Dover Saddlery

[Janet_Nittmann]

[QUOTE=paintlady;5513653]
Interesting. Consider yourself lucky then. I’ve always been charged sales tax on online orders from Dover and any other retailer that has a store in VA. When I used to work in DC, I had online orders shipped to my work address to avoid the sales tax. My office is now in VA, so I can’t get away with that anymore. :([/QUOTE]

For clarification - Dover Saddlery customers who shop direct (online or through our catalogs) do not pay sales taxes, except for those with shipping addresses in -Massachusetts.- we do have to charge sales tax for shipments to addresses within our home state. (Dover Saddlery is based in Littleton, Massachusetts). Please send me a private message if you have a particular issue or situation that I should look into - many thanks

[paintlady]

[QUOTE=Janet Nittmann;5514393]
For clarification - Dover Saddlery customers who shop direct (online or through our catalogs) do not pay sales taxes, except for those with shipping addresses in -Massachusetts.- we do have to charge sales tax for shipments to addresses within our home state. (Dover Saddlery is based in Littleton, Massachusetts). Please send me a private message if you have a particular issue or situation that I should look into - many thanks[/QUOTE]

Thanks Janet. That is interesting since it’s not the case for other retailers. For example, I get charged sales tax on online orders through LL Bean even though their “home” store is in Maine.

Now that I have a Dover store 15 minutes away (Chantilly, VA), the only orders I’ve placed have been through the store to save on the high online/catalog shipping costs. I do get charged sales tax on those orders. It’s been years since I’ve actually had a Dover order shipped to my home address.

I do wish you’d send me your sales catalogs though. Apparently, I got “dropped” from your mail list - perhpas since I no longer place online/catalog orders. I still want the catalog though so I can browse and get the sale price through the store. I have a friend who works at the Chantilly store that said she’d check on this for me.

[RugBug]

@DMK;5513648

OK, I’ll bite! Credit card transaction fees from the perspective of the business owner are a significant cost impact - greater than debit/cash/check transactions (and probably paypal), so every time you use a credit card (even if you responsibly pay it off without you incurring finance charges) you are increasing the business overhead (which in turn leads to increased prices). Not that Dover the store is worried about Dover card transaction fees (although I am reasonably sure the card manager/bank has only negotiated reduced fees, not zero fees), but my guess is Dover is trying to make money on external transaction fees while promoting easier purchasing power.

Well, at least is a valid argument, although a thin one.

@DMK;5513648

Hey, nothing wrong with making a buck, but in looking at the entire picture, it would rub me wrong to use a credit card instead of a debit card

In my experience, the safety of using a credit card for online purchases far outweighs any reason to use a debit card. Credit card number stolen? Not so big a deal (as long as you have that protection, which most cards do these days). Debit card number stolen? World of hurt as they have access to any accounts and you don’t necessarily have the protection that the credit cards do. If your account has the protection, well, it’s not an issue.

[quote=paintlady;5514458]Thanks Janet. That is interesting since it’s not the case for other retailers. For example, I get charged sales tax on online orders through LL Bean even though their “home” store is in Maine…
[/quote]

The part your missing is that Maine has sales tax, Massachusetts does not. THAT is why you don’t pay sales tax for Dover purchases. NOT because you placed them online.

[trubandloki]

@Rugbug

The part your missing is that Maine has sales tax, Massachusetts does not. THAT is why you don’t pay sales tax for Dover purchases. NOT because you placed them online.

I have only had to pay sales tax when buying from LL Bean since they opened a store in my state. I pay NY sales tax rate, not Maine’s.

[DMK]

well to be fair, I’m not sure I would use a debit card without adequate protection at my local gas station, never mind online. Identity thefts occur everywhere, not just when you click on a link.

as for the bit about credit card transaction fees being a thin (albeit valid ) argument, let’s just say I know a tack show owner who would be howling in disagreement. It’s a significant hit to the bottom line that already shows up in the pricing. It’s also likely to be your typical small business owner (aka most tack stores) that is in no position to negotiate on these fees, or even let a consumer know how much it is costing them (supposedly even WalMart was hard pressed to reach a favorable negotiation point in this area - and WalMart is its own viable economy). And then on top of visa/MC’s interchange fees, the bank may (will) have it’s own processing fee on top. It’s a “not thin” enough of an issue to other countries that the EU reached a settlement agreement with MC after the threat of antitrust suit, and a host of non EU countries with, one presumes, less negotiating power than the EU or WalMart have picked up the anti-trust gauntlet. So I don’t know if I can think of it as a thin argument, but maybe one that 'Merkans aren’t really hip to just yet.

