tfidownunder (Australia) feedback

[alfa156]

He doesn't have an ABN on his website so would most likely not be registered for GST. Unless it changed this financial year a business does not have to register for GST if it's revenue (not profits) is less that $75,000 per financial year.

You still should have an ABN because you're still meant to pay company tax on profits.

[Sinnertwin]

You still should have an ABN because you're still meant to pay company tax on profits.

Is there an ABN on the invoices supplied?

[leej84]

I just checked an invoice. No ABN

[Sinnertwin]

interesting

[kup]

Yeah it sounds like this guy bit off more than he could chew but the way he is doing the damage control is appalingly bad, almost like if he has no basic concept of customer service or how the transaction process goes. Given some of the basic communication and transaction failures here, it seems that he would have difficulty running a lemonade stand.

He shouldn't be charging 60% pre-order cancellation fees for things his website clearly claimed were in stock. I have an order with them which was supposed to be in stock and it's been a month now. So if I do a Paypal claim he would hit me with a 60% fee too?

[leej84]

I have completed orders with TFI twice now. Most recently a Warbotron WB-01E Fierce Attack. It took forever for them to get stock in (not entirely their fault) and it ended up being the second production batch, which does not include replacement parts to fix previous figures in the not-bruticus set which in my eyes is just annoying. I PRE-ordered the figure, so I am expecting it to be fulfilled with the first production batch. Their facebook suggests he is trying to contact their supplier with no luck.... THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Also, during the whole period where he changed his policy to no order cancellations, the website still had the cancel button (which is confusing to begin with). I cancelled a pre-order, thinking it was still cancelled, as it showed being cancelled in my accounts page and went ahead and bought the figure i was after from other sources. Now after "fixing" the website my pre-order came back. I contacted TFI stating my order to be cancelled again and received a reply more than a week after (close to two weeks) saying it can not be done as its store policy, i replied asking for my order to be cancelled again and described what had happened. That was over a week ago and no reply.

With this kind of customer service I am not sure if I should keep using TFI. I still have a couple of pre-orders up with them too.... should i be worried?? (rhetorical)

[drifand]

I don't have an issue with cancellation policies, it's when you're threatened with them because you disputed a transaction due to poor communication that I have an issue. I never wanted to cancel, I just wanted an ETA and some correspondence.

No worries mate, I wasn't pointing at anyone in particular, and I do understand your situation as well.

Like I said, I hope he learns to be a bit more diplomatic and come back with a better level of service.

[griffin]

Some of these comments & wonderings should be directed at the business, and then posted up here if/when you get an answer... as none of the online stores are required to interact here, or even see these posts.
(and speculations can end up over-shadowing actual experiences, making it harder for people to find actual feedback or even get the wrong impression that it is a campaign against certain dealers or people)

[alfa156]

Some of these comments & wonderings should be directed at the business, and then posted up here if/when you get an answer... as none of the online stores are required to interact here, or even see these posts.
(and speculations can end up over-shadowing actual experiences, making it harder for people to find actual feedback or even get the wrong impression that it is a campaign against certain dealers or people)

This may sound off topic but there is a punchline, when I bought my last car that I'm now struggling to sell I was concerned with all the posts on forums and review sites about reliability, mine has been 100% reliable but now nobody will buy because of all the negative feedback and they think I bought a 20 year old sports coupe because something was wrong with my 2003 Sedan...

Someone said to me "you only ever hear feedback from those who have something bad to say"

[Jetfire in the sky]

You still should have an ABN because you're still meant to pay company tax on profits.

You only pay company tax if you are incorporated, ie registered as a company; which has financial thresholds that need to be met. Otherwise there are limits on what is considered a hobby and what is considered a business, if you are a business that isn't incorporated then you pay the marginal tax rate which is usually around where your "regular" job tax levels are calculated etc etc.
About 10 years ago (as far as I can remember) the ATO started making e-bay report any e-bay seller who had sales over a certain dollar value, thus getting people who were making a pile of money to pay tax on their earnings, this is a slightly double edged sword because if a person needs to pay tax on business interests they can then claim expenses on running that business, and if it's run from home then it is a nice can of worms to open up and may actually result in an overall loss on paper so the person who might have a regular job can claim back that tax paid. On the other hand if someone is receiving welfare and importing cheap stuff to sell on e-bay and making a tidy profit then it's payback time ATO style.

I ran a website selling collectables in the early 2000's and checked what the tax implications were, I was under the hobby threshold so I was ok.

Just food for thought........

Dealing with any Australian seller online or face to face is all about knowing your rights, and with feedback from the proverbial horses mouths on the Internet we can make informed decisions on who might be good or bad to deal with. I have already said that my experiences with TFI have generally been good but it bugs me to see that there have been many negative experiences talked about on here.
Pre-orders are such a grey area from my understanding but the law is clear that if you pay for a service that is promised in a certain time frame and then isn't delivered in a timely manner you are entitled to a refund. Change of mind returns are not on, but also on the other side, "store policy" that is against the law is also not on.
Buyer beware is something that used to get thrown around years ago when buyers were actually less aware, now to be honest I think that saying is more true than ever. If you have an issue check out the ACCC website and fight for your consumer rights. After all, it's your hard earned dollars that someone is taking in exchange for goods.
Paypal is such a buyer protective tool now that imho is almost a disadvantage for sellers, I wont go into the why's and why not's after such a long rant I might wind it up.

In summary, supporting Aussie businesses should benefit sellers and buyers alike, but like any relationship it is a two way street that among other things requires good communication.