Good news for Ebay Sellers? Amazon to block its US website for Aussies

[the_2nd_zoo]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/31/amazon-to-block-australians-from-using-us-sto...

[dazzledayz]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

Wait a minute... That just made me realise international sellers on the AU site would have to have GST applied to their sales, like they do on eBay, surely. I know there are a lot of OS sellers on there already, as there was practically nothing in my own categories being listed by AU sellers when I checked it, so they must be ok with (and have a system for) collecting GST in those cases. 

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Digi, I believe this is the way the system will work.

Sellers based in Au will issue a tax invoice if registered, as they do now.

Small sellers will not have to reprice as gst is already deemed to be included in their pricing as the total amount is fully taxable annually.

eBay and Amazon will (or may well) have to undertake some form of seller location vetting.

PayPal may ultimately have to be roped in as well in order to locate point of disbursement of funds for Au registered O/S sellers.

Dropshippers located in Aus will perhaps have issues

It's probably going to be a bit inconvenient for quite a few Darwinians too.

[digital*ghost]

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@dazzledayz wrote:

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@digital*ghost wrote:
I believe both the EU VAT and sales tax being collected from buyers in certain US states, is 100% indiscriminate, while the GST is not (i.e. the tax is applied to all sales, no matter what, while the GST is only meant to be applied to businesses who have an Australian turnover of $75k or more.

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I'd say that the govt's approach is well and truly indiscriminate.

@Anything bought O/S will now be taxed @10%.

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No, the government is only requiring overseas sellers to register to collect GST if their total turnover to Australian buyers is $75k or more (same threshold for Aussie sellers, except our turnover from international sales is included in the threshold, whereas only the Aussie turnover is included for international sellers). That means a business selling through eBay or Amazon will have GST applied to their products, because the gov considers the site to be the vendor, but if they sell through their own website with a local turnover of $1 mil, and an Aussie turnover of $50k, they have no obligation to register to collect GST and remit to the Aus gov.

The obvious and immediate effect for sites like that is that it make it more attractive for Aussies to seek out non-third party sites like eBay when purchasing internationally. 

Amazon's decision to geo-block Aussies from all international sites is hypocritical and actually undermines their protest, unless they block international sellers from listing on the AU site, because they will be required to collect and remit GST from any sales made on the AU site from sellers / items located overseas, like eBay will be doing come July 1st. 

[dazzledayz]

@ Digi, thanks for the full explanation.

This is all going to take some working out as far as I can tell.

The shake out will be ongoing for quite some time.

[digital*ghost]

The biggest issue that I can see is how it will be determined if GST has and / or should have been charged when a package lands in Aus.

[countessalmirena]

I'm annoyed at the issue of being geo-banned. I don't have a problem with the issue of paying the GST (although I am not exactly happy about it, but the unilateral geo-banning is ridiculous. A terrorist in Afghanistan will be able to browse Amazon, but harmless never-blown-anyone-up me will not?

And the ludicrous offer of a $20 voucher from Amazon to shop on Amazon.com.au is not even coming close to making the Australian site viable, range-wise and cost-wise.

[the_2nd_zoo]

I want to know what is going to happen when a seller not in Australia who does not sell $75k into Aust and does not have to register for GST or one who refuses to when they sell over $75k sends something to me, what happens then?

Will customs hold it and charge process fee like if it is over $1000? If it is a $5 item from a small seller not linked with ebay/alibaba ect then it would turn $1 item into $50 item.

[the_2nd_zoo]

You also have to remember that items sold by us to buyers not in Australia are not charged GST. GST should be charged to all consumers in Australia no matter where the item comes from.

I think GST should be charged to OS buyers as the package is transported over our roads to the airport and they should pay. 

[joztamps]

They certainly have the technology to do it.

This from Amazon yesterday to an ereading blog;

““Both the sale of Kindle Devices and Content are unaffected by this law change. GST is already charged by Amazon AU on its sales of Kindle Devices to Australian customers on amazon.com.au. GST is also charged on the sale of Kindle Content to Australian consumers on amazon.com.au and amazon.com under the imported services and digital products legislation applicable from 1 July 2017.”

[davewil1964]

It's probably going to be a bit inconvenient for quite a few Darwinians too.

Yep. The owners of those thousands of invisible warehouses are going to be very dirty about losing all that rent.

[joztamps]

But at least they'll no longer have to pay GST on the rent they were receiving.