[MintHillFarm]

UPS seems the most reliable. LL Bean items seem to arrive to NY in a day or so.

[kgro632]

[QUOTE=Janet Nittmann;5514393]
For clarification - Dover Saddlery customers who shop direct (online or through our catalogs) do not pay sales taxes, except for those with shipping addresses in -Massachusetts.- we do have to charge sales tax for shipments to addresses within our home state. (Dover Saddlery is based in Littleton, Massachusetts). Please send me a private message if you have a particular issue or situation that I should look into - many thanks[/QUOTE]

Ah ha!

See, sales tax and shipping at lease in TX are about equal!! I save the gas money and buy online!

[Janet_Nittmann]

[QUOTE=paintlady;5514458]
Thanks Janet. That is interesting since it’s not the case for other retailers. For example, I get charged sales tax on online orders through LL Bean even though their “home” store is in Maine.

Now that I have a Dover store 15 minutes away (Chantilly, VA), the only orders I’ve placed have been through the store to save on the high online/catalog shipping costs. I do get charged sales tax on those orders. It’s been years since I’ve actually had a Dover order shipped to my home address.

I do wish you’d send me your sales catalogs though. Apparently, I got “dropped” from your mail list - perhpas since I no longer place online/catalog orders. I still want the catalog though so I can browse and get the sale price through the store. I have a friend who works at the Chantilly store that said she’d check on this for me.[/QUOTE]

You can request a Dover Saddlery catalog at our website, DoverSaddlery.com or please send an email with your name and address to customerservice@doversaddlery.com and it would be our pleasure to mail you the latest catalog.

[Coreene]

@mg;5513912

Not to hijack, but really? I just looked this up and couldn’t find anything. I know LLBean announced permanent free shipping with no minimum order value just this past Friday. No doubting, just wondering if I’m looking in the wrong place!

Blonde moment. Got my L’s mixed up, I meant Bean.

[Coreene]

@mg;5513912

Not to hijack, but really? I just looked this up and couldn’t find anything. I know LLBean announced permanent free shipping with no minimum order value just this past Friday. No doubting, just wondering if I’m looking in the wrong place!

Sorry, meant LL Bean.

[Coreene]

@trubandloki;5514538

I have only had to pay sales tax when buying from LL Bean since they opened a store in my state. I pay NY sales tax rate, not Maine’s.

I am trying to find where I posted what you quoted as being said by me about sales tax, and I do not see this anywhere. I have no idea which states do and do not have sales tax, and I do not recall posting this.

[wanderlust]

[QUOTE=RugBug;5514528]
The part your missing is that Maine has sales tax, Massachusetts does not. THAT is why you don’t pay sales tax for Dover purchases. NOT because you placed them online.[/QUOTE] Huh? Massachusetts most certainly has sales tax. Exceptions are if you “eat it or wear it”, it is tax free. There are, of course, exceptions to those exceptions.

Generally, if there is a brick and mortar store in the state to which you are shipping an online order (or if it is strictly an e-tailer, where the headquarters are located), you pay that state’s sales tax on the order. Not sure how Dover gets around that, but it is how almost all online retailers handle sales tax.

[Starhouse]

[QUOTE=wanderlust;5515109]
Huh? Massachusetts most certainly has sales tax. Exceptions are if you “eat it or wear it”, it is tax free. There are, of course, exceptions to those exceptions.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, it’s called Taxachusetts for a reason!

[RugBug]

@DMK;5514565

as for the bit about credit card transaction fees being a thin (albeit valid ) argument, let’s just say I know a tack show owner who would be howling in disagreement. It’s a significant hit to the bottom line that already shows up in the pricing. It’s also likely to be your typical small business owner (aka most tack stores) that is in no position to negotiate on these fees,

Oh, I agree that it’s not a thin argument for the small business owner. But Dover’s not really a small business.

