"Ebay, Etsy, Gov't on-line selling regulations?" Topic

Sooooo….
Long-time eBay seller, 22 years to be exact.

Had a bit of a hiatus selling, was too busy [wasn't gaming much either]. Just started selling again, and after a few weeks my ability to list and – most importantly – my payouts were put on hold to the tune of about $160. USD

eBay says I can't have my $160 USD unless I upload images of my passport, drivers license, or other such document.

My concern is that nothing is secure, and with my date of birth and SSN when the eBay data breach happens [and it will] people can start getting mortgages in my name.

eBay customer service was very nice, the guy says that they are being forced to do this for tax purposes by the US government, and it is happening with ALL on-line sellers all over the world.

So in my mind, if I sell on Etsy, I'd have to do the same thing.

Can anyone clarify if this is in fact the case, and / or point me to better information before I go thru the trouble to sign up with Etsy only to have them demand my drivers license, DOB and SSN? Or I shut down my eBay account?

Does TMP demand the same thing? Or TMP doesn't have to because they are just a platform for people to work their own deals like Bartertown?

Much appreciate the info!

I started selling on ebay again after a break. I couldn't post anything until I jumped through their hoops.

I don't have any idea what Etsy requires.

TMP just requires supporting membership.

It sounds fishy to me! I would not give out my PP or any other I.D. on line; that is a recipe for I.D. theft.

@IronDuke596

Sure, except that I can see where eBay is acting like a bank and the bank requires ID to open an account, including SSN, photo ID, etc.

The eBay customer service said it is a gov't requirement for them to collect taxes, which sounds very plausible!

That doesn't mean I will do it, however. There are other places to sell.

Found this on ETSY, so looks like it is going to be required of all the transactions on a platform where someone could possibly be running a store and making a profit, as opposed to a forum where the platform is just hooking people up like TMP and Fb. Open to correction, of course.

****************** from ETSY:

US sellers, be sure your taxpayer details are up to date in your shop. Learn how to update your taxpayer details.

Etsy is required to issue a 1099-K form to you and the IRS if your shop reaches $20,000 USD USD in sales or more than 200 transactions during the calendar year.

The IRS has delayed the new $600 USD 1099-K reporting threshold for one year. The federal threshold of $20,000 USD in sales and more than 200 transactions will remain in effect for 2022 taxes. 9 states have lower thresholds for receiving a 1099-K. You'll receive a Form 1099-K from Etsy if you met either the federal threshold or a threshold for your state in 2022.

If you don't have a valid Social Security Number, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or Employer Identification Number on file with your Etsy shop, Etsy will alert you via email and in your Shop Manager as you approach the IRS sales threshold. Once your sales reach $500 USD during the calendar year, you must update your taxpayer details.

If you don't have valid taxpayer details on file and exceed $500 USD in sales, your shop will be suspended until you add these details. Your taxpayer ID on file ensures we can give you and the IRS your 1099-K form as required by US law.

Learn how to update your taxpayer information.

I sold surplus hobby stuff on EBayUK for about 15 years. I then took a break, although still regularly buying stuff. I recently had a few figures that were surplus, so put them on the site. I was really hacked off that my payment was held up, even though I had used tracked delivery, the buyer had left positive feedback etc. It took several weeks to get my money; I was not asked for passport or driving licence details and would certainly not have shared them with EBay and would not use the site if that became a requirement. Ebay already have my bank account details, as that is how they make payments, so why should they need further information?

If you haven't bought anything off ebay lately, you also pay sales tax on whatever you are buying.

It's been that way for years but that is because eBay is considered to have a "business nexus" in every state. So, as long as your state charges sales tax, you will pay it.

What is utter BS is that you also pay sales tax on whatever shipping the seller charges. While this is required by some states, it is not by others. Yet eBay automatically does it. I mention this to people when I sell at shows and it is amazing how few buyers notice it. And then to add insult to injury, they base the seller fee off of the selling price + shipping charge +tax!

Thus far, I am not required to produce government ID to sell at convention flea markets. With a little luck, I'll be out of the game by this winter.

But yes, everywhere the requirement for "papers" has intensified, and it's a lot easier to scoop up nickels and dimes from eBay and etsy dealers than it is to get anything from billionaires with lawyers, lobbyists and accountants on the payroll.

This is the new order of things, within the USA. Federal government is upping all of their small tax enforcement (the middle- to lower-income tax base are the largest, by leaps and bounds; they can scoop up more revenue from the middle- to lower-classes than they can get from the much smaller numbers of the upper class -- not being political, just the facts, Ma'am, just the numbers played in their game of taxing the populous to get the most revenue).

