GameStop.com now collecting sales tax on all orders

bullet time

bullet time

CAGiversary!
Don't know if this has been mentioned already, but I logged on to my GameStop account this morning to check the status of my order and discovered sales tax had been applied. Previously, I was never charged sales tax, and just yesterday my order total displayed without it. The sales tax policy has been updated on their site to reflect the change. Just a quick heads up.
 
Reality's Fringe said:
So you return instore? If not, I don't know how they're charging sales tax.
Click to expand...

They wouldn't necessarily need to allow B&M returns to collect sales tax. A .com could collect sales tax from any state they sell to, I mean you are supposed to pay the tax on your own if the vendor doesn't collect it for you. (Just nobody does.)

According to their site they are still not allowing in store returns...
http://www.gamestop.com/gs/help/returnpolicy2.asp
 
Well that totally sucks. It was bad when EBgames.com started to charge sales tax for everyone but now Gamestop.com too. It could be because of the merger. The only large game seller who still doesn't charge sales tax is Amazon. Although they do via the Toys R Us side.

Amazon.com LLC: KS, KY, ND and WA
Toysrus.com, LLC: All states other than AK, DC, DE, MT, NH, OR, and WY
 
Not sure why this is surprising... online stores are supposed to charge sales tax where they have a B&M presence. And GameStops are certainly just about everywhere.
 
I'm not surprised- considering the lost revenue from online shopping, I'm sure every state government around is pressuring online shops to charge sales tax.

At least the prices are still cheaper, though...
 
[quote name='botticus']Not sure why this is surprising... online stores are supposed to charge sales tax where they have a B&M presence. And GameStops are certainly just about everywhere.[/QUOTE]

I thought that online and B&M are considered seperate entities unless the website is in relation to the store. Like EB only charged tax in PA and NV because they had warehouses and headquarters in those states since the website was seperate from the store but once they incorporated in store pickup through the website, that was when they started charging tax.
 
[quote name='YoshiFan1']I thought that online and B&M are considered seperate entities unless the website is in relation to the store. Like EB only charged tax in PA and NV because they had warehouses and headquarters in those states since the website was seperate from the store but once they incorporated in store pickup through the website, that was when they started charging tax.[/QUOTE]
That may be true, and therefore its a result of EB and GS merging, but GameStop.com, Inc is a subsidiary of GameStop, Inc, so I'm not sure if that qualifies them as not related to B&M by the letter of the law.

New tax laws are popping up every year as well. Hell, my company (human resources consulting services/products) is instituting sales tax starting this month due to new tax laws requiring us to do so for purchases made by companies in our state. We even have to plan for instituting sales tax in states where we have regional sales people situated.
 
Gamestop.com charges sales tax now to all states? Well they pretty much just lost my business. (Though I suppose a super deal or rare game could still show up from time to time)
 
Ha ha I feel like all these non-NY people are spoiled. :D Us yawkers have to just grit our teeth and accept online sales tax as an unfortunate reality, 99% of the time. But then every once in a while something like DDD comes along... then it's Indiana's turn to get screwed.
 
That sucks. Their free shipping and no sales tax were always awesome if I wanted to get something new. I was about to get the GB Micro Famicom from there. Now that's out. I totally need to move back to Oregon.
 
I guess al we can say was that this was probably an inevitability. What can we do? At least there is still DDD.
 
They are COLLECTING sales taxes, on behalf of your state. They are not "CHARGING" sales taxes. GS, EB, TRU, Amazon, makes nothing off of sales taxes [I think they actually are credited a very small percentage to cover compliance costs, which in today's computerized world should be negligible]. Tru-via-Amazon collects tax, because you're actually buying from TRU, using Amazon's interface.

The basic concept is that if a company 'does business' in a state, they have to collect sales tax for that state. E-stores that have B&M in a state obviously 'do business' in that state. EBGames and EBGames.com used to be two separate operating companies, but combined under one brand, which is why they now have to collect sales tax. Places like Gamefly and Netflix and Blockbuster Online have been deemed to have a 'presence' in most states because they send and receive products to/from that state. To avoid running afoul of the Byzantine mass of tax laws, many etailers collect tax if there's any question at all.
And most states' tax forms now have an 'Estimated online purchases' field on them so they can make some money off the money flowing out of their state.

Bottom line, if you are disappointed at an e-tailers collecting of tax, don't get mad at them, get mad at your state and let your politicians know.

The more important issue is how politicians of all parties and at all levels think *they* have more of a right to your money than *you* do, that they will spend it 'better', and see people buying stuff online and not paying sales tax as a personal affront, and try to get their cut of that money, rather than saying, "hey, you know what, we are already taking 50% of everybody's money". Was it Bloomberg/NYC who was going to start arresting people for buying cigarettes online, when the citizens decided 6 bucks in taxes per pack was a little high?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top