[quote=wanderlust;5515109]Huh? Massachusetts most certainly has sales tax. Exceptions are if you “eat it or wear it”, it is tax free. There are, of course, exceptions to those exceptions.

Generally, if there is a brick and mortar store in the state to which you are shipping an online order (or if it is strictly an e-tailer, where the headquarters are located), you pay that state’s sales tax on the order. Not sure how Dover gets around that, but it is how almost all online retailers handle sales tax.
[/quote]

color me confused and (partially) educated. Coulda sworn I did some searching years ago on the topic and that was the answer I found. Musta been from Wikipedia. :lol:

Wonder why it is that I pay sales tax through some online retailers (without stores in my state) and others I don’t.

[wanderlust]

[QUOTE=RugBug;5515233]

color me confused and (partially) educated. Coulda sworn I did some searching years ago on the topic and that was the answer I found. Musta been from Wikipedia. :lol:

Wonder why it is that I pay sales tax through some online retailers (without stores in my state) and others I don’t.[/QUOTE] My understanding is that the online sales tax payment issue is somewhat legally ambiguous, and the current system most use is based on their best interpretation of the law. So, some online retailers take a “scorched earth” approach to the sales tax issue- they basically charge everyone so they and their customers are covered in case a state tax board decides they are going to challenge the status quo and go after a company for non-payment of sales tax. Which seems more and more likely given then current revenue problem state governments find themselves in.

[trubandloki]

@Coreene;5514737

I am trying to find where I posted what you quoted as being said by me about sales tax, and I do not see this anywhere. I have no idea which states do and do not have sales tax, and I do not recall posting this.

Sorry. Not sure how that happened. I did not edit it. I must have deleted a quote and messed up the top line. I have edited it now to be accurate.

[The_Crone_of_Cottonmouth_Count]

The thing that people sometimes overlook when going for free shipping is that it isn’t, in the strictest sense, “free.” Somebody’s gotta pay FedEx, and I reveal no secrets when I say that it’s ultimately the consumer who foots the bill, in some way or another. Especially now that fuel prices are enbiggening so much. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, as Pop used to say.

That said, I recently spent 20 minutes back-and-forthing between the Dover and SmartPak websites, trying to figure out the best deal on a pair of those bizarro new tennis-shoe-lookin’ Ariat tall boots (who can resist a boot with “intake vents”?). The retail price was the same at both stores, but SmartPak’s shipping was $7.95, while Dover wanted a whopping $25.95. Yipes! On items where all other variables are equal, I’ll enjoy the cheap SmartPak shipping while it lasts.

On a purely aesthetic note: compared to the SmartPak website, Dover is slow, unattractive, and outdated.

[mg]

[QUOTE=The Crone of Cottonmouth County;5516130]
On a purely aesthetic note: compared to the SmartPak website, Dover is slow, unattractive, and outdated.[/QUOTE]

I will definitely give you that one! I HATE shopping the Dover site. It’s clunky, unattractive, and difficult to shop. My job is working on web content for a retailer with an award-winning website, so I’m not website stupid either. SmartPak, on the other hand, is a great website. I’m such a web-retail geek now that I get really excited/jealous when they launch new web features!

[horsepoor]

@The Crone of Cottonmouth County;5516130

On a purely aesthetic note: compared to the SmartPak website, Dover is slow, unattractive, and outdated.

Agreed. It is such a little thing, but what drives me crazy is not being able to open stuff up in multiple tabs and compare. I use Firefox, and I like to right click, open in new tab on different items and some vendor sites allow you to do this but Dover does not and it drives me crazy.

[amastrike]

[QUOTE=horsepoor;5516299]
Agreed. It is such a little thing, but what drives me crazy is not being able to open stuff up in multiple tabs and compare. I use Firefox, and I like to right click, open in new tab on different items and some vendor sites allow you to do this but Dover does not and it drives me crazy.[/QUOTE]

I don’t think it’s a little thing at all. You can open stuff in different tabs on Dover, but it’s a pain… You have to click on the link, hold it down, and drag it to the tab bar. It’ll open up a new tab when you do that. I find Dover’s site very hard to navigate.