GST on Imports

I don't think Myer is looking to save GST or duty. 10% saving for most goods is hardly worth the effort of buying overseas.

Rather, they will be looking to cheaper Chinese warehousing and labour costs to make up the price difference. That is to say, they will save a ton of money by employing Chinese people instead of Australians.

The Customs and GST laws are quite complex and who has liability upon imports depends on which incoterms the contracts are expressed i. ie whether the contracts are FOB, DDS, etc

For example, an FOB (Free on Board) contract is what we normally sign up to when ordering goods from overseas. We pay freight on top of the price of the goods and bear the risk for the transportation ( for which we can insure or make claims against freight companies)

A DDP contract (delivered duty paid) is where the seller takes all the risk and pays for duty etc. But they will have to charge GST in Australia regardless of price.

I don't know what Myer are planning but I know enough about our Customs and Taxation authorities to know that if Myer plan on bringing in shipments of goods for thousands of individuals, they will take a very close look to see if they are indeed acting as an importer in their own right. In any event, a wholesale avoidance of GST and duty will almost certainly lead to legislative changes designed to tax the goods as if they were imported through the normal channels. This is what usually happens when a company decides to commercially exploit tax concessions designed for individual citizens.

I see we are now to have an "enquiry" in to internet sales, the usual cop-out for governments that won't (or can't) make a decision.

It was interesting to to see some of the figures being quoted by the previous ACCC enquiry. Apparently they found that only 3% of total internet sales came from the internet, and they estimated that 50-80% of that came from Aust based internet sites.

So all this kefuffle is about, at best, 1.5% of total retail sales not being subject to GST.

Makes a mockery of the statements by Mr Harvey.

There were a couple of people being interviewed (one from Choice) and both stated that the retail scene is changing rapidly and that the local retailers have been extremely tardy in recognising this.

In my experience, if I buy something from overseas the saving amounts to far more than the 10% GST. In fact I have just paid for an order for more than $US400 worth of tooling. If I had to pay the 10% GST on this on arrival I would still be way in front over the same items purchased at local tooling places. Some of the items in that order are about a third of the local price.

I now buy most of my books from overseas, again for a far bigger saving than the 10% GST, most are priced including postage to Oz and they get here in 7-10 days. I am not aware of any Oz bookseller that can, or will, compete with that.

I have never spoken to anyone that buys from overseas internet sites that does so because they save 10% GST, the postage alone would amount to more than that!

I fully agree with Fred and others. If GST was the only difference, nobody would bother with overseas online purchases, unless the item cannot be obtained in OZ. When I purchase online the saving is usually in the order of 50 - 70 percent after shipping is included.
Regards
Les

It wont change, its just to much effort on the governments behalf to levy it.

Example if you bring something in to australia through the postal service, the limit is 1000 aud including shipping before you start paying any duties or penalties,

So basically the government has already set a base line that below this amount (1000)its not worth there time, however private import companies like fedex etc the amount before it attracts duties is something like 250 dollars including shipping, so the government couldnt be bothered collecting on amounts up to 1000 but they will enforce any private company to do any on amounts above 250.

Typical government, hence why I said it wont change

If this is all about avoiding the GST it just isn't worth the effort, Gerry. I'll just pop down to the local and have it in my hand today, thank you. 10% be damned. People do it because the cost difference justifies the action.

Watching a current affairs show about Gerry Harvey operating undercover recently shows him whingeing about his sales staff talking about dropping prices too soon in the deal. He has missed a very important point here. If you are not prepared to seduce your customers with price deals and fast, they will look elsewhere for someone who will. The sale would already be lost. I am one of these types of customers.

Then there is the lost opportunity of the upsell. Not as easy to do this over the net. How many of us have been to HN and bought - let's say a computer.

"Sir, you should really consider a Flexirent deal. Save your cash and rent." But it's 2x the price! "Your benefits outweigh the cost (runs through the 2000 point benefit checklist)....and your ABN will make it tax deductible (note this point). You should also consider extended warranty for $xx. Put that on the invoice and you get - to really protect yourself you should buy a $200 surge protector and upgrade the anti-virus, etc, etc.... We have already pre-approved your credit to cover all this."

