EBGames.com Charge sales tax now ?

[Spider-Man]

I ordered a game and they charged sales tax sorry if already posted

[RedvsBlue]

Guess that answers that question. Earlier someone had posted about how you could now return instore things that were ordered online. There was a few other things you could do too now I'm not sure what but everyone was wondering if sales tax was going to added into that. Guess so, oh well.

[CheapyD]

Damn, that sucks!

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/help/ordering/salesTax.asp

EBgames.com does not charge sales tax on orders shipped to APO/FPO military addresses or the following states: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.

[Scrubking]

In a thread on the deals board people said that the B&M stores didn't know anything about in store returns/ exchanges.

If that is the case then we are getting shafted with the whole tax thing.

[repetske]

EB has always been walking a fine line with the whole sales tax thing, so it's no big surprise they finally had to start charging. For all you non-nerds, it has to with a principle of mult-state taxation called nexus. All it means is "substantial physical presence." Previously, the EB home office and warehouses were located in Ohio and Pennsylvania and by denying affiliation with the stores, they could get away with only charging tax in those states. Unfortunately, you've always been able to look up physical stores and print off rebates that worked on in-store purchases. Because of those reasons, they most likely were being pressured to collect sales tax in any state where they have stores that have sales tax. Hope that clears it up. It does suck though.

[Spider-Man]

Sales tax here is 6% why would they start charging it now

[metroidkiller9]

do you think pre-orders will be changed to apply the tax?

[CheapyD]

Yeah, it definitely sucks.
FYI, you can now order instore pickup for pre-orders on some items.

[scsg75]

Doesn't affect me, no sales tax in Oregon on anything. Sucks for you guys though.

[daphatty]

There are no EBGames in Washington, DC so they better not start charging... Looks like I need to do some research.

EDIT: Just verified that they are indeed charging sales tax for a "state" in which they have no physical presense in. I wonder if there is something I can do?

Looks like Gamestop.com is going to be getting my business from now on.

[ex0]

wow, this sucks :(

[Scrubking]

They better start offering better coupon codes or else!

[spidey]

I had to avoid GameStop because of tax. Now I have to avoid EB as well. Any other stores that don't charge tax in NY?

[guessed]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (9.25%)

There goes one of the main advantages of ordering from ebgames.com. A sad, sad day.

[Lstorm34]

then whats the use of ordering online anymore. they will charge you sales tax on the item plus you pay for shipping(unless you use regular mail) and also they probably give you a game that was repackaged. i hope gamestop does not do this so i can take my business there.

[alongx]

I'm not sure why they weren't charging sales tax to begin with. Any website retailer which has physical locations that it also owns and operates (such as Best Buy or Circuit City) must pay sales tax on purchases from all states which the stores have physical locations at.

[daphatty]

I shot a quick, off the cuff email to EBGames.com. It goes as follows. It probably doesn't affect you if you don't live in DC...

***************************************

To whom it may concern,

I have noticed that EBGames.com recently began charging sales tax on purchases. I'm assuming this is in relation to the recent policy change that allows EBGames.com customers to exchange/return website purchases to your B&M chain stores. I feel it necessary to point out that EBGames/EBGames.com does not have a physical presence in the Washington, DC area and therefore is charging its DC customers taxes which are not due. Until this issue is resolved, I'm afraid that I will not be supporting your website and will discourage others from doing so. I intend to monitor the progress of this issue and hope that it can be resolved in a timely manner. Thank you for you time.

Sincerly,
Robert Hernandez

******************************************

[Scrubking]

Tax + Shipping + used game =

EB SUCKS!!

[madmofo]

Bah, I'm in Nevada, and I've had to pay sales tax on almost every online purchase I can remember, so even though it sucks to have to pay after so long, I can't say I'm feeling that sympathetic. Get used to it. The laws are starting to catch up to the internet, and soon enough, a sales tax free purchase may be a thing of the past. It's happened here, and what with all the state revenue problems, it's bound to spread like wildfire.

