Ebay to block Australians from global purchases

[schwarzerrogen]

Find someone you trust as an intermediary and have them post it to you after purchase.

 

You buy with their address, you send them a bit of cash, they send you the item after it's delivered to them. I've been doing it for years when ordering stuff from Japan and the Philippines.

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, schwarzerrogen said:

Find someone you trust as an intermediary and have them post it to you after purchase.

 

You buy with their address, you send them a bit of cash, they send you the item after it's delivered to them. I've been doing it for years when ordering stuff from Japan and the Philippines.

You can even buy this as a service, think it's called freight forwarders. Great when buying from places that simply will not sell to you out of country.

[it_dont_work]

3 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

Amazon's support is top notch from experience

You ask for a return, state your reason, they issue a label, you stick it on a box and stick your stuff in, and they pick it up

 

and in my youth I probably would of spent the time fucking around doing that as well. Now I'm happy to see some of the value in convenience

[Droidbot]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

You can even buy this as a service, think it's called freight forwarders. Great when buying from places that simply will not sell to you out of country.

Yep, used it to import my OnePlus One. One of the first in Australia to get it, I think I was like unit 1500 something globally. 

[Ertman]

15 minutes ago, it_dont_work said:

items purchased and imported over $1000aud for personal use are taxed, under that amount they are not (although there are restrictions on alcohol, tobacco etc). The policy issue behind it is trying to be based on a technicality of online market places as eBay is facilitating a purchase service and is a registered Australian company for tax purposes, therefore as far as legislature is concerned your buying from an Australian company. Know given that is not how ebay works as it is an auction or payment facilitator, but we don't have the legislative frameworks in place to deal with that difference. There is not a distinction of method.

-snip-

avoid the sometimes 50% mark up on stuff

-snip-

Blocking most online purchases will not make people buy locally, it'll make them either save the money or spend it on something else.

So the import amount is a loophole. For example, our mail exemption here is $20.

 

eBay is facilitator of purchasing goods or services though, it just allows for auctions to determine the price. Its specifically not a payment facilitator, its not paypal.

 

I don't think the 50% mark-up has anything to do with being forced to pay the GST, it just what a less competitive market allows, you are still circumventing the markup, but back to the point.

 

From what I understand, its not the government that blocking online purchases, they are just trying to force eBay to charge the tax, and the eBay is threatening to block inter nation transactions using their platform.

[Ertman]

24 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

Adding to this, even in the PC scene with an actual example: 

- I can get a GTX 1080Ti Gaming OC from Gigabyte for $700USD shipped, which is $931AUD

- or I can get a worse Zotac GTX 1080Ti FE from Scorptec for $1100AUD + shipping... 

- or I can get that same Gaming OC 1080Ti for $1159AUD from Scorptec + shipping...

 

$170 difference for AIB vs FE, $229 for AIB to AIB.. 

Thats a problem with a less competitive market more so than anything else. You being forced to pay tax on your international purchase would be fair if the rules were to change.

[it_dont_work]

1 minute ago, Ertman said:

From what I understand, its not the government that blocking online purchases, they are just trying to force eBay to charge the tax, and the eBay is threatening to block inter nation transactions using their platform.

Pretty much got it in one there.  Tax reform is a bit of a political agenda here atm, but our policy hasn't matured enough to take eCommerce models into account, more our government tries to flex it's muscles, the more it finds out we're a small eCommerce economy with the entire population of our country around 25million (NewYork State is around 20mil for comparison)

[Ertman]

4 minutes ago, it_dont_work said:

Pretty much got it in one there.  Tax reform is a bit of a political agenda here atm, but our policy hasn't matured enough to take eCommerce models into account, more our government tries to flex it's muscles, the more it finds out we're a small eCommerce economy with the entire population of our country around 25million (NewYork State is around 20mil for comparison)

So the only thing they are trying to do is close loopholes or extend the current tax code to efficiently cover the new market of ecommerce? So they are trying to level the playing field and maintain tax revenue. Their other option is to dump GST entirely and increase income taxes... so....

 

If it make you feel better, Canada's population is around 36 million.

[Misanthrope]

1 hour ago, Droidbot said:

""high standard of living""

 

our government is fucking incompetent and backwards, we have some of the most poorly planned cities in the asia-pacific, we have a horrible relationship between our aboriginal people and migrants, a """"""multicultural""""" society that pretty much embraces 'white = right' at this point, etc. 

 

I could go on for about an hour on how the census was a great example of how incompetent the AUGov is when it comes to technology. 

I could go on for about three on how the new import tax could be easily done away with if our retailers didn't charge such high markups on everything. 

That still doesn't conflicts with a high standard of living though, the standard of living means access to services and housing, salaries and how strong is the economy, unemployment rates, etc. It doesn't means equality or competent government. 

[it_dont_work]

6 minutes ago, Ertman said:

So the only thing they are trying to do is close loopholes or extend the current tax code to efficiently cover the new market of ecommerce? So they are trying to level the playing field and maintain tax revenue. Their other option is to dump GST entirely and increase income taxes... so....

 

If it make you feel better, Canada's population is around 36 million.

Might not have articulated this the best, first I'm all for gst and fair taxation. I'd be ok if they did change laws. What I don't like is the government trying to leverage a loophole instead of trying to fix it. Given they're only doing this because they can't get policy through the upper house. My problem is moralisticlly and constitutionally there's a gray area in their implementation of policy.

 

I owned and ran a business for some time, our gst laws while kinda confusing are more than fair. Just don't see how foreign businesses facilitating the collection of a foreign tax without access to the benefits and offsets said tax offers domestic business.

[Droidbot]

15 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

That still doesn't conflicts with a high standard of living though, the standard of living means access to services and housing, salaries and how strong is the economy, unemployment rates, etc. It doesn't means equality or competent government. 

