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 

[davewil1964]

Regardless of your experience with over $1k imports (which you might like to recheck), the CURRENT GST ruling on SUB-$1k imports is that GST is applicable to the total transaction cost.

If you thinik we are all wrong, I suggest you report eBay to the ATO (citing all relevant legislation) for collecting GST illegally.

[digital*ghost]

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@cdizon2006 wrote:

no it does apply to cost of shipping.

i have been importing goods for more than aud1000.00 and australan customs do not charge gst on cost of shipping.

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So, the ATO is providing incorrect information, then?

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST/In-detail/Rules-for-specific-transactions/International-transact...

[lyndal1838]

Digi, in the past Customs have added the value of goods together for GST purposes......say 1 parcel arrives this week, 2 the week after and so on over a period of weeks.

My daughter who works in Customs clearance for an international logistics company has confirmed it....she usually has to deal with the clients who have been caught after thinking they were home GST/import charges free.  Courirs are not too fussed about it....most of them will know beforehand what items are going to attract the interest of Customs and have the paperwork filled out.  The items don't even get looked at until the customer has paid so there is little holdup.....if the customer pays promptly they can usually pick the item up almost as soon as they would get a parcel with not charges to be paid.

Some years ago I had a phone call from Customs the same afternoon that the item arrived in the counrty.....I paid via CC over the phone and the item was released and left Customs the next morning....I had it the day after that.

It could be that your packages were not too close in value and timing so you have managed to avoid the charges....good on your shippers for using some initiative.

[digital*ghost]

I definitely consider myself quite lucky in that regard - most of my orders are around the $800 mark, so two would certainly exceed the threshold for duty, and I can't rightly say why two that have arrived around the same time (if from the same supplier), have never been combined, except that the second one usually does not hit customs until I have received the first, so always put it down to that. 

Would they take the invoice / purchase dates into consideration? Because usually I plan my orders well enough that there's a couple of weeks between arrivals, but sometimes my supplier gets the second order ready way earlier than anticipated, so it tends to only happen when one took 5-6 weeks to preapre, and the other only took 1-2 weeks , so the invoices will still be dated up to 4 weeks apart.

[countessalmirena]

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@cdizon2006 wrote:

no it does apply to cost of shipping.

i have been importing goods for more than aud1000.00 and australan customs do not charge gst on cost of shipping.

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@cdizon2006,

If you've been importing goods where the total combined value of the goods is under 1000 AUD and the postage amount would tip it over the 1000 AUD limit, you would have been charged GST and duty on the total. (The total would have included declared value of the goods and the cost of shipping.)

If you were not charged, either the seller didn't declare the correct values on the declaration, or the customs officers handling your imports were blind, hypnotised, bribed to look the other way, or kidnapped so that substitute customs officers could take their place and let your goods through. Presumably in the latter scenario, the genuine kidnapped customs officers were mind-wiped and restored to their homes after the successful completion of Operation "Who Let The Goods In".

You'd of course present all the invoices relating to these costs to your accountant, etc., if you were a business.

If importing high-value goods for personal use, you'd simply "eat" the associated costs.

Exchange rate is also important, of course. I remember umming and ahing over some purchases where the total might or might not be over $1,000, and erring on the side of caution after being caught out once or twice during fluctuating currency exchange rate periods.

DISCLAIMER: I have personal experience in the import of goods >$1,000 for business purposes, and the import of goods >$1,000 for personal use. I also have personal experience in the importing of low-value goods (<$1,000) before and after the introduction of the legislation concerning GST on low-value imported goods - directly from overseas sellers who aren't required to collect GST on behalf of the ATO, from overseas sellers who are required to collect GST on behalf of the ATO, from overseas sellers who understand that they don't have to collect GST from Australian buyers who purchase for business purposes and are registered for GST, from overseas sellers who don't understand that (and who will charge GST irrespective of what you show them), and from overseas parcel forwarders who collect GST on the declared value of the goods PLUS associated shipping/forwarding costs. I won't say I've experienced every single scenario, but certainly quite a few.

[lyndal1838]

I'm not sure that they are as organised a taking dates into account.

A lot of it works on the eagle eye of the Customs officer......if they constantly see the same sort of parcel arriving for the same person they will take a bit more interest.

I was told of one "importer" who thought he was being smart and broke his parcels down into $100-$150 lots and sent them all within a few days.  My daughter happened to be in Customs and heard shouts of "here's another one"......the officers were having a great time finding all these parcels.....it was being treated as a bit of a game.

Apparently they held the first lot of parcels for as long as they possibly could and a second lot started coming in the same way.   They hit that customer with every misdemeanor that they could find in the book...the fines were huge because it was deemed that he was deliberately avoiding Customs charges.

[lyndal1838]

Countess, when goods are heading towards the $1000 mark you need to be careful.   Once the GOODS reach $1000 you are then charged CUstoms fees, GST etc on the total of Goods and Postage.   There is no charge until the Goods themselves are $1000 or more.

[countessalmirena]

lyndal, earlier this year I bought some pearls that were around $900 in Australian dollars. I was charged the customs fee plus GST by Customs here. Would that have been an error?

[lyndal1838]

I believe so Countess.

All the information that I can find at the moment specifies that the Goods themselves must be $1000 or more before charges kick in....and then the charges are on Goods plus postage.

Just as a matter of interest, who shipped the goods and did they arrange the payment or did Customs contact you directly?

Also, how much extra did you have to pay.....as in, what percentage increase was there in the cost of the goods.

Many years ago it was commonly quoted that Customs added between 25% and 40% to the cost, depending on the rate attributed to the particular item,  with the average about 30% and I was wondering if it is still the same.

[countessalmirena]

It was a company who specialise in pearl jewellery and loose pearls. I paid them directly for the goods and shipping. Customs rang me once the package arrived here in Australia and informed me of the required payment (GST, duty, etc). From memory it was around $220, but that is very much a number pulled out of the fog-draped landscape of memory!