Ebay is going down.

[Bertuzzied]

EBay Canada says it expects to start releasing personal information on its so-called "power sellers" to the Canada Revenue Agency this week.

Last April, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling ordering eBay Canada to provide the tax agency with the names and gross sales figures for power sellers - anyone who makes at least US$1,000 a month for three consecutive months through the website.
The legal struggle had been going on since 2006, when the tax agency launched an investigation to determine whether such sellers reported all their eBay revenue on their 2004 and 2005 income taxes.


It's estimated about 32,000 Canadians make all or part of their income selling on eBay.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...432676-cp.html

I was a power seller before and I cancelled my stupid ebay account after they changed their feedback policies about 4 months ago. Sellers can no longer leave negative feedback to buyers. So if someone wins your auction and they do not pay, the seller can do nothing about it.

Ebay has been dying a slow death mostly because of their stupid desire to be like Amazon.

[fredr123]

Better link: http://www.reportonbusiness.com/serv...81114.wrebay14

Federal Court of Appeal decision: http://www.osler.com/uploadedFiles/R...y%20Canada.pdf

The FCA decision was actually released November 7, 2008. Not sure where this April date came from unless there was another decision...

edit: The April decision was from an application to stay the order of the lower court pending the determination of the appeal. Canoe you suck.

[corporatejay]

I fail to see the problem here? Are you suggesting it's okay for people to cheat on their taxes?

If you are making a living off of selling on Ebay why shouldn't you pay your fair share just like everyone else. Selling things on the internet doesn't give you some sort immunity against your civil responsibility. And don't come back to me with "well rich people find loop holes all the time". Those are legal, running a business and not reporting the income is against the law, and again, we're not talking about people selling old trinkets on ebay, we're talking about people running businesses.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

I fail to see the problem here? Are you suggesting it's okay for people to cheat on their taxes?

If you are making a living off of selling on Ebay why shouldn't you pay your fair share just like everyone else. Selling things on the internet doesn't give you some sort immunity against your civil responsibility. And don't come back to me with "well rich people find loop holes all the time". Those are legal, running a business and not reporting the income is against the law, and again, we're not talking about people selling old trinkets on ebay, we're talking about people running businesses.

Oh, i don't disagree the CRA checking into ebay powerseller's accounts. If you are doing it full time you should be taxed like the rest of us. But this will hurt Ebay which I'm all for. I have been in constant contact with their customer service for 3 months trying to get some negative feedback corrected on my account. Finally i just got fed up with them and cancelled my account.

To put it into perspective I HATE Ebay more then Bell. Hard to do.

[fredr123]

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3514/125/

The case really isn't about cheating on taxes. The issue, really, is a jurisdictional one. The information is housed on servers outside of Canada. The case goes into discussions about cloud computing and stuff like that, according to Geist. There are also privacy concerns at stake.

[ken0042]

I was actually tempted to tell them to please quit holding back information on my account. I was a power seller in that period of time and reported it all to CCRA. It really isn't eBay's place to tell me that they are withholding info that gov't is asking about me.

But I agree they are going downhill. During my recent efforts to sell my extra NFL tickets I had to fight with them trying to explain that sellers on the US site have an advantage because an eBay utility gathers extra info like # of seats, section #, etc and eBay.com allows you to search on that criteria. So basically if somebody was looking for 2 seats to the game my pair wouldn't show up in the search.

Their final answer was to print screen somebody else's and pay for an extra picture in my auction.

[redforever]

I have been extremely careful of buying on e-bay lately. Their shipping charges seem suspect to me.

Last time I got something, I questioned the shipping charges ahead of time and never placed my order initially. Got back the standard "weight plus international shipping = expensive"

but then suddenly 2 or 3 days later, the seller contacted me with some story about miscalculation and if I was still interested, the shipping costs could be adjusted $23

[Rathji]

Shipping charges for ebay have been the scam point for many years. This is why I would rather buy from any other online retailer and pay more, since you take it up the rear in shipping from ebay so badly that you don't save as much and end up getting a substandard product far more often.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by fredr123

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/3514/125/

The case really isn't about cheating on taxes. The issue, really, is a jurisdictional one. The information is housed on servers outside of Canada. The case goes into discussions about cloud computing and stuff like that, according to Geist. There are also privacy concerns at stake.

The investigation itself is about cheating on taxes. eBay is using the data housed on servers outside Canada as its excuse to shelter the tax cheats. eBay operates in Canada, it has a responsibility to comply with Canadian law.

[Ice]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Shipping charges for ebay have been the scam point for many years. This is why I would rather buy from any other online retailer and pay more, since you take it up the rear in shipping from ebay so badly that you don't save as much and end up getting a substandard product far more often.

