Another Big Camera Store Fails:

Tom_N said:

braysghost said:

This is exactly why what Henry did is terrible with this thread. If B&H was collecting GA tax, the failed store would have had a better chance of survival. People would have bought there because the prices would have been equal, not at a 8% disadvantage to B&H.

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What about shipping?

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Tom_N said:

With a brick and mortar store, the cost to get an item home is frequently "out of sight, out of mind". You take your purchase home in the vehicle that you already own.

With physical goods sold at an online store, each order involves at least one individual shipment. Any shipping charges are right there in the customer's face. So if the online purchase was subject to sales tax, and the tax was enforced at purchase time, and there was also a shipping fee, doesn't that imply that the playing field would be tilted against the online store?

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Michael Fryd said:

braysghost said:

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This is exactly why what Henry did is terrible with this thread. If B&H was collecting GA tax, the failed store would have had a better chance of survival. People would have bought there because the prices would have been equal, not at a 8% disadvantage to B&H.

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If B&H was collecting GA sales tax, it would help Adorama and Samy's (reputable mail order stores that don't charge GA sales tax), not Georgia based stores.

The solution for keeping local stores in business is easy - just shop there. Understand that there is a higher cost in keeping local stock, and a showroom. That it costs the store more to have a person help you with the sale, and not just a web site. If you want that level of service, you should be prepared to pay a little more for it.

As long as people in general prefer the lower cost (and higher efficiencies) of mail order, local stores will continue to go out of business.

The sales tax issue is just one nail in the coffin of local businesses. If you don't like the sales tax laws, elect people who will change them. Don't blame Internet merchants who operate within both the letter and spirit of the current laws.

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henryp said:

DMKAlex said:

B&H had done a great job with their website. But if you know what they had devoted in their catalogues before the web age, you wouldn't be surprise. I used to receive catalogues from them that looked more like the Thomas Registers in the New York City Library (small town libraries couldn't afford to carry them because of $ and space).

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Here's a coincidence. Until quite recently my wife worked for Thomas Register (later ThomasNet) and was an integral part of their shift from print to online. Small world.

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henryp said:

Rick Knepper said:

I expressed my surprise earlier that he posted the article criticizing NY entities but I felt he didn't read it carefully enough.

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henryp said:

I read it VERY carefully, three times. The author is a former co-worker for whom I have great respect. I then shared it with current fellow managers at B&H, here, in Facebook (where it got much less response), and LinkedIn. I would not presume to share something like this unless I was VERY familiar with the contents.

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Rick Knepper said:

Rick Knepper wrote:
But, I guess you'd prefer to attack me than the person making the serious charge.

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rrccad said:

Tom_N said:

rrccad said:

it really isn't hard to have a state based tax lookup. Really. any e-commerce package already does it, because there's actually other countries / states / provinces out there in the world. Not to mention they already have to have it in place to accept sales from their own state, if that state has sales tax.

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Sales tax rates don't vary just by state. Some localities have their own sales taxes, on top of any state ones. Sales tax rates may also vary depending upon types of merchandise – e.g., some states exempt groceries, some exempt a limited amount of clothing, etc.

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and all e-commerce programs have all that built in.

again, it's really nothing new. geopolitical taxation rates have to be built into software already because of if you purchase in your own state.

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DMKAlex said:

DMKAlex said:

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It is a bit more than collecting the sales tax for each and every state and locality. First, small mom and pop stores (not everyone selling in the internet is an Amazon, or B&H), may not have that eCommerce software you talk about.

And then these states and localities keep changing their tax rates which need to be constantly updated. They they have their filling requirement and forms and subforms you need to fill out along with the check.

I think it is more the later part that makes it impossible to deal with all the bureaucrat stuff. If you have 2 person internet sales department (provideing that you can keep them busy), you will need another 2 person full time to deal with the sales tax issues if your are required to collect and file for every single tax authority in this country.

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Michael Fryd said:

DMKAlex said:

Michael Fryd said:

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It is a bit more than collecting the sales tax for each and every state and locality. First, small mom and pop stores (not everyone selling in the internet is an Amazon, or B&H), may not have that eCommerce software you talk about.

And then these states and localities keep changing their tax rates which need to be constantly updated. They they have their filling requirement and forms and subforms you need to fill out along with the check.

I think it is more the later part that makes it impossible to deal with all the bureaucrat stuff. If you have 2 person internet sales department (provideing that you can keep them busy), you will need another 2 person full time to deal with the sales tax issues if your are required to collect and file for every single tax authority in this country.

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If "mom and pop" Internet stores were required to follow all these sales tax rules, I am sure that we would see a plethora of companies offering this as a low cost service to these stores.

As it is, mom and pop stores don't typically write eCommerce software from scratch. They take an existing solution and customize the appearance. I would expect the remaining few of these that don't have the capability to add it.

I have a friend with a small company that sells a lot online. She uses an off the shelf eCommerce solution for her web site, and also uses Amazon. On her web site, she uses a service that properly computes the sales tax depending on the shipping address. The service also handles filing the various state sales tax forms on her behalf.

If demand for such services increased, I would expect pricing to go down, and availability to go up.

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DMKAlex said:

DMKAlex said:

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Have you ever had to file for sales tax with any state or locality?

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