Ebay and PayPal

choppero said:

My Magpul trigger guard was 79.00 or so and Paypal pulled another 3.95 from account. It sucks but I will no longer use eBay.

Click to expand...

Ebay now charges state sales tax across the board. This shows up as a separate charge.

That's odd. I can and do buy accessories from Cabelas and BassPro with paypal, they just separate out any ammo or complete firearm purchases. Numrich and Sportsmans Guide both sell through ebay stores as well and never had an issue using paypal for springs, stocks, or other parts. Optics Planet takes them, too.

As for sales tax, that is the law in most states and honestly if you are an online retailer of any size it's best to follow the law instead of risking an expensive suit. Most states also require you to declare any big ticket items you may have purchased online or out-of-state to pay your sales taxes. The fact many people ignore those laws doesn't make them disappear.

Its been about ten years since I have used either Ebay or PayPal for the reasons I see posted above. I could care less for either company.

illinoisburt said:

As for sales tax, that is the law in most states and honestly if you are an online retailer of any size it's best to follow the law instead of risking an expensive suit.

Click to expand...

According to my recent experience, Midway USA charges Virginia sales tax but Brownells doesn't. On the other hand, Midway's prices are usually a little better than Brownells. These are direct competitors in many respects. It pays to comparison shop.

I’ve seen all of this on this forum before. I’ve had a PayPal account since its inception and have never had a problem with them. Quite the reverse, on two occasions had problem with the seller, PayPal sorted it.
I do a fair amount of media buying and always select PayPal if available. It circles back to a CC anyway and I like the one touch feature.

For private sales it’s instant. No trips to the bank or post office for money orders. 21st century.

As an additional comment , I have more problems with “shipping and handling” costs. Seems to be a major source of additional income for the seller.

I'm a heavy EBay user for small stuff. Lots of gun parts, knives, bayonets, bullet molds, as well as anything that isn't locally available. I don't have a problem with paying the taxes but sometimes the shipping is ridiculous.

I am a seller on Ebay. I sell gun parts. I've been selling for well over 10 years.
I've used Pay Pal the entire time.
After Sandy Hook, Ebay/Pay Pal knee jerked and stopped gun related sales.
They jumped on the Obama band wagon.
They banned any gun related items except grips.
They forbid pictures of actual firearms in any ad. Grips had to be shown on those blue guns if you wanted to show them mounted.

All of us sellers moved, en masse, to Gunbroker. Gunbroker's sales skyrocketed. Ebay lost millions of dollars. Tens of millions.
It took 2 or 3 years but Ebay "decided" that selling parts wasn't such a bad thing. However, they limited it to certain parts
and forbid others. They forbid mags that hold more than 10 rounds. They forbid bad things like sears and disconnectors since they can be
used to convert a gun to full auto. Even if they can't be converted, they forbid them. No sears. No disconnectors. Period.

They forbid certain items from the bad, evil rifles. Most anything AR related is a no-no.
Assault weapons are a bad word. If it's for an assault weapon, Ebay wants no part of it.
After all, the snowflakes who do shop there can't see anything assault weapon related.

e.g. About 1 month ago, Ebay suddenly closed my auctions for Hi Point mags. I did a decent job selling them on Ebay.
They sent me an email stating that they violated their policy of selling assault weapon mags.
I called them and told them that they were 8 round mags, as stated in the ad, and they were for a pistol. All Ebay legal.
They said that they were also used in an assault weapon and have been banned. They were new to the list of
banned items. I stated that they were pistol mags, not assault weapon mags, but they said that they also fit in the Hi Point
assault weapon as well. Hi Point assault weapon? seriously? Yes, I guess their carbine attachment made them an assault weapon.
Case closed. No recourse.

So, I kept thinking about all of the Glock 9mm mags they allow to be sold. Hundreds of ads. Because I was pizzed, I wanted
to ask them why they allow Glock 9mm mags to be sold but not Hi Point mags. I wanted to show them how dumb they
were because they build ARs in 9mm specifically to accept Glock 9mm mags of any size. I just kept my mouth shut. By telling
Ebay about the Glock mag ARs, they would lose a lot of income. However, I'd be screwing fellow gun part sellers. I
didn't want to ruin it for my brothers. I'm sure Ebay will figure it out some day.

Point? I'm guessing something you sell violates their policy some how. It's as simple as that. Ebay has given me 20x the business
Gunbroker did. I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face. They have their rules. Their auction site. Their rules. Just like
any place we deal with every day.

hmmmmmm....about the only time I use PayPal IS to buy gun-related items. So they're not very good at what they say they oppose; or, more likely, its just a posturing statement which they don't care to act on because green is king.

Wayfair v. South Dakota last year overruled the previous decision of the Supreme Court that prohibited states from requiring all online sellers collect sales tax for their residents. Small sellers are in a gray area regarding state laws and I would have to look if the SC decision covered ordinary mail order through catalog type sales which was the original decision. The old doctrine indicated that a physical presence was needed in a state before a state could require sales tax from being collected by the online seller.

larryh1108 said:

They forbid mags that hold more than 10 rounds.

Click to expand...

What this really means is that the description must say that the magazine holds not more than 10 rounds. An astute buyer can see that the picture is of a magazine with larger capacity. The people that enforce ebay's gun policy are obviously not experts in guns. Therefore, both sellers and buyers can easily game the system.

I bought this model 29 on EBay when EBay first started, no sales tax

Got a couple of Taurus .357 mag snubbies as well.

Note: 8 rounders are to short for the long grip of the carbine.