Shipping charges are one way sellers with counterfeit items make their money on Ebay. They'll sell you a "Louis Vuitton" handbag for 59.00, but the shipping charges are 99.00. That way, when you realize its fake and send it back, they only refund the purchase price. I would never buy anything with outrageous shipping prices. I've also seen this done with sport cards that aren't in the condition described in the listing.

High shipping charges = scam

[Resolute 14]

Pretty much. eBay does need to crack down on scammers, but at the same time, people leave themselves open to it by paying the price anyway.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The investigation itself is about cheating on taxes. eBay is using the data housed on servers outside Canada as its excuse to shelter the tax cheats. eBay operates in Canada, it has a responsibility to comply with Canadian law.

Well, sorta maybe. It's similar to the file sharing lawsuits in Canada from a few years ago. There, as here, the identity and pertinent information of the alleged infringers are not known. The PowerSellers are simply people that have registered Canadian addresses and are known to be prolific sellers. In the file sharing lawsuits, the alleged infringing activity was traceable to a Canadian IP address. In this case, the various Canadian eBay parties not only have ready access to the desired information, they can actually confirm the identity and various other information related to the Canadian PowerSellers. In the file sharing lawsuits, there really wasn't anyway to connect an IP address with a particular person with any accuracy.

In both cases, the thrust of the application was to compel the disclosure of identity information. Unlike in the file sharing lawsuits, here the CRA is able to rely on a statute governing the disclosure of information held or in the control of entities outside of Canada.

There was no evidence that any particular PowerSeller was in violation of the Income Tax Act. However, CRA argued that disclosure of the requested information was necessary to conduct a good faith audit to ensure compliance with the CRA. The appellants argued that a higher standard was required (that the CRA be conducting a serious and genuine inquiry into the activities of an individual). The lower standard was upheld.

[BuzzardsWife]

I have been scammed a couple times on ebay. I won't ever buy again. I have had luck with kijiji, when looking for certain things.

[604flames]

My only issue with ebay is with buyers who don't pay... Guy bought a PG jersey from me this past summer, never paid and cancelled his account 3 weeks later. It sucked 'cause it would have been nice to have that bit of cash.

Best part was, his user name was "oilerspisani"

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by fredr123

There was no evidence that any particular PowerSeller was in violation of the Income Tax Act. However, CRA argued that disclosure of the requested information was necessary to conduct a good faith audit to ensure compliance with the CRA. The appellants argued that a higher standard was required (that the CRA be conducting a serious and genuine inquiry into the activities of an individual). The lower standard was upheld.

I don't disagree that this is a fishing expidition by the CRA, and that this is perhaps the best means of defence eBay had. Instead, they focussed on sheltering the cheats rather than asking that the CRA justify the request. Bad move, and one that set a precident.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I don't disagree that this is a fishing expidition by the CRA, and that this is perhaps the best means of defence eBay had. Instead, they focussed on sheltering the cheats rather than asking that the CRA justify the request. Bad move, and one that set a precident.

Admittedly, I don't know much about the pre-litigation steps the CRA took to get access to the information. If they just walked into eBay headquarters one day and demanded access to customer records to make sure everything was on the up and up, well then I can't blame eBay for taking a bit of a hard stance on this one. I would prefer the CRA have to show a bit more of a basis for their demand. The Courts have said, however, that they simply have to be engaged in a good faith audit.

eBay went to bat to protect customer privacy. Good for them. In the file sharing law suits, almost all of the internet providers did the same (except, I think, Cogeco who rolled over at the first sign of trouble). Given the amount of personal information companies like these have, I like that they take steps to question the legitimacy of any demand to reveal private information.

I wonder how Bingo and photon have been handling the RCMP and Calgary Police Service's numerous demands for particulars resulting from the Confessions thread...

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

I fail to see the problem here? Are you suggesting it's okay for people to cheat on their taxes?

If you are making a living off of selling on Ebay why shouldn't you pay your fair share just like everyone else. Selling things on the internet doesn't give you some sort immunity against your civil responsibility. And don't come back to me with "well rich people find loop holes all the time". Those are legal, running a business and not reporting the income is against the law, and again, we're not talking about people selling old trinkets on ebay, we're talking about people running businesses.

Should I claim the income from the yearly garage sale?

[The Ditch]

Originally Posted by ok, ok,....I get it

Should I claim the income from the yearly garage sale?

If you're making over $20 000 a year on garage sales I think the government might like to look into it.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I don't disagree that this is a fishing expidition by the CRA, and that this is perhaps the best means of defence eBay had. Instead, they focussed on sheltering the cheats rather than asking that the CRA justify the request. Bad move, and one that set a precident.

So you agree?

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by The Ditch

If you're making over $20 000 a year on garage sales I think the government might like to look into it.

Is that true.

Garage sales are used items purchased supposedly with taxed income.

The sale of such item shouldnt be taxed again should it?