What happens when Amazon starts charging tax

[Jackburton]

Georgia to find out Sept 1st. Hopefully it makes it less efficient for Lasership and the like if we do suffer any volume loss
Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Georgia on Sept. 1 | www.ajc.com

 

[Babagounj]

Amazon has made different deals with many states to collect sales taxes , bottom line is that they will have a physical location within that state .
It is part of their plan to offer same day delv. .
I for one will welcome them , can't wait to see all their screw ups .
I'm already seeing people returning their parcels in our drop boxes , lol .

 

[brownmonster]

It will add 4 to 8 percent to the cost. Big deal.

 

[scratch]

I opened and then cancelled an Amazon account recently. I wasn't impressed with the prices, you can do better elsewhere. The few things I bought were full price, if I have to pay sales tax now I might as well go to the store and not pay shipping.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

It will add 4 to 8 percent to the cost. Big deal.

I buy a lot from amazon. I have chosen to purchase from amazon to save money on taxes multiple times. I bought a tv for $800 off of amazon(delivered by UPS with free supersaver shipping), that was listed at $779 at best buy. Sales tax here is almost 10%, so with free shipping, Amazon was still over 50 bucks cheaper..... Ya, I'm a cheap bastard, I make 10 bucks an hour what can I say.

When amazon purchases are taxed here next year, I might find myself buying locally more. In other words, that TV that was delivered by UPS will instead be brought home in my back seat. Not saying it will have a widespread impact, just a small example.

 

[FilingBluesFL]

Amazon USED to sell this safe, for about $2500... and offered FREE Super Saver Shipping.

Never got my hands on one before it disappeared... but the fact that they were cheaper, and offered FREE shipping, you could buy two for the price of one being sold in stores.

Commander Series 54 | Cannon Safe

 

[Brownslave688]

It's more not having to go to the store for most people. Take Xmas for example. I could spend a whole weekend shopping jumping from store to store for everyone's gifts. Or I could spend half an hour online and have it all shipped to my house. I would pay MORE for that. The fact it's often cheaper is just icing on the cake.

Online shopping is simply a way of life for anyone under 30 maybe 40. This will change nothing.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

It's more not having to go to the store for most people. Take Xmas for example. I could spend a whole weekend shopping jumping from store to store for everyone's gifts. Or I could spend half an hour online and have it all shipped to my house. I would pay MORE for that. The fact it's often cheaper is just icing on the cake.

Online shopping is simply a way of life for anyone under 30 maybe 40. This will change nothing.

Maybe you're right, I'm not so sure though. I'm under 30, and I choose by price, not convenience. I will gladly wait days for an online purchase to arrive. I will also gladly go to the store over an online purchase. I always choose the cheaper price.

You might be right when you say it will change nothing though. My guess is the online tax laws will simply drive online prices even lower in order to continue to out price traditional brick and mortar stores.

Low online prices are not tied to taxes, but rather the lower expenses of not having to have an actual store and workforce.

 

[Box Ox]

In my experience, Amazon's before-tax prices on its products tend to be more than 6-8% less expensive than its retail competitors. And I don't have to spend any extra on gas or time to have my driver deliver them. And I don't think Amazon has to worry about being undercut by brick and mortar retailers who have to pay for stores and salespeople. And Amazon will no longer hesitate to open warehouses in states where they now have to pay tax anyway. Amazon wins under the current system.

 

[Jackburton]

It will add 4 to 8 percent to the cost. Big deal.

7% here in Georgia. As someone else said, when you purchase high dollar items or large quantities of items, tax is a factor.

Take Costco for example, their max markup is 14% on any item and you pay a membership fee just to have the right to shop there. Don't say if they increased their markup by 7% on everything over night it wouldn't have an effect on their buisness and membership model.

Amazon's margins are already razor thin, they receive none of this 7% increase in price. Several websites will price match Amazon's, one of which is Newegg. I'd also like to throw out there to any fellow Amazon members, if you buy it from one of the other third party retailers in the "other buying choices" list, I believe you will not be charged tax, but will loose the prime free shipping part.

 

[BSWALKS]

Amazon USED to sell this safe, for about $2500... and offered FREE Super Saver Shipping.

Never got my hands on one before it disappeared... but the fact that they were cheaper, and offered FREE shipping, you could buy two for the price of one being sold in stores.

Commander Series 54 | Cannon Safe

Love to have one of those!

Free shipping- they'd probably try to ship it with us & print the weight as 150

 

[Integrity]

Georgia to find out Sept 1st. Hopefully it makes it less efficient for Lasership and the like if we do suffer any volume loss
Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Georgia on Sept. 1 | Atlanta News, Sports, Atlanta Weather, Business News | www.ajc.com

This really should have very little effect.