So if you're not too switched on at the time, you have just bought a $2500 computer and committed yourself to spending nearly $6000 on the whole exercise. Not much price deals available on credit terms. But if you only had $2500 cash, you still have to commit to a finance deal to cover the rest.

A year later you're telling yourself what an idiot you were for being sucked into a BS deal, looking for the money for the next horrendous repayment installment.

I think this is where much of the profits come into this industry. Buying over the net simply doen't do this as there is no salesman to apply the pressure.

I have since learned never to shop at places like HN for big ticket items as it is usually cheaper elsewhere if you use your commonsense and you get the added bonus of no one pushing the bulls**t add ons. In short I don't trust myself anymore to even step in the door, just in case. I was one of those dills that got caught once. Incidentally, in my situation, my ABN did not get me any tax deductions for the deal at the end of the day.

Well its all back on again..
Online sales will kill jobs: retailers | The Australian

Perhaps if these retailers tried to give a bit of fast service it might help.

I seriously doubt the complaining retailers care one bit about GST for the government.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cultana

Well its all back on again..
Online sales will kill jobs: retailers | The Australian

Perhaps if these retailers tried to give a bit of fast service it might help. .

---

i agree .. adding 10% to overseas prices isn't going to help that ...

it also isn't going to bring the price up to the overseas price plus postage and make their PRICES competitive ...

one wonders why they are interested in pursuing this at all

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cultana

Well its all back on again..
I seriously doubt the complaining retailers care one bit about GST for the government.

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particularly not when (as i think it said in that article) the cost of collecting the gst would be more than the gst collected



at the same time i might add that i buy a bit of stuff from both switzerland and america so have a vested interest in the situation not changing ... it would still be worht my while to do it but i would HATE having to fill out a NAT1 (a one page form for when you do go over $1000 which takes me about half a day to complete) for every overseas purchase

whilst not the only thing, the main thing i buy is sheet music which, if i go to the local music store, they are uninterested in getting, take heaps longer to get and price over twice as much more (on one quote five times as much) ... a fair bit of sheet music i can get in pdf or sometimes sibellius files which means they are on my computer in a few minutes


regards david

the CD which the music shop reckoned htey couldn't source, which i ordered in norway, online; which was despatched from usa same day and arrived here three days later

the power of the internet

regards david

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cultana

Well its all back on again..
Online sales will kill jobs: retailers | The Australian

Perhaps if these retailers tried to give a bit of fast service it might help.

I seriously doubt the complaining retailers care one bit about GST for the government.

---

They don't care about the G[rab] S[teal] T[ake] at all - in many cases it appears to be envy or bile.

"We can't stop it - we don't care to compete so, let's try and make it less attractive and harder for the consumers so that we will be seen as the easier option by those too lazy to jump through the hoops"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robbygard

i agree .. adding 10% to overseas prices isn't going to help that ...

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It won't be just 10% and Jerry Harvey knows that...

It will be more like 50% to 100% as the tax office also bills the purchaser the cost to assess the GST on the imported goods...

I think the retailers can go get stuffed, it is not like the retail industry is an industry that is of major importance to the good of the country...

Some more ammunition against the dropping of the GST import threshold, this time from the Board of Taxation.
http://www.taxboard.gov.au/content/r...ons_report.pdf

The Executive Summary details simply the reasons of why it hopefully won't go any further, that "the collection of GST on cross-border transactions can be inefficient due to the difficulties associated with enforcing GST compliance on a non-resident outside Australia’s jurisdiction."

The other point that the slapped together Retail Coalition hasn't and won't address is summed up in the follwoing "Ruslan Kogan from the Kogan Company, a manufacturer and online retailer for technology products, says the ad campaign is misleading.

"These guys are deceiving the public - they are not talking about the real issues," he said.

"They are not talking about what's causing them to be uncompetitive and they're not willing to change the way they do things.

