@kerrjess wrote:lyndal1838 - Bit surprised at the tone of your reply and wonder whether you had read my post thoroughly.
I stated that the seller was good enough to refund the amount that had been paid to them. And I didn't make any mention of PayPal in my post
Yes, I did read your post ......not sure what is wrong with my tone but I still stand by my reply.
The seller was very obliging to give you a refund when the goods were seized by Customs as she is not obliged to do so. They are considered to have been delivered.
My warning and complaint was against EBay which is the entity who adds the GST to the total payment and remits the GST amount to the ATO. By Law, if I receive a refund for an item on which GST was charged, I am entitled to have the GST refunded by the entity which charged me the GST - EBay.
Yes ebay collects the GST from you but it is held in a paypal account in ebay's name until it is remitted to the ATO.
If the seller refunds your money USING THE REFUND BUTTON on your paypal payment, paypal is alerted to the fact that the balance of the money you paid (i.e. the GST) is also to be refunded. It makes no difference why you get the refund....whether you claim through the ebay dispute process or it is private refund from the seller. As long as it is processed through the paypal payment the GST should be refunded along with the item price.
But unless you actually go through the process of "Request a Refund", Ebay says they are unable to refund the GST.
NOTE - Ebay advice is to always contact the seller first which is what I did, and the seller was very nice and agreed to refund the amount she had received (we also had a couple of friendly messages about customs issues).
I've been doing GST returns since they were first introduced in July 2000 and handled thousands of refunds which included GST, and it is not a difficult process.
If you do not go through the ebay dispute how would ebay even know that you have received a refund? And why would they issue a GST refund just on your say so. There are very strict rules surrounding the GST and unless ebay has something concrete to show the ATO as to why they gave back the GST to a customer then they are in breach of the rules.
My warning and complaint was with EBay trying to fob me off saying I couldn't get the GST refunded as I had not "followed the proper Return process", despite their advice I mentioned above.
It was only when I kicked up and told them that was illegal that they said they could issue a refund. Or they could give me a voucher which would be easier for them (don't know why a refund process is so difficult for EBay
In this case ebay was quite correct......if you had followed the ebay refund process you would have had the GST refunded along with the item price. If your obliging seller had followed the rules you would also have had the GST refund as it is all dependant on the refund processing through the original payment in paypal.
So I was actually trying to help buyers, including perhaps you, by advising that you are legally entitled to the GST refund by EBay.
Very admirable of you but in order to help others you need to understand the process yourself. You are entitled to the GST refund but not from ebay.....it has to come from the paypal GST account which is in ebay's name.
And that if you have amicably resolved a refund from the seller without escalating it further, EBay will try and tell you they are unable to process a GST refund. But if you insist that you have a legal right to a refund, they will then agree to a refund, or an EBay voucher if it is a small amount. I'm just glad my purchase wasn't a big value one.
And ebay would be right.....it is very difficult for them to process a GST refund if the refund was not processed through the ebay process.
Hope that's cleared up now.
Ditto
