I just made my $1300 purchases at chiefvalue for the same price as newegg because I didn't feel like paying $108 for tax.

Chirst, people are bitching about a 4-8% sales tax? When EU and other countries got it far worse?

I swear that people have strange senses of entitlement.

They are luxury good after all not stuff essential for your well-being.

NY isn't doing anything illegal. They are just enforcing their state laws where you have to report sales on interstate commerce. It is because etailers are generating far too large amount of revenue for the state governments to ignore.

The problem is what they're doing is unconstitutional. It's an illegal law that will eventually be thrown out.

The reason it's not legal is because of the commerce clause in the constitution.

"Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, known as the Commerce Clause, states that Congress has the exclusive authority to manage commerce between the states, with foreign nations, and Indian tribes. " - wikipedia

If this wasn't upheld, in theory, a state would be able to pass a law that taxes the fuck out of people who purchase from other states. This is an anti-competitive practice that would no longer allow the states to be "United" -- the tax would be so high that commerce out of the state would be near non-existant.

They're charging 8.25% now, but who knows later?

Now, New York state wants businesses which do not reside in their state to pay up anyway. So a business isn't using any of the state's resources, but are still expected to pay a fee. Is this fair? Nope.

And this is why it's the federal government's job to regulate interstate commerce. Individual states would be too greedy and foul up the way the market flows, potentially causing lots of economic troubles.

Anyway, imagine if you had to pay a $5.00 tax to send a letter to a specific state, vs. your own state. That would be bad and hurt the mail system in the country. That's why the federal government retains ownership of the service. States can't be trusted.

You really must think of states as separate countries. That's how they act, IF they are given the opportunity. The constitution prevents things like that from happening.

When it comes to interstate commerce, state governments should be ignored.

the Problem with Newegg is that as a company it's a parasite........ they have a warehouse out of state, because it's a warehouse placed in a less than prime location the tax rates are lower, because it's little more than a glorified warehouse it also employs very few ppl comparatively yet Newegg has the potential to sell anywhere in the U.S.

so here is a company with a comparatively low overhead stepping into the entire U.S. economy and making it that much harder for local retailers to compete.... although compete is kind of a joke anyway because smaller retailers can't compete on price, their costs are higher and their market smaller along with their inventory levels far smaller leaving little muscle to manipulate pricing.

a few ppl have mentioned that taxes make pay for services and they are correct, yeah corruption and waste are an issue but no one is screaming we need to eliminate the fire department or the police force and by the way even fewer are screaming that they want to pay to enter a park or to play basketball...... in truth Taxes are a necessity to pay for the daily running.... so do you agree 100% with what the city is doing or just 50%... regardless no taxes it's all gone....... Newegg kills small business and doesn't pay or pays comparatively little in taxes to any local economy.

Newegg thrives as does NCIX.com and others because they cater to human nature.... they sell parts for less than local competition so you can't blame the consumer...... but in reality if Newegg and NCIX.com had to pay all applicable taxes they wouldn't be able to sell for less and ppl would reconsider buying locally for the betterment of all involved.

I have to assume that the loopholes that allow Newegg and NCIX to thrive will eventually be closed.... in all honesty the company's are terrible from a society standpoint, I personally find the concept of this type of global economy to be a joke and nothing more than an attack on small businesses and local government.

what is the value of efficiency when it only benefits the 1 at the cost of 10,000 or more depending on business model?

yes I buy from these company's because their parts cost less..... that is human nature and it's up to government to make the rules for all to apply somewhat fairly...... currently they don't and that should be addressed...... I don't look forward to the loopholes being closed but I fully accept that in reality they should be..... in truth most of the anger expressed is because all believe we all pay too much in taxes.... that too is human nature and in many cases true but that's a side issue for a different thread.

Anyone who says anything like, "why are you all complaining about such a small tax?!" obviously has no idea as to why this country was founded in the first place.

If New York (and just about every other government) had the least bit of spending restraint they wouldn't need to push unconstitutional taxes like this one.

It's the same story. They have one good year - realestate bubble, good stock market, whatever - and instead of treating that as a one time windfall they make that revenue their new baseline and promise every penny of it and a 7% projected increase besides for every year thereafter.

So when next year is even ordinary, let alone bad like this one, it's time for massive tax hikes.

And they defend it by talking about the services people need like roads and police and schools. I guess 10 years ago when their budget was barely half what it is now we didn't have roads or police or schools? What we didn't have was the 10% annual raises for unionized state workers and the pensions for life for bureaucrats who quit at 52.

If Newegg collaborates with illegal attempts to collect out of state sales tax in my state, that's the day I start buying somewhere else.

I'm glad that they are actually enforcing a law. Nothing grates me more than turning a blind-eye to legislation due to inconvenience.

As a New Yorker, I won't be shopping at Newegg anymore. They chose their affiliates over their customers. Obviously, they value their affiliates more.

I'll be shopping at ZipZoomFly and other retailers who don't charge NY sales tax.

I'm going to continue to shop at newegg, just so everyone knows.

So let me get this straight? Newegg chose to collect sales tax? Another lame newegg pwnage.

The Federal government will probably do something about this eventually. I'd also say that if there is an enforcable law for this type of taxation the rate ought to be lower than regular sales tax rate because an out of state enterprises burden upon a state's expenses is lower than one that is in state. It would still be higher than zero though so it wouldn't encourage people to buy online any more than they do now.

I know it's wikipedia, but this is an interesting read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax

BTW, the NY state sales tax is 4%. Presumably, you would only have to pay that and not the county/city tax.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

welp, eggy lost my business. wish there was a fry's around.

The New York State law is unconstitutional, and it won't take much effort to have it overruled by the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, the Supreme Court already ruled in Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona (1945) that State laws cannot burden interstate commerce.

It seems quite clear that the NYS Law burdens interstate commerce by introducing new monetary restrictions on business that choose to advertise in the State. Were it just selling in a State, that might be permissible, but to burden advertising goes too far.

In fact, just the fact the NYS is doing this can be seen as encroaching on IC that can be regulated only by the federal government.

So is this going to hold up in court, or is regulating interstate commerce?

It is quite likely neweggers in WA state will be paying sales tax starting July 1.

In a few years, most etailers will be charging sales tax. This is not unexpected news. We might as well get used to it. Do people really think that state governments are blind to the ever-increasing etail market and that they are going to let that source of income go untapped? Nope, in the not too distant future we will remember these tax-free etail years as the good old days.

I wonder who Newegg's affiliate parters are? They are such a market leader in etailing I'm surprised they have to advertise specifically in a state at all. Maybe the web makes it tricky because any advertisement could potentially end up within a state.

This is just sad. Oh well, go Clubit!

People will vote with their wallets, it will be interesting to see if there is a reversal in policy at some future point as a result.

It sorta makes sense Amazon would file a lawsuit, they're basically the head hancho of online retailers and pretty much speak for the rest.

I find it sad that Newegg chose it's NY advertisers but they seemed to have found it in the best interest of the company. I wouldn't blame Newegg so much as it's really the politicians who passed this law to weasle extra money that shouldn't belong to the 'state'.

zipzoomfly ho!

I have been paying sales tax on stuff from Newegg forever. Matter of fact I dont know when is the last time I didnt have to pay sales tax on a internet item. But anyways Newegg wanted to place ad's in NY or with people based in NY. It's a part of life o-well. At some point the net is going to get a system wide tax...