Tax related info

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

So I activated DC in Sept. I received an email requesting "tax related info" and didn't provide any at the time. Now I receive another email requesting the same thing only with the statement that DC will be turned off in my shop if I don't give them the info. I seriously cannot sell $20,000 as required by law in the last 4 months of this year. I feel that the threat to turn off DC should only be given the closer to $20,000 you are. Why does this occur this early? I have less than $2000 in sales with DC. How is turning off DC in my shop this early in the game benefiting Etsy?

[SandyCoastalDesigns]

OK, so I got a little upset. It just seems like everything is being tied to DC now. You can't print International shipping labels unless you have DC turned on.....you can't accept gift cards unless DC is turned on....Plus having to pay my Etsy bill every week just to print shipping labels when the cost of the label should be deducted from your shop payment account to begin with. The money is still in your account until you mark it shipped and the label money could easily come out of that money. Partial refunds are deducted from your shop payment account so why not shipping label costs. Oh well, .....time to get back to work.

[millabear · Accepted solution]

Hey Sandy,
I can address a few of the issues you raise:

1. Tax related info: because we cannot control for, say, one day of huge sales, or perhaps a listing worth thousands of dollars, we have to ask for tax related info as you approach 75 sales, regardless of $ in sales. A lot of shops on Etsy sell listings of various prices. Think, even, of maybe a wholesale order or wedding order that goes through Etsy. Someone could be taken to the threshold very quickly. So, we ask for this information somewhat earlier than you would expect for this reason. For legal reasons, we'd rather nt get into a situation where we cannot meet our obligations come year-end.

2. Labels being tied to DC: Buying and selling shipping labels, because they cost Etsy money, can be financially risky. Likewise payment processing. Shipping labels and DC share some risk-related infrastructure that makes it more feasible for us to sell labels if someone has DC. This is predominately because we know who you are. It is also the reason we should be able to deduct the price of the shipping label from a DC order - however, we've received more feedback about sellers needing their money before they ship, so we'll probably release that first, instead of deducting the price of a shipping label from DC order. Hopefully this increase in funds turn around time for you should make it easier to pay the bill for labels. Also, we've just turned on the ability to to overpay your bill in order to have money saved up for labels. This, coupled with faster money in your bank account, should be easier for the holidays.

3. Gift cards - I've written a few forum posts about this in the past, but having Etsy collect funds on behalf of sellers for gift cards is the only way an Etsy-only gift card can work. PayPal accounts right now are tied to individual sellers, not to Etsy in any way. And, because gift cards have state by state laws to control for, in order for us to sell these, we need to be in control or aware of the buyer's experience when it comes to expecting refunds, cash back, etc. Because we have no visibility into whether a seller issues a refund via PayPal, we have no coverage or recourse if a buyer complained about their experience. This could open us up to legal issues and liability.

4. Having funds released prior to shipping - this is coming. Soon.

Thanks again for your feedback. We are consistently trying to improve the experience, and I appreciate you and all the other sellers on this team rolling with the punches.
Camilla

[PaperPlanePrints]

Will the sellers be given a date by which they need to provide that info? Currently, the emails don't say by when the info has to be submitted.

[Former_Member]

We all need to claim our sales whether it be $100 for the year or $20,000, so what is the big deal about giving a ss number and making it all simple for everyone. It may make it easier for Etsy to collect on bad debts from people not paying fees, or possibly deciding to scam a bunch of folks and not send items that were marked as shipped. I have to think that there are many scams here where Etsy loses good chunks of money. They are more than likely going to trust sellers more who have provided good credit cards, bank acccounts, and social security numbers. Makes them feel all comfy and safe. Does not hurt us at all, unless we were planning to somehow take advantage of a situation and run, leaving them holding the bag.

I know that none of us want to provide any info, but life will go on just fine, and I am thinking I can trust Etsy with my numbers.

[PaperPlanePrints]

I disagree, griffincat. Wanting to keep your info as private as possible doesn't mean that you have any intention of running a scam or taking advantage. The less my info is out there, the less I have to worry about it accidentally getting into the wrong hands. While I trust Etsy's intentions, I know that accidents and breeches happen.

I agree with the OP, that shutting down a shop's direct checkout functionality when they are so many thousands of dollars away from Etsy's tax reporting obligation is going too far too soon. However, reading admin's response puts things into perspective.

I'd still like to know how much time they are giving us to get the info to them, so I can prioritize my to-do list.

[Former_Member]

I did not say you were trying to scam anyone, but really in todays world it seems that social security numbers are available on the internet for almost anyone to access.

Short story here. My mother went into a bank to open a new account in a bank she has never been with. She gave them here name address and birthday I think it was, and they already had the ss number on their computer. She asked if they needed the social security number and they already had it. Kind of scary, but I think it is all out there on all of us, if a person knows how to dig it up.