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Thread: Possibility of eBay being no longer available to Australia

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trent View Post
    It'd actually be really easy for eBay to solve. They'd just have to charge a surcharge at checkout on any items Aussies buy from an overseas seller. Seller still gets his money, buyer pays GST, no foreign enforcement necessary.

    Simple.
    But that's eBay's gripe: they don't want to be tax collectors. And why should they? As someone else mentioned, the way to do this, if indeed it must be done, is to charge the buyer GST via the logistics company, be it Aus Post or whatever.
    "Once you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will soon follow."

    Please check my toy blog: www.tonkstoys.com

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chevron Action Flash View Post
    But that's eBay's gripe: they don't want to be tax collectors. And why should they? As someone else mentioned, the way to do this, if indeed it must be done, is to charge the buyer GST via the logistics company, be it Aus Post or whatever.
    Which is also exactly what eBay, Amazon and other overseas online retailers have suggested.
    Auspost and customs already have part of the infrastructure in place in the form of collections from individuals that order over $1,000 in a single shipment so it would be a lot easier to just expand that system.
    Problem there is though that the government would need to spend more money and they dont want to do that, they want companies in other countries to do their tax collecting for them for free, which is another reason eBay doesnt want to work with this scam (because let's face it, it is a scam)

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chevron Action Flash View Post
    But that's eBay's gripe: they don't want to be tax collectors. And why should they? As someone else mentioned, the way to do this, if indeed it must be done, is to charge the buyer GST via the logistics company, be it Aus Post or whatever.

    Why not be collected by the services you use to pay for the items (credit card,paypal,money order, bank etc..) as they already charge us fees anyway whats an extra 10%.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by G1Optimal View Post
    Why not be collected by the services you use to pay for the items (credit card,paypal,money order, bank etc..) as they already charge us fees anyway whats an extra 10%.
    Like online retailers/services, they don't want to act as a tax collector, nor should they (by their logic).

  5. #25
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    This debate has been going on for some time and I'm sure BTT will have all the details and rightfully so being a rural consumer where not all items are available locally; heck I think any non-capital city user in Oz could argue against this (I will do pro-bono work for a class action if anyone is interested )
    Even the higher than $1000 import GST was debated at length but passed and imho rightfully so.
    I have been following this closely and when I was a potential importer below $1000 on a regular basis this was very important to me, now that I am not that person but still a collector of high end items this continues to be an issue.

    The basic reason for the Government not introducing an Act where anything that comes through International post being charged GST is very simple, the cost to administer this outweighs any profit (GST) gained. Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls this is all about profit.
    Charging companies like ebay on imported items because they know they have actual evidence they are coming from an overseas source is a much more profitable exercise and puts ALL the admin on them, hence $$$ for the Government.
    (On a side note I hate that ebay, Apple, Google etc don't pay their fair share of taxes in Oz when they should)
    GST is a state distributed tax which I can only surmise that it would be divided accordingly amongst the end users and perhaps using ebay's end addresses to work this out, but ebay still has to provide the distribution information. To be honest this is out of my knowledge and pay grade.

    I can't blame ebay if they choose to geo-block Aussies from overseas ebay, it makes economic sense, they are getting the burden of having to work out the aforementioned. Three letters VPN.

    My five cents.
    I still function.....................while killing threads. ;-)

  6. #26
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    You'd probably need to use freight forwarders and overseas credit cards as well as a VPN if ebay do it properly.

  7. #27
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    I think Paypal will still work fine, so long as it is linked to a US address it doesnt seem to matter where the bank is located, which is reasonable as plenty of people do travel a lot but have their main bank account in their home country.
    Heck I've even used an AU CC on Amazon with a US address and there's been no issues, so worst comes to worst we should only need to use shipping forwarders and VPNs.
    My main gripe though is that we shouldnt need to, it's a pointless tax that's only purpose is to try and make old Gerry and friends happy.
    If the AU government really wanted to make/save money there are plenty of ways they could do it without harming the Aussie people, like ceasing unnecessary foreign aid to countries that we honestly shouldnt be helping, but that's a topic for another time and place...

  8. #28
    hYpNoS is offline Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
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    Quick note guys who are spewing VPN VPN VPN

    ...the government doesn't like that too, that too is also in the firing line DESPITE legitimate business needing the use of it, screw it I got poor friends in the US, I'll just pay them a wage to get my plastic crack.

    Quote Originally Posted by SMHFConvoy View Post
    This is all flaring up because amazon.com is opening up here at the end of the year, Gerry's looking to stop this happening.

    So much for the free market that neo liberalism promises
    I forgot about aussie amazon.

    ...will we finally get easier access to those american specials or is it just another ebay we're looking at, while I can use amazon as it is now I just want cheaper shipping and access to ALL of their goods on offer.

  9. #29
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    Has the bill been passed? If not, perhaps writing to your Federal Members of Parliament (MPs) might help. MPs represent their constituents. If we say nothing as constituents, they will assume we are fine with it.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jetfire in the sky View Post
    This debate has been going on for some time and I'm sure BTT will have all the details and rightfully so being a rural consumer where not all items are available locally; heck I think any non-capital city user in Oz could argue against this
    I appreciate the faith shown in me, but I don't really have any further information than has already been supplied by other users

    All I know is what has been posted by eBay exec's in a few different places:

    What is confusing about the situation is that under Australian laws, a business with an annual turnover of $75,000 MUST register for GST. But, as Jooman Park, eBay’s vice president and managing director for Australia and New Zealand points out, "This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the marketplace: eBay is not a seller, eBay does not own the goods, does not handle payments and it does not distribute anything. eBay is a third-party online marketplace that simply connects buyers and sellers."

    This in itself creates a challenge. How does the Australian Government plan to enforce this? While it's one thing to bring legal pressure to big companies like Amazon, how do they plan to force smaller online retailers like BigBadToyStore to register and collect taxes for them?

    Jooman Park proposed a much simpler solution. "A simpler alternative for an island nation is to work with the logistics companies. All parcels arrive at a small number of Customs points, via a small number of international logistics companies, one of which is government-owned.

    These companies can require buyers to declare whether a good is new and to nominate a value of the good as part of the pricing of parcel delivery to Australia. This system does not require parcels to be stopped, other than for routine auditing.

    It captures all goods, regardless of whether they were purchased via a platform or from a dot.com. It is practical and enforceable, raises genuine revenue and is fair. Unlike other proposals, this does level the playing field."

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