Buying from 1st dibs from an international seller.

[Searchingforering]

Has anyone purchased from a European seller on 1stDibs?

1stDibs take state/local sales tax per the city you live in and then you potentially pay customs as well. Does that sound right to you?

I thought the whole point of customs is because you are buying from a foreign place and you are importing it into the country?

For example if you went to France, purchase something, go through customs and pay that customs fee. You wouldn’t pay a state and local tax on top of that.

Am I missing something?

 

[Karl_K]

Yes that is right. Local\use\sales tax is not the same as custom fees and you can owe both.

 

[Karl_K]

Also yes in many states if you bought something in France and imported it thru customs for use in your home state if your state has a use tax you could owe use taxes on it.

 

[Searchingforering]

Yes that is right. Local\use\sales tax is not the same as custom fees and you can owe both.

That feels like double taxation…. That’s terrible.

 

[Karl_K]

I just checked and the above is 100% true for IL use tax.
In both cases use tax would be owed.
They are actively seeking custom forms for IL residents to go after people who do not pay it.

 

[MiniMinerva]

Has anyone purchased from a European seller on 1stDibs?

1stDibs take state/local sales tax per the city you live in and then you potentially pay customs as well. Does that sound right to you?

I thought the whole point of customs is because you are buying from a foreign place and you are importing it into the country?

For example if you went to France, purchase something, go through customs and pay that customs fee. You wouldn’t pay a state and local tax on top of that.

Am I missing something?

Also, please be very, very careful to understand returns policies. I purchased once on 1stDibs from a European seller; unfortunately the item was not as described and the seller accepted the return. However, 1stDibs charged me for both the return shipping fee AND the cost of customs for the item to return to its home country, even though there was not a customs charge for entering the US (item was >100 years old). Their expectation is that the buyer pays for all customs charges relating to both purchases and returns, even if the return is due to the seller’s error. Personally, I wouldn’t use 1stDibs again, but I would reach out to a seller directly if I found something of interest.