Sold something on eBay the other day

[customerserviceguy]

2. I don't sell much on eBay

but if the buyer and the seller are in the same state, sales tax (if applicable) will be added to the purchase price by eBay, and the seller will be responsible for remitting them to the appropriate state tax authorities.

I'd do one of two things, either have your auction listing state that, "If you are the successful bidder, and your mailing address is in (name of state) then eBay will add sales tax to this purchase", or if the amount was not significant, I'd eat the sales tax, especially if that would bring me more money than selling to the next highest bidder. Your call.

At some point, we will surely have a system that collects taxes for every state with a sales tax, and automatically remits it to state tax authorities. A lot of commerce has shifted from brick-and-mortar to online transactions, and that's a lot of tax money being lost.