Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

Looks like we are being charged gst on postage as well.  1 stamp is subject to three taxes!   Why are we being forced

to pay gst on ebay's fees?   Shouldn't ebay be paying that?    The Australian Government is hitting the bottom of lthe ine whilst

allowing those at the top to get away with almost paying nothing.     Shame on the Government and ebay for letting them get away with it!    No open transparency from ebay!    

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

Yes I know.  You buy a $1.00 stamp which includes10% gst in the cost.   Ebay charges 10% fee (approx.) on the same stamp

(which I would have thought was not right).   Now the Government seems to be again getting 1/10th gst again on that same $1.00 stamp.   That $1 stamp now is costing  us $1.11 cents.  

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

lyndal1838
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You are not paying GST on postage.

Ebay is now charging GST on their FEES not on the items sold on ebay.   The GST is payable on the FVFs on the item and the postage component and is paid by the end user....in this case the end users are the sellers on ebay.

 

Why are you blaming ebay for the GST....you are lucky that you have not had to pay it for the last 17 years, since GST was first levied.  It is an Australian Government tax, and ebay has no choice but to collect it for the Government now that the Netflix Tax has been introduced.

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

I think what they mean is, if we charge $7.60 for postage, eBay are going to take (roughly) 76c for fees. As that 76c is fees, we are being charged GST on it of (roughly) 7.6c. Then when we go to the PO and pay the $7.60 over the counter, it includes GST, so you are in effect paying GST twice on the postage.....in a roundabout kind of way.

 

I posted 4 parcels the other day which came to $30.40. Included in that was $2.76 GST. EBay also took GST for their fee on that amount, so instead of paying $2.76 GST for those parcels, I've probably paid a bit over 3 bucks.

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

On average I pay $3.00 postage.  In June ebay charged me 30cents (approx. 10%).  From the 1st July ebay charged me 33cents.

I work that out to be 30cents + 3% gst.   Please explain why?   I'd really like to be proven wrong!

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

10% - 30c is ebay's fee on the postage.

 

Ebay have to collect GST on fees for the Government,  so 10% of that is 3c

 

All up, correct at 33c.     But only 10% is GST

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

Yes I know.  You buy a $1.00 stamp which includes10% gst in the cost.   Ebay charges 10% fee (approx.) on the same stamp

(which I would have thought was not right).   Now the Government seems to be again getting 1/10th gst again on that same $1.00 stamp.   That $1 stamp now is costing  us $1.11 cents.  

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

Ebay are charging selling fees on the total price the buyer pays for the items. If they weren't charging fees on the postage component of the sale they'd increase their fees on the item price so it all averages out, except that sellers who use letterpost have an advantage over sellers who use parcel post.
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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

The stamp is not costing you $1.11.

Ebay charges you a FVF on the postage cost of $1.00.....10cents.   The GST you are paying to ebay is 10% of that 10cents....less than one cent.

Neither of these costs are being added to the price of the stamp.  One is the cost of doing business on ebay, the other is a tax imposed by the Australian Government on sellers using ebay or any other online selling platform.

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

End of the day Australia is near broke they need all the money they can get. With a weak Australian dollar I needed a part from overseas $149 US by the time it reaches me it's just under 300 Australian including GST. I contacted the company directly by phone and was able to get a better deal. Try contacting them you might be suprised.

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Re: Looks like there is gst on postage as well? 1 stamp =3 taxes! Why we pay ebay's fees?

The thread is a year old.

 

The OP was querying GST on Australian items, specifically eBay seller fees.

 

The OP is a seller (hence this thread appearing on the 'selling' board), so probably doesn't really care about GST on imports, or how to get around it.

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