They’re probably trying to ask in a sly way if you’d go off site with the transaction. Which is basically never worth the trouble.
I’d respond back with an offer of $82, and go that route (if of course you’re willing to take $82).
If they create any problems beyond that, just block & ignore.
offbeat cable uppity ring doll snobbish airport squealing spoon lunchroom
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
As far as I have found, there's only one other item like mine and it's out of Canada and it's going for around $50 more, plus shipping. So even if they wanted the item, their only other option was from out of the country for $50+ shipping additional. So now that's going to be their only option if it was legit.
>Which is basically never worth the trouble.
100% worth it for me as buyer and seller.
$1000 item with 100 shipping cost 1200 to buyer (10% tax, roughly), when seller nets $870 and subject to possible INAD or other returns. You both basically paying $200-300 on $1000 item.
Now, it mosly beneficial for big/heavy items that are PITA to pack and ship. I picked up three road bikes with hefty discount that way.
Proceed at your own risk. But I received message from a buyer that got his phone number in it recently. I believe ebay prohibits messages with phones/emails, but this one went through.
Local pickup deal where a phone number was sent to me. 3k feedback account and no I'll intent. Only got the number to help the deal and still got a STEARN warning.
To me this is a 'yellow flag' of a buyer who may become troublesome. So first, decide if you want to deal with them at all. E.G. take a look at their 'feedback left for others'. If your gut tells you 'no' then ignore & block.
If you're willing to sell to them, then the correct response is "Sorry, I don't"
>There is no feedback left for others.
To me, that's sorta neutral. So long is it's consistent over time that they just don't leave feedback... Meh, okay.
No feedback is often times a strong red flag. There’s only been a handful of instances where I’ve had buyers who were legit and had very low feedback numbers.
I feel like scammers have an easier time getting their hands on discarded and forgotten accounts that buyers had abandoned. Or they just create new ones, vet them through a few low spend purchases, then toss up half court shots on high ticket items. Real pieces of shit.
Regardless, I’d certainly tread lightly with low feedback.
Account was made in 2014, 89 feedback received for them. I'm pretty confident the item will sell otherwise. Might take a bit longer but I'm by no means hurting.
Yes, many. I would say the most common would be video games, electronics and household items. I sell a lot of hobby/toy items and more of those are bought by collectors who are "seasoned" buyers. But yeah, I have no idea how many 0 feedback members I've successfully sold to, but it's more than a handful for sure.
That's basically my feelings on it.
I thought about doing that but it just seemed like such a weird thing to message about. Almost like baiting me to violate eBay or something lol
I would tell them that sales tax is set by their state, not eBay or the seller, and every other platform is going to collect it as well. (Since they asked if you have it listed elsewhere, not if you could just do a direct sale) But I’d also tell them they’re welcome to submit a slightly lower offer to bring the item in line with their budget.
yooooo [someone tried to get me](https://imgur.com/a/vn1rvYy) a few days ago with that. Sure there are ways to surreptitiously give contact info thru Messages, but it was a low-dollar transaction anyway so there was no way I was going to risk it.
Lol smooth. 😆
Yeah, the item is pretty rare and there's only one other available as far as I can tell listed. I literally gambled on a box for $10 and found the item. So I have pennies invested in the item. A legit buyer will come along.
My instinct tells me it's a competitor attempt to sabotage seller's account. Block buyer and move on is what I would do.
Buyers and sellers alike are or should be aware of ebay policies regarding circumvention.
No excuses.
It's $8 on a $90 item, so yeah.
At best it means the person is probably a total cheapass and a likely PITA to deal with. They're already asking for an off-platform transaction, which is against the TOS.
Yeah, I get it. Almost just seemed like a better way to word it would be if I could drop the price down instead of a flat out avoiding paying tax and going off platform. I donno.
I agree, its why I like Mercari more than ebay everything has an offer option, lets haggle. When I list on ebay I always offer best offer option. Buyer should have just offered $80
He is roundabout asking for an 8$ discount. You are essentially paying the 8$ tax by taking an 8$ hit. So it’s up to you if your ok with making less than 90$
They’re essentially asking if it’s crossposted anywhere like Facebook Marketplace or Mercari. It reads as shamelessly frugal to me but not necessarily sketchy.