"If you look at a certain camera for instance, it costs $500 in Australia and $250 in the US. The reason for that isn't the 10 per cent GST.

"The reason for that is that the retailers in the US have negotiated much better prices from the distributors than the big retailers in Australia have.

"So a businessman looks at the commercial environment in the marketplace and tries to find ways to innovate for their customers in order to give them a better deal."

Retailers' online ad campaign 'sour grapes' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I think from the actions of the Retail Coalition and their ad campaign will see a negative action of people choosing to boycot the likes of Harvey Norman and others. As with every business in any industry, if you don't innovate then you won't survive.

So in fairness to the small retailers of Australia, does that mean that many of these large retail chains are, in exchange, going to give up their very favourable rental agreements (including 'rent free' for key shopping centre tennants) with major shopping centers, or do they need to keep that advantage to be competitive locally?

Now this is all out in the open, do you think it might put enough pressure on the bs to burst the housing price bubble? (ie rents)

As Waldo says, the media don't seem to taking the big retailers claims very seriously.
Cheers,
Jim

I was watching this with interest yesterday via the online newspapers. At 9am they were talking up their story about how the retailers are up in arms about internet retailing and there should be 10% GST applied to level the field.

Over the course of the day the readers comments started to come in thick and fast. By the end of the day the story had changed to how the consumers felt that Australian retailers were having a lend of the customer offering poor service, poor choice, high prices, poor stock etc.

Today it is more about the public giving the big companies a kicking. Instead of helping the retailers, their campaign seems to have just given the customers a forum to vent their issues ...... so perhaps a backfire.

As for one of the major retailers with the bad ads and internal advertising department he should just sink into the background. All of his media work in the last 12 months makes him come across as a complete winger who is trying to cut down any competition who have come up with fresh ideas. Perhaps it was different when he was trying to break into the market.

Mindnight news - ABC last night - it now becomes a little clearer - stir up the water and the dangle the bait for what you really want.

".....the retailers are calling for GST to be applied to all internet transactions or have it removed from all retail sales....." - I can only presume they meant up to the current threshold of $1000.00.

Next we will be told that this will make them more competitive and reduce prices and create jobs. :o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waldo

.
.
.
"If you look at a certain camera for instance, it costs $500 in Australia and $250 in the US. The reason for that isn't the 10 per cent GST.

"The reason for that is that the retailers in the US have negotiated much better prices from the distributors than the big retailers in Australia have.
.
.

---

It's not just the retailer/distributor link, perhaps even bigger is the OS manufacturer/distributor link. The OS manufacturer knows that an AUS distributor will only need 10 units of product annually whereas the US distributor will need 150 units annually. Some US retailers can often buy a product cheaper from their distributor cheaper than what the AUS distributor can buy it from the OS manufacturer. It's even more skewed that this. The US is world consumer central and no large supplier can afford to be out of that market so deals are often cut for US distributor that are below the OS manufacturers cost. These losses are then recouped from prices paid by the distributors of smaller countries. This is unsustainable - fortunately eventually the US$ will be worthless so their prices will have to rise fast.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob38S

Mindnight news - ABC last night - it now becomes a little clearer - stir up the water and the dangle the bait for what you really want.

".....the retailers are calling for GST to be applied to all internet transactions or have it removed from all retail sales....." - I can only presume they meant up to the current threshold of $1000.00.

Next we will be told that this will make them more competitive and reduce prices and create jobs. :o

---

And, if they get what they want can you imagine the complete GST equivalent being passed on to the consumer? I wonder if they have an excuse ready.
Cheers,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobL

It's not just the retailer/distributor link, perhaps even bigger is the OS manufacturer/distributor link. The OS manufacturer knows that an AUS distributor will only need 10 units of product annually whereas the US distributor will need 150 units annually. Some US retailers can often buy a product cheaper from their distributor cheaper than what the AUS distributor can buy it from the OS manufacturer. It's even more skewed that this. The US is world consumer central and no large supplier can afford to be out of that market so deals are often cut for US distributor that are below the OS manufacturers cost. These losses are then recouped from prices paid by the distributors of smaller countries. This is unsustainable - fortunately eventually the US$ will be worthless so their prices will have to rise fast.

