Newest type of fraud!

[TheTeacher]

So simple... So Easy...

Works best on ebay... In selling of Large quantities...

CHARGE SALES TAX!!! YES!!! You live in IA, it sold to someone in CA... F___ IT!! Charge em sales tax anyways! In fact, charge them the highest tax rate possible for their state.

No one seems to care, it happened to me, seller yewcho19 on ebay did.

What I really want to find out, is who do I contact about this kind of fraud, I contacted the FBI, who told me to call ebay, who won't do anything, paypal won't help.... WHO DO I CONTACT NEXT!!! Someone help me, I want my $40 bucks back. Not to mention everyone else who he ripped off.

Class action lawsuit possible? I dunno, I am at a loss.
Mike

 

[snes tor]

read the fine print.

 

[Shawn]

It's probably a bug in their billing system. Contact the seller and if they don't do anything about it then contact ebay. But why did you pay for the item if you knew you were being charged extra? You are probably SOL now.

 

[Vette73]

Actually if I remember correct you are supposed to collect sales tax even across state lines. But there is a loop whole that protects them or keeps states from coming after them?
Or maybe its the person buying is supposed to report it to their state?

 

[jagec]

He did nothing illegal, assuming it was all sent to CalIRS afterwards

The internet is transitioning...used to be tax-free, now you're supposed to pay tax on everything you buy online. Not that most people do, of course.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Yeah, stuff is getting messed up...

My understanding is that you're suppose to be paying tax on everything you buy. If not sales tax, then you should be paying use tax. Look it up.

I had no idea what "use tax" was until I wanted to buy a gun via the Internet (local dealers tack on a 20% markup around here). You can't just go out and buy guns on the Internet, you have to have them sent to a licensed dealer who runs the background check and holds the gun for however long it needs to be held and all that stuff. The dealer I was going through wanted to charge me sales tax on an out of state purchase, and I complained. Most said that the guy is a fraud, and someone told me about use tax.

I pointed this out to the dealer and he said it's not clear what the law is and still wanted to charge sales tax. It's my only encounter with this sort of thing.


The nice thing about ebay is that you have a large choice of sellers. If you don't like someone's policies or shipping or feedback, you can go elsewhere.

 

[SophalotJack]

I hate when someone says "Not to mention...." followed up by what they did not want to mention.

You got ripped, OP... deal with it, moron.

 

[Compton]

Put it in his feedback. Hopefully his business will go bust.

 

[Orsorum]

Whether or not a seller is required to collect and remit sales tax on a transaction depends on a number of factors, not just the physical location of the seller (or their headquarters). I'm not up on California law at the moment, but the seller could potentially have agents, either employees or subcontractors, acting on its behalf in California; the seller could have registered with the State of California for some other reason; there are a multitude of mechanisms where a foreign corporation can be deemed to have nexus with a state and thus be required to collect and remit sales tax on sales to that state.

In any event, if you weren't charged sales tax, in *most* states with sales tax you, the buyer, would be required to remit use tax.

If you're really peeved about it, I would check out the FAQs on the California State Board of Equalization (www.boe.ca.gov) website and see if the information there resolves your dilemma. Otherwise, contact them and see what they think.

 

[TheTeacher]

As a buyer on ebay, it is not made aware to the buyer of state taxes until AFTER the sale.

Not to mention is a figure of speech. BTW (which is also a figure of speech =)

As far as the taxes, he would have no way to report STATE taxes unless he had a california business license, and would have to report EACH STATE individually. I am sure every 3 months he is going to file states sales tax with 50 states.

Other than that...

SophalotJack: shut up and go to bed, you have school in the morning.

Orsorum: Thanks for your response, the only way he should be collectig taxes in CA is if he has a business license in this state. If he does he should provide me with a W-9 upon request, which he won't do. Also county tax where I am is 7.975%. He charged me the highest tax rate in any county in california which is 8.750%. If a sale is conducted online, or delivered he has to charge the tax rate for the county that the product is delivered.

In retrospect, if you talk to the state board of equilization about taxes, it's never your money, you are collecting on behalf of the state board of equilization. So as far as I can tell, he is acting on behalf of an agency he has nothing to do with, misrepresenting himself. I did contact the state board of equilization but have not yet heard back from them.