Senate passes internet sales tax bill - will this impact where you buy gear someday?

[scubamarketing]

"If the artificial* 5-8% price advantage that online seller have over b&m shops goes away"

I buy online when the savings is considerably more than 5-8%. I don't mind paying a 5-8% premium for convenience and to support an actual local/small business (not like shopping at Trader Joes and thinking that's local). Plus I live in a no sales tax state anyway, so this will have zero impact on me. I would imagine there'll be a few more UPS stores popping up along our state borders so people can save a few bucks by having it shipped here and driving across the border to pick it up.

 

[redacted]

I have to wonder if this would turn out to be anothe3r nail in the USPS coffin? I find it to be just as much a matter of convenience as savings. Such a tax will decrease the savings but, with LDS prices being so high and selection so small, I doubt if it will help them much.

 

[Oldbear]

It will not change my spending habits...

• I try to buy locally whenever possible for small businesses. Most of the time I really do not mind spending a little extra to support small business; I like the personal touch. Not a big fan of large corporations.
  • Buy from a local garden shop vs. Home Depot or Lowes
  • Buy from my LDS vs. large on-line dive stores
  • Local book store vs. Amazon

• I try to only support large corporations (Best Buy or Walmart, etc.) only if there is not a comparable small business.

• If necessary, I will buy on-line. This usually happens when 1) the small business local store does not have what I am looking for; 2) there is not a small business available to support (very specialized items); 3) working overseas and on-line is the only option

 

[Svidas]

I love Amazon, but anytime a giant is in favor of a new tax I smell a rat. I would guess that they think their smaller competitors will have a harder time dealing with the new taxes. By the way, an Internet seller doesn't have to track 50 states, they need to track ALL taxing jurisdictions meaning any county or city that has a varying rate. Think a city with a new stadium and an increased sales tax to help finance it. The seller needs to keep on top of all of that. Let's just get our elected officials to spend less like we consumers must do.

 

[kelemvor]

Won't change things for me. If the difference was only the sales tax, I'd buy everything from an LDS. Often the difference in price on identical items is vastly greater than a mere 7%. As an example, I bought a nautilus lifeline from scuba.com about two months ago for over $100 less than the local shops had it. That's just list price vs list price without tax included.

Sometimes the opposite happens. I got a scubapro Galileo Luna at a local shop for about $100 less than I was able to find it for online. This is definitely the exception rather than the rule. It's also the result of a (somewhat shady IMO) price fixing rule that scubapro has with their dealers.

Besides, you already have shipping costs for online purchases that "level" the price playing field. If anything this gives locals a bigger advantage. In any event, I'm in favor of the change. Hopefully it will result in an increase in the number of other local stores opening (and staying open) outside of diving gear.

 

[elan]

The tax collection is based on the delivery address.

Technology wise it is not a nightmare at all. There are companies that provide online service which calculate exact amount of tax to be collted based on the shipping address and whether the shipping is taxable the customer i tax except etc. All soft that we were developing for US customers within last years had this already built in. So this is not really a huge change.

Even before the bill the online retailers had to collect the tax if the delivery adress is in the stye where the seller had presence.

Follow-up question: When doing business here in GA the sales tax is based on the % used in the county where the product is transferred to the end-user, not where the business is located. So if a customer calls from County A where the sales tax is 5% wanting us to deliver and install a product in their home we charge them a 5% sales tax rather the 7% sales tax of the county where the business is located. How is this Internet Sales Tax going to work? Is the tax collected and kept by the State where the business is located or where the customer is located? If it's customer based this will be an absolute nightmare for internet companies.

Of course Big Company X could break up into smaller companies to stay below the revenue threshold.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Wow, so many people want all these government services from fire, police, libraries, safe buildings and homes, clean drinking water, nice parks and recreation facilities, but someone else needs to pay for it.

Easy civics lesson (that no one will do); research the percentage of your city/county budget that is based SOLELY on sales tax income.

More and more cities are doing "Shop (insert city) and save jobs" campaigns to save municipal jobs and not have to cut back on services.

 

[nimoh]

Wow, so many people want all these government services from fire, police, libraries, safe buildings and homes, clean drinking water, nice parks and recreation facilities, but someone else needs to pay for it.

Easy civics lesson (that no one will do); research the percentage of your city/county budget that is based SOLELY on sales tax income.

More and more cities are doing "Shop (insert city) and save jobs" campaigns to save municipal jobs and not have to cut back on services.

I think the point is that government needs to stop treating tax money as an endless pit and start using what they have more efficiently.

 

[CT Sean]

Probably not. My main reasons for shopping online are selection and quick delivery.

Another +1

The lack of sales tax online has never been a factor in my purchases - though a nice perk. If I had the choice of buying for 100.00 online or 100.00 at a local store, I'll usually just go to the store.

 

[drbill]

I'm one of those crazy guys who actually pays the "use tax" (sales tax not collected by retailer) on my annual income tax filing.