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UK to US Custom Excise Charges

  1. adrian scott Sep 10, 2020

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    Hello,
    Can I have your experience please.
    Most of my eBay watch purchases from the US the tax is stated at purchase and paid as a total price - no problem.
    Occasionally not - so I’m taxed on the package entry to UK with a hefty admin clearance fee.
    Why do some sellers do this? I have complained but never had a good answer. One seller citing California State taxes!
    Thank you.
     
  2. Donn Chambers Sep 10, 2020

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    I believe that eBay is collecting sales tax for only a handful of states at the moment. There are several reasons for this:

    1. Not all states collect sales tax.
    2. The states requested eBay to collect the sales taxes after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling overturned the long-standing federal law that sales tax could only be collected if the seller (considered eBay here) had a physical presence, allowing for sales tax collection on internet transactions across state lines.


    More states will likely do the same, but haven’t at the moment. It’s also not up to the seller - eBay collects it separately for those specific states based on where the seller is located.
     
  3. adrian scott Sep 14, 2020

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    Thank you.
     
  4. Evitzee Sep 14, 2020

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    Sales tax collection on out of state sales is still spotty and sporadic. I bought an item over $1.5k from a large, nationally advertised internet-based seller last month based in Tennessee but there was no sales tax charged on its delivery to Texas. Was surprised. I can see smaller one-man operations slipping under the radar, but not a large national brand.
     
    adrian scott likes this.