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eBay sellers Told to Include GST
noisymime writes "The Age is running a story on how The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has requested eBay Australia to enforce the inclusion of the GST on all sales/auctions. Previously this was recommended but not a requirement. Is this reasonable protection for buyers or simply a frustration for everyone? What about all the other sales and auction sites available to Australians?" Moreover, how will this apply to other countries with GSTs - or sales tax?
Or at least have an option so you can display search results as total price including postage.
I'm so sick of seeing "bargains" on ebay which are $1 with $16 postage.
Personally i'd love it if they had a filter for "Items which start at 1c with no reserve" so that i can filter out all the businesses who simply retail on ebay.
In Australia, assuming a good being sold is subject to the GST, the seller has to remit one eleventh of the sale price to the government if the buyer is within Australia (assuming the seller is a business; I'm ignoring individual, once-off sales.)
...
... this is just one example.
The problem comes if the buyer is international -- eg, the US. In this case, it counts as an export, and is exempt from GST. This means that a bid of (for example) $105 by an international buyer is worth more to the seller than a domestic bid of $110.
It means that the seller might not get the best price for his goods. Maybe a better deal would be to say to international bidders, "If you win, you pay 10/11ths of what you actually bid" -- but that's another source of confusion
GST law has all sorts of nightmares embedded in it in Australia
"Some eBay buyers reported that they had been charged an additional 10 per cent on top of their winning bid or 'Buy It Now' price without having been properly alerted beforehand of the additional charge".
Sounds like this requirement is a good idea.
As an Aussie, I remember once buying a shirt in a shop in California. When I got to the checkout, I was charged for state tax on top of the price that was on the ticket. I didn't complain, because I realised at the time that that's how things are done in California.
In Australia, however, it is universally assumed that advertised prices include all taxes. That's how things are done here. For an Australian website to advertise prices otherwise would be, IMHO, misleading.
Yes, there are going to be lots of items that don't attract GST, so fine GST should not be charged on them. And yes, people outside Australia don't have to pay any GST. Fine. The simple solution is to require any sales that are subject to GST to have a note alongside the price sayng "plus 10% GST to Australian shipping addresses" or something. Easy.
Take an example: I sold an item on ebay.com.au recently. I'm an Australian tax paying Australian citizen living in Australia, I used the services of the Australian eBay subsidiary to sell an item to another Australian citizen/resident/taxpayer, made the financial dealing in Australian dollars between Australian banks. Following the deal, eBay Australia sent me an invoice for services rendered, a fee in Australian dollars which they require to be paid to my choice of an Australian bank account or by mailing a cheque or money order to an Australian address.
So I ask for an Australian Tax Invoice in accordance with Australian law. It seemed a reasonable request to me.
Now, all of a sudden, eBay are dancing around alternating between calling themselves "eBay Inc.", an American company, and "eBay AG" (what is that, Swiss, or German or something). They won't answer communications about Australian tax, their 'support' monkeys just hit the 'random diversion' button and send off irrelevant "Thank-you for contacting eBay support, here's some information about... a Duck" type replies.
I've had it with the fockers, after this little carry on, I'm gonna start whingeing at the tax office and the consumer whassname!
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Yeah, my credit card when I dial 9-11 ...
... lol) versus 5-10-15 minutes for the Police to respond ... quite likely to just draw chalk outlines.
If it's for police, I'd rather handle the problem myself, with a gun. Certainly a heck of a lot faster response time: 1000 fps lead (feet, not frames
If it's for ambulance or fire, thats what insurance is for.
And yeah - I know you'll lecture me about how many people can't afford insurance. But thats only because the government interferes in the market. If we had true laisez-faire capitalism, the necesary insurance for these services would be dirt cheap.
There are plenty of ways to fund the necesary means for society to remain intact, without coerced payments. The real question is then: do we want a society run by voluntary methods, or with brute force? Taxation is brute force. Stop paying, and see men with guns show up at your door.
(BTW - whats up with this anti-bot bullshit?)
The sea changes color, but the sea does not change.
Right, that's just us Americans. Everyone else on the planet knows everything about everything so would never need clarification on anything. Ever.