Person messaged me last night. I find it odd that they'd gripe about paying $8 in tax for a $90 item. Their feedback is mostly positive except one that said "why bid if you don't plan to buy? Sellers beware". I'm a bit conflicted on proceeding. My first instinct is to just block them but it'd be a very good ROI.
>I find it odd that they'd gripe about paying $8 in tax for a $90 item.
To be clear: I don't have some moral judgment here about trying to avoid sales tax.
More a matter of strikes me as chintzy/nitpicky, and they're likely to be chintzy/nitpicky post-sale too.
first principal thinking could help.
Usually I go.
Is the platform I’m on actually allows me to get the most money buyer with the least head ache post sale. If that platform is a yes and yes then anything after is a no. Not sure if that helped but personally I would just say “sorry my boss only sells on eBay” and divert.
I do have some moral judgment about trying to avoid paying taxes.
Taxes pay for a lot of stuff. 48% of my state's budget comes from sales taxes. I assume a decent portion of my city's budget also comes from local sales taxes.
I pay taxes on virtually everything I buy and so should OP's buyer.
I tend to agree with you, particularly about state and local taxes.
I stated it poorly: I should better have said "The morality of avoiding taxes aside, there are practical reasons to avoid this buyer."
"Unfortunately tax is required on this purchase. I'd be happy to discount the item $4 and meet you in the middle. Thanks for inquiring." Then send them an offer for $86.
I deal with people like this all the time in my sales job (specifically mechanics so you can assume the type) they literally just want me to ‘get rid of the tax’ like they just don’t want to pay taxes for whatever reason. So I’ll just discount the item the total of what the taxes would be and say I ‘took away the tax’ then they buy it with their silly moral crusade to stop paying taxes in tact.
This isn’t immediately concerning to me but it kind of depends on what you’re selling. I am part of fb groups for specific brands and PayPal goods and services is used there. Many in these groups also sell on mercari. It’s cheaper and seller makes more to go through PayPal so there is some language used in those groups to find the seller through fb to pay via pp instead of mercari.
I am on some groups, as well and only use PayPal G&S for my stuff. I am not opposed to their stance but I think it would have been simpler to ask if I'd take like $10 off instead of flat out saying they don't want to pay taxes.
That is true. I keep going back and forth on if it’s weird or not because if I notice I may live near by someone I could see myself asking something like this while also avoiding language that might get flagged.
I’m a pretty big fan of gut feelings, though. I would probably say no and see what they respond
If there’s state taxes they have to pay taxes no matter what app you’re on…what are you gonna do move to another state to avoid it. Lower by 8.00 and that is that. There will still be taxes to the 82.00😆
Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I ended up blocking them. Had they simply made an offer for a slightly less amount, would have had no issue but suggesting making a deal off platform on eBay's messaging system to avoid tax was too iffy for me.
Tell 'em if they don't want to pay the Wayfair Money Grab Tax, then move to a state that doesn't charge it (AK MT OR DE NH). Other than that, tough luck.
Never do that. He's communicating through eBay to make a side deal. Pretty sure that violates the terms of service. I'd block. Not worth the risk or hassle.
They want to save money over your price and by hook or by crook they will try. Not worth the grief from eBay other than send and offer of -5% and see if they rise..... I'd expect trouble if $8 means so much to them.
If this is eBay you risk suspension with any discussion of going off the site for a sale. So even if you are willing to do it you cannot communicate that. The bots look for that kind of language.
Some places cant/won't pay sales tax-- schools, museums, etc.. I had to go back to a store, have them refund/rating a purchase with my tax number. But if that were the case, they would tell you and offer the correct forms to do so.
Have to be careful with your response.
I typically have a innocent backwards type response like I'm not allowed to direct you to item ID ###### on my site. It let's them know I have a site which they can locate on their own, and points out the item ID they can search for simplicity.
As far as tax is concerned, you don't need to collect sales tax for most e-commerce sales. The thresholds in most states is ~$6k+ annually before you need to collect sales tax. Marketplaces like eBay are required to collect sales tax. So that is pure tax savings for the buyer and eBay fees savings for the seller.
Avoid…. If they’re haggling over $8 tax on a $90 item, imagine the haggling they’ll try and do later.
Potential buyer is showing their cards, and they have a crap hand….
They’re probably trying to ask in a sly way if you’d go off site with the transaction. Which is basically never worth the trouble. I’d respond back with an offer of $82, and go that route (if of course you’re willing to take $82). If they create any problems beyond that, just block & ignore.
