If You have moved states and make Amazon purchases, you had better check your invoices.

[MohRokTah]

I used to live in a state where, by law, any purchase on Amazon required a sales tax charge.

I moved to a state late last year where, by law, all Amazon purchases are 100% exempt from sales tax. When I moved I opened a new bank account and changed both my shipping address and the billing address associated with my Amazon account.

This is an account that goes back to 1999. I have literally spent thousands upon thousands of dollars with Amazon in my time as a customer

In the past three years, 98.3% of every purchase I have made has been a one-click Kindle purchase. These types of purchases are generally a few dollars and automatically charge on a debit card. They are little consequence. Since moving, 100% of my purchases have been these one-click Kindle purchases.

I recently received a credit for a court settlement in the Apple/Amazon electronic book collusion lawsuit of about $68. So I decided, "let's buy some eBooks I've been wanting!"

As I purchased what would be six different eBooks, I noticed the balance seemed to be dropping a little more than it should, so I decided to inspect the order carefully.

Much to my surprise, even though my shipping and billing addresses had been changed months ago, Amazon was still charging me sales tax for the state in which I used to reside! Come to find out, the dozens of eBook purchases I have made since moving have all charged that sales tax, too!

I called Customer Service yesterday. They credited me the overcharged sales tax, deleted all addresses. cards, and bank accounts from my Amazon account on their end and had me re-enter it all on my end.

About 90 minutes ago, I purchased another eBook and once again, I was erroneously charged sales tax for my old state.

This has been escalated to their software developers.

This has the potential to affect everybody who has changed their state of residence since Amazon had to start charging sales tax.

I would suggest you check the status of your orders and check the percentage of sales tax charged if you have changed the state of your residence at any time after you started your Amazon account. Twenty-three states currently collect sales tax and most states have varying sales tax rates from other states. If you moved from a state with a 6% rate to a state with a 4% rate, it is possible you are still being charged the 6% rate.

If my account is not just anomalous, this could end up becoming a huge major mess for Amazon.

[whistler162]

1. Well that is what you get for moving

Did you change your one click address?


Your Account > Manage Addresses and 1-Click Settings > Edit Your 1-Click Settings

[MohRokTah]

3. Yep, changed it immediately after moving.

I made my first order about two weeks later. Six eBooks. Never looked at the order until yesterday because I had my books and the total looked about right. Little did I know, my old state got a little money skimmed off the top erroneously.

[MADem]

2. Wow! Who knew? Thanks for posting this! nt

[MohRokTah]

4. Here's the really funny part.

Since I changed bank accounts (my wife and I separated, so I needed a new personal account) had I not changed the addresses the charges would have been rejected. My shipping address and billing address, including one-click, have always been the same and I changed it all as soon as I had the new bank account.

The bank had a mechanism to insure my card would be properly charged only with the correct address, but apparently Amazon does not do the same when it comes to sales tax.

My guess is heavily outsourced coding on the back end to a nation that has no understanding of implications when an American changes the state of their residence.

[cpamomfromtexas]

5. Sounds like you just found a basis for a class action suit.

[MohRokTah]

6. Only if the whole thing isn't just an anomaly with my account alone.

It's possible that due to some specifics with my account that only I am affected.

The record does go back almost to the beginning of Amazon, after all.