US buyer being charged Australian taxes on eBay US purchase

[2486buffyslay]

I have a friend who lives in Arizona USA who has purchased a CD for me. It's a rare out of print CD that was never available in Australia. I assume he changed the shipping address to my address before checkout so it would be shipped to me rather than to him. However he's informed me he's been charged an Australian Goods & Services Tax (GST) on his purchase even though he's a US buyer buying from a US seller on eBay US!

Clearly eBay have charged him in error as I myself only last year bought an item off eBay AU for a friend in NZ, a DVD that is not available there, and had it shipped to my friend's address in NZ and I was not charged any NZ tax on checkout. Also if I did the reverse for my friend in Arizona I'm sure I would not be charged any Arizona state taxes on checkout.

I sent an email to customerhelp@ebay.com.au on 4 Jan 2021 on behalf of my US friend about him being charged an Australian GST on his purchase, but I've still not received any reply despite being told I should receive a reply within 24 hours. All I've received so far is a useless noreply email from eBay stating that if I need help please check our help pages. Clearly my friend is not happy as he wants this erroneous charge refunded back to him asap.

Actually today I received another email from eBay, but it is nothing more than a copy of the transcript chat I had with eBay's chat system and that was simply to ask how do I contact eBay Australia by phone? and the answer was you can send eBay an email at customerhelp@ebay.com.au

So when can I expect a proper reply from eBay Australia about the issue of my friend being charged a GST? He is not happy and neither am I!

[digital*ghost]

---

@2486buffyslay wrote:

Clearly eBay have charged him in error

---

No, the buyer location is irrelevant in this case, it is 100% based on the delivery address:

"eBay is required to collect GST on orders up to AU $1,000 imported into Australia. If you're buying an item located outside Australia and you select an Australian delivery address, eBay will add GST to the total at checkout. "

[gutterpunkz05]

Two years since your last ill-imformed  post on the subject of GST on low value imports, and you still do not understand how and when it applies.

[2486buffyslay]

Delivery address is irrelevant else I would have been charged NZ taxes when I changed my delivery address to NZ. If you don't believe me I suggest you buy an item off eBay AU right now and have it sent to a NZ address. You'll see you'll only be charged the Australian price of the item and the Australian cost of shipping it to NZ. You will not be charged any NZ taxes, though the recipient in NZ might, but by your reasoning you are saying you would.  

Again buy an item off eBay AU right now and have it sent to a US address or a UK address. I guarentee you will not be charged any US state taxes if shipping to a US address or UK VAT if shipping to a UK address.

Again I am not talking about buying from a US or UK buyer and having them ship to you in Australia, which is what you only seem to see. I am talking about a US buyer buying off eBay US or a UK buyer buying off eBay UK. In both cases they should only be charged any taxes aplicable to their country or in the case of the US their state. They should not be charged taxes from any other country whether it be Australia or whoever.

This is however all irrelevant as I am not directing my matter to you to resolve. It is for eBay to resolve. Whether that be eBay Australia or perhaps it would be better directed at eBay US, but my complaint is with eBay, not you and therefore I am not seeking any answers from you regarding GST. In fact if you read my post I am actually asking when can one expect a reply from eBay's customer help. That is actually my question.

[2486buffyslay]

It is clearly you who do not understand and you certainly do not understand what is being asked in a question. So I will state it again as obviously you missed it.

My question is when can one expect a reply from eBay's customer help as it has been three days now, especially when I was told I should receive a reply within hours!

[digital*ghost]

---

@2486buffyslay wrote:

Delivery address is irrelevant 

---

No it's not, as the direct quote I provided from eBay shows - which in turn is drawn from Australian legislation, not US, UK or NZ legislation, other country's legislation is actually irrelevant here, and I didn't mention any of them at all.

If delivery address was irrelevant, every Aussie with a VPN could skirt the not-so-new GST laws. 

[4channel]

---

@2486buffyslay wrote:

It is clearly you who do not understand and you certainly do not understand what is being asked in a question. So I will state it again as obviously you missed it.

My question is when can one expect a reply from eBay's customer help as it has been three days now, especially when I was told I should receive a reply within hours!

---

For what it's worth I think it's unfair that GST was charged on this. What about if it was a gift and the buyer overseas bought it for a friend or relative in Australia and they wanted it sent direct to there? It would be obscene to have GST charged on the item. Many people buy gifts on line and have the item sent to that someone they have bought it for.

Yeah it has been a bit too long. For the life of me I can't understand why Ebay doesn't at least have some kind of better response. People have gone back to work and call centres are being staffed again on site. Why not eBay?

[repentatleisure1952]

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/GST-when-buying-overseas-a-few-FACTS/td-p/2171248

[lyndal1838]

---

@4channel wrote:

---

Yeah it has been a bit too long. For the life of me I can't understand why Ebay doesn't at least have some kind of better response. People have gone back to work and call centres are being staffed again on site. Why not eBay?

---

People have gone back to work in Australia and call centres are being staffed again.

BUT the ebay call centre is not in Australia.  

Mostly the call centre staff are in the Phillipines or occasionally calls will go direct to the USA.  Both of those countries are in far worse shape than Australia.

I am sure the call centres there are not operating in the same way as those in Australia.

[pancaket52]

To answer your question - How long is a piece of string.

ebay do not read posts on this board - any questions are answered by volunteers who have been with ebay for a long time and keep up to date with any changes.

Lyndal answered your question regarding Call Centres. ebay closed their Call Centres last year and they are still not operational.

emails are only answered by bots.

As you have already found the Chat option then there are no more avenues to follow.