• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Internet sales tax?

WebSlave

WebSlave

The world looks differently to me now.
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Yesterday I ordered a product off of Ebay and noticed that the company selling it was located in California. I looked because I wanted to know when I would be getting delivery, approximately.

So when I went to the PayPal screen, I was a bit confused about why I was being charged Florida sales tax. It wasn't much, but still......

Anyway I asked the seller about it and here is what he said:
We must charge sales tax for whichever state the sale originated in (if sales tax applies to that specific state). This is a new policy that we must start enforcing to abide by state tax regulations for internet sales. If you are uncomfortable about this, I can issue you a full refund immediately. Please keep in mind though that most larger sellers are having to collect sales tax now in certain states. Thanks and have a wonderful day!
Click to expand...

That is news to me! I know congress was talking about such a bill, but as far as I know it has not been made law on a federal level. On a state level, NO STATE can enforce it's laws upon a resident or business of another state. So has a federal law actually been passed under my radar?
 
Not true. They would only have to collect sales tax if they are located in the same state as the customer. Because they are in California and you are in Florida, they should not charge you sales tax.
 
Yeah, that's how I read it. Not sure if they are just confused or trying to collect a little bit more profit on the sale. In any event, I told them that if they want to collect Florida sales tax from me, then cancel the order and refund my money.

We'll see how this goes...... :rolleyes:
 
I've seen a couple sellers (cat breeders) recouping the 3% paypal fee by charging "sales tax". The lengths people will go to, to not have to pay for anything. :rolleyes:
 
From what I understand, people can get into BIG trouble charging sales taxes and then not actually remitting them to the tax offices. I think some people are going to take advantage of this "internet sales tax" talk that's been going on lately by claiming that they *must* now collect those taxes, and then pocketing it.
 
Believe it or not there actually is a 6% "use" tax that Floridians are supposed to pay on their own for any purchases made over the internet. In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Gov. can't force online businesses to collect sales tax if they don't have a physical presence in the state their customer lives in.
The company you were dealing with on Ebay is not required to collect the tax but you're supposed to do it on your own on a quarterly basis. This seems ridiculous and I'm sure that very few people actually do this. I'm betting that they get next to 0% compliance on this. I don't want to link to a outside website but I'll PM you the info on the law I'm referring to.

I'm annoyed that Amazon now has a physical presence in FL because I buy tons of stuff from them.
 
For as long as I can remember Wisconsin income tax forms have a line for sales tax due on out of state purchases.

I'm guessing Lennie Pike is probably the only guy to actually put a number on this line.

I was aware of the "physical presence" stipulation and I know they were trying to get it changed so that all purchases required sales tax but I was not aware of anything being passed on the federal level either. I know I remember reading somewhere where California did pass a couple of other laws that affect internet sales tax but I don't recall the specifics off the top of my head.

Like you said Rich, I am sure there would be heck to pay if the state found out you were charging sales tax and not reporting it.
 
Well, the guy told me that the reason he is charging sales tax is because he is a reseller for Amazon. Meaning, he orders the merchandise and lists it as a "gift" to me so it is drop shipped to me. He pockets a profit by just being a middle man. I've been seeing a LOT of that on Ebay. If I wanted to buy from Amazon, I would do so. However, I do not do business with Amazon, and have sent items back when I see the Amazon box on my doorstep. So in a way, this sales tax thing could be a good thing, since I will have some indication now that the seller is just someone using Amazon as their supplier. Of course, you don't see any indication that sales tax is due until you get to the PayPal page.

This is actually kind of underhanded now, since when you are comparison shopping on Ebay based on price, you don't have all the figures you need to make a decision. Let's face it, if you have 20 sellers all selling the same exact thing and you can see them all lined up in front of you, why WOULDN'T you just buy from the seller offering the best price? But with the way it is now, if you select the best price, and that seller is an Amazon reseller, you won't know about the sales tax "gotcha" until you have actually gotten to the point where you are going to pay for the merchandise. Used to be you could tell simply by the location of the seller. Now that is no longer true. For an auction site, isn't the PRICE one of the most important criteria you use for selecting what to "bid" on?

