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I just received this from PayPal this afternoon. Question being, if they are rolling the tax into the purchase price figure, will they be charging the final value fee on the combined total of purchase price AND sales tax??
In 2018, PayPal and eBay worked together to implement a solution to comply with laws that require eBay to collect and remit tax on applicable transactions. Those transactions that require eBay to collect tax are currently divided into two separate charges – one for the item purchased and another for the associated tax.
Effective November 2019, PayPal and eBay will change the way these transactions are processed and how taxes are collected and remitted.
For transactions that require eBay to collect tax from buyers, the tax amount will be included in the gross purchase amount to be processed. Once settled, the tax amount will be automatically deducted for remittance to the applicable taxing authority.
You do not need to take any action.
Hi Nancy, I have no memory of where I bought these! That’s how long I’ve had them. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get them at my local thrift stores…there was a local online auction that I used to buy things from, so it could have been there…otherwise, it was at a yard sale. I know I only paid a couple dollars for them. And they have just been buried in a drawer for years. I was on the verge of throwing them out or re-donating them until I saw the embossed label on the bottom of the little boxes. That gave me the clue I needed to start looking for information. I will probably call the Historical Society that houses the collection and see what I can find out from them.
I’ve been using FedEx lately…I love that I can use it as an option without having an account with them. I have several drop off locations near me…so it’s worth it for the savings. The increased shipping costs have definitely affected sales for me. I am trying to offer free shipping when it’s relatively cheap…like a piece of jewelry…but ironically, when I sell a piece of jewelry for $150, and it only weighs 2 oz…I still have to buy insurance, which negates any savings on the little package. A while ago, I went thru and added Parcel Select to all my listings over a pound. Now, it seems like that will have to be adjusted. I feel like I spend WAY too much time tweaking things like this, instead of listing new stuff!!
And just this week…I get this: I have a Cape Cod…very desirable…bracelet listed for $125. It’s less than true retail, but probably slightly more than other eBayers are asking.
The person messages me, saying “I can get this same bracelet for less at a jewelry store in Chatham (MA), I just checked it out today.” My reply was “You should definitely snap that up!”
She wrote back, “I might”.What prompts someone to take the time to write something like that if they’re not going to even make an offer?? I think she thought I would reply with an offer for less, or maybe offer to match the store price.
I’ve put my store on vacation mode for months at a time…I think my store has been “dormant” up to 8 months at once. Nothing happens…you just keep paying your store fee. Also, when you put it in vacation mode, make sure you check the little box that keeps people from buying your fixed price listings. Any auction items cannot be put on vacation mode. But I never do auctions, so not a problem for me.
There is one weird quirk, though. Apparently, any items that have Best Offer option on them will still allow people to make offers on that item. I occasionally get offers on items, even after my whole store (850-1000 items) has been on vacation for months. I just respond that I can’t accept any offers until I return…most people are ok with it, but usually they don’t follow thru and buy it later.
So, the truly weirdest communication I ever had was a buyer who messaged me about a pair of cute vintage rain boots. They had rubber on the foot part and quilted uppers…they were knee high and lined with fleece. The buyer wrote a long message, saying she wanted them for her 5 year old son who was just starting kindergarten and had “the cutest denim skirt” to wear with them. Did I think they would fit him? I replied by saying that I had included all the pertinent measurements and that would be the best way to determine a good fit. Of course, she didn’t buy them.
I happened to mention it to Ryanne, and she said…that person messaged me about 2 years ago with a very similar message about her son, kindergarten, etc. Ryanne was able to find the old message and lo and behold, it was the same person.
Fast forward another couple years….and unfortunately, the boots were STILL listed. I get the almost word for word message from the same “buyer” about the same boots! I was so tempted to say….Gee, by my count, your son should be in junior high now! Hope you found some shoes for him!
Needless to say, the buyer is blocked and just this week, in a big inventory purge, I de-listed those damned boots!
After reading all the comments, I went to eBay shipping supplies to try and order some things. I can never find my coupon, but a couple of people said it was automatically applied at checkout. I picked my two items, tissue paper and tape, went to checkout and didn’t see any discount applied.
And, interestingly, the two vendors were accepting different forms of payment…one was accepting payment thru eBay’s new payment system…and the other was accepting PayPal. So I would have to pay them separately, but could pay both with PayPal…I’m so confused! I was told by PayPal a few months ago that when I switched to the new eBay system, I would no longer be able to accept payments thru PayPal. Anyone hear anything to that effect? Any hints on how to find my coupon or get the discount applied at checkout would be appreciated. Thanks!!
Recently I had a buyer inquire about a vintage wool shirt. First question was: Is this all wool or a blend? It was already in the listing, but ok, nobody reads those, so I answered.
Second question was: Could I photograph the shirt so that he could see the lining. There was only a partial lining in the shoulder area, and there was already a photo in the listing. Third question was some other nit picking issue, again, probably already addressed in the listing. But it was the fourth question that was the icing on the cake….could I tell him the measurement of the bicep area of the sleeve? At this point, I’m sure I’m dealing with a nut case, so I had a friend of mine buy the item. Just so I could say, Oh, I’m sorry, it’s been sold! Never heard another word from him.My most recent favorite question was related to a shower curtain I was selling. In the listing I give the width and length of the item. The question was: Will this shower curtain reach the floor? I really had to bite my tongue as a number of biting and sarcastic replies came immediately to mind. I explained that it would depend on how high her curtain rod was hung. That seemed to satisfy her as she replied, “I’m going home to measure now!” But my answer was clearly a new concept for her.
