BEWARE of Global shipping program

[mark007bar]

This must be the biggest profit making rip off eBay invented. EBay decided that they can rename Australian government 10% GST to import charge so they can double triple or even quadruple it for the benefit of eBay shareholders extra dividends and you will in reality pay in return for the privilege of indemnifying the crooked sellers. EBay stating in “Global Shipping Program” information for the sellers “You're protected from negative / neutral feedback,” so forget eBay principle of protecting buyers from dishonest sellers.

[mark007bar]

How hard is for you to understand that shipping is only part of the whole purchase price. You pay 10% GST on shipping and 10% GST on the item price. This two GST together with cost of item and shipping charge form a total price payed by you on ebay website. So if you pay on ebay then ebay is responsible for collecting GST and displaying both shipping GST and item GST usually as one on your invoice this is the ATO regulation. The GST figure is not displayed / missing on ebay invoice if you use Global shipping program only what you will get is some sort of concoct import charges that IT IS NOT A GST “Goods and Services Tax”. To my knowledge Ebay does not redirect anyone to the shipping company website to finalise the payment if it did then YES the shipping company is obligated to collect and display the GST on the invoice as they are the entity finalising the sale.

[mark007bar]

So because you used ebay few thousand times make you an Australian Taxation expert you may actually listen to 40 years of tax accounting expert 

[mark007bar]

Looks like you insist that I need to believe some self-proclaimed GST experts on ebay discussion board just because they on ebay for few years and totally disregard ATO regulations and real tax professional’s expertise?

I’m giving you details of actual ebay items side by side

First item sold by seller directly on ebay from USA

Tax receipt

item price          - US $12.88

postage              - US $15.88

GST                     - US $2.88

GST collected by ebay and if the item is part of your business expenditure GST can be legally offset in your quarterly GST return, perfectly legal and ebay fulfil its ATO obligation.

Second item sold by seller directly on ebay from USA but shipped by GSP

Tax receipt

item price          - US $78.99

Shipping GSP    - US $25.51

import charges - US $15.28

GST amount is not listed and import charges are NOT a GST. As ebay is 75k+ company and the item value is over AU $82.50 ebay MUST!! indicate GST amount on the invoice. Now imagine if this was lollypop for your own private consumption the invoice doesn’t make any difference except bitter aftertaste of rip-off but if the lollypop was for resale no GST figure so NO allowable GST deduction. To make it very simple the business will lose 10%. Other bad alternative will be committing an offence against ATO regulation if the business uses import charges or some sort of trump up dollar figure and use it to deduct from GST return. To make clear it for you all so call experts, Ebay doesn’t follow ATO regulation they just offload the GST collecting responsibility to subcontracting shipping company and as the GSP is not the selling entity they have no obligation to forward unknown GST charge to Australian taxation office instead they can pocket it and you will have no way of knowing where your hard earned dollars for the import charge will end, may be like a chain of less than 750000$ subcontractors offloading to other <75K sub then again and again and none of them will forward your GST to Australian Government because they have no obligation to be GST registered. You may as well subside the GPS owners new Ferrari.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

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@mark007bar wrote:

You be assured right on Monday I will attempt to inform ATO of this type of activities happening on ebay.

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Be sure to let us know how it goes. I for one am very interested. 

[*sons_and_daughters*]

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@sandypebbles wrote:

Too busy hoping to revenge buy and listening to the Channel4 News, obviously 

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It seems the Channel4 news may have gone off air indefinitely. I haven't been able to watch it for several months. Possibly the staff all had bad reactions to the Covid vax (I know I did after my booster on Thursday!). Plus, I heard they put a 5G tower near the studio.

[kh-jean]

Hi everyone,

This discussion has gotten a bit heated. Please remember that, while it is fine to disagree with others, discussion should always remain friendly and respectful as required by the Rules of Engagement.

Thank you for your cooperation.

[davewil1964]

This has been done to death since the legislation was introduced.

Guess what? It's still happening.

Maybe your alleged 40 years of tax accountancy needs to forget the 20+ year old stuff that no longer applies and spend some time making itself aware of what CURRENTLY applies.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

Something that has failed to be mentioned in this thread is, GSP was never meant for low weight items. They even said that on their website (not sure if it's still there). It was meant for larger, heavier items. Which is why, you might see a pair of earrings with a postage cost of $US150.

If you buy a large heavy item, for example, 4 tyres (not sure why you would, but just an example), it might cost you $500 postage via USPS. Sending via GSP might be closer to $200. For heavy, large, bulky items, it's actually the best way to go. By far. I know, I've done it. I checked the cost via USPS and my item was going to be $US160 to send. Via GSP it was $US69.

I can't remember if it has been mentioned, and I'm not going back through all the messages to check, but if postage looks outrageous, send the seller a polite message, telling them you really want to buy their item, but the postage is horrendous. Ask nicely if  they would consider editing their listing to include the weight and dimensions of the packed item. You'll find it's only a few bucks more for a small item that can go as First Class International. Once you get over the cut off weight, the USPS rate goes up quite significantly.

[papermoon.lady]

True. Many sellers were opted in automatically, so they didn't know about weight and dimensions. By now they should, but if they don't, a polite message is the way to go if they don't specifically state in their description that they only use GSP. Some sellers will help.

Just recently I bought something small sent with First Class and paid US $ 1.54. Postage for two items was considerably more though, so I contacted the seller, who said he/she didn't know why, so they would send me 2 for the price of 1. The item is moving quickly.

[papermoon.lady]

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@papermoon.lady wrote:

Just recently I bought something small sent with First Class and paid US $ 1.54. Postage for two items was considerably more though, so I contacted the seller, who said he/she didn't know why, so they would send me 2 for the price of 1. The item is moving quickly.

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And... I bought some small items from the UK exactly a week ago. I paid about $11 for Royal Mail for several items (combined postage). Today I checked the tracking (fully trackable on the AusPost site) and I could not believe the item is already in transit to my local depot/post office, so it will probably arrive on Monday, Tuesday at the latest.