Partial GST refund

[asembler]

My situation:

Placed an order for 2 items that were located in France. I'm located in Australia.

Paid in full including GST for 2 items.

Then the seller contacts me and tells me that one of the items is not avaiable and offers a partial refund.

I have agreed to it, however when he sent me money via PayPal he only refunded the cost of the item, not the 50% GST that I was supposed to get back. Also he sent me money, rather than do a refund via eBay so I also got charged for the PayPal transaction.

Contacted eBay and they say there is nothing they can do about it. They told to work it out with seller, ATO and my bank!! 

What a mess.

Question: Anyone encountered a similar situation? 

[padi*0409]

Thanks for that Stawks, but the brick wall is sometimes very satisfying.

Spoiler

........might just go and eat a thermometer with mercury in it..............hahahahaha

Hopefully sooner or later the mods will jump in and chastise the poster for posting false or misleading information which is against board policies.     

[digital*ghost]

Transacting outside of ebay is about one thing - fee avoidance.

Considering ebay get to keep fees instead of reimbursing any when a seller refunds outside of the eBay refund system, there is no way this kind of "transaction" is considered fee avoidance, and therefore no way it can even come close to qualifying as a transaction outside of eBay. 

[*tippy*toes*]

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@padi*0409 wrote:

Thanks for that Stawks, but the brick wall is sometimes very satisfying.

Spoiler

........might just go and eat a thermometer with mercury in it..............hahahahaha

Hopefully sooner or later the mods will jump in and chastise the poster for posting false or misleading information which is against board policies.     

---

Yeah, good luck with that Padster. Some members can post whatever tripe they like regardless of policies. Unless you are a regular, Regulars can't blink without being slapped. I doubt anything will happen to Dennis Denuto. It''s all about the vibe.

[ep000001]

The term "purchase" may also be classified as an established transaction. In other words, you cannot move and established transaction out of ebay.

Can you not see why?

The problem with GST is one reason.

You don't know what you are stating.

The policy strictly states:

" What is the policy?

Buyers and sellers can’t:

• Engage in any action with a user on the site designed to complete or facilitate a transaction outside of eBay"

The keywords here is "Complete or facilitate"

Applying a "refund" is facilitating the transaction.

You obviously don't have a clue.

[ep000001]

That is utter rot.

eBay, by law, is responsible for processing GST.

If you transact outside of eBay, you are interfering with a Federal Process of Law.

eBay can be penalised according to law if eBay does not respond accordingly.

Even though ebay cannot control all aspects of the transaction, eBay clearly states that you cannot do it, and eBay clearly filters messages, and as such, and can deny culpability in the eyes of the law, and divulge the guilty parties.

However, unethical people always try to circumvent the system, eventually they get caught.

Not only that, eBay accounting, their sales statistics, user stats etc.., all would be messed up and inacurate, and that would not be very professional action on behalf of eBay.

You also do not know what you are talking about.

Sorry, i must advise people not to take your advice.

[ep000001]

That is not the correct way to refund a seller.

You also do not know what you are talking about.

I know, i have been talking to ebay customer support for the past week regarding a way to do it ethically.

The only way it can be done properly is for the seller to generate and issue you an invoice from within eBay.

Doing it your way, denies the ATO of the GST. That's unethical...

[katistrophik]

The amount of times you have spoken to eBay, you SHOULD be an expert, Sadly you are NOT.

The next time I see you refer to a conversation you have had with eBay that utterly false information has been given to you by the rep you speak to, I will be contacting eBay Management to report it. It is unfair  and unethical that they give you incorrect advice, and something needs to be done about.

[*tippy*toes*]

Oh great, Dennis Denuto has been released again..........

Try getting a law degree from somewhere other than Google, before you keep spouting utter tripe.

[digital*ghost]

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@ep000001 wrote:

That is utter rot.

eBay, by law, is responsible for processing GST.

If you transact outside of eBay, you are interfering with a Federal Process of Law.

eBay can be penalised according to law if eBay does not respond accordingly.

Even though ebay cannot control all aspects of the transaction, eBay clearly states that you cannot do it, and eBay clearly filters messages, and as such, and can deny culpability in the eyes of the law, and divulge the guilty parties.

However, unethical people always try to circumvent the system, eventually they get caught.

Not only that, eBay accounting, their sales statistics, user stats etc.., all would be messed up and inacurate, and that would not be very professional action on behalf of eBay.

You also do not know what you are talking about.

Sorry, i must advise people not to take your advice.

---

Ah yes, I'm sure lots of people are in danger of being prosecuted for eBay paying too much GST to the ATO - that's the end result of a seller refunding outside of eBay's system on a transaction where eBay collected GST.

My advice was for people to refund via eBay on transactions where eBay collected GST - did you miss that?

The post you have responded to was purely outlining what ebay does and does not view as transacting outside of eBay. 

Can you tell me why, when a seller refunds a buyer for something like an INR, and the buyer subsequently receives the item, and the seller contacts eBay because the buyer now has the item and should re-pay, eBay's response is always - and I mean always in the very literal sense, because it's been in every single case, domestic or international sale - "that's between you and the buyer, you need to deal with them directly".

If you were right, eBay's response would be to facilitate the repayment on ebay. But it's not. 

If you want to tell everyone they are wrong, maybe 

A) pay attention to what they say first 
B) learn how eBay actually apply their policies in these kinds of situations

[countessalmirena]

Perhaps a template reply for buyers to use when contacting a seller about instances where a refund needs to be issued would be a good idea.

Dear [seller]

I'm contacting you to let you know that item [abcd], with transaction ID [xxxx] has not arrived. It's already [xxx] days past the Estimated Delivery Date, and at this stage I think we need to assume that the item is not going to arrive.

I will open a request for refund under eBay's MBG. Could you ensure that the refund is issued through eBay? Because (under Australian legislation) this is a "low value imported good", eBay collects the 10% GST from the buyer on the item at the point of sale. Only if the refund is issued through eBay will that GST portion will be refunded automatically to me by eBay.

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,

[buyer]