Attention us sellers

[gramma1111]

Oh were in trouble now...................

Not life nor limb is safe when congress is in session.

I just received this from fee bay

Tell Congress, "No New Net Taxes"
Internet Sales Taxes--Your costs go up. Your buyers' costs go up. You are required to comply with the same tax laws as the nation's largest retailers. This scenario could soon become reality.

The sales tax laws governing today's Internet and catalog retailers are simple: If you sell something to a person living in your state, you collect sales tax. If that customer doesn't live in your state, you don't collect the tax. However, a number of state governments and the biggest retail giants in America are planning an aggressive lobbying campaign to change the law.
They want to require small retailers to operate like the biggest retail chains, collecting taxes everywhere.

We all know times are tough and state governments are looking for more tax money. Likewise, big retailers see an opportunity to gain a competitive edge by imposing new costs and higher prices on their smallest competitors. Luckily, the tax ground-rules can't be changed without congressional action. There's still time to stand up and be counted.

If you think adding a new tax burden on small Internet retailers is a bad idea, now is the time to make your voice heard. Send a letter to your U.S. Representative and Senators today.

It won't be easy. But together, Internet retailers like you can stop these new taxes.
Sincerely,

Tod Cohen
VP and Deputy General Counsel, Government Relations

[iwiw60]

Yes, I saw this, too. But I'm really skeptical about it's authenticity. Has anyone looked on Snopes to see if it's for real??

[Idealproductsales]

it is factual that ebay is trying to get people to write congressmen in this regard, and there have been lobbyist efforts for a long time to force an internet sales tax .. The problem inherent with this is every state has its own sales tax code , rules, etc - and even various local areas have an added sub-tax (local sales tax) .. the complexity of dealing with this night mare would put most smaller online retail businesses out of business, you would have to hire a full time employee on staff just to deal with that mess...

for that reason I seriously doubt congress would ever pass such a law... but the worry is that lobbyist groups pushing for it just *might* gain enough influence, if the "little people" ignore it long enough...


It's a legit email all right .. and as improbable as it may sound.. very real.

that ebay email is geared to the sellers that operate as a business, and actually collect sales tax for the state they live in... (and ebay, obviously wants to publicize the issue for buyers too- cause it'd make everything they buy cost more)

[jeweleffects]

I got the same email but it doesn't look right. When I hover over the suggested links, I see some weird looking urls. Besides, I thought any mail from dungbay addresses you with your member name and real name in brackets. This is not the case with this email so I'm on the side of caution.

Also, dungbay have had a long standing debate about the tax issue for years now.

[gramma1111]

I got the same email but it doesn't look right. When I hover over the suggested links, I see some weird looking urls. Besides, I thought any mail from dungbay addresses you with your member name and real name in brackets. This is not the case with this email so I'm on the side of caution.

Also, dungbay have had a long standing debate about the tax issue for years now.

Jewel, mine did have my name in it, I just didn't add it in this post, and I left out the Click here part. It is legitimate.

[Idealproductsales]

It may be in use by phishing scammers.. Keep in mind that LEGIT emails from eb*y will show up in your Messages inbox when you login to My Eb*y

Never, ever click a link in an email that you get to your own email inbox unless you are 110% sure it is a legit link - in the case of messages like this from WheeBay - you'll find a copy of if in your messages inbox... that one, is indeed legit.

[plusizeglamor]

it is factual that ebay is trying to get people to write congressmen in this regard, and there have been lobbyist efforts for a long time to force an internet sales tax .. The problem inherent with this is every state has its own sales tax code , rules, etc - and even various local areas have an added sub-tax (local sales tax) .. the complexity of dealing with this night mare would put most smaller online retail businesses out of business, you would have to hire a full time employee on staff just to deal with that mess...

for that reason I seriously doubt congress would ever pass such a law... but the worry is that lobbyist groups pushing for it just *might* gain enough influence, if the "little people" ignore it long enough...


It's a legit email all right .. and as improbable as it may sound.. very real.

that ebay email is geared to the sellers that operate as a business, and actually collect sales tax for the state they live in... (and ebay, obviously wants to publicize the issue for buyers too- cause it'd make everything they buy cost more)
Funny though, ebay does not pay taxes at all for any of the revenues they take in on fee's, Funny isn`t it, always picking on the little guy.... Sad.

[MagnetsAndHangers]

Am not well up on US tax laws.

Would this affect sales to customers outside the USA?

Eg, (if am reading this correctly), depending on what state the seller lived in, I could have to pay varying amount of tax on any purchases I make?

[CarnoustieCats]

Heard about this to be introduced in the US a few months ago - individual States are trying to raise local taxes anyway they can, so could be true...

[wyocowgirl1]

Actually, government has been trying to figure out how to get some of this internet income for years, and eb@y periodically puts out pretty much the same request - every year if not more often. If they ever figure out how to make sure everyone is sending in their taxes it will probably be a done deal.

I can't say that I blame them, we are talking a lot of $. Not advocating it, just saying I understand.

[deltadelta48]

Am not well up on US tax laws.

Would this affect sales to customers outside the USA?

Eg, (if am reading this correctly), depending on what state the seller lived in, I could have to pay varying amount of tax on any purchases I make?


No, applies to US buyers/sellers only. In US we pay taxes to the state where we live when we make purchases. State sales tax is 5.5% is Wisconsin. If I go to Illinois, Iowa, etc, I pay their sales tax if I buy something too. Each state has different rate.

LIkewise, if I sell something to a buyer in Wisconsin, I must collect the sales tax and mail to State of Wisconsin. This is in person or on line.

HOWEVER we can buy or sell in all the other states ON LINE without paying sales tax on the items. i.e. feebay, ebid, website, Macy's, etc.

States lose money because of loophole, but companys love it, they sell more stuff. Buyers like it too, I save 5.5% if I buy the radio online from California.

The proposal is to make all sellers collect sales tax for the buyer's state when an online purchase is made. So I would have to file 50 tax reports each year to pass the taxes on to each state! Geez.

Sort of like making me collect VAT on my sales to UK people, and forwarding the money to UK. Makes sense, but is a bit impractical.