Posted on 11/25/2011 4:36:46 PM PST by Comparative Advantage
It’s a scenario all too familiar to retailers: A customer walks in, asks to see a product, discusses it at length with the sales staff, and then pulls out his cellphone.
Jason Brewer, vice president of communications and advocacy for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, explains what happens next: “He uses his smartphone to take a picture of the bar code on the back of the item, and then, right in front of the sales person, he checks prices and orders the item online.”
Why? Because most online outlets don’t charge sales tax, unlike traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. Buying online, especially when it comes to jewelry, cameras, computers and other high-end electronics, can save consumers a hefty chunk of change. But the costs to traditional retailers, not to mention state and local governments, are mounting.
“Not only does the retailer lose the sale, but the sales staff just lost 30 minutes telling the customer about the product,” Mr. Brewer said.
It’s infuriating to store owners, but after years of griping about the lack of fairness, this may well be the last holiday shopping season when bricks-and-mortar stores operate under a sales-tax handicap. A bipartisan consensus appears to be forming in Congress in favor of legislation that would close the tax loophole.
Such bills have come and gone for years, but the political winds took a turn this year, thanks largely to the efforts of lawmakers in California. The state waged a high-stakes duel with Amazon.com and won after the online giant agreed in September for the first time to comply with a state sales tax instead of fighting it in the courts or at the polls.
(Excerpt) Read more at p.washingtontimes.com ...
bs, it’s not just the sales tax most electronic items at a place like best buy are overpriced by 50% or more.
It would never occur to anyone in government to make a fair playing field for everyone by simply eliminating the tax for all sellers and buyers.
The Mob getting upset they don’t get their cut?!!!Whoda thunk!!!
So that’s what has happened with Amazon, how about other sellers, like every Californian with something on EBay?
I’d expect the House to kill it, narrowly.
most electronic items at a place like best buy are overpriced by 50% or more.
Exactly. I bought a video camera online for $650 and Bestbuy wanted $999 for it.
I buy shoes online for a very good price, free delivery and no sales tax. Even with a sales tax, I’ll still buy online for two very good reasons. The shoes will still be cheaper- and I’ve got big feet.
“I’d expect the House to kill it, narrowly.”
Hope you are right but I can see them passing it narrowly, too.
You know what? Many online places are still less even with the sales tax. Especially if you live in a high tax & regulation state where brick and mortar, nay- ANY BUSINESS, is nothing but a target for the state tax and regulation authorities.
Which covers the retail facilities, overhead, and personnel. Sure if everything were sold out of a warehouse it would be cheaper. What stinks is people who want the service there — even if they could dig up what they want to know on the Internet — but who don’t want to buy there.
thanks largely to the efforts of lawmakers in California.
Well, you can’t say we don’t know who to thank for this
drek.
here is an example I ran into the other day on a panasonic 3d blue ray player at best buy
amazon price $119
best buy price $199
and you can literally find each and every item Best Buy sales for MUCH less online.
The sales tax savings is a pittance compared to their markup.
Yep I suspect borders went out of business because they had over priced books but probably more important, people couldn't check the price online cause they stuck their own bar code over the original bar code then people stopped even going into their stores.
I bought 2 Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tabs there last week. For some reason those are priced the same everywhere, online as well as BestBuy. Yes, I did pay sales tax... but no shipping, and no waiting.
It would never occur to anyone in government to make a fair playing field for everyone by simply eliminating the tax for all sellers and buyers.Do you see any contradiction between your post and your tagline?3 posted on Friday, November 25, 2011 7:40:19 PM by Graybeard58 (Of course Obama loves his country but Herman Cain loves mine.)
Some people feel it’s a fair trade off for having a physical store you can take the darn thing back to if it’s having fits or if it won’t quite do what you were led to believe it would do. I personally wouldn’t use the salespeople of a Best Buy or the like to do my research if I KNEW I was going to then grab it on the Internet. I don’t believe in that. I respect their jobs more than that. Now if it’s something I can find very little about despite my best efforts, I might visit a store that carries it, and look at the user’s manual for a floor model, then repack it very neatly, telling the salespeople thank you I’m just looking. Usually they don’t even bug me.
The article is not 100% correct. Certain states charge sales tax on internet purchases if a brick & mortar store exists in that state selling that item.
At least Washington state operates like that. I just bought a sleep number bed on-line and had to pay sales tax because sleep number has stores in WA state, and they have agreed with the state to charge sales tax to items shipped to any address withing the state. Amazon does the same here. That may be because Amazon is head quartered here?
You can count on it at some point in the future.
I buy a lot from Staples for my Ebay business. I got a “members only” invite last week for special prices for 2 hours on Sunday morning. I had the prices from their own web site with me and went home after checking 5 or 6 items. I could buy things 10-20% cheaper on their own web site, with free delivery.
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