July 1st No more overseas purchases allowed ????

[hotrodvideo]

Did I hear this right ?...... As reported on 3AW radio this aftternoon , an  Ebay representitive said they will block  Australian buyers from purchasing overseas so that eBay will not have to collect the 10% GST for the Australian government as of July 1st

[lyndal1838]

It is only a possible scenario.....just ebay scaremongering at present.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

---

@hotrodvideo wrote:

Did I hear this right ?...... As reported on 3AW radio this aftternoon , an  Ebay representitive said they will block  Australian buyers from purchasing overseas so that eBay will not have to collect the 10% GST for the Australian government as of July 1st

---

OMG . . . . . that will spell the end of these boards!

Imagine a future with no more threads about Chinese sellers and cheap junk sellers stringing along buyers beyond claim periods, no more threads about USA/UK sellers who use the GSP, no more complaints about UK sellers taking their time to send rodent snacks pet food.

What will I do with my time?

[collect247]

You will have to purchase local and complain about local issues

[hus2385]

If this came to pass, there's a whole lot of stuff that can't be purchased locally...would be a real shame for consumers. Although how many of us buy from sellers with an annual min $75,000 turnover who would be subject to collecting the GST? Seems like a rather indiscriminate bludgeon just for that number. 

Can the mooted local Amazon site be too far away? 

But yeah. Just goes to show what an insignificant market Australia is for ebay, doesn't it lol 

[lyndal1838]

I think the question is how many overseas sellers sell $75,000 worth of goods to Australia....that is the criteria that has to be followed, not how much gross turnover they have.

Ebay is just determined to find a way out of there being any possibility that they may be required to do anything about it.

To me this who thing is an ebay tantrum and they are reacting the only way they know how....a knee jerk reaction to spark fear into members.

[hus2385]

Apologies lyndal you're spot-on, I didn't word that very well lol

Absolutely its ebay trying to wriggle out of having to comply, but what doesn't make sense is that technically ebay isn't the "seller' at all, but merely the facilitator between two parties...wonder if commercial lawyers would have an opinion on that. 

[glenbankloel]

Whilst we do think that the writing is on the wall for Ebay and other entities to start paying their fair share of GST, this is just the beginning for Oz, and there will be some other countries that will start to get interested too.

Think this has been a long time coming and is now gaining momentum, good old Gerry, but nothing has been decided yet as the govt is listening to submissions, so this is really Ebay waving a big stick and beating their chest, so we shouldn't react yet.

Personally think they should be paying tax/vat/gst in whatever country they run a business in. 

(2c)   

[hotrodvideo]

Have you noticed that when you monthly account is paid it ends up in a Swiss bank account. , which looks like another tax avoidance scheme 

[springyzone]

---

@hotrodvideo wrote:

Did I hear this right ?...... As reported on 3AW radio this aftternoon , an  Ebay representitive said they will block  Australian buyers from purchasing overseas so that eBay will not have to collect the 10% GST for the Australian government as of July 1st

---

Now that would be interesting.

I suppose on the bright side, if overseas sellers are blocked from advertising on Australian ebay, it would give local sellers a bit of a boost in visibility and from a buyer's point of view, I wouldn't care if some of the Chinese ads disappeared.

Will it make me buy more from ebay though? Nope, not at all.

I don't buy much from overseas on ebay anyway but I like to have some options. There's still always aliexpress I suppose.

I would have thought if ebay could block overseas purchases, they could easily implement a computer program that just added 10% to overseas purchases and that could go into an ebay GST account. I guess it may mean only buy it now/instant payment purchases from overseas could be shown though.

I can see why ebay wouldn't fancy the extra work. Not sure why the govt is doing it this way, surely it would be easier to just have GST kick in above a certain level eg over $200.