GST and Ebay Fees not clear - Confused please help clarify

[garthj85]

Hello,

I am confused by the Fees as the Docs are certainly not clear on this matter.

Are they saying there are Ebay fees of 9%  PLUS GST of 10%   ?

So for clarity, if I have sold an item for $325 with Local pickup, and Insertion was Free, what are the Total fees I will be paying ?

thanks

[imastawka]

I'll just take my shoebox to the accountant, shall I?

[ozstockman]

There are a lot of spelling mistakes in my post as I have done it in rush and forgotten to do a spell check. If it is hard to read please let me know and I will rewrite it with a spellchecker.

I cannot see any option to edit it now.

[lyndal1838]

You only have 5 minutes to edit to correct mistakes.

I had no problems reading or understanding the post but then I already knew all the information.  I just thought it was a well set out comprehensive post that covered most of the points that are confusing members.

The only problem I have is with ebay not charging GST if you register your GST registered ABN with them.  I did see it explained but it did not make much sense to me.  But then, I am not a seller so it does not bother me.

[digital*ghost]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

The only problem I have is with ebay not charging GST if you register your GST registered ABN with them.  I did see it explained but it did not make much sense to me.  But then, I am not a seller so it does not bother me.

---

I'm not sure if this will help, but this simplified collection system is available to overseas businesses selling to Australian consumers, and who are required to collect GST, where business to business transactions are exempt, which means they collect GST from consumers but can not claim any input credits, like a normal Aussie business would. 

If they went the other way, where they could reduce the amount owed to the government when they forward the tax collected by claiming input credits, they would have to charge GST to everyone regardless of their status as a business etc. 

Either way, the government would have ended up with the same amount of GST revenue from each sale from GST registered Australian sellers, so the simplified system eBay (and other commerce sites) are using is probably preferable for most, unless the OS business is paying a lot of GST on products and services in Aus. 

[digital*ghost]

.....scrap that middle paragraph, as it's incorrect. 

The first and third are (I think  ) still all good, but the incorrect info makes most of it (except the first part of the third paragraph) irrelevant. 

I feel like I could probably write eye-glazing T&Cs, contracts etc, quite well. 

[lyndal1838]

Digi, thanks for that.  I have seen it explained before but was thinking of it in the context of Australian businesses rather than an overseas business.  It makes a bit more sense now.

I am still giggling at the "new and improved" BAS form that is supposed to save so much time.  I suppose it might be time saving for huge businesses with GST free transactions as well as GST inclusive.  In our case it saved me entering 4 numbers....maybe 10 seconds of my precious time.  lol

[ozstockman]

---

@lyndal1838 wrote:

The only problem I have is with ebay not charging GST if you register your GST registered ABN with them.  I did see it explained but it did not make much sense to me.  But then, I am not a seller so it does not bother me.

---

It is our goverment that has made this excemption in the Netflix tax. They have exepmted businesses registered for GST from paying GST on top of digital services cost to overseas entities. I agree it is weird to make a law with this type of excemption but it is what it is. 

[dazzledayz]

---

@jfmgray wrote:

eBay charges GST on the postage fee.  eBay has clarified that it will not chage GST on eBay postage labels as Australia Post has included GST in the cost. 

---

I started something here didn't I lol.

My original post was more about a gst on a fee (postage) which is actually outside the parameters for a GST.

The GST is a GOODS and SERVICES tax

I've yet to figure out where either of these figure into my postage fees?

Ok - the postage component is a GOOD which I buy from AP via MyPost Business and pay my gst like a good little mushroom.

Now - the SERVICE component:

Yes, eBay charge a fee on postage, but where is the service?

AP provide a service by importing customer address data from eBay, true, but where is the service provided by eBay?

It's not strictly speaking a service to be extorted into making a payment for no service rendered now is it?

This has  always been the argument with ANY fee on postage; eBay has nothing at all to do with it.

The only SERVICE they offer is storage of a customers address data.

The problem with that is that the eBay customer data is meaningless as we are required to use the PayPal address data.

So again, I'll have to ask, where is the GOOD and where is the SERVICE?

(and as a corollary to that; where is the reason for a fee on postage at all?)

That last comment was a bit of a joke as we all respect and understand eBay's need for a better bottom line

So an extra 6 or 7c per small parcel will help the Feds out too I suppose; we're all doing our bit to get the budget sorted

[lyndal1838]

Postage is a Service....the GST component on postage is a GST on a Service.

The GST imposed on the ebay fees is also a GST on a Service.  Ebay is providing a service which allows sellers to list on their site.

[go-tazz]

---

@dazzledayz wrote:

---

@jfmgray wrote:

eBay charges GST on the postage fee.  eBay has clarified that it will not chage GST on eBay postage labels as Australia Post has included GST in the cost. 

---

 I've yet to figure out where either of these figure into my postage fees?

This has  always been the argument with ANY fee on postage; eBay has nothing at all to do with it.

 So again, I'll have to ask, where is the GOOD and where is the SERVICE?

(and as a corollary to that; where is the reason for a fee on postage at all?)

---

eBay charges for the full component of the sale,(item price and postage).

They charge a service fee on the lot and the GST is charged on that,(it's a very simple equation).

It doesn't matter whether anyone believes that they aren't allowed to charge for postage as it's a mute point,(

they can and they do and that wont change any time soon so GST WILL be charged on the fee for postage

that eBay collects from all sellers),