended years ago.

I would like to see the body weight tax, if you are obese your medical costs and taxation should be structured accordingly. Why should I comingle with morbidly obese people that jack up costs for all.

I don’t think the tax is the result of a state law. I’m pretty sure the collection of state and local sales taxes is the result of a federal law requiring online merchants to collect state taxes and local taxes, then distribute those collections to the state or locality where the purchase was shipped.

Other than online shoppers who became accustomed to tax-free shopping, shareholders of Amazon, eBay, and all the other online merchants should squawk because of the expense of the administration of the tax collections and re-distributions back to thousands of states, counties and localities. You’re probably paying twice—the merchants won’t do all that required administration for nothing. Without question they have increased their prices to cover the additional administrative costs.

You were charged the 7% sales tax because you happened to hit upon a seller who is licensed to collect the sales tax. Many ebay sellers are not licensed (same with Amazon sellers) and would be committing fraud if they did collect the tax.