---

Yes to some degree.
The other problem we have here in OZ is the level of middlemen. Each has to take a their cut in the process so by the time it gets to us the sucker at the end we pay for all this.

When you order something via you local hardware store they don't always go direct to the manufacturer but through their warehouse system. All middlemen. This adds to the overall cost.

This whole GST thing is more about the retail stores trying to bring in a level of protectionism and little to do with anything else.
ebay: SIEG C2 Mini Metal Lathe $AU705 includes delivery
H&F : SIEG C2 Mini Metal Lathe $AU825 not including delivery
both prices with GST..
With the H&F lathe it would cost me about another $150 on top just for delivery. Go figure.

I think this debate will heat up a little more now that thd, campaign has begun.

It would be interesting to see what proportion of internet sales take sales from the likes of whinging Gerry.

I know several people in trade jobs who buy from the internet because what they want simply can't be obtained here at anywhere near a reasonable price. one fellow I know was told a certin pulley would set him back "about $100 plus GST." Obtained for $9 on the internet and landed in 4 days!

There must be a pretty large slice of internet trade of this sort.

As for some of these big retailers, we need to look at ALdi.Now I reckon I can shop at aldi and with the money saved, buy half a tank of fuel much better than the miserable 4c/ltr. offered by Colesworths. Note: despite the increase in the cost of fuel, the discount has actually decreased in percentage terms.

Apparently Colesworths say they cannot compete with th Aldi business model! Maybe it's time for a model change!

The proof of the pudding....
Decided to shout myself an iPod today because I was given a flash Bose iPod dock for Christmas that works fine with the phone, but there isn't enough storage on it for all my music. The kids tell me I need the 160gb one, so with $320.00 in my pocket, off I went today to get some sushi for lunch and a walk around to the hifi shops.

Dick Smith...OUT of STOCK, no worries, I'll just go around to JB....OUT of STOCK too....oh well, I'll just drop into the Good Guys around the corner from home...OUT of STOCK also.:~
Looks like I'll just have to buy it on the net...:doh:

Don't listen to those jerks, if they at least have the stock to sell, I would have bought it TODAY!

Regards,
Mr. Grumpy
aka Peter

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimbur

And, if they get what they want can you imagine the complete GST equivalent being passed on to the consumer? ....
Cheers,
Jim

---

Yeah, right :rolleyes: and if anyone believes that then I have a question for them........

Are you interested in scrap metal or roadbase? :2tsup:

I know a mate who is selling this large bridge in Sydney for scrap and another who has the mining rights on this big rock in central Oz. Just PM me your bank details and I'll send you the details for my Nigerian bank account.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bob38S

Yeah, right :rolleyes: and if anyone believes that then I have a question for them........

Are you interested in scrap metal or roadbase? :2tsup:

I know a mate who is selling this large bridge in Sydney for scrap and another who has the mining rights on this big rock in central Oz. Just PM me your bank details and I'll send you the details for my Nigerian bank account.

---

PM on way, also in market for a musical venue.
Cheers,
Jim

It seems that the kitchen has become too hot for Gerry. He's upset at the robust feedback he's been getting from consumers.
Cheers,
Jim

Yeah he might be missing a few bucks poor old bugger:D

one thing I have not quite worked out with this:
Do they want
a.) GST and import duty
or
b.) just GST?

Seems the latest excuse is rental costs for their overheads....

The odd bit is most have a very poor internet sales profile anyway.

Hi,

The purpose of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA was so goods manufactured in either country could be traded Duty Free, GST would still be payable here in Oz. The risk when the agreement was drafted was that goods from dutiable countries would be shipped via the US and slip in as part of the FTA. The GST & duty free limit now applies to goods landed for less than $1000 AUD irrespective of their country of origin.