Damn... I'm going to be running out of places to buy from.....
 
Just curious as to why you don't do business with Amazon. They aren't my favorite company either.

I totally agree about the price comparison thing and it seems a small percentage of sellers nowadays actually have the items in hand. Buying on the internet isn't like it was back in the good old days when everyone was honest and you could trust them.
 
sschind said:
Just curious as to why you don't do business with Amazon. They aren't my favorite company either.

I totally agree about the price comparison thing and it seems a small percentage of sellers nowadays actually have the items in hand. Buying on the internet isn't like it was back in the good old days when everyone was honest and you could trust them.
Click to expand...

Last year I decided to buy a bushel of steamed blue crabs through a seller on Amazon. I talked to the company (Maryland Blue Crab Express) beforehand and told them what I wanted. I didn't want junk, and I knew what *good* crabs were. I told them if they couldn't send me good crabs, then hold off shipping until they get them in. I was willing to wait.

I decided to buy through Amazon specifically because I knew how good their guarantee was, and told MBCE to expect my order. Yeah, I was playing it safe (I thought), because I have been lied to by online crab shippers before and I wanted to cover myself as much as possible.

So I got the shipment, and it was punk garbage. My first clue was when I lifted that bushel of crabs in the box (six dozen) and noticed how light it was. I thought they had sent me only a half bushel by mistake. The weight of the crabs was less than half bushels I have bought before. They didn't smell all that good neither. But we had to at least taste them and not make a hasty conclusion. Connie and I both tried to eat some of the crabs, but they tasted like they had been soaked in swamp water. So besides being airweight crabs, they smelled funky and tasted bad. BTW, come to find out that MBCE is actually located near Lancaster, PA, so I suspect the crabs likely came out of the Susquehanna River and not Chesapeake Bay like they were claiming.

So I immediately went through all the procedures on Amazon's website to effect a refund, and the company said they did not want the crabs sent back to them. I verified this at least three times, then tossed the entire shipment out into the woods and took pictures which I sent to MBCE.

crabs_dumped_01.jpg


Anyway, Amazon said they would not honor any guarantee on the order because the seller claimed the order was non returnable. Apparently Amazon's A-to-Z guarantee really didn't mean a whole lot. Yeah, apparently they USED to have a good guarantee, but I think they switched over to an offshore third party customer service outfit in Pakistan or India, and things changed there.

I could often find things cheaper elsewhere, but would often buy from Amazon anyway, simply because of their return guarantee. But after that episode, I was done with them. If any seller just states that their product is non-returnable, then guess what? Too bad for you if you get garbage from them.

So yeah, I am done with Amazon. Even though I have bought a lot of stuff from them for a real long time. Heck, I used to buy books from them when that is all they sold. Even passed some emails with Jeff Bezos when it was basically a one man show. Heck, Connie and I would often both get Amazon gift cards as gifts, and give them to others as well. But they left me holding the bag on that garbage and are apparently willing to allow their sellers to pawn off garbage on THEIR customers. I won't give them a second chance to do that to me.

And if I buy something off of Ebay and it shows up here in an Amazon box, then I contact the seller immediately for a refund and return label to ship it back to Amazon.
 
Rich,
Currently most states require if the seller from one state has a warehouse or sales representative (or the obvious physical location) in the state they are selling to they are required to collect and pay sales tax regardless of their home state. The internet sales tax act has not been passed as of yet.
 
Pmsayi said:
Rich,
Currently most states require if the seller from one state has a warehouse or sales representative (or the obvious physical location) in the state they are selling to they are required to collect and pay sales tax regardless of their home state. The internet sales tax act has not been passed as of yet.
Click to expand...

And I hope it never is passed. If it should be, then they need to make a companion law that requires local retailers to carry IN STOCK everything that they offer to sell. I don't know how many times I have been looking for something locally to have the sales staff tell me "we don't have it in stock, but we can order it for you." I tell them, "If I had wanted to order it, I could have done that myself instead of driving here, which is what I guess I will have to do now."

