Ebay Sales Tax & Slabgate Affect Sales?
 

We've all been talking about how this slabgate scandal will potentially negatively affect card prices, but I think the eBay sales tax that is rolling out now could lower card prices even further.

For example, a 7% eBay NY sales tax can really add up on higher dollar cards

Personally, I think card prices the last few years have been out of hand and this unfortunate slabgate and eBay's new sales tax could really lower card prices for the better.

Thoughts?

Let me just say that I live in California, so I've always charged sales tax on ebay to California residents (9.75% based on where I live). Net result is my sales to California residents are few and far between. :)

May I suggest you invest in an Oregon vault.

:D

Perhaps in the short term. I am hoping it creates an opportunity to pick up a few cards I've been after. There are only so many of these cards out there, especially on the prewar side. Even if some collectors leave the hobby I believe new ones will enter. Perhaps they will be of the mindset that altered or conserved cards are acceptable and the hobby will evolve.

Auction houses have survived collecting sales tax in certain states. Amazon has as well. Ebay will be fine. And as Peter noted, I'm assuming in jest, some will look into tax avoidance strategies.

If I could accurately predict the future I would have made a few different decisions over the years. But my guess is everything will be back to normal sooner rather than later.

The tax hit will hurt online sales far greater than the trimming scandal.

The scandal will eventually go away once the public gets distracted by
the next "thing." The taxation will probably be there forever.

As a N.J. resident, it will hurt ebay sales on buying the real expensive cards, Perhaps it will bring back more buyers to baseball card shows. Not only can you save on sales tax, but also shipping. You can also see the cards in person instead of scans.

If everyone pays it why is sales tax ultimately not the same as a buyer's premium, if people are rational pre-tax prices will adjust downwards?

I have slowed way way down since eBay started with the tax. I don't even get excited about the 10 or even 13% bucks rewards anymore....it just offsets the tax here in WA. Whoopdy Doo.

The slabbing scandal doesn't really effect me or my collection since I crack everything out anyway.

The bright side is that my bank account is pretty flush right now. (Shameless plug...still looking for a T3 Cobb....to think what I could buy with the sales tax on that alone).

I have never made large purchases on eBay. Between the National and the three White Plains and three Philly shows, I have my regular dealers that I buy higher end stuff from. Along with LOTG and Sterling and occasionally other auction houses. I just like to buy from people that I know.

I avoid all auction houses along with eBay at all cost. Zero effect to me. Only buy virgin cards from longtime friend and respected guys on here. :)

The card market is way too big and too diverse to all move in the same direction at the same time.

In the cards I collect a PSA 9 1982 Wrestling All Stars Series A Hulk Hogan just set a record for a PSA graded copy of the card this weekend. The supply is very low so when one appears it attracts interest. Greg got offers within five minutes of it being listed.

There are some card segments where buyers might get a little jittery and pull in their horns but I don't see them leaving long term. The altering of cards has been going on forever and it isn't entirely surprising to me that cards have gotten passed the goal line and I do know there is a range of attitudes towards the issue so not all collectors will run from graded cards just because they have had work done on them. I was surprised to see such great acceptance for the videos of the guy teaching people to clean up cards on Youtube so it seems that it is just an issue of how much work the card has had done. I first learned of soaking from reading this board and was surprised it was in the totally okay category so it seems there is a lot of different view points of what is acceptable. That said the market will shake this off in time. There are so many graded collectors they aren't just going to quit and there have been loads of new people coming into the hobby the past few years.

The sales tax is an interesting one because it could modestly affect auction prices. I live in Florida so if I buy from a seller in New Jersey I avoid paying a 6.5% sales tax where as the person living in New Jersey might pay 9%. On a $200 item I am saving $13 and they are paying $18. That means for their bid to actually be $200 they must really bid right at $183.50 to be in the same boat. If they do this and I still bid $200 and no one else bids than the card will indeed sell for a lower price. I could see this happening in some cases but I don't see this hurting selling prices significantly. There are a lot of big time collectors that live in states like New York and have already been paying taxes to auction houses and buyers premiums so overtime I expect this to just be the norm and collectors will accept it. I sold a raw 1982 Wrestling All Stars Series A Ric Flair that I got with a set and wanted to recoup a portion of the purchase price and got the $185 that I wanted. I was freaked out at first because I saw a higher payment come in and it had tax and was like F I hope I don't have to deal with this. You don't. Either way the price I wanted I got so I can't say the tax affected the price. In theory it could have been higher but I will never know that. It was a back and forth in a best offer scenario and in theory every card negotiated like this could sell for more so I can't concern myself with the what ifs.

I'm unaware that the laws have changed. Local state sales tax is supposed to be paid even if uncollected by the seller from a different state. Just because it is not collected at time of purchase does not mean that the buyer is absolved from paying it to his home state. Most folks just bitch about it, ignore it, and dismiss the fact they are breaking the law. They save their energies for pointing out others discretions and frauds. I'm sure Adam will eventual chime in.