E-commerce sellers ask: Is the new Supreme Court ruling in the Wayfair case really a big victory for consumers and retailers? Is this a defeat for us?

It really depends on what “victory” and “defeat” mean.

Up until now, brick and mortar retailers were claiming that they were at a disadvantage because they needed to charge sales tax while many online sellers do not. While this may be true, most people are not going to stop buying online because they now have to pay sales tax. So it is hard to claim a “victory” for [brick and mortar] retailers.

States were losing a lot of money because online sellers either did not have physical presence nexus in many states or they were just not registering to collect sales tax. The new ruling affects the former issue by making “economic nexus” enough, i.e. merely selling to buyers in the state. The decision does not directly affect the issue of forcing sellers to register for sales tax. Although it will likely be a red flag if most of the sellers on Amazon are collecting sales tax but you are not.

The next question becomes: what enforcement tools do the states have to find and fine foreign (i.e. overseas or not from the state) sellers who do not collect sales tax.

This ruling is not a “defeat” for online sellers but it will likely create more paperwork and headaches for them as well as additional fees for compliance (e.g. sales tax returns). It is possible that more states will pass laws making the marketplaces (Amazon, e-bay, Etsy) collect the sales tax automatically.