eBay changes coming: all BINs "Good Till Canceled"

[LadyMoondancer]

There are other changes too, like "edit more easily through the Seller Hub!" etc, but I felt this was by far the most impactful change:

The listing duration for all fixed price listings will be Good 'Til Cancelled

Starting in mid-March 2019, the listing duration for all new fixed price listings on eBay will be Good 'Til Cancelled. Existing fixed price listings that are not Good 'Til Cancelled will continue until they sell or end at their specified duration. If a short-duration fixed price item is relisted, the duration will be set to Good 'Til Cancelled upon relist.

Good 'Til Cancelled listings renew automatically every 30 days unless your item sells before that timeframe. We charge an insertion fee every 30-day period. Good 'Til Cancelled listings count toward your monthly zero insertion fee listings. Fee amounts are based on the terms in effect when the listing goes live and when it renews.

So to sum up:  When your Buy It Now listing hits it's 30 day limit, eBay will automatically renew it and will charge you an insertion fee.  (Unless you only list 50 things, in which case it will count towards one of your free 50 monthly listings.)  This is already an option, but it's not mandatory or the default.

If you, like me, do everything humanly possible to avoid getting charged eBay's $0.35 insertion fee . . . if you patiently wait until eBay tosses a "List 100 items for FREE, no insertion fees!" email your way . . . this is bad news.  Because now you will have to be vigilant and manually go in to cancel unsold BINs before they automatically renew. 

(Unless you don't mind paying the insertion fee over and over and over . . . But you can see how quickly it would make a dent in your profits if you're listing, like, a pony comb for $2.)

[banditpony]

I saw that.

Ok help me out. Every month we have like ~50 free insertions. If we list 5 things as a BIN, and they don't sell, and they renew... do we get charged? Or will it be a part of that free insertion.

(I'm guessing we get charged).

A lot of my stuff sells within 1-2 months, but I have a pair of japanese shoes that just aren't budging *sigh*

But what I also noticed was something about there's going to be state tax involved in the future. (Right now I think there's ~3 states). And ebay will take it from you at the time of the sale, and give it to the state.

:/ Which irritates me to no end, because my state says if you are selling used stuff that you purchased and owned... then you don't get taxed on it. Which is pretty much 99% of my stuff.

(If you are flipping for profit, that's another thing).

[LadyMoondancer]

If you have 5 BINs and nothing else, they will be auto-relisted for free.  And in addition you will be able to list 45 other free things.

So if you only have 50 items listed or less, it's not a problem.*

The problem is if you use eBay's promotional "extra free listings!" that they sometimes offer.  Let's say they offer an additional 30 free listings in addition to your normal 50 . . . You list 80 items for free.  The next month eBay auto-relists 50 of those items for free . . . and charges you $0.35 x 30 insertion fee on the other 30 items.

I wouldn't be so salty about this but it's really hard for a MLP item to get attention / an audience on eBay these days.  Like, in the 90s I paid their listing fee and didn't even care because I knew every auction would sell.  These days, their services are not really worth $0.35 a pop IMO.


*  Sidenote, this is all within the context of eBay users who don't have eBay stores.  I don't know how stores work.

[Taffeta]

:/ Which irritates me to no end, because my state says if you are selling used stuff that you purchased and owned... then you don't get taxed on it. Which is pretty much 99% of my stuff.

This is a bit like what they do to international buyers with GSP and import duty. They charge a fee up front, and then on top of that a processing fee for the trouble, but the actual custom charge is also higher than the govt would charge (at least here in the UK it often is). I don't know but I feel like they chose one country and then built the system off their charges, rather than actually adjusting to the real charges. I've seen auctions where the charge is 3x what the UK HMRC would expect and it's not as if it improves any part of the service, having it paid up front.

Basically Ebay are just looking for more ways to make money from their sellers. And if you had a business you probably wouldn't care too much about this as it is a convenient renewal and saves you time. But it's again adding issues and cost to private sellers and making it a more hostile place to sell anything.

Thanks for the heads up LM. I haven't listed on ebay in a long while but I do have ponies and stuff to sell. I am hoping to do some at easter although it depends a little on what Brexit does to the postal process (if anything, maybe not, fingers crossed). I had thought to put some on ebay, but it is not the service it used to be for buyers or for sellers.

(Plus I have been charged fees on the so called free listings before now on renewal, when within my quota. And you complain to ebay, and they just ignore it. So yeah.)

[banditpony]

:/ Which irritates me to no end, because my state says if you are selling used stuff that you purchased and owned... then you don't get taxed on it. Which is pretty much 99% of my stuff.

This is a bit like what they do to international buyers with GSP and import duty. They charge a fee up front, and then on top of that a processing fee for the trouble, but the actual custom charge is also higher than the govt would charge (at least here in the UK it often is).

I'm not sure it's like GSP, as I feel like a lot of that is fees for using a middle man service.

There's obviously going to be a convenience fee, and I think semi-fair if given the option to opt out (being the understanding that those who are actually selling for profit PAY the taxes they are supposed to).

But what I'm whining about is the potential of paying a tax on me selling personal items-- which are not subjected to being taxed within my state. So it wouldn't even be the potential "convenience fee" I'd be upset about, I'm ok to an extent with those for using a service (tho I wish some were lower *sigh*) -- it's about the potential of getting taxed on items that shouldn't be taxed.

