EBAY is wrongly charging GST ON postage,GST only applies to the item price and not postage

[ambler57]

Be aware ebay is wrongfully charging 10% GST on the  postage cost at checkout when buying from an international seller when buying on ebay Australia.GST should only apply to the item and NOT the postage costs 

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@4channel wrote:

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@c_mount wrote:
If they could add GST to the GST, these government scammers would...

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I 100% agree.

Also, I can see the day c_mount that one brother buying a lawnmover from his older brother who has now moved to a unit complex will have to pay GSTon that transaction.

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would that be worzel buying from c_mount or c_mount buying from worzel? Or, would b4 be involved?

Spoiler

maybe b4 would sell the lawnmower to c_mount on behalf of worzel!

Spoiler

and then come here whinging and whining about it

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

If the brother who is selling the lawnmower is a registered business with a turnover of $75000 in a year then you are right.....the other brother will indeed pay GST.

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lyndal1838 , you know exactly what I am talking about !        I am talking about ordinary people having this intrusion into their lives. The scenario that I gave about a transaction between 2 brothers is where we're likely heading to!

Who would have thought 25 years ago that one ordinary person selling an item they owned to another ordinary person would incur a 10% tax?

[lyndal1838]

But one ordinary person selling their possessions to another ordinary person will not incur a GST liability.

It will only apply in the scenario that I mentioned.....if the sale is by a registered business or person registered for GST.

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

But one ordinary person selling their possessions to another ordinary person will not incur a GST liability.

It will only apply in the scenario that I mentioned.....if the sale is by a registered business or person registered for GST.

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Lyndal, I have just bought an item from a US seller who is selling some of his own posessions. The item was one that he has owned since he purchased it new some years ago. Now he's selling it. I have had to pay GST on that item. That is so unfair.

What I was talking about is where we are heading. believe me when I say this, if there is a way to fleece the population more than they can, the govt will do so.

[lyndal1838]

What you are complaining about is the GST on low value imports....not the GST on local sales.

That is the law and no matter how much you complain it will not go away......get over it.

[countessalmirena]

You paid GST on that, 4channel, because you purchased through eBay.

eBay is obliged to collect GST on that sale. They have no option unless they cease allowing Australian buyers to purchase from overseas sellers entirely. This is because the legislation has been cunningly written to make eBay (and other electronic distribution platforms, as the legislation has decided to call them) as the online marketplace responsible for collecting and remitting to the ATO the GST for low value imported goods. (https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-low-value-imported-goods/who-c...)

If eBay didn't collect the GST, it would have to be collected by every single seller selling on eBay, wishing to be able to continue to sell to Australian buyers, if their individual turnover to Australian consumers was > 75,000 AUD. That would entail a major headache for sellers, and probably not be complied with to some significant degree. We - the consumers - end up paying GST even when, if the legislation had been drafted differently (with individual sellers responsible for collecting and remitting the GST component), we really shouldn't have been charged GST... if, for instance, the seller didn't have that > 75,000 AUD turnover to Australian consumers.

It's no surprise that the legislation was finalised in a way that was most likely to result in least "through the cracks" loss of GST payments to the ATO, rather than in a way that was most likely to result in least "through the cracks" overpayments of GST by Australian consumers. We're just going to have to "eat the loss", I'm afraid.

ON THE PLUS SIDE... Did you know that the 75,000 AUD annual turnover of a seller who sells on eBay, but also sells through their own site or in other ways, DOESN'T INCLUDE THEIR SALES THROUGH EBAY OR ANY OTHER ONLINE MARKETPLACE?

That means that if you purchase directly from that seller, you're even less likely to be charged GST as their threshold won't have been increased by their through-eBay-sales to Australian consumers.

[davewil1964]

So you're claiming you don't pay GST on your airfare. Or Australian airport charges.

Can I interest you in a bridge?

[9120ken]

Firstly I am finding Ebay charging 20% on UK and US purchases. Secondly the import duty applies to the total cost of the item and shipping and insurance at the port of entry. And it you use a freight forwarding address such as HopShopGo they will also charge you around 20% duty on the domestic shipping cost as well to get it to their US address and 20% on the international freight and insurance. ETSY for example only charge 10% and most will use UK Royal Mail which is half the cost. Moreover Ebay Global Priroity Mail is just another freight forwarding service that doubles up on shipping costs to get to their warehouse and these same people then add 20% import on top insteand of the correct 10%. So US Ebay is now a no go zon for Australian buyers. UK Ebay has some savyy customer focussed sellers offering economy Royal International Post which is very reliable and less than half the cost of these other shipping solutions. People need to be able to choose the method of shipping because they are the ones paying for it and cut out all these other inefficient and costly third party freight forwarders because people like me refuse to buy any other way. This the only way to get the messahe across, refuse to buy unless economy USPS or UK Royal Mail is offered.

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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@ambler57 wrote:
I have just spoken to customer service & they agreed GST is applied to the item cost and should not apply to the postage cost from international sellers and have offered a refund ......so who knows who is right

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Do you really think that Customer Service in another country is going to have a clue about the GST in Australia?

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[lyndal1838]

Of course it is cheaper to buy from sellers who use cheaper mail services....Royal Mail or USPS according to where you are buying.

The ebay Global Shipping (GSP) is an overpriced service so you will pay much higher GST and to add insult to injury Pitney Bowes charges a fee to collect the GST and you also pay GST on that fee.

However, I doubt that it ever reaches 20%.

The GST is always charged on item price plus postage plus any fees for service such as insurance.

As far as I am aware most freight forwarding companies bill you for the GST and they are all entitled to charge a fee for collecting the GST.  They charge GST on that fee as well as on any other services such as actually forwarding the packages, insurance etc.

And to top it all off they add GST to the overall fees.

[matchboxmick]

We all agree that postage is a service. Postage from overseas is nothing to do with ebay - it is between a private seller (not registered for GST) and you the buyer. Tax would have been charged on this service at point of origin when the seller posts your item (ie USA to Aus) International postage is GST free (domestic is not). These are the basic facts

So why in hell are we now getting GST on postal costs ?

Either the government or Ebay are ripping people off and it needs better clarification on this point as many are unhappy about it I don't mind paying GST on the goods as I know Gerry Harvey's racehorses are getting hungry but not the postal charge.

Can anybody clarify that if I get a parcel delivered from the US then they claim all the money and nothing is passed to Auspost to cover their cost of delivering the item (its a mutual thing around the world between postal services  ?)