Is eBay charging sales tax on coins now?

I'm trying to make a purchase of two coins on the bay, and it's charging me sales tax. I'm in Florida, which does not charge tax on numismatic coins, and seller is in Texas, which also has no sales tax on numismatics.

Items were listed in the correct category, so that wouldn't/shouldn't be an issue.

Seller says I need to contact eBay. Anyone else run into this?

 

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Strange...have 'em call you and ask, or ask the eBay social blog. That said, I'm still not being taxed at all for occasional purchases...and from the same states that I've been taxed for previously on other purchases...! Go figure...all a bunch of mis-managed malarkey...typical for eBay.

 

Yes. They've been doing it for a couple/few years now. I'm not sure which state's law's they are following (since there are 50 completely different sets of laws). It would make most sense to me to apply the sales tax for the buyer's state.

You might learn more if you click on the "learn more" link.

 

I went through this about a year and a half ago, i think, i don't remember the exact timeline. I live in Michigan, which has no sales tax on numismatics or bullion, and eBay was charging me sales tax on coins. It took a few calls to customer service, and some emails with links to my states sales tax laws, but i got refunded for the sales tax, and they don't charge me for it any more.

 

Just got off the phone with eBay. It seems Florida just instituted (July 1) an internet tax, and eBay hasn't made all the adjustments for non-taxable items. Rep said, and then sent me an email, that they will refund me the tax once I pay.

Just another annoyance....

 

The buyers location is the only one that matters for sales tax

 

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There was someone that mentioned it on the PCGS forum (also from Florida). As each new state enters, eBay tends to mess things up before eventually fixing it. I had the same thing in Illinois. It took eBay a little over a month to finally fix it so that sales tax was properly collected (none on most coins). I never got a refund on the few items I purchased. I did call once but did not pursue it further since it was ~$20 total and the time spent waiting and explaining things to clueless customer service reps wasn't worth it.

Edit: and just to clarify, sellers have no control over this. All of the taxes are automatically calculated by eBay.

 

Thanks a lot you guys, I'm on a chat with eBay right now, getting a fat refund of sales tax fees! Woo hoo! More money to spend on eBay coin auctions!!!

 

The states have realized they have missed a great deal of revenue with daily purchases leaving the storefronts and moving to the web. As a small businessman, one of my biggest headaches is keeping up with the tax rates for each municipality in two states. I have no idea how they can keep up with everyone’s municipal tax rates….. But you can bet, it ain’t going away.

 

they do in CA

 

Another reason not to buy on the bay.

 

Okay, thanks to this post, I'm getting a refund for some years of sales tax charges that my eBay purchases were exempt from. This was NOT a difficult nor unpleasant experience - it was kind of time consuming (about an hour and a half in chat while I watched Chopped, looked at coins and played with the dog) - I started with a clear explanation citing the relevant sales tax exemptions under my state law, then I started giving item numbers, then I asked if I could give order numbers instead because a lot of orders contained multiple items, then after about 45 minutes of me listing stuff the customer service guy (who was awesome - shout out to Juan at eBay) said he could go into my purchase history and do it himself, so that took a lot of time as I had a lot of relevant transactions, but he did all the work and would let me know what date he was on periodically, "I'm working on October, 2019...". And here is what happens now, from our chat "And now I am going to send the information that I have here to the tax department and they will take a look on the orders and the they will make the refund for you, and the time frame for the investigation and issue the refund is 10 to 15 business days, and then they will send all the information about the investigation process and the refund."

Anyway, I was impressed once I figured out how to get past the chat bot to a live person how helpful he was and I appreciated that he understood what I was asking for, and why and knew the process to follow. I highly recommend you check your state's law to see if rare coins (or all coin / currency) purchases are exempt from sales tax and that you reach out to eBay to address it, like I did, if they are and you've been charged anyway, as I was.

 

Not for me here in NC.

 

The Florida tax law took me by surprise. However, I was able to upload my Florida resale certificate and within 24 hours was able to buy tax-free again. eBay recommends users with resale certificates have a second (taxed) account for personal purchases. I've had two eBay accounts for more than 20 years now, so I'm good to go.

 

Keep in mind numismatics are tax exempt in Florida, with or without a resale cert.

 

In Michigan too - it's actually pretty broad, bullion is exempt too:
GENERAL SALES TAX ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 167 of 1933

205.54s Sale of investment coins and bullion; exemptions; definitions.



Sec. 4s.

(1) A sale of investment coins and bullion is exempt from the tax under this act.
(2) As used in this section:
(a) "Bullion" means gold, silver, or platinum in a bulk state, where its value depends on its content rather than its form, with a purity of not less than 900 parts per 1,000.
(b) "Investment coins" means numismatic coins or other forms of money and legal tender manufactured of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, or other metal and issued by the United States government or a foreign government with a fair market value greater than the face value of the coins.

History: Add. 1999, Act 105, Imd. Eff. July 7, 1999 ;-- Am. 2004, Act 173, Eff. Sept. 1, 2004

 

Your going to have a little tax on that $4 shipping.

 

This is unfortunately not the case. US legal tender and/or single transactions of more than $500 are exempt but most other coin and bullion sales are taxable.

 

To be clear, purchase of all US coins for numismatic purposes are tax exempt. Bullion isn't, and never was coinage, and wouldn't be a numismatic item, it's an investment medium, like a stock. I guess they figure if you're buying less then $500, you're not investing, but rather buying goods(?).

Colored text is my input;

Section 1 (the red highlighted section) does not reference a selling price, whether it be at fave value, or higher than, or lower than, as long as it is legal US tender.

Section 2(b) (the blue highlighted section) is discussing non-US coins & currency.

Subsections 1-4 give good examples to clear it up.