I can see both sides of this argument, we all like a bargain, which is probably the reason Harvey Norman is there instead of the corner electrical store, and Bunnings is there rather than the local hardware.

If we take this further, we're really asking the major retailers to act as the showroom for us to browse in, while we order off shore?? Retail space is expensive, local staff are expensive and can only be paid for from sales.

I'll bet HN has experienced (as we have) the story..... 'my brother was in the US and brought me back a XYZ, it doesn't work can you help me, you're the local agents for these'

My concern is; we used to have a manufacturing industry that gave our kids jobs, will we be saying one day 'we used to have retailers'?

The request is simple, an enquiry to review the impact of this on the local economy. Once the facts are known decisions can be made. Governments are crafty, if they miss out on income in one way, they'll get it another... perhaps an across the board hike in the GST rates.

I hope that this isn't seen as a whinge, but as a bit of background to what is a complex issue.

Regards

Grahame

Grahame, you make some valid points and I understand your perspective.

The real reason that people shop on the internet however is not to avoid GST, that is only a side benefit.

The real reasons that people shop on the internet are a combination of price, choice and convenience. When I buy tooling from the US, I buy tooling that is mainly made in China, just like I can buy here. Same quality, but at about 1/3 the cost. As I live in the country, delivery costs from Melbourne are almost as high as they are from the US, communication with the US supplier is invariably faster than it is with the local Melbourne supplier, choice from the US supplier is far superior to that offered by the local supplier and the US supplier is almost never out of stock. The local supplier is often out of stock with delivery times quoted, and usually not met, of 6-8 weeks.

Given all of the above is it any wonder that people choose to buy from overseas via the internet. My last shipment was just over $A400 worth, it would have cost me well in excess of $A1000 to buy from Melbourne, probably half ot the items would have been out of stock!

Local businesses have dropped the ball on internet shop fronts.
Try and do business with a well known business in Springvale or Dandenong via the internet or send an enquiry via email. You'll be turning to the US too.

Your business is a welcome exception, you have a very good shopfront on the internet (probably explains why my Incra LS25 was purchased here rather than from the US), you have obviously realised that without the internet your business would not have a long term future. The likes of Harvey Norman have not learned this lesson yet, and they are now running to government for thinly disguised protection.

As Fred says, Grahame has some valid points. However, there is nothing altruistic in the current campaign.
To me retail should involve skilled, knowledgeable staff as well as a choice of products. The larger concerns are becoming more akin to warehouses and the knowledge often displayed is limited to finding a brochure produced by the manufacturer.
Cheers,
Jim

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwhat

I can see both sides of this argument, we all like a bargain, which is probably the reason Harvey Norman is there instead of the corner electrical store, and Bunnings is there rather than the local hardware.

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Hi Grahame,

Reading the responses to this issue on various fora and newspaper comment sections, pricing is certainly part of the equation, but in many ways a bigger complaint is that there is a lack of service, range and interest on the part of Australian retailers.

As Big Shed points out, dealing with many Australian retailers is an exercise in frustration, with stock of common items often difficult to find, staff members reluctant to help, the level of product knowledge breathtakingly low, and order times long and frustrating.

Here's one example, a well-known equipment retailer had a sale in late October where the 12" Woodfast disc sander was on sale, and featured in their brochure. When I arrived at the store, there was no stock, and the lead time for new orders was put at 4-6 weeks. I placed an order, and called back after 4 weeks, only to be told that not only was the expected arrival time now "sometime in January", but my order had been summarily cancelled. I was given the generous option of being able to have one shipped from their Melbourne store, which had plenty of stock - as long as I paid the shipping, which put the item at over the regular retail price...

So now I have no disc sander, and from being neutral about this company, from whom I've never bought anything before, I'm hostile/contemptuous. More importantly, I've wasted a two hour drive out to a showroom and back, and half an hour on the phone conversation trying to figure out what happened to my order. All valuable time I could have spent doing what I love, and not what I hate.

