I was tempted to ignore your reply but decided it shouldn't be left unanswered.
re. your #1:
"You won't continue to get paid without it. Good reason? "
No, it's not a good reason. If the price of not further eroding the privacy of my personal data is a few hundred dollars, they can keep the money. Yes, there are times when providing personal data is necessary, that doesn't mean it's justified willy-nilly. Feel free to sell your security and privacy for any price you prefer.
"Its required by law. Good reason? "
No, providing my SSN# to eBay is not required by law. Paying taxes is and I happily do that.
"If you don't file your taxes or claim this income its tax evasion. Good reason? "
I never made any comment regarding not paying taxes. If tax evasion is the first thing that comes to your mind, that's not on me.
re. your #2:
"yes. They are required to report to the IRS w/ a 1099-K if your sales exceed $600. You are required to claim any income regardless of this thresshold. This is justba reporting threshhold."
Once again you are referring to paying taxes, not to providing personal data to eBay. Regarding the threshold, my point was the threshold is logically flawed, likely not eBay's fault, but still flawed. The "threshold" is addressed below.
re. your #2a-c:
Your response was so disjointed I'm not going to reprint it here. Anyone interested can refer to your original post. I'll just respond to the general concept of the "reporting threshold".
If the threshold is based on sales price plus all fees, I contend it is flawed. I pay my taxes based on income, not on what I have paid to others for their services. In your point 2a you say, " *with the funds PAID TO YOU* " and conclude with, "Still your income". You are wrong on both counts. The funds were all paid to eBay. My "income" is the check I receive from eBay after they make their deductions, in this case $468.54. Including shipping as part of the threshold (regardless of mode) makes no sense, unless I'm providing shipping at a profit. As it is, eBay most likely marks up their shipping cost, which means their profit becomes part of my threshold. Bottom line, the monies, paid to eBay, and the deduction for shipping and taxes are all part of the same transaction. My income is only the money eBay sends to me.
re. your #2d:
"ignorance is no excuse. You failed to read your T&Cs. You failed to do your research. You failed."
If you've read the full T&Cs for every service, and the full EULA for every piece of software you've ever used, I'm impressed. As a point of information, many T&Cs and EULAs contain clauses and constraints that are legally unenforceable. In most cases it is not illegal to include them in the text, but some, to many, are legally unenforceable. They are included so that the naive will see it, assume it is law, and not pursue a potentially valid claim. So, even if you have spent your time reading all of them, if you didn't get a legal opinion on enforceability, you've failed. I freely admit I have not read all of them.
And I contend, if eBay intends for withhold funds from a sale, for whatever reason, a warning to that effect should be posted in plain sight before accepting or posting the listing. Relying on a multipage EULA or T&C, after the fact, is plain old CYA. That applies doubly to a requirement of divulging personal data.
Good luck ajs.
