It's actually a simple setup if it works correctly:
Starting 1 July 2018, we will be collecting Goods and Services Tax (GST) from buyers on all imports with an order value less than 1,000 AUD. Sellers don't need to do anything.
If you have products located outside Australia, your prices may appear 10% higher to buyers than before if their ship-to location delivery address is in Australia.
eBay is considered an Electronic Distribution Platform operator (EDP) under the new legislation, so eBay is responsible for collecting the GST on low value imports and paying it to the Australian Government.
From 1 July, eBay will add GST to a buyerโs total at checkout when:
- The item location is outside Australia
- The delivery address is inside Australia
- The order value is <=1,000 AUD
The buyerโs payment will then be split:
- The order value (item price + postage costs) will go directly to the seller as it does today.
- The GST portion will go to an eBay-owned PayPal account. eBay will then remit this GST directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Orders over $1,000 will not have GST collected by eBay. GST is already collected at the border from the importer and to eBayโs knowledge that is not changing.
So prices will show higher to Aussie buyers as the GST component is built into the price,(so you still buy/shop
in the same manner as you do now but the prices will be 10% higher).
It wont stop or affect my buying in any way,
@countessalmirena wrote:It is actually supposed to apply to sellers who have an annual turnover of $75,000 and above in selling to Australian customers, so far as I understand it, but... I had a medical company from whom I've purchased anatomical charts and books email me, asking me if I have an ABN and am registered for GST. If I provide them with my ABN and state that I am registered for GST, I won't be charged the 10% GST and any future transactions will be classed as "business to business".
I certainly think this whole thing is a mess.
That's true (re: the $75k threshold), but ebay is being considered the vendor in this case, so every single item under $1k on eBay that is listed as located outside of Australia, and is then sold to an Australian buyer, being shipped to an Australian address, will have the GST applied. If it's over $1k, GST won't be charged at point of sale, but will be charged via the normal process for goods above that value when it arrives in Oz. (I just figured I'd answer the question in the context of being asked on eBay - the GST won't be charged if the item is shipped to say a US address, but it will be charged on the full total, including the cost of the forwarding service, if someone uses such a service to try and avoid paying the GST at the initial point of sale).
Of course, outside of ebay (and other sites like it), the GST should only apply if the business has a turnover to Aus over that $75k, and in order to simplify things for B2B transactions, the GST doesn't have to be collected from Australian buyers who are purchasing for a business and are registered for GST, because anything they pay in GST on something like a stock purchase will just become an off-set and the government gets the same amount of $'s either way).
If any of that makes sense. 
