Starbucks Sales-Tax-Free Shopping

Centsible's Sales Tax Free Shopping Series

Starbucks Only Charges Sales Tax For Orders Shipping to California and Ohio

Starbucks offers sales tax savings for anyone who will be delivering their package outside of California or Ohio. All orders shipping to addresses outside of California and Ohio DO NOT have sales tax applied to them. Why is this? Starbucks DEFINITELY has a significant retail presence worldwide. The reason is that starbucks.com is run by cooking.com, which operates out of California. I'm not sure why Ohio is also charged tax, but would assume they have a warehouse in Ohio. Anyone who knows the answer is welcome to comment and share their information!

How much savings does this mean and what are the shipping charges?

Depending on the state you live in, your state sales tax savings are between 1% (Illinois food sales tax) and 5.5% (Tennessee food sales tax).* Standard delivery for Starbucks gifts and coffee depends on the method of shipment requested, your delivery location and the total weight of your order. Starbucks recommends purchasing at least 2 items in order to make the shipping charges worthwhile. After the initial $7.99 shipping fee for orders weighing between 0 and 9 pounds, your shipping charge for standard shipping increases by $5 for every 10 pounds of weight.. Starbucks does offer free shipping promotions from time to time. These free shipping offers apply only to standard shipping delivering within the 48 contiguous United States and cannot be combined with any other offers (they aren't "stackable"). The Centsible opinion is to opt for free shipping if you have the chance, skip the Starbucks store and brew your own at home. Sales tax savings included.

Be sure to check out Centsible's full online review of the Starbucks Online Shopping Experience for full details. For part 3 in the series, tomorrow we'll be reviewing Sierra Trading Post online shopping sales tax breaks.

* Sales tax rate information taken from the FTA State Sales Tax Rates as of January 1, 2008 - http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/sales.html