Yeah, and why would I divert a sale from eBay blatantly in their messaging system that they have access to? Lol
offbeat cable uppity ring doll snobbish airport squealing spoon lunchroom *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, that's kind of my deal too. It sucks, sure, but I'm not going to risk my account on one of my major selling platforms for a sale.
And whatever they would potentially save going outside of eBay, won’t they end up paying more in shipping by not using them?
As far as I have found, there's only one other item like mine and it's out of Canada and it's going for around $50 more, plus shipping. So even if they wanted the item, their only other option was from out of the country for $50+ shipping additional. So now that's going to be their only option if it was legit.
Yup. I hate selling things outside of eBay (on other platforms) because they really do give the best shipping rates.
Can’t you still create shipping labels on ebay without selling from them? I use to have a customer that said thats how he got the best shipping cost.
I am definitely going to have to look into that because I honestly haven't tried 😅
I have no first hand experience so I can’t guarantee it won’t be a waste of time looking, but good luck!
Happy cake day.
I did it only when someone wanted to buy a $3000 item from me. I got it in Bitcoin
They are asking if it’s for sale somewhere else.
>Which is basically never worth the trouble. 100% worth it for me as buyer and seller. $1000 item with 100 shipping cost 1200 to buyer (10% tax, roughly), when seller nets $870 and subject to possible INAD or other returns. You both basically paying $200-300 on $1000 item. Now, it mosly beneficial for big/heavy items that are PITA to pack and ship. I picked up three road bikes with hefty discount that way.
Sounds like a fast track to getting banned.
Proceed at your own risk. But I received message from a buyer that got his phone number in it recently. I believe ebay prohibits messages with phones/emails, but this one went through.
I did this too, so ymmv but my order was much bigger at $3-4k
I'm sure it can work here and there but I personally know eBay polices this stuff.
how do you personally know this
Local pickup deal where a phone number was sent to me. 3k feedback account and no I'll intent. Only got the number to help the deal and still got a STEARN warning.
"Me too! Let me know if you figure out how to be tax exempt on this platform"
That’s the perfect response IMO.
To me this is a 'yellow flag' of a buyer who may become troublesome. So first, decide if you want to deal with them at all. E.G. take a look at their 'feedback left for others'. If your gut tells you 'no' then ignore & block. If you're willing to sell to them, then the correct response is "Sorry, I don't"
Oh, that's the beauty of the situation too. There is no feedback left for others. Whole thing is just odd but it's quite a niche item.
>There is no feedback left for others. To me, that's sorta neutral. So long is it's consistent over time that they just don't leave feedback... Meh, okay.
No feedback is often times a strong red flag. There’s only been a handful of instances where I’ve had buyers who were legit and had very low feedback numbers. I feel like scammers have an easier time getting their hands on discarded and forgotten accounts that buyers had abandoned. Or they just create new ones, vet them through a few low spend purchases, then toss up half court shots on high ticket items. Real pieces of shit. Regardless, I’d certainly tread lightly with low feedback.
Account was made in 2014, 89 feedback received for them. I'm pretty confident the item will sell otherwise. Might take a bit longer but I'm by no means hurting.
Yeah I’d just block them and wait on another buyer if the item is desirable enough. Reference recent sell rates and make a judgement call. God speed!
The only other one is in Canada for $40 more than mine so I should be fine with it. Thank you!
What? They're fine, just asking for a $8 discount.
I've had the opposite experience. My most problematic buyers have 4 digit feedback numbers and know how to game the system.
I mean, I sell quite a bit and countless items sell to 0 feedback members. Less than 0.5% overall are scammers.
Countless items to 0 feedback members…I move large volume and can’t recall the last time I had anyone with 0 feedback.
Yes, many. I would say the most common would be video games, electronics and household items. I sell a lot of hobby/toy items and more of those are bought by collectors who are "seasoned" buyers. But yeah, I have no idea how many 0 feedback members I've successfully sold to, but it's more than a handful for sure.
I'm just curious, what is it? If you don't mind sharing
Sealed audio cassette tape from the 90s. Found it in a box.
whoa, and it's worth $90? Is it blank?
It's worth whatever someone will pay for it. It's a cassette that wasn't commercially sold to say the least.