And another one I get occasionally is: Will this sweater (dress, coat, etc) fit me?
And this is after I have meticulously added every possible measurement in the body of the listing.As soon as I finished typing the post above, I sold a pair of shoes from the “send an offer” feature. Yay!
I have found that if I go to the oldest listings, the ones that eBay has flagged as not having “any sales” in 16 months, end them and then relist as similar, it will often spur some sales of old inventory. I keep about 800-1000 listing up at one time, so I will end the oldest ones, 25 items at a time. Then whenever I have a few minutes to spare, I will blow through them and then end another 25 and so on. It also gives me an opportunity to check over those older listings and check for things like item specifics that ebay has added….has anyone noticed the over-abundance of item specifics for handbags lately? I can tweak the title, change the price, add the make an offer option, etc. So in a way, it forces me to do a little housekeeping that I wouldn’t ordinarily make the time to do.
I am also using the new feature in which you can send an offer to someone who is watching your item. I tend to send them offers that are at least $10 off what the asking price is. Not having a ton of success with this, but I feel like just the action of sending the offer might push it up in the search. No proof of that, but I have had many, many items sell after someone has asked a question about it…and the weird part is, it usually sells to someone else, which makes me think that any action taken on a listed item will boost it in the search. Anyone else notice this? It’s happened to me so many times, it can’t be coincidence.
I always print a packing slip from the shipping label page and just noticed this week that the prices are missing….but only on about half of my slips. This is kind of a pain, because I print an additional packing slip for myself and then attach the shipping label receipt to it. I know, I know, it’s obsessive, but I like having that hard copy of the item I sold and the packing slip with tracking number on it. Now I have to jot down the price and what the buyer paid for shipping. Until I read these posts, I thought it was some glitch on my part.
To expand on the Free Returns rules…You can put it only on the items you choose. But when you click on an item that does not have FR, you will not see the Top Rated Plus badge. It is only displayed on Free Return items. I have about 80 items that do not have it and they are constantly “reminding” me to add it to those items.
In order to keep my Top Rated Plus status, I signed on with the Free Returns. I only offer it on items weighing 2 lbs or less because I have some pretty hefty pieces like pairs of pottery lamps and no way am I going to pay for those to be returned.
I used to get 1-2 returns in a 2-3 month period. Now I get 1-2 per week. Mostly clothing and shoes. Although I got a vintage Pendleton blanket back last week because the “white” in the plaid was more “cream”.
About 60-70 per cent of my store is clothing, shoes, & accessories. I’m trying to flush out the remaining inventory from a vintage/consignment clothing store I had a few years ago. In the past two years, the clothing sales are way down and the price people are willing to pay is way down. There’s too much competition, with sellers selling vintage LL Bean sweaters for $15.00. I used to get $39.99-49.99 for those. I have now “promoted” every item in my store, which usually runs 800-1000 items, at trending rates plus 1%. Plus, every item has Best Offer on it. Virtually ALL the offers I get on clothing are 50% of the BIN price, or less.
With the high rate of returns I’m getting, I am beginning to question if the meager discounts eBay is now offering as a Top Rated Seller Plus is worth it….kind of a trade off if I’m also paying for promotions on all items. I would rather pay for promotions, although it kills me to pay eBay to promote my items…isn’t that what all my other fees are paying them for?? So, it’s an ongoing conversation I have with myself…Free Returns or not, Promotions or not, Free Shipping or not, etc. etc. Now that a 16 oz First Class package is $8.50…free shipping is definitely out. The tried and true methods that have worked for me in the past are Best Offer on everything….price things high enough to be able to accept a “reasonable” offer, and secondly, keeping your inventory new and fresh by constantly listing new things. The listing part is the biggest challenge for me!
So I’ve been using the feature where you can send an offer to a buyer who has sent you a message about a particular item. I usually send the offer when it’s an item that’s been in inventory for a long time and I’m willing to lower the price significantly. I have not had a lot of takers. I’ve pretty much stopped doing it as my sales have ticked up and almost all my 1000+ listings have Best Offer on them.
Now…I occasionally get those messages from eBay that say “These items have watchers, lower the price and make the sale”. I thought, great, I can use this link and do a quick automatic lowering of the price and be on my way. No…it simply sends you to the revise page of each item. You have to go thru the revision process for each item. I have had NO sales from lowering the price in people’s watch list or even on the ones that have items in their shopping carts. And the other down side is that once you’ve lowered the price, if you want to bring it back up to the original price, you have to go thru the revise page again. IMHO, it’s not worth the time spent. My best results overall for the last 18+ years is 1) put Best Offer on everything over $30.00 and 2) periodically end listings that are not moving and relist as “sell similar”. These two methods seem to produce the best results (for me, at least).
I will be curious to try this new offer tactic when it’s available and see if it’s a keeper!
