Why is there import charges on secondhand items?

[stelpher]

My recent overseas item browsing show many items now attract huge import tax fees. This even applies to second hand clothes (jeans /jacket) coming from the US. A secondhand jacket listed at  US$23 attracts a $9.22 import tax levy. Thats ridiculous!

[countessalmirena]

@diverdan05,

Read this post if you need any further explanation of second-hand goods and GST.

[moocow2004]

You can thank Gerry Harvey for this. He was in the ear of the Lib government for a while and they decided to charge import tax on amazon and eBay purchases. It is criminal to be change import tax on second hand items. This is why I never shop at Harvey Norman!

[chateaubateau]

I tried to follow all of this up too. I was told that Ebay are collecting the import tax on behalf of the Australian Government. However, the Australian government don’t require import tax on secondhand clothing. I was outraged but couldn’t get anyone to help. It’s not on all secondhand items either, it seems to depend on the settings the seller has used, which only seems to further prove it’s wrong.