You’re scrolling through your emails, maybe half-asleep, and you see it: a notification from PayPal. "SKIMS has sent you a refund."
Wait, what? You haven’t returned anything recently. You haven’t even talked to their customer service in months. You check the amount—it’s usually something small, like $4.51 or $7.48. It’s labeled as a skims sales tax adjustment paypal transaction. Honestly, it looks like a scam at first glance. We’ve all been conditioned to think any "surprise money" in PayPal is a phishing attempt.
But this one is actually legit.
If you’ve been shopping at SKIMS since 2021, you might be one of the thousands of customers who were overcharged for sales tax. The brand has been quietly—and sometimes not so quietly—fixing a massive, multi-year glitch in how their checkout system calculates taxes for specific states.
The Mystery of the $0 Tax That Wasn't
The heart of the problem is basically a disconnect between what you see at checkout and what actually gets pulled from your account.
For years, shoppers in states like New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New York noticed something weird. In New Jersey, for instance, most clothing is sales tax-exempt. You’d get to the final SKIMS checkout page, see your total, and notice the tax line says $0.00. Perfect, right?
Then you hit "Pay with PayPal."
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Suddenly, the transaction processes, and you realize the final amount charged was higher than the order summary. The system essentially "snuck" the tax back in during the handoff to PayPal. Many people didn't even notice it because we tend to trust the "Success" screen. But for those who did, it became a recurring headache.
Why PayPal Users are Seeing These "Adjustments"
So, why is this hitting PayPal specifically? It comes down to how third-party payment gateways talk to e-commerce platforms like Shopify (which SKIMS uses).
When you use a "quick pay" option like PayPal, the payment provider sometimes pulls the tax calculation based on the shipping address stored in your PayPal profile, rather than the one you just typed into the store's site. If there’s a mismatch or if the store’s tax rules aren't synced perfectly with PayPal’s tax engine, you get an overcharge.
The New York $110 Rule
New York is a great example of where this gets messy. In NY, clothing and footwear under $110 are exempt from the 4% state sales tax. However, local city and county taxes might still apply.
SKIMS’ system was reportedly charging the full tax on these items for a long time. Shoppers on Reddit and TikTok started sharing "scripts" on how to email help@skims.com to demand their $5 back. Eventually, the volume of complaints (and likely some behind-the-scenes legal pressure) forced the company to start issuing these mass skims sales tax adjustment paypal refunds.
Is This a Scam or an Audit?
If you got a random credit, it’s likely because SKIMS performed a "back-end audit."
Basically, their accounting team looked at historical orders from tax-exempt states and realized they were holding onto money that legally belonged to the customers (or the government, but they hadn't remitted it correctly). Instead of waiting for you to complain, they are pushing these small "adjustments" back to the original payment method.
- Check the Sender: Real refunds will come from "SKIMS BODY, INC" via PayPal’s official service.
- Check the Amount: It should match the sales tax percentage of a previous order.
- Don't Click Links: If an email asks you to "log in to claim your refund," ignore it. A real PayPal adjustment just appears in your balance automatically.
What to Do If You Haven't Received Your Refund
Not everyone is getting these automatically. If you live in a state like NJ, MA, or NY and you know you’ve been taxed on clothing items that should be exempt, you've gotta be your own advocate.
- Audit Your Own History: Go back through your 2023 and 2024 orders. Look for the "Tax" line.
- Contact Support: Use the live chat on the SKIMS website. It’s way faster than emailing.
- State the Facts: Don't be vague. Say: "I was charged sales tax on Order #12345, but I live in New Jersey where clothing is exempt. I would like a sales tax adjustment."
- Mention PayPal: If you paid via PayPal, specifically mention that the checkout total changed after you were redirected to the PayPal window.
The Bigger Business Picture
It’s easy to think, "It’s just five bucks," but when you’re a brand valued at $4 billion like SKIMS, five bucks multiplied by millions of orders is a massive liability.
Kinda makes you wonder how long they knew about the "bug" before they started fixing it. Some users claim they’ve been reporting this since 2021. For a long time, the customer service response was basically "taxes are estimated at checkout," which is a classic corporate brush-off. The recent wave of automatic refunds suggests that the "estimate" excuse finally ran out of road.
Actionable Steps for SKIMS Shoppers
Going forward, don't just "set it and forget it" with PayPal checkout.
- Watch the "Review Order" Page: After PayPal sends you back to the SKIMS site, look at the final total one last time before hitting "Place Order."
- Use the App: Sometimes the SKIMS app handles tax calculations more accurately than a mobile browser.
- Keep Your Receipts: Save your confirmation emails in a dedicated folder. If a class-action lawsuit ever actually materializes (which people have been whispering about on forums for a year), you’ll need that paper trail.
If you see a skims sales tax adjustment paypal notification today, take it as a win. It’s your money coming back home, even if it took three years and a lot of system glitches to get there.
To ensure you aren't overcharged on future orders, always double-check your PayPal "Preferred Shipping Address" to make sure it matches your current residence exactly, as zip code discrepancies are the most common trigger for these tax errors.