[dtcarson]

Agreed, unfortunately. The government has gotten such a sense of entitlement to taxes, that if something should come by that isn't taxes, they'll do their darndest to find a way to tax it. A lot of people are using phone-over-IP now [we tried it, and it didn't work for us, but it's still a cool concept] and one big benefit is that because it doesn't use the traditional telecom lines, it's not subject to the telecom fees and taxes [which, on my 14.xx local phone bill, totalled 9.xx a month]. So of course they're all worried, and the headlines say 'Government losing money to VoIP', like the money was theirs in the first place.

[The Game]

the government has been trying to get all websityes to charge tax for a while now but most have been able to avoid doing so. I guess they just caught up with EB.

[daphatty]

Looks like it's time to setup an online sales company in states that don't charge sales tax. One in Oregon, the other in Delaware. Let's see those greedy bastards tax our shit now! Who's with me?!

[Drizzt]

Wow, well I can safely say I'll never shop at ebgames.com again now. No use in paying more money to wait for the same thing. It's become easier for me to just walk to the local stores to get what I want. I'll probably also go to eBay now for PO old school games. Good thing I got off as many orders as I did before EB started this.

[master_evil]

Oh well, I guess Ebgames.com will lose my business now. The only reason of why I bought at Ebgames.com was because of no taxes to orders shipped to NYC, now taxes + shipping and waiting for a game like 3 days to come to my house ? No thankx I'd rather buy at the opposition, best buy, circuit city, target, etc. What's EBgames main business competitor. I want to know so that I can take my business there. I guess Ebgames.com will lose a small portion of buyers who wanted to avoid the taxes like me. How much will this affect ebgames.com now ? I think it will affect them in the long run.

[sononkyo]

yeah what is UP with this tax charging thing crap...seriously...

who cares about roads, public schools, local senior citizen services, and basic infrastructure! waaa waaa waaa, i want to save the 9% they take out of my game....waa waa waa waaa

[Dead of Knight]

EB's main competitor is GameStop, master_evil. And we don't do this instore pickup crap, but we DO allow you to view if any store has an item in-stock or not. Plus, there's no tax on the site yet.

[spidey]

GameStop.com does charge tax. NY and Texas.

That's why I shopped at EB and avoided GameStop.

Now that they both charge tax, I'll just go get all my games at B&M locations rather than online.

[CTLesq]

EB has always been walking a fine line with the whole sales tax thing, so it's no big surprise they finally had to start charging. For all you non-nerds, it has to with a principle of mult-state taxation called nexus. All it means is "substantial physical presence." Previously, the EB home office and warehouses were located in Ohio and Pennsylvania and by denying affiliation with the stores, they could get away with only charging tax in those states. Unfortunately, you've always been able to look up physical stores and print off rebates that worked on in-store purchases. Because of those reasons, they most likely were being pressured to collect sales tax in any state where they have stores that have sales tax. Hope that clears it up. It does suck though.

This is an incredibly impressive analysis of the situation. As someone who worked for a period of time in multi-state tax, I am impressed with this analysis.

Brillant. And I thought I was going to have to do all the work.

Unfortunately, charging tax on these purchases minimizes the value that one had in purchasing online and using many of the tips on this forum.

Good job.

CTL

[dracula]

well, that aff25 code is still pretty sweet.

If they come out with a 30% off code that would make it all better, sort of.actually, a 30% off code sounds downright criminal.

[gamefreak]

Does AFF25 work all the time? I've never really used EB before and it seems like the thing has always been up there...

[King Bahamut]

Yeah, us NYers get the shitty end when it comes to taxes :(. Not to mention, sales tax is now ~ 8% (I remember it being under 7% before...).

[Ivanhoe]

u get taxed when you get paid
and get taxed again when you spend that money.

damn taxes.

[Storamin]

How about I cut a deal with the government? They remove welfare, and I'll let them tax my EBGames.com purchases. Sounds fair to me, welfare is only a waste of society.

[CTLesq]

Yeah, us NYers get the shitty end when it comes to taxes :(. Not to mention, sales tax is now ~ 8% (I remember it being under 7% before...).

In NYC its 8.65% so it might as well be 9%.

It totally sucks. EBgames.com was one of the last "deals" I had at my disposal.

Its too bad.

CTL