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@247newdeals wrote:

I heard about this ages ago and even though eBays message is totally confusing I am happy about it the main reason being as I read it the aim is to charge international sellers GST. This should mean that for example, Chiense seller will have to pay an extra 10% in fees so those of us who already pay GST will be able to be more competitive and hopefully, keep more sales and therefore more money in Australia. I am hoping this is how it will work but like other still, a bit confused at this point

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GST is a tax on Australian consumers - it increases prices, but that money is (theoretically) never seen or ultimately paid by sellers who have to collect GST for the Government. Only the end consumer pays this tax.

That is why sales to overseas customers can't include GST, because the Australian government can not tax international consumers, so overseas sellers will not have to pay this tax. 

If the buyer of eBay's service is a business, and they are also registered to collect GST, they may (or may not) have GST added to their invoices, depending on how eBay handle this.

From the post earlier, it seems likely that eBay will register for the simplified version, meaning anyone who provides their ABN to eBay and verified as registered to collect GST, won't have GST added to their invoice. As in, eBay will only charge GST to end consumers, which everyone who is not registered to collect GST is classified as. If eBay purchased goods and / or services in Australia in order to operate here, they would be paying GST on those goods and services - if they register for the simplified version they won't be able to claim that back in credits when they hand over whatever they have collected from sellers to the government.  

If they go the other way so that they can claim credits on any GST they have paid, they would have to add GST to all invoices and let the sellers sort it out themselves, but then there would be no point in asking people to supply their ABNs if that was their intention.