My feeling from reading people's responses to this issue is that this experience is not atypical. It's not simply about prices. After all, consumers can't be that price sensitive, or places like Harvey Norman would no longer survive at all - other (Australian) retailers undercut their prices all the time. There are swags of online Aussie retailers selling, in particular, computer-related equipment, for close to "global" online prices, yet people continue to go to HN, Dick Smith, JB etc to buy those things.

I think if Australian retailers were anything like their good American counterparts - who are switched on, service and customer-oriented, progressive in both their sales channels and their product ranges, and willing to go the extra mile for you - there would be a lot less angst about price differentials, and anger at the attitude of big retailers. I would be happy to pay a little extra to be able to go to an Australian store, actually handle and see the products I'm thinking of buying, have an informed conversation with a staff member about whether I'm making the right choice, be able to see and handle the alternatives, and know that there is stock of each of them available.

(That being said, it often seems ludicrous that an individual should be able to order even large and heavy items from the USA, have them flown across the Pacific, and still have them arrive for half the price local retailers are offering - even once duties and GST have been factored in...)

People will often comment that the American market is cheaper because it's larger and retailers can buy in bulk etc. That is partly true, but what those low prices also reflect is that the US retail market is one of the world's most competitive - which means if you haven't got your act together, you simply will not survive. People forget that side of the coin when talking about American prices.

There is now a Productivity Commission review of the Australian retail industry scheduled - I will be interested to see its findings regarding the capacity of Australian retail to compete in a globalised market with all the above taken into account.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwhat

Hi,

The purpose of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA was so goods manufactured in either country could be traded Duty Free, GST would still be payable here in Oz. The risk when the agreement was drafted was that goods from dutiable countries would be shipped via the US and slip in as part of the FTA. The GST & duty free limit now applies to goods landed for less than $1000 AUD irrespective of their country of origin.

---

fair comment, although i think there were and are many bigger risks than that associated with the agreement

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gwhat

I can see both sides of this argument, we all like a bargain, which is probably the reason Harvey Norman is there instead of the corner electrical store, and Bunnings is there rather than the local hardware.

If we take this further, we're really asking the major retailers to act as the showroom for us to browse in, while we order off shore?? Retail space is expensive, local staff are expensive and can only be paid for from sales.

---

whilst YOU may see both sides, it certainly APPEARS that the bigger players are looking only at cost ... if you consider this thread, i think you will note that there are many observations and valid examples regarding poor service and whilst i acknowledge that price is also a consideration, i think it is superficial in the extreme to think that increasing the costs of these imports by 10% +$50 odd (as it currently stands) is actually going to make a difference to either service or price competitiveness ... (consider my two examples on page four of this discussion and the many others in the discussion) ... the big players seems to be ignoring this aspect or pretending that there is no other problem

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gwhat

I'll bet HN has experienced (as we have) the story..... 'my brother was in the US and brought me back a XYZ, it doesn't work can you help me, you're the local agents for these'

---

a very valid concern and unless (as is the case with some camera equipment) there is an international warranty on the product, i feel you would be justified in charging a service fee for this

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwhat

My concern is; we used to have a manufacturing industry that gave our kids jobs, will we be saying one day 'we used to have retailers'?Grahame

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this is also a valid concern and whilst i acknowledge that the retail industry has been, at least in part, responsible for the decline of manufacturing industries and also of squeezing the farmers, i don't subscribe to a view (as many others seem to) that they deserve what they get ... i think governments of both political persuasions have dealt with structural changes reasonably well, at least since 1982 ... i think that prior to that both were monumental failures

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwhat

The request is simple, an enquiry to review the impact of this on the local economy. Once the facts are known decisions can be made. Governments are crafty, if they miss out on income in one way, they'll get it another... perhaps an across the board hike in the GST rates.

