Ebay fees for you and Me

[bobbo13]

Hi This is Bob from sandiego1300 My ebay name. (I also uses bobbo13) I am currently listing matchbox items on sandiego1300 I sold a Buy it Now (BIN) piece for $110 to New Zealand a couple of days ago and I just wanted to show how the Government and ebay is changing us. All Charges are USA dollars!

BIN price was $110
Vat Taxes 19
Shipping 15
Total paid _____
By Customer 144

The seller (me) Received the follow:
BIB Price $110
Plus shipping 15
Total 125

Less the following
12 1/4 % of $144 Which is Price plus vat plus shipping
Which is fees -20
Surcharge
for shipping -2
Plus shipping -15

Total charges $37

Total received from seller
$125
Less Costs -37
_____
Proceeds $ 88

I think its crazy what it cost both the buyer and seller under new Govt and ebay procedures. I think i have a way
to lower the amount we both pay so if you win any of my auctions. please email me at

bpstein@aol.com

before you pay any invoices I send you!

Bob

[Tinman]

The new Managed Payments program (ebay started this Jan. 1st, 2021 in the USA ) has some positive & negative issues. You no longer get charged a fee by paypal for receiving funds and the entire fee (including shipping) goes straight into your bank account (not into a paypal account).  The down side is that you have to front the shipping costs until you get the payout. Payout takes a few days, they hang on to your money for a minimum of three days (sometimes as much as five days).  The lag in payment is not an issue for me and I like not having to pay paypal fees on top of ebay fees.

Since they are treating the postage charge as part of your total payment they should be giving the buyer "ebay bucks" credit on the total cost. However, they are not.  Domestic (and international) taxes are collected and paid by ebay, the seller does not have to worry about that and I like that. Not every state has a tax requirement on out of state sales, so some buyers pay tax and others do not. In the past I was paying a lower final value fee (the percentage ebay charges on sold items). To get that lower fee, I had to agree with their liberal return policy and a few other things.  I was burned on a few returns and now do NOT offer returns except when there are certain very specific issues. So, that put me back in the higher percentage bracket on fees.

International shipping has gone through the roof if you take your package to the Post Office and ship it from there.  Ebay International shipping can be as much as a third less expensive and you can ship right from home, so that is a win/win.  Some countries have a very low threshold on when they charge import duty (import taxes) and some charge VAT tax on imported purchases.  For the seller, ebay takes care of all that as well.

Lot's of buyers have become accustomed to avoiding their countries laws and getting away with not paying import duty (import tax) and/or VAT taxes. Those taxes and tax laws are between the buyer and their government. Here in the USA, I've never bought a diecast that was expensive enough to pay import tax. Then again, we have a fairly high limit before that tax even kicks in.

The good thing is that they are providing more comprehensive accounting on sellers sales.  This will make it easier to get all my deductions lined up and have a more accurate net income figure.  Your final value fee, listing fee (if you don't qualify for free listings), paypal fee (if not in managed payments) and shipping cost are now all itemized by sale.

The only thing you need to figure on your own is the cost of boxes or padded mailers, tape, labels, packing materials, paper & ink for packing lists. You don't want to be paying income tax on that.  I also deduct all my bills for Steve Flowers, Rob in the Netherlands, Black Square, for decal paper, card stock, paints, solvents, glues, and every sundry item that goes into customs and restorations. I have a dedicated office and work space in my home and I take the standard deduction for that too. 

Bottom line, I don't like paying high international shipping costs any more than anyone else. However, if your country has a VAT tax on imported items and if the dollar amount is set low and you get hit with an import duty tax as well, I really don't want to hear about that. Those taxes (as I said before) are between you and your government. Just because you have circumvented your countries laws and skipped out on paying those taxes and fees previously, please don't bring me into your small time criminal activities.

[bobneumann]

I know its just the way life is but it is crazy now that most of the states now tax the buyers on the items sold on eBay, then a 1099 is generated for the seller and they are required to pay taxes on those earnings as well.

[Tinman]

Oddly enough, they only report to the IRS if you sell over $20,000.00 net total in receipts or have over 200 sales. Even more strange is that my wife can have 199 sales and I can have 199 sales and they do no reporting. That's the rules for USA sales only. The only good thing about the sales tax is that they collect the tax and they pay out the tax ... seller has nothing to do with it. As far as I can tell, the final value fee is charged on pre-tax amounts. No idea about the 1099 as I have never received one from ebay. A good accountant should be able to straighten out the taxed tax.

[Moyboy]

I agree with most of this however to include postage costs in the bill is outrageous. If you use stamps then tax is already paid and unlike the US we have to go to a post office or use a courier to pick up parcels - I pay them yet Ebay insists on adding this cost to my bil to work out their commission cost which is a blatant rip off. We used to have a limit of $1000 duty free on goods bought overseas but due to some huge whinging by large companies with high overheads who said they couldn't compete with overseas buyers as they had to pay import tax this has now gone. It is also listed that we do not pay tax on second hand goods yet good old Ebay still charges us import tax of 10% now. So my question is if I pay 10% tax on a secondhand toy, pay for my own shipping why the hell does Ebay charge me these 2 amounts and where does my bloody money go !!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you call the Oz tax office they will tell you 2nd hand is tax free but when you say well Ebay charges me 10% GST on my item they cannot/will not give you an answer.

[YYS4BOB]

I no longer search outside the UK for goods. 20% VAT is automatically added by E=Bay to the purchase price for all over seas purchases. What the extras amount too for overseas buyers at Vectis (or any other UK auction house) I dread to think. May be a good thing for us UK collectors.........

[bobbo13]

Hi This is Bob again bobbo13 or sandiego1300 on ebay. I think its just terrible what ebay is doing. If you study what is happening with ebay because of the VAT of 20% (and ebay charges 12% of the tax to the seller) they are getting an extra 2.4% of every sale made to the UK. Therefore if you include the VAT and shipping they are now charging over 15% on everything I Sell going to the UK. That is why they have no problems with countries that want them collect taxes on their behalf. If you buy anything from me I will try to figure out how to help with this problem (bpstein@aol.com)!

Also I have a couple of pieces that I have listed 59B with purple windows and 74A blisters of buses. They are all in unusual packaging for these models!

Bob

[misterpop]

I've stopped selling out of UK for the time being.I think there has been a cock up some where along the line and until Ebay and other auction sites let me post out to my friends and odd customers a bit of 50 years metal with faults I will keep it all close to home till the summer when I hope it will be sorted out.

[petethesweet]

Hi All, it won't be long before Ebay UK. starts putting 20% on all sales, i think Amazon is heading the same way lets wait for the budget in March. Pete.

[bobneumann]

Oddly enough, they only report to the IRS if you sell over $20,000.00 net total in receipts or have over 200 sales. Even more strange is that my wife can have 199 sales and I can have 199 sales and they do no reporting. That's the rules for USA sales only. The only good thing about the sales tax is that they collect the tax and they pay out the tax ... seller has nothing to do with it. As far as I can tell, the final value fee is charged on pre-tax amounts. No idea about the 1099 as I have never received one from ebay. A good accountant should be able to straighten out the taxed tax.

That has been the case for a while that there is the $20,000 limit, until I received my 1099 last month....surprised the he## out of me since I was under 20K. I researched the laws and you are correct except in November Illinois (the state that I live in) changed the rules and only for Illinois if your sales are over $1,000 you get the 1099 generated... another nail in the coffin for living here in Illinois and another reason why thousands of people and businesses leave every year.