There are sellers who collect sales tax even though they are not licensed by the state they are collecting sales tax for. This is unethical and illegal. I just had this experience with a seller. They said I had to pay the sales tax. I contacted our Dept.Of Revenuue, Sales Tax Division and found that this seller was not authorized to collect sales tax for our state and another neighbor state I contacted. I was told by the sales tax agent that this was a felony being commited according to our state laws.

A seller can ONLY collect sales tax for a internet sale if the following conditions (ALL) exist. 1. They must be registered with your states sales tax department and be issued a sales tax number. 2.They can only collect tax for the actual item and not for any shipping or handling as per our states rules. (per your states laws)3 They must have NEXUS (a physical location) within your state where they do sell items at a retail location. (per your states laws) 4. They MUST show that sales tax license or number in an open space of the auction page where it can be seen without any trouble.(per your states laws) 5 If they say they are collecting the sales tax for a third party, that they are just representing the seller, they still need to be a registered business with the sales tax division.(per your states laws) In some states it is even illegal to do the collection for another party. Check with your state to be sure.

Finally, when I contacted eBay by phone, I was told that what had been done was illegal by eBay rules. They sent  an invoice for the amount stated (item+s/h) through the eBay invoice system and then thay sent another request for the sales tax collection through a direct email to us, not through eBay.  Ebay rules are strict as they do not allow for add on charges not on the invoice. The invoice you receive from eBay is the total amount to be paid unless, 1. you made an agreement with the seller for the change, or  2. you added more items from the seller so that an additional amount is to be paid. Other things may also apply.

DO NOT let them bully you into any payment you did not agree to or that you suspect, with checking, that charge to be illegal. Our eBay is a great community but there are some people on it that are not as trustworth as the rest of the loyal eBay members. Keep eBay a safe place! It is up to all members to do so and when they see a violation of ebay rules or something you are not sure of, you should contact eBay CS for guidence.