---

is that what their request is ... it doesn't seem that way to me ... there was already an enquiry mooted before they got involved ... it seems to me that they are trying to influence the outcome of the enquiry ... it also seems if they wish to limit terms of reference that way, we could all do without it ... by all means establish the quantum of the problem (anecdotally it appears that internet sales are only 2-3% ... i wonder whether that is true or whether the opponetns of the big fellows are doing their own disinformation) but surely we should also be looking for a wider voes by the productivity commission or from a government perspective it is an easy answer to do nothing ... small impact and increased costs to change (the $1000 was set, as i understand it, because it was cost more money than would be obtained to collect the gst on lesser amounts)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gwhat

I hope that this isn't seen as a whinge, but as a bit of background to what is a complex issue.

Regards

Grahame

---

on the contrary i think it is good to get a bit more input like this .. it is very complex and much of the discussion that has been put forward seems either superficial or mis/disinformation


regards david

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robbygard

establish the quantum of the problem (anecdotally it appears that internet sales are only 2-3%

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My apologies David for borrowing your comment but it does come to one of the main points of this argunment.
This value of internet sales 2 – 3%, what does it actually cover,
a.) total internet sales or
b.) total internet retail sales including all Australian and international sales not including ebay or
c.) total internet retail sales including all Australian and international sales and including ebay or
d.) just international internet sales?

Specific detail seems lost in the communication of the actual way this vale has been determined.

Now there would be some questions re Australian ebay i.e. sellers based in Australia and have ‘online stores’. Are these including GST in their pricing?
If these stores do so much trading one wonders why the government has not stepped in with the need for an ABN number and GST collection. Possibly worth looking at legally.

One thing that I do find somewhat odd with this rush re internet sales as little was being said even when the $AUS 1:$US 0.8 or less.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cultana

This value of internet sales 2 – 3%, what does it actually cover,

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8167.0 - Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2008-09

"Proportion of total income from sales of goods or services attributable to orders received via the Internet or web during the year ended 30 June 2009. "

Just to follow on from the above. How would booking international holidays and flights while in another country be taxed? The idea of the banks collecting the tax was mooted at one stage. So how would they differentiate actual sales initiated from Aus vs say holidaying in another country as many businesses have obscure names on the credit card transaction? If the banks will not collect then we are back to agents collecting (Aus Post) and charging for this - hence the govt. saying it ends up costing more than the tax collected for purchases under $1000. I think the consensus is that the whole situation has more questions than answers at this stage and then there is of course the whole matter of the ordinary person wanting a Veeeery good deal. While a handful of businesses have adopted online trading in Aus, the others need to play catchup and do this fast. Oh, they also need to provide excellent service, knowlege of the products and maintain stock to actually sell the product - and lets not forget that most (not all) Aus online businesses deduct the funds from your credit card as soon as the order is placed. This is the most reprehensible act committed by these businesses. They should only deduct when the shipping takes place (equivalent to walking out with the goods).
These are just some of the reasons we purchase from LV, Rockler etc.
My tuppence worth from the wild west of OZ.
Les

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Master Splinter

8167.0 - Selected Characteristics of Australian Business, 2008-09

"Proportion of total income from sales of goods or services attributable to orders received via the Internet or web during the year ended 30 June 2009. "

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All fine but that is Australian business stats...

This has little perspective with respect to the argument of internet sales internationally. Also the argument is about retail sales, specifically you me buying from overseas.

As it is International sales that GH et al are wining about it seems strange that there are no precise figures to back their arguments.
All internet transactions (ebay seems excluded or too complex in many cases), within Australia made by people/businesses within Australia to Australian based businesses carry GST so what is this all about?

Seems Gh et al are crying foul about other Australian businesses that have a successful internet business model and they don't.

Their argument lacks fact, and basic %'s mean little.

I think the retailers would have more support for an enquiry into the cost of them importing products for sale in Australia. I can understand a small increase in price over products from overseas but often the difference is far too attractive to pass by.

I don't understand how a local company purchasing in bulk at wholesale prices can't compete with me purchasing individual items online at the point of origin's retail prices. The point of origin often has to deal with the same factors as the local (wages, rent...)

As others have indicated, GST isn't a factor on my purchasing from O/S. It's a significant saving of money and convenience of having access to a wider range of products. I prefer to support local but if local isn't competitive then the choice is simple.

Corbs