Seller overcharging, Ebay customer service useless

[cj66047]

I received an invoice on Thursday for an item I won on Ebay.  I thought the total looked high, then realized the seller had added NM sales tax.  I had never seen this before and I Ebay a lot, so I checked with customer service before contacting the seller.  They told me what I already thought, sales tax can only be charged if specified in the item description.  What makes it stranger is that the seller is not in NM.  If I went to a store in TX I would be more than a little surprised to be charged NY sales tax! 

No tax was specified in the description, and this seller is a private individual not a business.  If they're paying income tax on their Ebay earnings it is in their home state, I doubt they file a return for every state to which they ship an item!

I have contacted the seller multiple times about correcting the invoice, I have not had a reply but I know they have been online.  Ebay can offer no help other than to wait on the seller to reply, which I doubt they will do.  I have a feeling they are either waiting for me to cancel the transaction because they didn't get as high a price as they wanted, or will file a non-paying bidder complaint if I don't pay them what they are asking.

My gut instinct tells me not to send them all of the money then file a claim for the overcharge, but I do want the item and i'm getting nowhere at all with Ebay.  What would you do?

[jjjsnyder]

Tell the seller you'll check with the tax board in NM and make sure he is listed with them, just to make sure they will get the money. I doubt that the seller is a listed merchant. I'm sure the state would love to hear of somebody collecting tax for them and not reporting it.

Mail order (online stores) charge sales tax based on the state you are in, only if the seller has offices in your state, otherwise they are exempt. One of the big hobby suppliers I buy from started charging me tax and I found that they had opened a storage facility in my state, so they had to start charging sales tax.

[surplusdealdude]

Tell the seller you'll check with the tax board in NM and make sure he is listed with them

I LIKE that solution.

[cj66047]

Thanks for the tip, I will certainly give that a try!  I am still getting nowhere with the seller, but the seller is listing new items and I assume disregarding my messages.  All I have received is a message stating that if I do not pay a non-paying bidder complaint will be filed.  The Ebay rep. I spoke to today said that that may well work in my favour as it will 'out' the seller's actions and they can then address the problem, but you know how Ebay can be, ask five people and you'll get five different answers!