Sneeky Final Value & Shipping Fees increase to 10.9%

[capricorntrading]

Don't know if anyone was made aware of the increase of the Final Value Sale and Final Value Postage has now increased to 10.9%

I have 3 different accounts and none have received any notification of fees increasing.

Another ripoff from eBay.  Sellers are the only reason eBay exists.  The way eBay keep leaning towards the Buyer almost makes selling here near impossible to make a profit.

[enigmabear]

On top of the GST that started July 1st ?

[kopenhagen5]

Everyone has been talking about it for months and eBay also notified members.

It is the introduction of the Netflix tax (10% on fees) which the Aus Taxation dept has imposed on eBay and other online services.

[imastawka]

Seems some people don't take any notice of notifications 

OP.....it's the netflix tax

http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/content/gst-fees-ebaycomau

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@capricorntrading wrote:

Another ripoff from eBay.  Sellers are the only reason eBay exists.  The way eBay keep leaning towards the Buyer almost makes selling here near impossible to make a profit.

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as already mentioned, the increase is due to the Netflix tax . . . . . . also known as the GST in Australia since July 1st 2000.

For many years, companies like eBay have been criticised by both politicians and ordinary citizens for not paying tax here in Australia.  In simplified terms, their defence has always been that it is eBay International AG that fees are paid to, and that this company is not an Australian company and the fees were earned outside of Australia despite being fees paid for listings on eBay.au, therefore no tax due.

The Netflix tax is what the Australian government is calling the GST that is now being charged on digitally delivered goods provided by overseas companies but paid for by Australian citizens.  There have been countless ads on TV explaining this Netflix tax.

None, nada, zero, zilch of the increase in fees is being pocketed by eBay as the whole of the increase is GST payable to the Australian Tax Office, and is collected by eBay and remitted to the tax office on a regular basis.

None of us like fee increases, but the way I am choosing to view it is that for many years I got away without paying GST on my fees because the government hadn't legislated a way to force eBay to collect GST that was rightly due.

So, in short, eBay is not ripping you off by increasing fees.  I will be interested to see just how much extra tax the government collects in the next 12 months.

God help us in July 2018 if the government works out a way to charge GST on ALL goods bought overseas and brought into this country.  I say "if" because that tax was due for implementation in July 2017 but has been deferred for year, but it will come eventually. Probably in the form of an import charge as goods arrive in Australia rather than collected by overseas sellers and remitted to out tax office as that a logistical impossibility as every overseas seller from every overseas country would be required to collect GST and give it to the tax office and this is just ludicrous to think that all overseas sellers would be honest enough to do that.  Charging on import, or delivery (i.e. collected by Aust Post or couriers), is much more likely.

[*tippy*toes*]

Have you been hiding under a rock? EBay has been spamming us for months about this coming in. You really should check your email occasionally.

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

"For many years, companies like eBay have been criticised by both politicians and ordinary citizens for not paying tax here in Australia.  In simplified terms, their defence has always been that it is eBay International AG that fees are paid to, and that this company is not an Australian company and the fees were earned outside of Australia despite being fees paid for listings on eBay.au, therefore no tax due."

The irony is the "Nextflix tax" WILL NOT BE PAID BY Ebay, rather the the seller of goods which are about 99% Australian citizens.

That is, EBay will still not be paying any tax on their Australia derived income.

[lyndal1838]

All GST is paid by the end user of the service.  In this case the end users are the sellers who use ebay's service to list their items for sale.

While it is true that ebay is not paying the tax it is a step in the right direction.  Let's hope it does not take another 17 years for them to be forced to pay regular income tax.

[rocket2retro]

As I see it, eBay fees were already very high (especially after the introduction FVFs on postage). No doubt when it was introduced many sellers decided enough is enough and took their business elsewhere.

With the Netflix tax now added I'd say more sellers will decide it is too expensive to selll on Ebay.

No doubt eBay were aware of this when they sent sellers a message (from Jooman Park) asking them to fight against the introduction.

In essence, although sellers pay the tax, eBay will pay with the potential loss of sellers.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@rocket2retro wrote:

In essence, although sellers pay the tax, eBay will pay with the potential loss of sellers.

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I think that the smarter sellers, especially those who only do Buy-Now items, factor in all of the costs associated with selling when setting the price of their items.  They need to add in final value fees (including Netflix tax), PayPal fees, cost of postage, packaging etc.

For those who run auctions, they need to increase the start bid amount to take the Netflix tax and all other costs into account.

As with all the changes in eBay over the years, there will be those who are able to cope with the changes, and others who will fall by the wayside.  The trick is to ensure that you are not one of the ones who falls by the wayside.