It really just shifts the burden of collection to amazon.

Non-taxed on-line purchases are already supposed to be declared and taxed appropriately during the filing of the state tax return in most states I believe.

Most individuals are probably evading these taxes it and is probably easier on the states to get the companies to collect the tax for them.

Sincerely,
I

 

[FilingBluesFL]

Love to have one of those!

Free shipping- they'd probably try to ship it with us & print the weight as 150

Sadly that safe disappeared after the end of last year.

I think when this place ran their story, they had a HUGE spike in sales, and I'm sure it affected their black ink quite a bit lol
The Heaviest Thing Amazon Will Ship for Free Weighs Nearly a Ton - Adam Clark Estes - The Atlantic Wire

 

[TheFigurehead]

I bought a tv for $800 off of amazon(delivered by UPS with free supersaver shipping)

I would trust UPS to ship most things... a flatscreen tv would not be one of them. For whatever reason, the televisions are never packaged, just sent in the boxes they sit in in the warehouse. I realize that there is alot of styrofoam in that box, but there are also alot of hazards between the warehouse and your house. If you bought it locally, chances are it arrived at Best Buy (or wherever) on a shrink wrapped pallet on a Best Buy Truck. If you have it shipped, it goes on one or more of our trucks... and, well... you work there... you know how loading, unloading, and sorting goes... that's alot of being tossed around. Even if it's in working order when it arrives, I would be relatively sure that it's lifespan has been, in some way, shortened. Televisions were never meant to withstand that sort of abuse.

On the other hand... we ship alot of them... so it must not be a huge issue. Nonetheless, I'll buy local. The buy online, pickup in the store option is nice... it won't save you sales tax, though.

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

I would trust UPS to ship most things... a flatscreen tv would not be one of them. For whatever reason, the televisions are never packaged, just sent in the boxes they sit in in the warehouse. I realize that there is alot of styrofoam in that box, but there are also alot of hazards between the warehouse and your house. If you bought it locally, chances are it arrived at Best Buy (or wherever) on a shrink wrapped pallet on a Best Buy Truck. If you have it shipped, it goes on one or more of our trucks... and, well... you work there... you know how loading, unloading, and sorting goes... that's alot of being tossed around. Even if it's in working order when it arrives, I would be relatively sure that it's lifespan has been, in some way, shortened. Televisions were never meant to withstand that sort of abuse.

On the other hand... we ship alot of them... so it must not be a huge issue. Nonetheless, I'll buy local. The buy online, pickup in the store option is nice... it won't save you sales tax, though.

I do know how bad tv's are treated, I'm as guilty as anyone else for not exactly being kind to the boxes. I was a little concerned karma would come back to bite me in the ass, but I took the gamble. I've had the tv for 2 years no problem. I doubt the life of the tv was shortened, they don't exactly have tubes and bulbs in there nowadays. I've repaired lcd's with blown capacitors, and I can tell you they really are more durable on the inside than you would expect. The boards and screen are all in metal boxes, anchored to the frame with rubber bumpers between them.

A lot of people buy things off of amazon, knowing that it is a gamble. Whether it arrives broken or not as it was described, amazon's return policy is pretty straight forward. The lower price almost always gets me to take the risk.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

Here in PA they collect taxes. It has changed nothing. Even small-time shippers often charge taxes. Only EBay doesn't.

 

[104Feeder]

Here, you're paying about 5.5% tax vs. 7.8-8.9% tax so it's still worth it especially with the Prime membership free 2 day shipping & movies. I still get annoyed when it doesn't come UPS, but I'm not seeing FDXG or OnTrac nearly as often as before when they weren't collecting tax.

 

[laffter]

I don't know what some of you are talking about when you say things may only be slightly cheaper on amazon compared to a retail store. Go look at computer parts. What's the retail option for computer parts these days? Best Buy- that's pretty much it. Their prices tend to be ridiculously high.

There are so many "specialty" items Amazon sells that are grossly overpriced at retail stores. I don't think adding a sales tax to that is going to change anything. If computer parts aren't your thing, think about "survival" type items. Good quality pocket knives/flashlights, water desalination systems. Only someone on a driver's pay can actually go to Bass Pro and pay retail for that crap.

 

[Babagounj]

Amazon is building warehouses to offer same day delv. to compete against Best Buy .

 

[Jackburton]

Amazon is building warehouses to offer same day delv. to compete against Best Buy .

Funny thing is doing that will force them to increase their prices, coming in line with Walmart and Costco. So again, the benifit for subbing to prime will be greatly reduced. I don't go to amazon for the instant delivery, I go there for selection and price. Take away the price difference between Walmart/Costco, I'll just go there and have it in hand for the same price.