How do we know if an item is taxable?

mousey
Contributor
Contributor

I am going to be selling .pdf files that after payment I will direct the customer to a download page. How do I know if I should charge tax and how much?

I am very new at this and if someone could help me it would be great.

Thanks in advance.

Mousey

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6 REPLIES 6

skier
Advisor
Advisor

That's your homework assignment, you need to reseach your States Sales Tax regulations.

 

Each state is different when it comes to collecting state sales tax. In many cases you only need to apply state sales tax if the customer resides in your state. Additionally, within many states there are various tax rates according to the county and town the customer resides in.  It's best to contact your state revenue service to find out anything you have questions on. Once you have all the info you need, you can complete your PayPal Tax Table.

Regards,

skier

 

 

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mousey
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Skier,

Thank you for helping me.

Sincerely Barbara Del Duco

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skier
Advisor
Advisor

No problem.

 

Regards,

 

skier

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SpankyGrant
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Mousey.

 

This is my first night trying to figure out using PAYPAL for a online business, and I came across your initial question by accident. I wanted to ask how you are directing a customer to a download area after payment as that is what I also need to do.

I recently bought a download-able QT movie using PAYPAL, and immediately after payment I received an email from the merchant  directing me to a link that would stay open for an hour once I started downloading.  I thought this was kinda cool and wanted to set up something very similar (albeit with slight more security if that is at all possible)

 

I was just curious if this was all setup through PAYPAL , or you are using custom code. Any help greatly appreciated as I have been trolling for info for quite a while.

 

Skier, you are a fantastic wealth of info and give off no online attitude! kudos.  

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skier
Advisor
Advisor

Your easiest solution is to use a 3rd party Digital Goods Delivery service.   You can find a list of them here.   For example, this service is easy to use and can get you up and running in no time.

 

Next option for Digital Downloads is to enable the Auto Return feature in your Account Profile. After a successful transaction, the buyer is immediately sent back to a specific page where they could download the item. Note, using this method, the URL can be shared with others as it is not secure.

Another method would be to use PayPal's IPN feature along with Auto Return. This method does require additional programming skills. After the payment is processed, PayPal posts the transaction details to your IPN script. At this point, you could have your IPN script either send out an email with the item as an attachment, or an email that has a link to a secure page where the item can be downloaded from.

 

 

Tips on Auto Return and how it works:

 

* If the buyer pays with a PayPal account, they are automatically taken back to the site.

* If the buyer pays with the Credit Card Option, they are taken to the receipt page where PayPal gives them the chance to print out a receipt. This is a legal requirement. After that, the buyer must click on the "Return to Merchant" link in order to return to the site.

 

 

"Auto Return" immediately brings your buyers back to your specified URL upon payment completion. This feature replaces the standard PayPal hosted "Payment Done" page with a page hosted on your website.

To set up Auto Return, you need to turn it on in your Account Profile and enter the return URL that will be used to redirect your buyers back to your site.

Log in to your Account
Select "Edit Profile"
Under "Selling Preferences"
Select "Website Payment Preferences"
Note first option - Select "On" - Auto Return for Website Payments
Enter the Return URL.
Click "Save."

The Return URL specified in your PayPal Account is good for all transactions however, you can override this by using the "return" variable in your individual item button code and direct the buyer to a different URL. Example:

 

<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.yourwebsite.com/successful.html">

 

As for an option for keeping the window open for an hour, this would be either something managed on your end through either a custom developed application or a 3rd party application.   It's not something that can be done from the PayPal side as there are no features or options available to do this.

 

 

Regards,

 

skier

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SpankyGrant
Contributor
Contributor

holy cow Skier!!  that robot icon is appropriate for you as your are unstoppable!  cheers

 

 

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