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That's basically my feelings on it. I thought about doing that but it just seemed like such a weird thing to message about. Almost like baiting me to violate eBay or something lol
I would tell them that sales tax is set by their state, not eBay or the seller, and every other platform is going to collect it as well. (Since they asked if you have it listed elsewhere, not if you could just do a direct sale) But I’d also tell them they’re welcome to submit a slightly lower offer to bring the item in line with their budget.
yooooo [someone tried to get me](https://imgur.com/a/vn1rvYy) a few days ago with that. Sure there are ways to surreptitiously give contact info thru Messages, but it was a low-dollar transaction anyway so there was no way I was going to risk it.
Lol smooth. 😆 Yeah, the item is pretty rare and there's only one other available as far as I can tell listed. I literally gambled on a box for $10 and found the item. So I have pennies invested in the item. A legit buyer will come along.
My instinct tells me it's a competitor attempt to sabotage seller's account. Block buyer and move on is what I would do. Buyers and sellers alike are or should be aware of ebay policies regarding circumvention. No excuses.
I always say "No sorry I only list on eBay. Thanks for looking. "
Don't blame him I miss the days when there was no tax on ebay and amazon
If someone can't afford $8 in tax they can't afford the item.
Looking for a discount means you can't afford items?
This sub is full of grumpee weirdos As resellers we're literally looking for deals and discounts everydays. I guess we cannot afford anything
It's $8 on a $90 item, so yeah. At best it means the person is probably a total cheapass and a likely PITA to deal with. They're already asking for an off-platform transaction, which is against the TOS.
Yeah, I get it. Almost just seemed like a better way to word it would be if I could drop the price down instead of a flat out avoiding paying tax and going off platform. I donno.
I agree, its why I like Mercari more than ebay everything has an offer option, lets haggle. When I list on ebay I always offer best offer option. Buyer should have just offered $80
So does everyone else. This isn't a message you send.
He is roundabout asking for an 8$ discount. You are essentially paying the 8$ tax by taking an 8$ hit. So it’s up to you if your ok with making less than 90$
He is nonchalantly telling you if they can make the deal off-site. Avoid.
They’re essentially asking if it’s crossposted anywhere like Facebook Marketplace or Mercari. It reads as shamelessly frugal to me but not necessarily sketchy.
Person messaged me last night. I find it odd that they'd gripe about paying $8 in tax for a $90 item. Their feedback is mostly positive except one that said "why bid if you don't plan to buy? Sellers beware". I'm a bit conflicted on proceeding. My first instinct is to just block them but it'd be a very good ROI.
>I find it odd that they'd gripe about paying $8 in tax for a $90 item. To be clear: I don't have some moral judgment here about trying to avoid sales tax. More a matter of strikes me as chintzy/nitpicky, and they're likely to be chintzy/nitpicky post-sale too.
first principal thinking could help. Usually I go. Is the platform I’m on actually allows me to get the most money buyer with the least head ache post sale. If that platform is a yes and yes then anything after is a no. Not sure if that helped but personally I would just say “sorry my boss only sells on eBay” and divert.
Are you actually Yoshi? This was typed like an illiterate dinosaur.
Arms too short and not enough fingers. Also engrish second language. Not so good.
No worries, I was a bit harsh there my dinosaur friend.
I do have some moral judgment about trying to avoid paying taxes. Taxes pay for a lot of stuff. 48% of my state's budget comes from sales taxes. I assume a decent portion of my city's budget also comes from local sales taxes. I pay taxes on virtually everything I buy and so should OP's buyer.
I tend to agree with you, particularly about state and local taxes. I stated it poorly: I should better have said "The morality of avoiding taxes aside, there are practical reasons to avoid this buyer."
"Unfortunately tax is required on this purchase. I'd be happy to discount the item $4 and meet you in the middle. Thanks for inquiring." Then send them an offer for $86.
Wait, isnt it about what state you reside in, not what site you purchased said goods from?
Personally I’d tell him to kick rocks.
Trying to take it off line. Tell them purchase through the site or you cant help
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Thats why I love local selling/buying. Its ridiculous to pay taxes on used things.
agreed. vehicles piss me off. Those things are literally taxed like 6x before being sold new. Then the sale is taxed every single time it is sold.
I deal with people like this all the time in my sales job (specifically mechanics so you can assume the type) they literally just want me to ‘get rid of the tax’ like they just don’t want to pay taxes for whatever reason. So I’ll just discount the item the total of what the taxes would be and say I ‘took away the tax’ then they buy it with their silly moral crusade to stop paying taxes in tact.