AlexanderA said:

What this really means is that the description must say that the magazine holds not more than 10 rounds. An astute buyer can see that the picture is of a magazine with larger capacity. The people that enforce ebay's gun policy are obviously not experts in guns. Therefore, both sellers and buyers can easily game the system.

Click to expand...

Exactly right, AA. That happens a lot from what I see. My only fear for doing that is selling a mag to someone in Kommie Territory. Some poor sucker may believe the ad by buying a mag he thinks is 10 rounds and gets that 13 round mag in the mail. Now he's a potential felon. That is so wrong on so many fronts but the seller should be held liable if something did happen to the buyer. Not worth it to sell a $25 mag, if you ask me, but it happens every day.

choppero said:

Am I the only one to see that PayPal can and will freeze your account and hold any money at any time they choose. I appose any discrimination based on my support of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United Stats of America. If every gun owner closed their PayPal account before it is closed for them, the message would be clear. WE HAVE FINANCIAL POWER. There are other was to buy your goods. Don't let the liberals win this one!

Click to expand...

A very noble post. However, you have to be more specific. Are you saying you don't use any bank, credit card or retailer that is not 2A friendly? Really? Do you live off the grid or do you choose to ban some companies that you have little use for but use others that you have a need for? Who holds your mortgage? Is it one of "those" banks that suppresses your 2A rights? You know who they are. If they are anti 2A did you go out and refinance to a gun friendly lender? Can't find one? Then I guess you have to sell your house and go underground otherwise your vitriol is nothing more than lip service.
Do you go to any restaurant that is anti 2A? Grocery story? Retailer? Do you only go if you "have to" but otherwise you find better sources? You can't say it's ok to spend your money here because it's the only game in town but you'll be damned to give those other folks a dime of your money because they are anti 2A but you don't need their service? Yeah, go off the grid if you really mean what you say.

I've used Pay Pal for 20 years, selling gun parts.
I've never had my account frozen, seized or closed.
I guess I must abide by the rules.
Go figure.

larryh1108 said:

e.g. About 1 month ago, Ebay suddenly closed my auctions for Hi Point mags. I did a decent job selling them on Ebay.
They sent me an email stating that they violated their policy of selling assault weapon mags.
I called them and told them that they were 8 round mags, as stated in the ad, and they were for a pistol. All Ebay legal.
They said that they were also used in an assault weapon and have been banned. They were new to the list of
banned items. I stated that they were pistol mags, not assault weapon mags, but they said that they also fit in the Hi Point
assault weapon as well. Hi Point assault weapon? seriously? Yes, I guess their carbine attachment made them an assault weapon.
Case closed. No recourse.

Click to expand...

First off, I've bought both MecGar mags and Glock mags from ebay. weird.
Second, at one point we had a 9mm Hi Point pistol and carbine both. I remember checking and in the ones that we had he mags were not interchangeable. I thought that was rather strange.

So, I kept thinking about all of the Glock 9mm mags they allow to be sold. Hundreds of ads. Because I was pizzled, I wanted
to ask them why they allow Glock 9mm mags to be sold but not Hi Point mags. I wanted to show them how dumb they
were because they build ARs in 9mm specifically to accept Glock 9mm mags of any size. I just kept my mouth shut. By telling
Ebay about the Glock mag ARs, they would lose a lot of income. However, I'd be screwing fellow gun part sellers. I
didn't want to ruin it for my brothers. I'm sure Ebay will figure it out some day.

Click to expand...

It's best to let the sleeping dog lie there in the sun. Much wiser than poking it with a stick.

Point? I'm guessing something you sell violates their policy some how. It's as simple as that. Ebay has given me 20x the business
Gunbroker did. I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face. They have their rules. Their auction site. Their rules. Just like
any place we deal with every day.

Click to expand...

Very arbitrary rules. Clearly not written by anyone with a knowledge of firearms.
Our company's website used to show all inventory in all stores until paypal had a hissy and we had to have the IT dept actually create another website with just the non-firearms and related gear on it and then another URL with everything.

Old Adage: You pay your money you take your choice. Don’t use PayPal, don’t buy on EBay, turn of or switch channels on the tv if the program offends. In short your American you got choices, exercise that freedom. And above get involved, vote and move on. Just my opinion.

EBAY and PayPal are garbage... I am not defending them. They are the very last place I will go when I am looking for something. It was about a year ago that I purchased a .44 magnum barrel for my Desert Eagle L5 through EBAY and I paid for it with PayPal... no problems. They must have changed their policy since then. Yes, it seems very ironic that they will list gun related items but close your PayPal account for purchasing a gun related item.

They are both VERY SUCKY companies and I avoid them as much as possible but unfortunately there are items that are only available on EBAY that can not be readily found else where... a crank handle and shaft for my 60's vintage Powermatic 71 12" table saw was a purchase I made recently.

MikeInOr said:

EBAY and PayPal are garbage... I am not defending them. They are the very last place I will go when I am looking for something. It was about a year ago that I purchased a .44 magnum barrel for my Desert Eagle L5 through EBAY and I paid for it with PayPal... no problems. They must have changed their policy since then. Yes, it seems very ironic that they will list gun related items but close your PayPal account for purchasing a gun related item.

They are both VERY SUCKY companies and I avoid them as much as possible but unfortunately there are items that are only available on EBAY that can not be readily found else where... a crank handle and shaft for my 60's vintage Powermatic 71 12" table saw was a purchase I made recently.

Click to expand...

I’m thinking that’s one of them “damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situations.

Say what you will about eBay & PayPal, but it is really hard to argue against getting a Sabian HH Raw Bell dry ride cymbal for $130 including shipping. Street price brand new is $460!