Services - bad internet and phone services, little regulation of power/phone companies, supermarkets ripping off farmers etc

Housing - this is a country where they still charge stamp duty on property purchases, alongside a lack of housing in metropolitan areas due to Chinese investors - it's harder than ever for a normal Australian worker to buy a house outright because the Chinese will always outbid you for everything. I live in Sydney and trust me, the prices are obscene for any decent property. I've been to places that had a price guide of 900-940k and it went for 1.1mil to a Chinese investor who kept out-offering everybody. 

Salaries - high minimum wage is a good thing, they want to make it $28 and think that businesses will obey that. salaries are good for a country like ours however

Strong economy - AUD/USD has been going down since about '14, it's only been this low since the peak of the GFC...

Unemployment rates are standard for a modern society. 

 

I still can't fucking see how we're held with a high standard of living. I've lived here all my life and yet most of my family has gone away from here.  

My cousins have gone to Germany, NZ, America, etc and haven't looked back. 

[Bouzoo]

1 hour ago, it_dont_work said:

Kinda, just a long history of protectionism benefiting those in Parliament and fucking up our economy and global market places. 

It was a reference, especially ausies should get it. 

[Misanthrope]

35 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

Services - bad internet and phone services, little regulation of power/phone companies, supermarkets ripping off farmers etc

Housing - this is a country where they still charge stamp duty on property purchases, alongside a lack of housing in metropolitan areas due to Chinese investors - it's harder than ever for a normal Australian worker to buy a house outright because the Chinese will always outbid you for everything. I live in Sydney and trust me, the prices are obscene for any decent property. I've been to places that had a price guide of 900-940k and it went for 1.1mil to a Chinese investor who kept out-offering everybody. 

Salaries - high minimum wage is a good thing, they want to make it $28 and think that businesses will obey that. salaries are good for a country like ours however

Strong economy - AUD/USD has been going down since about '14, it's only been this low since the peak of the GFC...

Unemployment rates are standard for a modern society. 

 

I still can't fucking see how we're held with a high standard of living. I've lived here all my life and yet most of my family has gone away from here.  

My cousins have gone to Germany, NZ, America, etc and haven't looked back. 

Services - Dude we're talking shitty internet vs people who don't have sewer or water service, any internet at all, no roads, etc. 

Housing - Again this means you have decent houses for most citizens vs people living in fucking huts.

Investors - Again this doesn't means "is it easy for workers to invests" this means are large, multinational corporations willing to invest, are your properties worth a damn, etc.

 

If you still can't see how you're held as a high standard of living you do not know what is like in truly poor countries and extremely bad ghetto areas.

[Droidbot]

25 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Services - Dude we're talking shitty internet vs people who don't have sewer or water service, any internet at all, no roads, etc. 

Housing - Again this means you have decent houses for most citizens vs people living in fucking huts.

Investors - Again this doesn't means "is it easy for workers to invests" this means are large, multinational corporations willing to invest, are your properties worth a damn, etc.

 

If you still can't see how you're held as a high standard of living you do not know what is like in truly poor countries and extremely bad ghetto areas.

Fair point, but I'm saying that our ''high standard of living'' is based on HDI - how it seems. 

HDI is based on 3 factors: 

- Education (length)

- Income per capita

- Life expectancy

 

Which is 3 things that Australia excels at.

Education, due to free education (public system), income per capita is quite high, and healthcare is subsidized by richer taxpayers for all, through the Medicare levy.

 

Other things, like resources, we struggle at. Everything is not as it seems under the surface, but every country has its' downfalls. 

 

We are still a rich country, and we are in what is essentially the top 30% of the world's people having internet alone. 

 

 

[Misanthrope]

Just now, Droidbot said:

Fair point, but I'm saying that our ''high standard of living'' is based on HDI - how it seems. 

HDI is based on 3 factors: 

- Education (length)

- Income per capita

- Life expectancy

 

Which is 3 things that Australia excels at.

Education, due to free education (public system), income per capita is quite high, and healthcare is subsidized by richer taxpayers for all, through the Medicare levy.

 

Other things, like resources, we struggle at. Everything is not as it seems under the surface, but every country has its' downfalls. 

 

We are still a rich country, and we are in what is essentially the top 30% of the world's people having internet alone. 

 

 

That's exactly what I meant with my first post actually: They do have enough right to be baffling they get some things so backwards and wrong that's why I have mixed feelings about Aus.

[Eroda]

if this goes through this will be very lucrative for someone with a Brain. IE yahoo japan auctions are only for japanese residents but there are people (http://jessestreeter.com) who act as an intermediary who place your bid for you forr a Nominal Fee and handle repackaging of goods. all it would take is an aussie living in the US to set up something and be fair with prices and boom instant business

[Droidbot]

Just now, Eroda said:

if this goes through this will be very lucrative for someone with a Brain. IE yahoo japan auctions are only for japanese residents but there are people (jessestreeter) who act as an intermediary who place your bid for you forr a Nominal Fee and handle repackaging of goods. all it would take is an aussie living in the US to set up something and be fair with prices and boom instant business

Yeah, look at places like Samurai Buyer - where there is a market for niche shit like anime collectibles, etc from Japan, there are sellers to fill that niche. 

[Ertman]

15 hours ago, it_dont_work said:

-snip-

 

I owned and ran a business for some time, our gst laws while kinda confusing are more than fair. Just don't see how foreign businesses facilitating the collection of a foreign tax without access to the benefits and offsets said tax offers domestic business.

Fair enough.

 

GST isn't really a tax on businesses though. It's a tax on consumers. So it doesn't really matter if they receive the benefit or not.

 

however finding better ways to implement collection of taxes from foreign transactions is something that should be a priority.