Australian Gst on imported goods is 5% not 10%

[elderbluedragon]

I thought i would check the gst implementation out on some items i had in my cart and it looks like its 5%  and not 10%   🙂

12.19am  01/07/18

and there is no GST on postage which is good

here is a copy and paste of 3 items 2 are Euro $ and 1 is US $

my post code has been editied

label value Items (3) AU $245.94

Postage to ( my location ) AU $60.48

GST AU $13.75    

Total AU $320.16

hope it stays this way

5% i can handle

10% is too much on items under $1000 

[lyndal1838]

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@papermoon.lady wrote:

They are mostly private persons who sell personal items to get rid of them because of lack of space for example or because they need some extra cash. They are usually not GST-registered sellers (people usually also pay in cash at markets anyway). I have found super bargains at such markets sometimes. OP shops are another story and yes, GST usually appears on their receipts.

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Yes, I understand that but more and more these days businesses are choosing to sell at these weekend markets.  And they would have to include GST if it is applicable.   Cash transactions also have to be taken into account for GST purposes if the seller is registered.

OP shops are treated like any other business although there are GST exemptions for some charities I believe.

[digital*ghost]

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@papermoon.lady wrote:

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@tangledstitches wrote:

etsy has been showing that for well over a year now.  They didn't bring that in for this particular tax.

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You are right. Wow, what a mess! I checked the same item in TOR browser to avoid location detection and it showed a certain amount in USD, then I went back to Firefox and changed the default currency in my Etsy account to USD. It then showed exactly the same amount as in TOR browser, which means GST had not been applied as indicated.

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I suspect Etsy may be working on US time, and the GST will begin to show once midnight ticks over their time, as while they haven't made an official announcement with regards to what they're doing, they have also indicated they would not be following suit with Amazon and blocking sales. (Source: https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/641843/etsy-ebay-alibaba-eschew-amazon-style-geoblock/ )

The "GST included" thing was just designed to make things clearer to buyers, but it doesn't really do that overall, because when an Aussie buyer looks at my items listed there, that's what they see, but when someone in the EU looks at the same item, it switches to say "VAT included, where applicable", which is just plain misleading because the only VAT applicable to my items is payable upon entry into their country, before delivery. 

[brerrabbit585]

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@scootaolle wrote:
typical arrogance of ebay.anyone see any notices from ebay as to the gst changes? treating everyone like ''mushrooms''again.my checks are very varied some items for sale have what the gst would be,other showing nothing.wouldn't it be great for buyers if another''ebay'' started up to keep the ''**bleep**s honest'' aint gunna happen ,ebay would buy em out to preserve their monopoly.

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If you want to hide under a mushroom and not read the emails they send out about these things then you can't complain when you don't know what's happening.

[malvineous]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

How do you expect the GST to be shown on an overseas seller's items before they are sold?  No-one knows what country the buyer is going to be in.  As soon as you purchase the GST has been added to the one imported item.

Just to put this in perspective.....this GST push is on IMPORTED items, not on items from Australian sellers.

[...]
 

As I have said....this GST is on imported items, not items from Australian sellers.

It looks to me as though ebay has got it correct....they are applying the GST to overseas items only.

If the Aussie seller is liable for GST then that is between them and the ATO, nothing to do with ebay.

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Well, eBay have localised websites for many countries around the world.  ebay.com.au shows items in Australian dollars, ebay.co.uk shows the same items in British pounds, and so on.  If they made ebay.com.au add the 10% for international items then anyone buying through ebay.com.au would pay GST, just as you'd expect anyone ordering through ebay.co.uk to pay the UK's equivalent tax, the VAT.  It seems like a relatively easy change to add 10% to the listing price for international items appearing on ebay.com.au, and leave local items unchanged.

The problem I have is that the way it is now makes sorting by price much harder.  If you are looking for the cheapest item, you will be comparing GST-exclusive prices from China with GST-inclusive prices from Australia, making all the Australian sellers seem more expensive when in fact they might be cheaper once you take the extra GST charge for China into account.  It would be better if all the prices were either GST inclusive or exclusive, rather than a random mix between the two, so that you could directly compare prices from all sellers.

[elderbluedragon]

Yeah that a point  i made in another similar post that we are now paying extra on items that some retailers dont even stock in australia becuase they cant make enough profit over other items.

Brick and Mortar stores can only supply so many items due to physical space ,  but there are 10000 times more items available.

That was and is where online selling is enviromentally better system.  if can even sell from supplier to customer and no need to build massive ugly buildings 

Yeah i do and always have ,  now i have to learn chinese so i can read some of these other GST free sites  😄

[brerrabbit585]

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@malvineous wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

How do you expect the GST to be shown on an overseas seller's items before they are sold?  No-one knows what country the buyer is going to be in.  As soon as you purchase the GST has been added to the one imported item.

Just to put this in perspective.....this GST push is on IMPORTED items, not on items from Australian sellers.

[...]
 

As I have said....this GST is on imported items, not items from Australian sellers.

It looks to me as though ebay has got it correct....they are applying the GST to overseas items only.

If the Aussie seller is liable for GST then that is between them and the ATO, nothing to do with ebay.

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Well, eBay have localised websites for many countries around the world.  ebay.com.au shows items in Australian dollars, ebay.co.uk shows the same items in British pounds, and so on.  If they made ebay.com.au add the 10% for international items then anyone buying through ebay.com.au would pay GST, just as you'd expect anyone ordering through ebay.co.uk to pay the UK's equivalent tax, the VAT.  It seems like a relatively easy change to add 10% to the listing price for international items appearing on ebay.com.au, and leave local items unchanged.

The problem I have is that the way it is now makes sorting by price much harder.  If you are looking for the cheapest item, you will be comparing GST-exclusive prices from China with GST-inclusive prices from Australia, making all the Australian sellers seem more expensive when in fact they might be cheaper once you take the extra GST charge for China into account.  It would be better if all the prices were either GST inclusive or exclusive, rather than a random mix between the two, so that you could directly compare prices from all sellers.

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Ebay knows what country we're registered in so it should be easy enough to show the GST-inclusive price to an Aussie signed in on any of their websites.  

[elderbluedragon]

how could ebay know the sales of any company just because they do sell on ebay .  the data is not accurate and does not include sales from other methods.

its not policable this way...

[elderbluedragon]

No he would have tax included in the listing on personal web page but just not double taxed like lots of items will be now on ebay

IE paying  GST / vat tax for 2 countries

[elderbluedragon]

you are rude again.    lyndal 1838

he means that the price in the listing already has the gst included.

When GST was introduced it was Law to include GST in the price , but many sellers list and say $ + gst to have a cheaper listed pricce by trickery.

Policing on this has gone by the wind these days

ebay does not have to system in place to do this  currently and i doubt they will ever

[papermoon.lady]

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@malvineous wrote:

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Well, eBay have localised websites for many countries around the world.  ebay.com.au shows items in Australian dollars, ebay.co.uk shows the same items in British pounds, and so on.  If they made ebay.com.au add the 10% for international items then anyone buying through ebay.com.au would pay GST, just as you'd expect anyone ordering through ebay.co.uk to pay the UK's equivalent tax, the VAT.  It seems like a relatively easy change to add 10% to the listing price for international items appearing on ebay.com.au, and leave local items unchanged.

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Yes, they had originally said (see 4th post here) that "If you have products located outside Australia, your prices may appear 10% higher to buyers than before if their ship-to location delivery address is in Australia".