Hey All,
I placed an order with Gamestop.com today and noticed something that irks me. Wondering if you all get the same results. I ordered a $19.99 game and the totals came out like this:
Subtotal - $19.99
Handling - $2.99
Tax - $1.38
-----------------
Total - $24.36
I'm in Maryland. Sales tax here is 6%. You'll notice that, to get to $1.38 tax, Gamestop is actually collecting tax on the handling charge [(19.99+2.99)*.06 = 1.38].
I know, from past experience at my job, that Maryland law allows for tax to be charged on any "handling" fees, while tax is NOT charged on any "shipping" fees. It's all semantics. Basically, because Gamestop.com chooses to call it's fee a "handling" fee instead of a "shipping" fee, they get to charge their customers additional tax.
It's a silly law, but it's even sillier for Gamestop to charge its customers more than they have to. If they'd just change what they call the fee, they could save us money. Not a lot, sure, but collectively the 20 cents here and 60 cents there are gonna add up.
What I can't tell is whether the fee or the way they calculate tax changes based on residence. As I said, I'm in MD. Anyone else have an order on Gamestop.com they can check? Do the math, see if they're charging tax on their shipping fees, and see what they call the shipping fees.
Very curious as to why Gamestop would collect more tax than necessary from their customers. Thanks in advance for contributing to my little investigation.
-M
I placed an order with Gamestop.com today and noticed something that irks me. Wondering if you all get the same results. I ordered a $19.99 game and the totals came out like this:
Subtotal - $19.99
Handling - $2.99
Tax - $1.38
-----------------
Total - $24.36
I'm in Maryland. Sales tax here is 6%. You'll notice that, to get to $1.38 tax, Gamestop is actually collecting tax on the handling charge [(19.99+2.99)*.06 = 1.38].
I know, from past experience at my job, that Maryland law allows for tax to be charged on any "handling" fees, while tax is NOT charged on any "shipping" fees. It's all semantics. Basically, because Gamestop.com chooses to call it's fee a "handling" fee instead of a "shipping" fee, they get to charge their customers additional tax.
It's a silly law, but it's even sillier for Gamestop to charge its customers more than they have to. If they'd just change what they call the fee, they could save us money. Not a lot, sure, but collectively the 20 cents here and 60 cents there are gonna add up.
What I can't tell is whether the fee or the way they calculate tax changes based on residence. As I said, I'm in MD. Anyone else have an order on Gamestop.com they can check? Do the math, see if they're charging tax on their shipping fees, and see what they call the shipping fees.
Very curious as to why Gamestop would collect more tax than necessary from their customers. Thanks in advance for contributing to my little investigation.
-M