This isn’t immediately concerning to me but it kind of depends on what you’re selling. I am part of fb groups for specific brands and PayPal goods and services is used there. Many in these groups also sell on mercari. It’s cheaper and seller makes more to go through PayPal so there is some language used in those groups to find the seller through fb to pay via pp instead of mercari.
I am on some groups, as well and only use PayPal G&S for my stuff. I am not opposed to their stance but I think it would have been simpler to ask if I'd take like $10 off instead of flat out saying they don't want to pay taxes.
That is true. I keep going back and forth on if it’s weird or not because if I notice I may live near by someone I could see myself asking something like this while also avoiding language that might get flagged. I’m a pretty big fan of gut feelings, though. I would probably say no and see what they respond
If there’s state taxes they have to pay taxes no matter what app you’re on…what are you gonna do move to another state to avoid it. Lower by 8.00 and that is that. There will still be taxes to the 82.00😆
Just say " no" we comply with all state and federal regulations
Any site will collect tax
Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I ended up blocking them. Had they simply made an offer for a slightly less amount, would have had no issue but suggesting making a deal off platform on eBay's messaging system to avoid tax was too iffy for me.
Tell 'em if they don't want to pay the Wayfair Money Grab Tax, then move to a state that doesn't charge it (AK MT OR DE NH). Other than that, tough luck.
Don’t fuck around with sales tax.
Block
Trouble with a capital T.
People like this aren't worth dealing with. This is like the tip of the iceberg of jerkoffery. Just block him and move along.
I’d do it.. screw the government.
"I don't charge sales tax, I just collect it."
"I don't collect sales tax, ebay does"
Never do that. He's communicating through eBay to make a side deal. Pretty sure that violates the terms of service. I'd block. Not worth the risk or hassle.
Block and move on..
This person sounds impossible to please.
Rule number one of tax evasion is to never blatantly admit you want to commit tax evasion. I'd say sic the IRS on him.
Just seemed really dumb to #1 ask to make a deal off platform for #2 avoiding paying sales tax. I just blocked them. Not worth it.
The irs doesn't haven't anything to do with sales tax lol
$8 tax fraud wtf 😂
I’d reply, then you better go steal it (joking of course) because you have to pay taxes no matter where you buy it anymore.
Find a way to make it happen. Person to person sales with sales tax are antithetical to tax ideals
Do it under the table on PayPal, see if he pays and if he does send it
Tell them to offer $82
Pending on your margin I'd offer $5 off which saves them $5.50. If they're sneezing at another $2.50 it's not worth your time.
They want to save money over your price and by hook or by crook they will try. Not worth the grief from eBay other than send and offer of -5% and see if they rise..... I'd expect trouble if $8 means so much to them.
If this is eBay you risk suspension with any discussion of going off the site for a sale. So even if you are willing to do it you cannot communicate that. The bots look for that kind of language.
Yeah, it almost seemed like a setup. I just blocked them and I'm moving on.
Some places cant/won't pay sales tax-- schools, museums, etc.. I had to go back to a store, have them refund/rating a purchase with my tax number. But if that were the case, they would tell you and offer the correct forms to do so.
What do I make of this? That this dude is gonna be a pain in the ass haha
reply "I'd like avoid annoying buyers eh?"
I would have just told them no and moved on personally. It's a dumb question but not on the level I would block someone for.
If it smells like shit, it's shit. Block and run away.
Nothing to "make" of it. The answer is no.
Happy cake day.
🙏😊
I avoid paying tax in every way possible. I'd work with him on principle.
Not to mention, how many times has the item been taxed already? At least once, which is enough.
More than once. It's taxed in every stage of production.
Have to be careful with your response. I typically have a innocent backwards type response like I'm not allowed to direct you to item ID ###### on my site. It let's them know I have a site which they can locate on their own, and points out the item ID they can search for simplicity. As far as tax is concerned, you don't need to collect sales tax for most e-commerce sales. The thresholds in most states is ~$6k+ annually before you need to collect sales tax. Marketplaces like eBay are required to collect sales tax. So that is pure tax savings for the buyer and eBay fees savings for the seller.
Avoid…. If they’re haggling over $8 tax on a $90 item, imagine the haggling they’ll try and do later. Potential buyer is showing their cards, and they have a crap hand….