Seriously, the government is heavily promoting fuel efficient vehicles, ramming ethanol down our throats claiming it helps to make us less dependent on foreign oil, and wring their hands about the emissions all the automobiles produce bringing about the end of the world with "global warming". Then turn around and are beating the drum about how people buying on the internet instead of driving all over town looking for those items is a bad thing. Seriously? How many packages can a typical UPS truck carry in one load? How much fuel does that truck use compared to if every one of those packages had required the buyers to jump into their own vehicle to drive around to find a place selling it locally?

Sheesh........ :bandhead0
 
Lucille said:
I think Amazon would like to just drop the packages into our back yards:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2459820/like-amazon-other-firms-want-permission-to-fly-drones.html
Click to expand...

Yeah, I read of that a while back. Which led me to the conclusion that Jeff Bezos has a few screws loose. I'm sure I don't know all of the logistics involved in doing something like that, but I can't see any way it would work without HUGE strides in artificial intelligence. Those are unmanned drones, obviously, but certainly they can't have onboard intelligence enough to be able to land packages where they would need to go. GPS just is not accurate enough for a job like that, so how do they plan on doing it?So will they require a dedicated human operator for each and every one for each delivery? What sort of training and skills would be needed for that job? What happens when there are *incidents* which will happen sure as the sun comes up every day. Would insurance companies even want to insure Amazon against the potential liabilities? The air filled with whirling bladed devices travelling 50 mph in all directions? Heck, what happens if I happened to be out cutting the yard when a delivery is made? :ack2: What are dogs going to think about something like this dropping out of the sky into THEIR yard?

Speaking of which, are they going to go onto people's porches, or just dropped in the yard? What about when it is raining? Just drop the package, no matter what the contents, into the yard where it will get soaked? My yard is heavily wooded, not really a drone friendly environment. Those things going to do some tree trimming on the way in? Heck, I'm not going to be an Amazon drone friendly environment myself. I might just consider those pesky things as being target practice if I get another stealth Amazon reseller on Ebay. :hehe:

And yeah, Bezos is claiming his nonsense will create jobs, but I would think that for every job it might create, two or more jobs would be taken away from UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

Well, I don't see the FAA approving this hair brained scheme anyway. How could they? I'm sure they can see the nightmare this idiotic idea would create. Take your Amazon company to China, Bezos. :raspberry
 
Neilengland said:
Bottom line.. People are mKing money... State wants it's cut.. It is how it is
Click to expand...

The state isn't automatically OWED a darn thing, though. A fact that never seems to enter their minds, however.

Besides, what will be the ultimate outcome of all this anyway? Does anyone seriously think that China cannot sell and ship directly to consumers? Heck, I have already purchased stuff on Ebay that comes directly from out of the country, and the shipping is as cheap or cheaper than what I would pay from within the USA. This sort of stuff will only make this scenario more and more likely. Heck, most USA sellers (or more accurately REsellers) are really only middlemen anyway for Chinese made products, so it's likely just a matter of time before this happens anyway. Then all those online businesses will also go out of business, just like manufacturing and others already have in this country. The ONLY businesses likely to survive will be service jobs were a warm body on site or face to face is needed. There will be no need for anything else in this country.

But I guess I've never really seen an idea too dumb for government to implement. Heck, what do you expect from a group of people who already have this country 17+ trillion dollars in debt and can't figure out what NEEDS to be done to fix it?
 
I've bought things from china as well... Saved a ton but the states will get their money (even if they aren't supposed to) the term income when first proposed for taxes meant the money you make OVER what you trade for labor or product.... THAT was what we were supposed to pay taxes on...not our paycheck for our labors... So given this president I don't think it'll be long before state tax is on every web order
 
Yeah, reading the restrictions that were placed on taxes of all varieties that made them palatable enough to be passed into law will make your blood boil when you see how that is now completely ignored.

Anyone doubt the REAL reason that the "Tea Party" scares the hell out of our government officials and they are trying real hard to paint them with the ugly brush through the media?
 
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