2019’s New Internet Sales Tax Laws greatly impacted many world-famous online retailers, including Blue Nile. If you’re wondering how the new sales tax regulation will affect your engagement ring purchase, you’re in the right place.
Most Blue Nile customers used to benefit remarkably from the lack of sales tax imposed on most states. Previously, the famous diamond retailer would only charge sales tax for purchases made from Virginia, New York, and Washington State. However, with the new internet sales tax, that list now includes other 41 states.
The sales tax gets determined depending on the order placement location instead of the store location. The brand primarily operates as an online luxury jewelry retailer, different from most offline businesses that only operate on their physical brick and mortar locations. So, if you’re shipping your Blue Nile engagement or wedding ring to any of these 44 states, you can expect that you’ll be paying the sales tax.
Wondering how to calculate the sales tax charged on your ring and if there’s any way to avoid paying the taxes? All your Blue Nile sales tax questions get answered below.
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What States Does Blue Nile Charge Sales Tax?
As mentioned above, Blue Nile’s sales tax charges will depend on the state where you are located or where you want to ship the jewelry. Previously, it only collects internet sales tax for purchases from and to Washington State residents, where its headquarters is located. Moreover, if you are from New York and Virginia, where the brand has a web room, you’ll also have to pay for the tax.
However, the new online sales tax approved by the Supreme Court in 2019 required e-retailers to collect sales taxes from purchases, even in states where they don’t currently have a physical brick-and-mortar store. The ruling added to the brand’s list of states where it needs to charge internet sales tax, including in:
- Oklahoma,
- Mississippi,
- Maine,
- and Hawaii.
All these four states already passed the economic nexus laws that necessitate e-retailers to charge sales taxes.
Besides the first seven states mentioned, the luxury diamond retailer also now collects sales tax if you are from:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- North and South Carolina
- North and South Dakota
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Washington DC
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
In total, the online diamond retailer now charges sales tax for purchases from 44 different US states.
How Do You Avoid Sales Tax on Blue Nile?
While you can benefit from buying the best engagement and wedding rings from the brand previously without worrying about sales tax, the times have changed. Unfortunately, most customers now have to pay the taxes, but you can still possibly avoid paying the extra price on a most-prized diamond ring.
While purchases made from all 44 states mentioned above requires paying internet sales tax, the regulation doesn’t cover all states in the US. So one easy way to avoid paying the cost of sales taxes when buying a diamond ring from the online store is if you live in the states not mentioned above. Although the list of states that requires the brand to collect taxes constantly changes, it still doesn’t collect sales tax if you are from:
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Florida
- Missouri
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
If you reside in any of the states listed, you’ll be saved from paying the sales tax for your jewelry purchase. However, if not, although it’s possible to avoid the cost of paying taxes, you might need some careful planning on how you want your item shipped to your address.
For one, if you have a family member or friends living in any of these states, you can get your diamond ring shipped to their address instead of yours. You can then ask them to ship the item back to you once they received it. Another option is to set up and pay for a temporary mailbox in any state listed above, then have the jewelry shipped to your address once it arrived at the mailbox.
These tips might sound good to you for the savings you can get from avoiding the taxes. However, you also have to consider the cost of the second shipping plus how much it costs to set up a temporary mailbox address.
Lastly, a couple of services let you order online and pay them to ship it to your address. However, many of these services were proven fraudulent, which is not something you want to trust handling your precious diamond ring.
Although you can skirt around the laws to avoid paying for the extra couple of dollars on sales tax, it’s also important to check Blue Nile’s sales tax section. The regulations on internet sales tax are always going to change, and while this information is accurate at this point, it might change anytime in the future.
How to Calculate Sales Tax on Blue Nile Rings?
If you want to know how much you have to pay for sales taxes on your engagement ring, it’s simple to calculate. Multiply the total cost of your ring purchase by the tax rate, and you’ll get the tax cost.
However, it’s important to remember that tax rates differ depending on which state you live in. During checkout for your engagement or wedding ring, you’ll be charged the appropriate sales tax depending on the zip code you entered on the shipping information.
For instance, if you’re going to ship the ring to an address in Georgia, it will give you a sales tax estimate of 4%. That means if you’re buying a $1,500 engagement ring, you’ll have to pay the cost of $60 for taxes. Meanwhile, if you entered the zip code for Alaska in the shipping info, which is 99501 through 99524, the estimated sales tax will be 0%.
Is Blue Nile Cheaper Than Retail?
Blue Nile is one of the world’s biggest online diamond retailers, a must-stop destination if you are engagement ring shopping online or in brick-and-mortar stores. They have a huge selection of high-quality diamonds that even high-end stores can’t necessarily compete with. But that isn’t the only advantage of getting the ring of your dreams from the brand. Their engagement and wedding rings are also a lot cheaper than nearly every other diamond retailer. Only a handful of other online diamond resellers can compete with its price, but not even by much.
However, if you think that the brand offers cheap quality diamonds because it offers them affordable prices, you’ve got it wrong. The online store only sells high-quality diamonds, and the only reason why their rings are cheaper than most retailers is that they don’t own the bulk of their ring and diamond inventory.
The brand partners with a wide range of diamond suppliers and feature their products on the site. Essentially, Blue Nile does business in a consignment operation. Hence, it offers far better diamonds in a wide range of designs, styles, and sizes at affordable prices.
Another reason why you pay less for their diamond rings is because of the brand’s exclusive arrangements with some suppliers. It creates stability between their partnership, so there’s less risk of not having enough supply to offer its customers online. Ultimately, the certainty in how they do business benefits you with better prices on their quality diamond rings.
