New Taxes imposed on US Sales = Bad news for dropshippers?

Well I just processed a US order today (dropshipping from ebay) found out there is now a sales tax on my US orders. Not every item is taxable, but seems like a lot will now be taxed. For example, a US buyer orders something from me and pays me $30. I used to pay only $20 from my dropshipper, no tax and it would be a clean $10 profit for me. But now it's $20 + $2 for tax (roughly) so I'm paying $22 now. It might not seem like much but if you add up 100 sales a month x $2 that's $200 that used to be profit for me now gone.

It seems that the only way is for me to mark up my prices on ebay a couple bucks more. Since it's being applied to nearly every merchant now, nobody is going to have an advantage and so the markup shouldn't lower my sales since everyone else will be marking up their prices, too. Amazon will now charge sales tax and I'm sure all the other major online retailers are also charging sales tax now.

Are you sure this isn't a state tax for only some states? Or has this new federal tax been reported on the news?

I was told that at first it's only on a few states...but gradually all states will have it. But I think it doesn't apply to ALL items. It depends on what items you are buying/selling. It only applies to certain products. I don't know what is on or not on that list. In any case, this may be a huge blow for my US ebay buyers / dropshipping. Hopefully everyone is marking up their prices too to include the sales tax in the price so that we are all basically staying on the same price point. If I don't mark up the prices, we are going to lose huge profits (20% or so).

actually, I just thought of this now, but it would be nice of ebay could charge all it's US buyers the sales tax automatically in our listings so that we don't have to change anything and everyone is paying the sales tax (sellers and buyers). That would mean nothing really changes, just everyone is paying a little more, but profit margins remain the same.

oatmeal said:

Well I just processed a US order today (dropshipping from ebay) found out there is now a sales tax on my US orders.

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This is nothing new - it means whoever you are buying from has an established nexus in the state they are operating.

oatmeal said:

Amazon will now charge sales tax and I'm sure all the other major online retailers are also charging sales tax now.

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Amazon charges sales tax where it has a nexus.

FBA/FBM sellers are not obligated to register for sales tax if they have nexus in a state, however many many sellers are non-compliant and states are now requiring Amazon to disclose sales data.

New Taxes imposed on US Sales = Bad news for dropshippers?

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Someone normally has to pay the sales tax - I would talk to a sales tax expert to see if you should/shouldn't be paying sales tax.