xpguy

I had pre-ordered Lord of the Rings from best buy. At the time I bought it, it was $19.99, and they had adjusted the price down to $15.99. It was free shipping, but they did charge me sales tax, which was $1.65??? This comes out to be 10.3% sales tax!

I don't know if they just screwed up my order or if they did this to thousands of pre-ordered lord of the rings, but check your bill just incase. Anyway if they did overcharge you, don't let them pocket your money. 30 cents here is nothing but if it did happen to thousands of people, then best buy pocketing your extra $$$.


EDIT: ok I figured it out. They charged sales tax on the original price of $19.99 not the adjusted price of $15.99.
Whether or not they charge sales tax on shipping is not the issue for people who got free shipping.

$19.99 X 8.25% tax = $1.65 which is what they are charging me, this is incorrect since the sales tax calculation should be on the adjusted price of $15.99, not $19.99

The correct charge should be $15.99 X 8.25% = $1.32

kranke

XP,
Thanks for the heads up !!
My order was charged $1.85 tax. I opted for 2nd day shipping for $3 charge. If they calculated tax based on $18.99 it comes out to
9.75 % . I only pay 8% in NY State. I suggest everyone contact them if there is a discrepancy with the tax charged. I also asked them if they charge tax on a "shipping fee".

abercrombieboy

Thanks - I'll call them about mine too. Exactly the same as yours.

LBPound

Maybe I'll ask about the discrepancy once my order ships, but I'm still waiting for that to happen, and I don't want anything to possibly slow down the order anymore.

Lemondrop

O MY GOD

They got me for 24 cents !
HOW COULD THEY !!!!!!!!

hehe ,
I am not gonna call them over 24 cents . It would be a waste of my time to bother , as I have dealt with Bestbuy's phone customer service . Im sure Id waste a half hour of my life to get 24 cents out of BB ...... since they are giving me a 10 dollar GC anyway
I guess I will figure the GC is $9.76 instead of $10.00

xpguy

Sure it's not worth calling them over a few pennies, but it's obviously a bug in the system. Say 10,000 preordered lord of the rings (is that too big or small an estimate?) All those pennies add up, and they are pocketing a nice sum there.

Applejack

Isn't it illegal to charge sales tax on most online orders anyway?

habers

not if a B+M is located in your state.

BTW, they charged me correctly, I orered 4 days ago

DVDealer

My guess is that this is the issue. Even though they're subtracting out the shipping cost, they are charging the tax for shipping. BTW, not just the merchandise, but the shipping *is* taxable in many states. That's something we've been having to update on the site where I work lately too.

Whether merchandise is taxable depends on whether it is hard merchandise being sold (or if it's a service). If someone's being charged online for a subscription service, for example, that is not taxable. If they are ordering a DVD online and it is shipped to them, they need to pay tax if the purchaser is:

a) in a state where the company is located (either headquarters or a branch or other brick and mortar retail presence). If a company buys out a company in another state where it is registered, even though the headquarters may be in another state, that parent company is now liable for sales taxes of merchandise sold in the state where the purchased company exists.
b) in a state where the "fulfillment company" is located. This is the company that actually ships the products. Some online companies have played games with this by having multiple shipping houses they've contracted out, and making sure that the one that ships it to you is not located where you are, so it reduces the liklihood anyone can be charged for shipping other than those living in the same state where the company is headquartered.

LBPound

I just checked and they did tax me on $19.99 and over 8% I believe. Those mothaf***az better give me my 27 cents back or my mom will shoot!

kunert

Yeah, they overcharged me for a 7/30 order I received yesterday, basically just took the $5 discount off the sutotal at regular price with tax. As much as I'd like to "stick it to them" I know from experience it is not worth the time.

LostHiWay

I wonder what they do with the extra sales tax collected? Do they just give it to the government for free?

fleegs

They actually undercharged me on the sales tax. They only charged me 5% instead of 6%. So I get an extra 15 cents.

Tazwolff

They undercharged me by 1 whole cent.

Spy021

Just checked mine.. Got charged the standard 6% on my $15.99 order. Guess I preordered so late that the price had already been registered at $15.99

5th_Wheel

The tax rate where I live is 8.75% and for some reason BB normally only charges me 4% on Internet orders. They charges me 5% on LOTR. In my opinion it's not worth calling them over $0.16. I'm cheep, but not that cheep!