[Taffeta]

But what I'm whining about is the potential of paying a tax on me selling personal items-- which are not subjected to being taxed within my state. So it wouldn't even be the potential "convenience fee" I'd be upset about, I'm ok to an extent with those for using a service (tho I wish some were lower *sigh*) -- it's about the potential of getting taxed on items that shouldn't be taxed.

The only difference is whether the fee is on the seller or the buyer. With GSP, the fees for the middleman are separate and additional to the custom fee. They appear separately on the invoice. And the custom fees (and others from countries where this is an issue can testify on this too), are often higher than the tariff would be in the actual country. It becomes prohibitive because an item that might incur a £35 charge in real life is sometimes calculated by ebay as being an import charge of £100+ (and then middleman fees on top of this). That makes it impossible to buy the item. This is one reason I still don't have baby sugarcake xD.

A US user doesn't pay custom fees so would probably, if buying through GSP, only see the fees for the GSP rather than the import duty as well. Those of us who live in other countries where customs is charged at borders have a different experience.

So it's like your state tax issue in the sense it's an unjustified extra charge that our own govt wouldn't levy if the same item was sent through the regular post. But the difference is that it sounds like it's on the seller, whereas GSP is on the buyer.

[banditpony]

Eh. Except as far as I understand, EVERY package (that was a purchase) is subjected to tax coming into your country. They just don't always charge the custom fee, right? That's not an ebay issue to me. (I'm not stating you are incorrect by being annoyed with the charges).

I'm not opposed to convenience charges. I'm not opposed on people getting taxed for something that is their main income, or a supplemental income (ie, like over $1000).

The buyer will be charged for the state sales tax. I'm not clear on how that works though. It's something in the plan, and I'm pretty sure the seller will get charged a convenience fee for ebay handing money to the state. But if my state has a thing where personal items do not have to be taxed-- then they shouldn't be taxed. And that was my point.

(And I don't know if it they will, but my general gut feeling from reading the changes that's going to happen in the future).

[LadyMoondancer]

I kind of get eBay blanket-collecting the tax on everyone because otherwise there'd be a lot of big sellers spreading their business over ten accounts or something, to avoid paying the tax.  It does suck though and I wonder if it's even legal.

[banditpony]

I kind of get eBay blanket-collecting the tax on everyone because otherwise there'd be a lot of big sellers spreading their business over ten accounts or something, to avoid paying the tax.  It does suck though and I wonder if it's even legal.

I don't.

eBay keeps tracks of sales and numbers, and they report to the IRS people who make $10,000 or 200 sales. And they've been doing that for at least 5 years if not more...
(Learned that after selling our old laptops and Leica cameras)
(ETA O_o; some states might be lower..)

So I feel like it's not like they haven't been keeping track of people who sell. So I think people should be able to opt out of they are more a garage sale/casual seller (if their state allows such) and their numbers reflect it.

Although your location says you are in Seattle, so you should probably know more what ebay is doing since Washington state started in January. Do you keep your receipts for items you sell?

Meh. The more I read about this it's just inevitable and legal I guess bc of S.Dakota vs Wayfair. -__-

[LadyMoondancer]

Basically eBay collects the tax for Washington state and pays it.  I don't have to manually do anything, it's all on eBay's end.  The sellers who previously remitted sales tax themselves no longer have to.

[banditpony]

Yeah but there's more to then that, because ebay is treating it as a business. I'm not a business person, but obviously I'm going to have to learn... I have a few questions, but if this is me asking too much, you don't have to answer.

Is is fully transparent on what they are charging the buyer? Is it shown on each sale, and is it shown for the month?

Does the tax reflect your county sale tax? Will you have to make any adjustments at the end of the year if it doesn't?

How are you keeping track of your cost of goods?

[LadyMoondancer]

As a Washington state buyer I see the tax on items I buy, but as a Washington state seller I don't see it on items I sell.

I would post a screenshot but Flickr has that picture limit now and I think I'm maxed out.  But basically, when I buy something it will list it out like so:

Subtotal:  $10.50  <---- This is just the regular item cost.
Shipping: $8.60
Tax: $1.93
Total: $21.03

This jives perfectly with Seattle's sales tax (10.1%.)

Whereas this is what I have in my sales records for an item I sold to another Washingtonian:

Subtotal: $8.00
Shipping: $5.96
Refund: -$1.07  <---  The item weighed less than I expected so I did a partial refund.
Total:  $12.89

That transaction was on 1/30/19, I think the policy was already in place by then.  If not then . . . I don't have anything else I can check, that was my most recent sale to someone also in Washington state.

But basically, as a seller you don't have to collect receipts or whatnot.  It's all automated.  eBay automatically calculates the tax and collects it.  You, as the seller, never have to pay the state yourself.

[banditpony]

Thanks for all that

I don't like it. They need to be transparent about the taxes. If (general) you are paying taxes, then that's an income, and needs to be reported at the end of the year. And to report true profit then they need to know the difference between what your sale was, and what the item cost.

I'm not a business person at all, but ignorance is going through cause people to lose money.


Wait!!
Are you paying sales tax on shipping?

[LadyMoondancer]

Yes, in the majority of states, including Washington, shipping and handling is taxable.

[banditpony]

I see... I'm too used to "free" shipping