Anyone else experiencing this and know what the hell is going on?
It was bad enough when Pitney Bowles took over shipping and now literally everything no matter if it's 5g in weight costs $25AUD in shipping, then we got GST added, and now there's a (profanity) "import charges" being added as well?
Buying from the US on ebay is becoming completely inaccessible. These charges are from what I can tell on average about 20% of the cost, it's outrageous.
That's why I like to stop at the duty free shop!
Use gift cards. GST is only calculated on the residual balance paid from your own account.
This is a revelation to me. Does this work for only eBay US or Australia to?
Doesn't work on eBay Australia. Just tried to do it with a $50 gift card purchasing a $50 item. Still asked me to pay $5 tax.
Worked for me purchasing an item from the UK via ebay app.
@Xpertbastard: So you used an Australian gift card, an Australian eBay account and an Australian delivery address and it dropped the GST? what about the "Import Charges"
@tryagain: Yes the gst ended up being under $1 from memory. I don't remember seeing import charges at the time. It looks like this has only been introduced recently?
When the GST laws were brought in the Australian government did not restrict the “GST” being collected to just the goods. It also enabled additional charges to be levied onto the GST. This means that the platform (in this case pitney bowes) levies additional surcharges to recover the cost of collecting the GST. The Australian Government was not entirely honest with Australians as to how the GST on low value goods was to work. When first launched there was no warning about the GST being charged on shipping nor on additional services such as insurance.
So to answer your question we as consumers have been ripped off (mildly putting it) by this Government. As I have mentioned in the past it doesn’t really affect the rich who can travel overseas or pay the extra. It’s the average man in the street who is being severely disadvantaged. You also have people like Gerry Harvey who lobbied the Government so heavily on this to thank for this GST debacle.
You may be interested to know that HN in Australia isn’t doing so well with Australian sales declining by 16% in August 2018 and more recently in December 2018 a fall of 1.7%. The only way he has been able to get growth was by opening stores overseas. This means that his argument to the Australian Government about being an uneven playing field is rubbish. If the playing field is supposedly more even now then we should not have seen such a drastic drop in his company’s performance. More likely there should have been an increase. Then again the “discounts at HN were never that great and nor was the service.
What has happened as a result is that people are buying less from overseas and not spending locally. This has a detriment to the Australian economy as all the other services associated with buying goods overseas has suffered. For example, the volume of purchases declines so there is less work at Australia Post and the freight companies who employ people here. As a flow on result, less work for Aussies. Buying from overseas to avoid GST was never the problem. It was more to do with the choice and range of goods available, the customer service, the quality, and lastly the cost. Cost of an item with GST is only one factor and the GST on low value goods should have never been implemented. For those that think it is raising more revenue for Australia, think again. The productivity commission forecast was that for every $1 collected it would cost around $2.5 in processing and admin fees. One step forward, two steps back.
One step forward, two steps back.
Two and a half steps back.
And sorry to be pedantic.
Lol. Yes. Maths wasn’t a favorite subject of mine!
I noticed that ridiculous charge when the seller used the eBay global shipping program instead of sending it direct to the customer.
Yes. Under the global shipping program it incorporates additional fees payable to the central warehouse and pitney bowes. If a seller uses their own shipping (ie USPS or other non global shipping option it is only 10% on the value of the goods and 10% on the shipping.
The problem is that many American sellers now opt to use global shipping because their responsibility for the goods sold ends when it reaches eBay’s global shipping warehouse. So any damage, loss or theft from the warehouse to you is borne by eBay. It is also a bugger because the global shipping program doesn’t combine postage.
I encountered that in the past where an item was sent to me from the States. It arrived damaged and the seller had no requirement to reimburse me for sending an item that was originally new and perfect and arrived with cracks and damage all over it. EBay global shipping had to wear the refund. But for me the refund wasn’t the issue as it was a collectible item and not easily replaced.
Trump's trade war comes to Ebay?
Sorry, this existed back with Obummer too…
Not limited to ebay. Was looking at a U$130 item from the amazon US store which has “free shipping for prime”, during checkout you have to pay a minimum of $198 for amazon global shipping program, aka duty.
Isn't the 198 in Australian dollars? That sounds right with the currency conversion and GST of 10%. I don't think there's any other duty added to that.
Sorry I should clarify, $198 additional to the unit cost, and I believe it was USD as it subtotalled in with the USD cost of the item
Obviously not sure what you were looking at but this US$140 item sold by Amazon US is about A$240 delivered when bought on Amazon US and $222 when bought with Prime on Amazon AU. There's no duty other than the 10% GST.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D5V2ZXD
https://www.amazon.com.au/Elements-Desktop-Hard-Drive-WDBWLG…
@jlapr1: The $190 is shipping and handling. The shipping weight is 18kg. The cheapest USPS rate for that size package is US$259 so you're getting a good deal on Amazon!!
@jlapr1: Can't see anything saying it's free shipping.
And that's Amazon US. "Free shipping for prime" applies to US address only.
When the gst was first introduced, the big selling point to get it passed was that it would remove all other taxes for goods and consolidate it into one called the gst. Now its in addition to every other tax, scammed by our own government.
"Now its in addition to every other tax, scammed by our own government."
Please explain?
Any country can introduce a tax on international sales if they like. It has nothing to do with Australian govt.
"Anyone else experiencing this and know what the hell is going on?"
Not a new thing… Noticed it on ebay US a long time ago.
Talk about profanity based import charges, try ship things through DHL/Fedex etc and get hit with a $86 import fee on top of applicable GST and duty. This kinda make one off, smaller overseas purchase through eBay's GSP somewhat palatable.
Yep noticed it a fair bit with USA sellers. Adds a lot $ to the sale. global shipping program
This sounds like duty.