Why is Ebay charging GST on used items?

[netscrounger]

The Australian government imposed GST charges on online sales to protect "Brick and mortar" businesses, I get that, but why an I expected to pay an extra $30 on a set of obsolete used motorcycle carbs that I'm buying from a private seller in the US? What a scam! Cancel my bid thanks!

[4channel]

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@imastawka wrote:

GST should not be charged when a second hand item is being sold by an individual.  Otherwise the Government is just double dipping to get another 10% on that item.  Sell the same item five times and 50% GST, seriously ripping off the people.

Isn't this what scammers do?

Just sayin'

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Scammers come in many shapes and sizes and from just as many angles. And  people get seriously ripped of. I've been ripped off by a few sellers in my time. Thankfully not a great amount.

[4channel]

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

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this point has been made plenty of times before, the items that are on eBay from overseas have not ever had GST paid on them, so even if they are second hand they will be being GST taxed for the first time i.e. GST applied just once.

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Regardless if items from OS have or have not ever had GST paid on them, this is immaterial. It's wrong. There should be no GST on second hand items. And a good amount of the people I have purchased from are selling off their unwanted / no longer needed items. So it is wrong for us the people to pay GST here on those transactions.

And if they are being "GST taxed for the first time i.e. GST applied just once", then  that's one time too many!

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@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

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@4channel, seeing as michelle hasn’t yet come back, and you support her as a ‘switched on’ poster, can you explain how an item would have 50% GST?  I am truly interested (seeing as you have quoted in support of that statement in previous posts and given a kudo to michelle’s post).

Spoiler

first time taxed, unless the item was first sold in Australia to an Aussie before somehow ending up overseas.

Spoiler

thank goodness there was no trying to justify the inclusion of 50 million dollar bank exec handshakes in this latest post . . . . . . . . which, if I am not mistaken, along with your privatisation statements is the political statement brer was referring to in their post.

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I support and agree with what Michelle has said. When the item is purchased, it has GST paid on it by the purchaser. If it gets sold to a second hand dealer, the new buyer pays GST, so that's twice. I'd say that's what she meant. 5 times is a bit much though. I'd settle on 3. But hey, anything's possible.

Spoiler

BTW: Years ago, I bought the same pair of Jensen speaker cabinets twice over 3 years. The exact same pair. As soon as I saw them in another 2nd hand dealers shop I purchased them again as I regretted letting them go the first time. I was going to sell them to a pawn broker a couple of years back as I have 3 sets of speaker cabinets but changed my mind. Had I sold them again, the buyer would have been the 3rd person to pay GST on them. Anyway I can't now as I am attatched to them. And they sound good. I think the neighbour's cat slighly tore the cloth on one of them too.  I blamed neighbours cat as he came over to my place and did stuff he wasn't allowed to in his on home.

Spoiler

I'll leave the fact that unfair taxes like GST and Poll Taxes etc are brought in to cover the loss in revenue by politicians catering to fat cats and giving themselves wage increases etc for another thread.

How our tax system favours the wealthy

First published: Tuesday 16 February 2016 4:32PM By: Keri Phillips

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/how-australias-tax-system-favours-the-wealt...

[lyndal1838]

So you think there should be no GST on secondhand items?

I am sure there are a lot of second hand dealers who would love it if they did not have to pay GST....as well as stores such as camera stores who trade in cameras and then on sell them.

If you cut out the GST on all second hand goods then the government would have to make up the revenue elsewhere...or increase the rate.

[imastawka]

BTW: Years ago, I bought the same pair of Jensen speaker cabinets twice over 3 years. The exact same pair. As soon as I saw them in another 2nd hand dealers shop I purchased them again as I regretted letting them go the first time. I was going to sell them to a pawn broker a couple of years back as I have 3 sets of speaker cabinets but changed my mind. Had I sold them again, the buyer would have been the 3rd person to pay GST on them. Anyway I can't now as I am attatched to them. And they sound good. I think the neighbour's cat slighly tore the cloth on one of them too.  I blamed neighbours cat as he came over to my place and did stuff he wasn't allowed to in his on home

Only if you were registered to collect GST, and had sales of $75,000 for that year.

You really still don't understand GST, do you?

Please give it a rest.

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

So you think there should be no GST on secondhand items?

I am sure there are a lot of second hand dealers who would love it if they did not have to pay GST....as well as stores such as camera stores who trade in cameras and then on sell them.

If you cut out the GST on all second hand goods then the government would have to make up the revenue elsewhere...or increase the rate.

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GST should be exempt on second hand items from overseas. Most sellers that we buy from are just ordinary people.

There could be GST and a dozen other dodgy tax rorts and the govt will bring in another one regardless.

Proper camera stores selling on line, well I unenthusiastically accept that , but that's not my issue!

[lyndal1838]

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@4channel wrote:

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

So you think there should be no GST on secondhand items?

I am sure there are a lot of second hand dealers who would love it if they did not have to pay GST....as well as stores such as camera stores who trade in cameras and then on sell them.

If you cut out the GST on all second hand goods then the government would have to make up the revenue elsewhere...or increase the rate.

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GST should be exempt on second hand items from overseas. Most sellers that we buy from are just ordinary people.

There could be GST and a dozen other dodgy tax rorts and the govt will bring in another one regardless.

Proper camera stores selling on line, well I unenthusiastically accept that , but that's not my issue!

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Nowhere did you say that you were talking about online sales.

You say only that there should be no GST on second hand items.....which is what I answered.

Why should there be different rules for new and second hand items?

What do you mean by "proper camera stores selling on line"?  There is not much that is not sold online these days so I am not sure what is so remarkable about cameras being among them.

As stawks says, you really don't understand the GST at all.....only that you don't like it as you think it limits your overseas buying.

[*tippy*toes*]

It's OK sweetie, the 5c GST you're paying on your 50c records can generally be found in the lounge, or even under car seats. Shove your hands under the back of the seats, you might be pleasantly surprised how much is in there! Usually more than enough to pay a few cents in GST.

[peterkm123]

I stopped buying from overseas because of the new GST on items below $1,000, but I just relented and bought an item for AU$227 from Europe and the GST was AU$33, figure that one out.

I agree with the suggestion that the GST should not apply if the overseas seller is just an ordinary Joe Blow selling a few items to clear his shed

So, all sellers on eBay should be classified for the purpose of applying the GST. Joe Blow sellers distinguished from small businesses and commercial sellers

Charging GST on absolutely everything from overseas is ludicrous, especially if a second hand item is unattainable in Australia. If the Government wants us to spend our money here, where is that item? it's not in Australia

Chances are the Government has figured out we won't guess that they're going for a windfall of GST before the pressure is applied for them to make it fairer

[lyndal1838]

How much was the postage on your purchase?   The GST applies to the postage cost as well as the item cost.

Who is going to apply this pressure to the Government to make the GST fairer?   I am guessing that it is all a bit late now....the GST in general has been in force for 18 years now and it has taken this long to get any changes at all.

The GST on low value imports has been in the pipeline for more than 2 years....the time to complain about that was before it was activated....it is too late now to stop it.

[4channel]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

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Nowhere did you say that you were talking about online sales.

You say only that there should be no GST on second hand items.....which is what I answered.

Why should there be different rules for new and second hand items?

What do you mean by "proper camera stores selling on line"?  There is not much that is not sold online these days so I am not sure what is so remarkable about cameras being among them.

As stawks says, you really don't understand the GST at all.....only that you don't like it as you think it limits your overseas buying.

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I give up Lyndal. I can't be bothered. You win OK, Are you happy now ?*sigh*