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?

Comments

Make them include postage!

[grahamsz]

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.

Re:Make them include postage!

[lithiumfox]

There is an option on ebay that allows you to see shipping price on the main listing page along with the selling prices. If an item that actually sells for 12 dollars ebay and the shipping is 3 dollars, some people will list it that way. Others will list it as 1 dollar for the item and 14 dollars for shipping, thats because ebay does not charge you fees on shipping, but on the item alone. Sellers save a lot of money on seller fees doing this. A deal on ebay is not just the cost of the item, but the item + shipping, if not you can get just get it somewhere else.

This is a great move

[Bigthecat]

I used Ebay Australia a lot before this decision was made, and I'm very happy with it. Unlike what is being inferred, it isn't so that people will have to charge a tax on everything and do all the paperwork along with it. It is because of various auctions, e.g. a laptop, which would have a buy it now price or an auction price which seemed great or reasonable, but many sellers often left it in the fine print alongside unrelated things that the final cost needed 10% GST added, which was ultimately an easy way to get 10% more for your auctions, whether you were a business or not, and it was annoying.

It has nothing to do with making people charge a tax with their auctions, it's simply a measure to stop people grabbing an extra 10% under the guise of a tax where they may not have actually needed to collect GST.

To be clear........

[furiousgeorge]

Even regular merchants in Australia need to advertise prices **WITH** GST included. I've also lived in Canada and the U.S., and I have to tell you it's nice to buy something and pay the price on the sticker.... not up to 15% more once they punch it into the register and the tax gets calculated.

This warning came from the fact that commercial merchants (of which there are millions) on ebay were advertising without GST, and then adding it on to the final price after the auction when over. Thats pretty misleading from where I stand and perfectly reasonably. This will have no impact on the average Joe because he isn't required to charge GST.

Re:Yard Sales..

[mallie_mcg]

Are we going to have to start charging tax on purchases at our Yard/Tag/Garage sales?

In Australia that's exactly what you're required by law to do.


No you are very wrong. You are only required to be registered for GST if you are using it as a form of income where it exceeds 50,000 AUD per annum.

If i want to sell my car privatly no GST needs to be paid.

If I sell cars for a living and sell less than $50,000 AUD per annum I will need an ABN but no GST needs to be paid. (Income tax on the profit does though!!)

If I sell lots of cars for a living (more than 50,000 AUD) I need to be registered for GST and pay GST on those cars regardless of source (although I can claim input tax credits).

Seeing as you obviously dont understand the tax system I suggest that you call the ATO or have a read of the publically available information . Personally I found that they are very helpful with phone calls.

Re:Alright, some Aussie, tell us..

[awful]

Goods and ServicesTax - it is a 10% consumption tax.
This was a dumb article to post on Slashdot - all it is about is the ACCC making sure that consumers don't get ripped off by businesses that eBay to sell things.

This only affects those registered for the GST

[zardie]

Only individuals who have a registered Australian Business Number (ABN) AND who have registered to charge GST (and thus report on quarterly business activity and pay the GST to the tax office) are required (or allowed) to collect the GST. A business is only required to register for the GST if their turnover is inexcess of AUD$50k/year. An ABN holder who turns over less than AUD$50k/year can optionally register for the GST but they don't have to - and it is not legal to force them to do so.

eBay are only being ordered to enforce those WHO ARE registered for the GST to include it in the final sale price. If you are not registered for the GST (or if you're selling a personal item), these changes do not apply to you.

This is to combat deception where a seller would use the GST-exclusive price to outshine their competitors and then whack the GST on the top when payment is due. This is a result of where all prices quoted in Australia must already include the GST by law.

Get a clue

[Chuck Chunder]

That's completely untrue.
The total GST paid is only 10% on top of the final value of the good.

If I as a business buy a widget for $11 from a supplier then:
-The GST component is $1 which the supplier sends to the tax man
-The supplier gets to keep $10.
-I note that I've paid $1 GST on purchases

If I then sell that widget to you for $33 dollars:
-The GST component is $3, but I have a credit for $1 from above so I send $2 to the taxman.
-I get to keep $31

The final sale price was $33. $3 (2 from me, 1 from my supplier) goes to the taxman which is 10% of the final non-gst amount. No matter how many times it is sold that remains true.

eBay are still Tax Cheats

[B747SP]

What I find really interesting about this little hoo-haa is that, whilst eBay are pretending to be good citizen and making sure that buyers and sellers do The Right Thing(tm) with respect to Australian Goods and Services Tax (GST), they're cheating the Australian Government out of massive amounts of tax revenue at the same time.

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!

Calm down, angry nerd hordes!

[G-funk]

This really is all much ado about nothing. Ebay requires you to list GST only if you are charging it. Not that you charge GST on everything. Ie, you can't falsely advertise your products as being 10/11ths of the price, which is already illegal here in Australia. If you're selling an old Mickey Mouse watch, and you don't do so for a living, then you don't need to list or charge GST. Basically, this is simply eBay.au codifying what's already law.