Everyone needs ID theft insurance. It is far easier for them to recover your ID, and stop the theft, than it will ever be for you, as an individual. It is actually inexpensive insurance, for what you get. You hope you never need to collect on their services, but…

Had a co-worker who had his ID stolen, around 20 years ago. Took him, and his wife, almost two years to resolve the issues. Let the insurance company do that for you. They're professionals, and you, likely, are not. Cheers!

YEs, Sgt Slag. After all, the IRS has to keep those 87,000 new tax agents busy.

Gotta get that tax money from all you billionaires that aren't paying your fair share!

Please stop with the "87,000 new IRS agents" This has been thoroughly debunked. The only reason to mention it is pure politics.

link

Didn't you guys used to be the ‘land of the free'…?

@ Cerdic
yes, but we were also "the land of the brave" and today only about 1% serve, and – according to my recruiter pals – over 90% of people are ineligble for military service.

Remember, only about 1/3 even supported the revolution, much less fought in it. Read "Private Yankee Doodle" for some interesting corrections to many suppositions.

Overall, the way things are going, we may as well have stayed in the Commonwealth… slavery would have ended in 1792 or so, and that may remove one lever the socialists like to keep pulling!

OK, so the bottom line is that all platforms that involve the platform being a handler of money are going to require a 1099 for "sales" over $600. USD That includes Etsy, and Paypal is along the same lines as far as I can tell.

So be warned!

What happened to me is that I didn't read the eBay privacy notice updates [who the hell does!?] and the new $600 USD limit crept up on me. Soooo….

When my sales for 2023 hit $576 USD *approaching* but not exceeding the $600 USD limit – Ebay put a hold on $150 USD or so of my money and demanded I upload my drivers license or passport to them.

I screwed eBay by canceling a whole bunch of sales I had made but not shipped, emailed the buyers and explained the situation, and so far all but one have bought the items from me directly [one actually added to his order by 5 fold]. Furthermore, I cancelled auctions that had successful bids but weren't completed, and also emailed them. So far, none have contacted me.

I then opened a new bank account today for gaming purposes, drained the former account I used for eBay and switched Paypal to the new account. Ebay, in its infinite respect for the communist dialectic, then tried to draw from my bank account the numerous cancellation fees and such they wanted to charge me, instead of taking the money out of the held funds they already controlled. This would have put about $200 USD in their pocket. By my actions, I reduced my losses significantly, down to about $40 USD or so.

So, the way forward is to use platforms that do NOT handle your money, but just provide a forum for people to buy/sell or trade goods, but do not handle your money or protect you in any way. I prefer this to having a self-declared banker acting as a go-between. I'll check out what TMP does, and perhaps add TMP to my avenues of reducing gaming stuff from the inventory, along with Bartertown and Facebook.

Stalkey and Co, be forewarned that PayPal is not exempt from the new banking laws. PayPal is also now a legitimate bank, subject to all of the USA's banking laws. They, too, are subject to these new laws. The IRS has covered their bases, rather well.

With regards to, "I didn't read the eBay privacy notice updates [who the hell does!?]", that is your lapse of vigilance. You entered into a contractual agreement when you joined e-Bay (PayPal has similar content within their User Agreement…). Everyone needs to read the whole of the contract, if they want to really know what the companies can/cannot do with their accounts. Consider them to be Ferengi, "A contract is a contract…" [Star Trek: TNG/Star Trek: DS9 reference.]

Back in the 1990's, I bought a gaming book from a seller in Singapore. He asked for cash, as the fees for converting a USPS Money Order to cash, would have drained most of the value of the Money Order.

He told me to wrap the cash in aluminum foil: mail handlers hold envelopes to a bright light, to see if there is cash inside -- if there is, they open it, empty the cash, and pass it along, without anyone knowing what they did.

I sent him the cash, wrapped as instructed, and I received my book. No safety net. Just trust. Just an idea, if you truly want the government out of your business. Cheers!

@Sgt Slag
Yeah, no argument there…
I don't object to eBay following the law, I object:
- to them seizing my funds unless I upload documents
- doing this before I passed the $600 USD threshold for a 1099
- If they can put a warning banner on my account before I pass the threshold to tell me they have put all my payouts on hold, they COULD HAVE INSTEAD warned me that there WOULD BE A HOLD IN THE FUTURE when I passed the $600 USD threshold.

So it's mostly the draconian way they did it that I object to.