Originally Posted by
scarlson
Nowadays they'll collect sales tax on everything in states that mandate it (MA and VT for starters, just began this year, may be others too), and I think Ebay manages that, not the seller. They even collect sales tax on things I've had shipped from overseas. So that's not a concern for the seller, I'm pretty sure. They do have an option now, to make a tax table and collect taxes in all the states, but I don't think that's for us smalltimers. Still disconcerting, as the sales tax is regressive, hitting the folks hardest who can afford it least.
Just encountered this last week. I sold an item and eBay added the sales tax to my total sale amount, charged the buyer and debited my total to make it a wash for me. I wonder if the buyer knew he would be paying sales tax because I live in MA. Definitely sounds problematic for sellers competing with like items in different states. A bit surprising was the fact that PayPal assesses it’s fee on the sales tax amount because eBay adds it to the total sale amount. So it turns out even though the buyer pays the sales tax, it actually ends up costing the seller more as well. Initially wondered if assessing the fee on sales tax was legal but I suppose it works the same way on a credit card purchase at your local store.