proposed gst on imports effects on hobby sellers.?does anyone know.

[character_parties_aus]

Hopefully it will mean that the government collects lots more GST and those who are willfully scamming the system by fraudulently not declaring it on ebay and other selling platforms will get stung the most. Bah humbug!

[imastawka]

                                 

If they change it from $1,000 down to $20,  it may,  just may,  knock

out a few chinese sellers.   People will stop buying their stuff,  hopefully.

It's a wait and see,   methinks

[dazzledayz]

This kite seems to get flown every "shopping season" by the large retailers.

The whole issue has been examined previously and on numerous occasions.

The result of these examinations is always that below the current $1000 limit it would cost more to collect than would be earned.

If this government decided (for ideological reasons) to go down that track then the effect on "hobby" sellers would be:

1. a slght uptick in sales (perhaps) as competing imports would suddenly be 10% dearer.

2. an indirect subsidy of large retailers as the govt would be using your tax dollars as a kind of tarrif barrier.

My guesstimate is that the cost of #2 would outweigh the benefit of #1.

So in answer to the question - not much effect at all (apart from some nasty surprise in the next budget).

[digital*ghost]

I import a lot of my stock (from China, Canada and the US primarily), with shipment value anywhere from AU$50-$600.

Won't make my stock any cheaper or more appealing to Aussies than my OS counterparts. For sellers like me (certainly not a hobby seller, but not a major retailer, either), it'll just make my stuff more expensive, but as most of my retail prices for imported stock is less than $20 (as are my OS competitor's prices), it'll make the OS prices even more attractive to buyers....for the stuff that other sellers retail in smaller quantities, anyway. 

Doubt a GST alone will make OS purchases to the retail buyer less appealing, either, since the major retailers would pay both GST and duty when they import goods, that's then passed on in the retail price. OS prices and local prices will often still have a big enough gap - eg one item is $40 US with $10 shipping, $100 from an Oz retailer. With a GST imposed on the US purchase of $50, roughly $62 AUD at the moment, it still winds up being more than $30 cheaper than the local price.

It'd certainly make a difference in some areas, some good, some bad, but by and large in the long run it'd probably mostly just increase GST revenue rather than make a really significant (positive) difference to local retail.

[gec2002]

A bigger impact at the moment is the aud / usd exchange rate which has been steadily dropping since early september when it was 93.8 to current 81.1 a drop of nearly 15%.

What would really help is some realistic postal pricing by overseas countries such as China and UK.

[cq_tech]

The actual AUD / USD exchange rate being charged to buyers by the banks and Paypal is closer to 77.9 at the moment, which is having a huge impact on the number of products I buy from OS in USD.

[character_parties_aus]

Ive found paypal stupid expensive for O/S purchase payments as I import a reaonsable amount.

I now use HIFX.

The fee is $15 per transaction and around 5-6% better on margin than paypal for a 2-3 day wait on clearance. so On a $800 AU transaction I am around 40 bucks better off. With 2 of those a week over a year its $1600!

Buyer protection means nothing. I am sending money to suppliers I have used many times.

[cq_tech]

I'm buying from overseas using both CBA Mastercard and Paypal, and the CBA's current rate is exactly 77c as I type this, while Paypal's rate is around half a cent lower, but I then have to pay a 3% premium to the CBA as an international transfer fee, which makes Paypal the cheaper method at the moment, by over 1%.

Fortunately I'm only dealing in 100s rather than 1000s of dollars, but those differences soon start to add up, particularly when the exchange rate has dropped by a good 10c in the last month alone, and close to 17c in the last 3 months. 😞

[phorum_junkie*]

What would really help is some realistic postal pricing by overseas countries such as China and UK

.

??? Have you looked at UK prices for posting internationally? They are certainly no cheaper on average than Aus Post and once you get over 2kg they are outrageous.