Amazon.com Marketplace and Sales Tax

Mugenmidget

I'm looking to sell some items on the Amazon.com Marketplace, but I'm reading the User Agreement and ran across the following:

10. Sales, Use, or Similar Taxes. You agree that it is the Seller's and the Buyer's responsibility to determine whether sales, use, or similar taxes apply to the transactions and to collect, report, and remit the correct tax to the appropriate tax authority. You also agree that Amazon is not obligated to determine whether sales, use, or similar taxes apply and is not responsible to collect, report, or remit any sales, use, or similar taxes arising from any transaction.

So I'm not only responsible for collecting tax, but I have to pay it to the correct tax authority? I'm not sure how I am supposed to go about this, as I've never operated a store or anything like that before. Does eBay avoid this through its various fees (since I assume "buy it now" could be deemed a similar transaction)?

I'm really just clueless in this situation, and there might be something I'm misunderstanding. For instance, there's this caveat:

Items sold by Amazon.com LLC, or its subsidiaries, and shipped to destinations in the states of Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, or Washington are subject to tax.

I wouldn't really be considered a subsidiary, would I? There's also this a little later:

The following is a partial list of merchants selling items at Amazon.com which may be included in your order, and the states in which they charge sales tax.

* Amazon.com LLC: KS, KY, ND and WA
* Amazon Digital Services, Inc.: ND and WA
* Borders teamed with Amazon.com, Inc.: KS, KY, ND and WA (Note: items purchased for in-store pickup at Borders stores are sold by Borders, Inc., and may be subject to tax in most states.)
* eHobbies: CA and KY
* Magazine Express, Inc.: AL and WA
* Synapse Services, Inc.: WA only
* Target.com: All states other than AK, HI, and VT

I'm really sorry for my hodge podge of quotes from their various documents on the subject, but I'm totally dense when it comes to this. Has anyone sold on Amazon.com before? Anyone brighter that has a better grasp on these terms?

EggyToast

You have to pay sales tax on Amazon marketplace sales if you would otherwise pay sales tax.

Do you fill out a Schedule C form when you do your taxes? Do you otherwise run a business by yourself, or would you sell this item as if you were a business? If no, you don't need to worry about it.

The sales tax disclaimers are simply there so that businesses who would otherwise collect sales tax on an internet sale don't "cheat" and simply use the marketplace to avoid paying sales tax. It's also to exclude Amazon.com from having to pay that sales tax for the seller (a seller who is not amazon).

Mugenmidget

Alright cool, I'm just selling a few collectibles on here and have no intentions of operating an official business, so hopefully I should be in the clear.