Author Topic: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...  (Read 191864 times)

Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #765 on: February 23, 2017, 10:38 AM »
The part that makes this hilarious to me is that it has a reserve price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-BB8-POTATO-/182463173706?hash=item2a7ba7144a:g:V9QAAOSwTuJYrKt~
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Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #766 on: June 1, 2018, 06:37 PM »
I don't blame the guy for trying to sell it. But the price seems pretty crazy. Who's paying double for a custom?

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-Custom-Jabba-the-Hutts-Sail-Barge-The-Khetanna-3-75-ROTJ-Han-Skiff/302756857604?hash=item467db70704:g:D1AAAOSwUBpaxR1l
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Offline Rob

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #767 on: August 15, 2019, 10:33 PM »
So I ran into a new one (for me) where a guy bought something from me for $65 with free shipping.  He didn't pay immediately so I'm sending him an invoice tonight and it wanted me to charge him 6.25% sales tax for CT.

I'm not a store and thought this was weird, but apparently it's a thing in 25 or so states:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/taxes-import-charges?id=4121

Am I the only one who thinks that's total bull****?  I could see it if I was a proper store, but when I sell something on eBay it's a digital garage sale, I'm not a storefront and people shouldn't have to pay sales tax for my old toys.  Am I understanding this correctly?
« Last Edit: August 15, 2019, 10:33 PM by Rob »

Offline JediJman

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #768 on: August 15, 2019, 10:37 PM »
Wow, that stinks.  I've never heard of that before.  I guess I could see it if you were selling from an "Ebay Store" site, but as an independent person selling on Ebay?  That's crazy.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #769 on: August 15, 2019, 10:41 PM »
I just did some googling and apparently there was some supreme court ruling last year that opened the door for states to require this, some have, others haven't. 

It's completely wrong for the government to collect sales tax on old star wars toys that have been bought and sold over and over. 

Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #770 on: August 15, 2019, 11:39 PM »
It's partially why I quit selling on eBay. I'm not worrying about paying taxes on random crap I sell online.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #771 on: August 15, 2019, 11:53 PM »
Technically you’re not paying it, the buyer is, but it’s kind of ****** all around yes.  PA is doing it and some stores refuse to charge and want you to claim it on a form I think...  like basically saying you bought this and they didn’t charge you tax so that’s your fault and responsibility to remember that all year.

But yeah online selling is the new sticking point and since the wealthy don’t typically eBay or craigslist stuff, well, you can see where the lines will be drawn and it’s such a foggy area between store and dude sounds. Yard sale online.
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Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #772 on: August 16, 2019, 01:09 AM »
Right but I don't ever want to worry about having to pay the govt the tax someone had to pay to me
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #773 on: August 16, 2019, 04:57 AM »
Yeah it’s a generally dumb thing and is only gonna hurt eBay and people doing anything there if it becomes more wide spread and stuff.  I’m glad I have avoided selling there but this just makes me less likely to sell there if I was really wanting to unload a lot of stuff quick.
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Offline Rob

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #774 on: August 16, 2019, 09:30 AM »
Right but I don't ever want to worry about having to pay the govt the tax someone had to pay to me

eBay collects the tax and sends it to the relevant state unless you’re a store in a state that requires collecting it.  The thing I sold was $65, buyer got charged $69.xx, the $4 and change never goes to me.

Offline Dave

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #775 on: August 16, 2019, 09:39 AM »
I haven't seen that yet, but I don't sell much on eBay anymore.

I know you're supposed to report "earnings" from selling your Star Wars stuff on your annual tax return as well.  Who reports earnings from garage sale type activities?  I could see if you were a full time comic shop / scalper making some real money on this it would make sense.

I haven't dug in to what "earnings" really means and if you can subtract the cost you paid for the item so you only pay tax on the net difference. 

Offline Dave

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #776 on: August 16, 2019, 09:46 AM »
The scam I got hit with on eBay the other day that sent my blood boiling was the "returned as defective" scam.

Basically any buyer can claim an item is defective, without any proof, and send it back to you for a full refund.

I sold a HasLab Yakface to a comic shop guy.  My auctions are always "as is / no returns".  He got his figure and gave me positive feedback.  A month later the market rate for this item dropped and he wanted to return it.  I said no and he reported it as defective.  I offered him a few bucks back but still said no.  eBay intervened and told me that they were taking the money out of my account and that I had to pay to have the item shipped back to me.  I told the eBay person that I had photos that proved it was in immaculate condition and that the buyer had provided positive feedback.

Ultimately I had absolutely zero defense and took the item back.  I got screwed out of the sale, got the item back, but still had to pay PayPal fees, shipping fees, etc.  I get it that eBay needs to protect buyers, but this left me as a seller with zero options.  I miss the days of common sense and little oversight from eBay.  You looked at someone's rating before buying and if it had bad feedback you moved on. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with some of my higher priced items that I want to sell.  I'm not sure if I just got a jerk or if this is going to be the norm where I could be out $50-$400 depending on what level of a-hole I'm dealing with.  I've sold hundreds of things on eBay with only minor hassles until now, but this transaction scared the crap out of me.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2019, 09:48 AM by Dave »

Offline Muftak

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #777 on: August 16, 2019, 10:13 AM »
I made enough selling Star Wars displays on eBay/Facebook last year that I crossed some threshold that made PayPal send an earnings statement to the IRS, so I had to claim it. The silver lining--I was also able to write-off all Star Wars toy purchases for the year as a business expense. It all worked out, but it was extra work.

I have been hit by a few shady buyers, but they've been the vast minority. I had a guy tell me his package showed up open and empty and he wanted a refund. Luckily for me he was outside the US, so eBay's International Program was on the hook for the refund, and not me. Once they paid him, he never tried to repurchase the "lost" sets, so I feel like it's very likely he scammed the system. I am proud of my work, but I don't feel like it's getting stolen out of the mail...

And I've had eBay add sales tax charges to a few sales, but I haven't been tracking it too much. They don't present it on my side when they do, I have to track it down to see it. I can totally see that impacting whether I make the sale or not going forward. :'(

Offline Nicklab

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #778 on: August 16, 2019, 12:16 PM »
I had one buyer recently who negotiated a Best Offer price.  I was fine with the price as it wasn't an insulting offer (still field plenty of those).  But since he accepted a counter offer eBay didn't require him to pay immediately.  So I invoiced him.  No response.  I sent another invoice with a note.  No response.  Finally I sent a note saying that I would be cancelling the sale for non-payment at which point he finally responds and told me "I was in a car crash".  I let a couple of days pass and still no payment.  When it got to about 2 weeks past the date he agree to the Best Offer price I finally had to cancel the order for non-payment.  Stuff like that is just ridiculous.
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Offline Dave

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Re: Everything eBay! Scams, questions, etc...
« Reply #779 on: August 16, 2019, 12:29 PM »
I had one buyer recently who negotiated a Best Offer price.  I was fine with the price as it wasn't an insulting offer (still field plenty of those).  But since he accepted a counter offer eBay didn't require him to pay immediately.  So I invoiced him.  No response.  I sent another invoice with a note.  No response.  Finally I sent a note saying that I would be cancelling the sale for non-payment at which point he finally responds and told me "I was in a car crash".  I let a couple of days pass and still no payment.  When it got to about 2 weeks past the date he agree to the Best Offer price I finally had to cancel the order for non-payment.  Stuff like that is just ridiculous.

I've had a lot of non-payment issues in the past 24 months.  That hardly ever used to happen and now seems to happen to me 15% of the time.  I don't understand that at all.