I stopped buying when the buyer’s premium went to 17%, and when added to the WA state sales tax of over 10% and the shipping cost, made the sales price less attractive.
But I am confused.
Does this change mean that the sales tax is being charged in CA, and will no longer be charged in the state it is being shipped to, or is it being added to the tax in the destination state?
Did people also stop buying from Amazon when they stopped the music for the tax free sales? Seems odd to get upset with WineBid over this.
Anyone not paying taxes on sales they normally would should have known they were getting away with something. Not that it was something they got because of principles.
They are plenty of beefs to have with WineBid as listed in this thread. Finally having to pay taxes seems like a petty complaint at this point.
I find some stuff on there that is within the ranges of things I’m looking for. It’s getting increasingly difficult to get them at good prices though. That’s not just a WineBid problem though. Lots of under the radar classics are now going for large percentages more than they were 5-10 years ago.
Selling previously owned and previously tariffed wine is a niche business and the wines should be tax exempt in every state. I get the ‘tax us to death’ thing, hell I live in NYC but I think this is a bit much and I did not know CA always paid tax. Cheerios.
When people happily pay hundreds of dollars for old, fermented grape juice, but complain about a valid but small tax on that, they have a truly First-World problem.
It is niche businesses that shouldn’t be taxed? Or just previously owned and tariffed goods? You know, like real estate, used cars, fine art, etc.?
In my case, residents of Nebraska are required to pay Nebraska sales tax on all internet purchases. If an internet seller does not collect and pay to Nebraska this sales tax, I am required to claim and pay it via my Nebraska tax return. Places like Amazon collect the appropriate Nebraska sales tax. According to Winebid’s new policy, they will be collecting CA sales tax but no mention of who will receive this sales tax. If they are going to be paying it to CA as I am assuming, that leaves me with still having to pay Nebraska sales tax for a total of 14.25% (7.25% CA plus 7% NE) in addition to the 17% buyers premium for a total of 31.25%.
The way I read it is if your state did NOT require WineBid to collect taxes, California would be happy to pick up their ‘slack’. Lol
Bid price + 17% + 7.25% (9.50% in LA?) + Shipping costs = auctions not being your best option if you are budgeting yourself. Luckily I don’t need to budget but I also don’t like the nickel diming crap either. I usually purchase 60-80 bottles a year from WineBid. I can’t imagine myself doing more than say 12 hard to find bottles a year now. I have too many options and many with free shipping. I like WineBid but between what I just said and the Zero Return Option for duds, it’s the best choice I can make for me. Your MMV and certainly does…
The griping about the bidder’s premium and tax is hilarious. Are you all so economically illiterate as to be unable to deduct 17%+tax from the price you’re willing to pay?
Mathematically challenged. 
Not sure where all the anger comes from. We’re just chatting here. So angry.
I think some folks are saying, given the generally high pricing on WineBid these days, 7-9% on top of that will make their wines unattractively priced in general.
The real deal breaker for me will be if/when they can no longer ship via a common carrier. These 3rd party shipping arrangements many retailers have had to adopt in the last year or so are a big pain (needing to request shipping 2-3 weeks before it is sent out— who can know the weather will be that far out especially from Colorado to California?) and more expensive. Until then, a major advantage WineBid has in my calculus is easy, fast, inexpensive shipping.
+1
If I’m not mistaken, in NYS you were always supposed to pay NYS tax on out of state purchases. I think my accountant just did an estimate most years.
As to not bidding because of this “extra” cost (or because of "vig’) one should always bid based on total cost. It’s really not that hard to do. And assuming most people can figure that out (and if a significant # of people choose not to participate because of paying tax), the expectation would be that hammer prices would fall due to slightly decreased bids and lack of competition. So new tax policies would actually be more damaging to sellers than buyers.
Mortgage deduction just taken away too. 10%+ here we come.
[quote=“Dale Williams” post_id=2695855 time=1552663313 user_id=1467
As to not bidding because of this “extra” cost (or because of "vig’) one should always bid based on total cost. It’s really not that hard to do.
[/quote]
Bingo!
I would be much more concerned about how they vet the wines they auction then having to pay tax on legitimate bottles.
Like some have said, I just factor in the 17% premium and sales tax into what I’m willing to bid (if you’re a Seattle resident, that’s a factor of 1.28). I snag fantastic deals on there all the time even accounting for fees and taxes. One of my favorite local producers’ wine is frequently on there for less than half retail so even building back in the fee I’m WAAAAAAAAY net positive on a wine I love.
There were some '15 Vieux Telegraphes on there recently that were just AT the breakeven point vs local retail, I camped on them hoping that they’d come down to make the fees pay off, but they never did. C’est la bid.
Winebid has always charged me Illinois tax on my purchases. My reading of this change is that they will now be double taxing any purchase I make (Illinois and California tax) since Illinois is not one of the 5 exempted states in their email.
VM
I read it as
If state=permit state charge destination rate
Else charge CA rate
rather than adding CA tax on top, but yeah the wording is vague.
That’s like they wanna tax capital gains, or something!
I sent WB an email for clarification on the non-permit state tax issue, per WineBid:
Dear Bryan,
Thank you for contacting the customer service team at WineBid. The Washington state tax rate of 10.1% you are currently being charged will change when these new Terms and Conditions go into effect. You will no longer be charged WA sales tax and instead will be charged Napa county CA sales tax of 7.75%.
We appreciate your business.
So, that’s actually a net positive for me!
^bingo. The tax won’t change anything for me as the access to otherwise unobtainable wines is why I buy from winebid