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Lilith · 07-23-2008, 06:01 AM

I think you'd be surprised.
When I was in business, the rep from the USDA who came around to do my plant inspections told me that they have people in place who monitor eBay and other online sale venues to be certain that no one is selling or buying citrus out of state that isn't inspected. There was also a case a while ago reported on one of the forums by a person who sold a rare cactus on eBay that is classified as endangered (its a FL Keys Native plant). He claimed he grew the plant from seed and did not harvest it from the wild, but a few days after the sale "plant police" showed up at both his door and the door of the buyer and confiscated the plant. eBay maintains its records of everything you do on there, even if you close your account and stop selling, pretty much forever, and if legal authorities ask to see it, they freely divulge it. This is basically to protect themselves from liability or prosecution as the "venue" by putting anything you did squarely back on your shoulders. Its kind of a "you're supposed to know better" kinda thing. All I am saying is just be careful. As the government hurts for dollars more and more they often find ways of enforcing laws that you'd never think they could have the time or manpower to do, and because th einternet is probably outpacing "in person" shopping now or will in the future, they will certainly come up with some type of system to monitor it and be certain they get their cut of everything.

We were in CA last month and bought a case of wine at a vineyard we visited for a tasting and had it shipped. Of course they didn;t charge us tax because it was shipped out of state, but our purchase arrived with a "tax information sheet" saying that the sale had been reported to the FL Dept of Revenue and that they would be sending us a tax return to file shortly. And they did, and we had to pay tax on that purchase. I guess it was better to pay FL tax at 6% that CA tax at 8,5%. But they will find you if they want to,

07-23-2008, 06:01 AM	#19 (permalink)
Lilith Senior Member Lilith's Photo Gallery Location: sunny Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Gina Anne Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 341 BananaBucks : 140,078 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 20 Times Was Thanked 136 Times in 52 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 1 Times	Re: Shipping prices changed DRASTICALLY! I think you'd be surprised. When I was in business, the rep from the USDA who came around to do my plant inspections told me that they have people in place who monitor eBay and other online sale venues to be certain that no one is selling or buying citrus out of state that isn't inspected. There was also a case a while ago reported on one of the forums by a person who sold a rare cactus on eBay that is classified as endangered (its a FL Keys Native plant). He claimed he grew the plant from seed and did not harvest it from the wild, but a few days after the sale "plant police" showed up at both his door and the door of the buyer and confiscated the plant. eBay maintains its records of everything you do on there, even if you close your account and stop selling, pretty much forever, and if legal authorities ask to see it, they freely divulge it. This is basically to protect themselves from liability or prosecution as the "venue" by putting anything you did squarely back on your shoulders. Its kind of a "you're supposed to know better" kinda thing. All I am saying is just be careful. As the government hurts for dollars more and more they often find ways of enforcing laws that you'd never think they could have the time or manpower to do, and because th einternet is probably outpacing "in person" shopping now or will in the future, they will certainly come up with some type of system to monitor it and be certain they get their cut of everything. We were in CA last month and bought a case of wine at a vineyard we visited for a tasting and had it shipped. Of course they didn;t charge us tax because it was shipped out of state, but our purchase arrived with a "tax information sheet" saying that the sale had been reported to the FL Dept of Revenue and that they would be sending us a tax return to file shortly. And they did, and we had to pay tax on that purchase. I guess it was better to pay FL tax at 6% that CA tax at 8,5%. But they will find you if they want to, __________________ 11/2008 Outer Banks Marathon 26.2, Kitty Hawk NC--3:50 2/2009 5 Points of Life Marathon, 26.2, Gainesville FL--4:00 4/2009 Boston Marathon, 26.2-- 4:38 10/2009 Marine Corps Marathon, DC, 26.2--457 1/2010 Houston Marathon, 26.2--3:55:09 2/2010 5 Points of Life Marathon, Gainesville--415 Halloween Day 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, DC-- 2/2011--Austin TX Marathon--