GST on Internet Purchases

NeilW · #1 07-01-2011, 01:06 PM

Gerry Harvey and his mates have been carping on about adding GST to overseas purchases as a way of reducing the competition of internet shopping.

Buying overseas on the net has nothing to do with GST and everything to do with price and availability. Things are just cheaper from overseas, even after exchange rates and postage come into play. And I could say with some degree of certainty that almost none of the books I have purchased from Amazon in the last couple of years have seen shelf space in Australian bookstores.

I recently attempted to purchase a classical CD set from an "Australian" website for $56.00. Six weeks later the item was still showing as pending on my account record. They said that the item was no longer available, so I cancelled the order. I then went on to the Amazon - UK site, ordered it, and I would expect to see it on my desk in the next ten days, at a total cost of.......$AUD 33.00!!

Wake up retailers.

marki · #2 07-01-2011, 01:16 PM

I think people who buy overseas regularly need to start pushing back in numbers (write to your MP) or these spoiled brat monopolistic retailers will get their way yet again by bullying the poli's. They ruined Australian manufacturing but now refuse to take their own medicine. Even if they do win with the current aussie dollar value it will still be cheaper to buy overseas and all they will achieve is making items we buy 10% more expensive. I will keep buying OS as the service is better, the range greater and it will be delivered in half the time for less of my hard earned cash.

Mark

snowyskiesau · #3 07-01-2011, 01:28 PM

The latest ploy by Gerry Harvey is that buying over the Internet is 'un Australian'.
Nice try Gerry.

I regularly buy tools from overseas suppliers. Even if I had to pay GST and import duty, I'd still be buying at 30% to 40% less than I could get the same item locally.

If I was buying a refrigerator or washing machine, I would try to get them over the internet, I'd prefer to go a real store and look at the options. It isn't going to be one of Gerry's store though.

Barrykgerdes · #4 07-01-2011, 01:39 PM

"Poor ?" old Gerry he had the right idea but had to renege on it cause it was going to cost him.

I hate to be a wet blanket on GST but remember every purchase made overseas increases the national debt. We don't have anything manufactured in this country because of the "level playing field" that makes labour costs in Australia exhorbitant. Soon we will have no assets to sell off to meet our debts then we will become slaves to the owners of our debts.

Won't hurt me. I will be dead but my grandchildren will be the ones to suffer.

Barry

marki · #5 07-01-2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

"Poor ?" old Gerry he had the right idea but had to renege on it cause it was going to cost him.

I hate to be a wet blanket on GST but remember every purchase made overseas increases the national debt. We don't have anything manufactured in this country because of the "level playing field" that makes labour costs in Australia exhorbitant. Soon we will have no assets to sell off to meet our debts then we will become slaves to the owners of our debts.

Barry

Okay I have heard this argument often but tell me does national debt not increase when Gerry and friends buy the same products as I do overseas? How does buying locally from a retailer hold or decrease national debt when they are getting the same thing from the same place as I am? Sorry it does not add up in my book. I may be adding to national debt (nowhere near the magnitude of the banks and people who loan money from them though) but all I am doing differently is cutting out the middle man. Gerry and friends have enough money to last them several lifetimes in my book and they don't need anymore.

Mark

FlashDrive (Poppy) · #6 07-01-2011, 02:08 PM

Well.....Frankly, the retailers should step back and take a good hard look at why it is happening......it's very simple.
Stop being greedy and give shoppers value for money.
They cry out for more sales....dress their shop windows with " Sale on Now"...huge discounts...junk mail from them in the letter box....even resort to '' Buy Now pay Later " tactics.....just to get us in the door.

We are not stupid....we know value when we see it.
Some Retailers ( shop assistants ) don't even know your in their shop until you, yourself speak up......then it's....oh..!!! that's not my department, you'll have to come back.

The point is...I have and you have money in our pockets....ready to exchange it for goods ......Poor service or lack of interest will keep my wallet shut.

This so-called ranting about how unfair it is with no GST on my online purchases doesn't wash down with me.
The real reason people go online is.
1. Better value on goods..!
2. Better Competition......!
3. Better Availability.......!
4. And in some cases....Better shipment and arrival times.

Consider this....if GST was charged on all purchases below $1000.00, you can imagine what effect it would have on sites such as EBAY.

So, to all the retailers out there who disagree, I say...TOO BAD...SO SAD...

astroron (Ron) · #7 07-01-2011, 02:16 PM

In 1973 I went to the AWA factory in Parramatta road in Sydney for a job only to be told there where no jobs as they had just stopped making Televisions as they where cheaper to produce over seas

That has been the pattern for Australian industry ever since.
My Favourite is example is Bonds

does anyone buy Bonds products any more

I will continue to buy online from and overseas as it is Cheaper and more convenient for me to have goods delivered to my door and a damn site quicker than most companies can provide here in Australia

Hardley Normal has lost my Custom

See this post on the ABC website for some very interesting replies on this topic

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...07/3108119.htm
Cheers

el_draco (Rom) · #8 07-01-2011, 02:30 PM

Government has come out saying they wont be bullied by retailers.

If Harvey Bloody Norman wants to make more sales he should shoot that SOB responsible for the inane crap advertising that gets rammed down our throats every 10 seconds. I wont buy anything from his company ON PRINCIPLE.

Gallifreyboy · #9 07-01-2011, 03:48 PM

One good thing about the disastrous PR campaign to implement GST on e-shoppers from overseas suppliers for purchases sub $1000 is the massive negative response from the public. Admittedly there aren't many times the suggestion of increasing taxes is met favourably. I think it is more than that though as we feel that both price and service from the mega retailers is below par in many areas. Their challenge is to provide us with better prices and service, they could have used some of their (tax deductable) $ for this silly advertising campaign to deliver better value to the consumer. That Mr Harvey and others is what we would like to see.

Jeffkop (Jeff) · #10 07-01-2011, 04:27 PM

Firstly ... Im in the "For" camp .. And so you wont find me lamenting poor Mr Normans financial woes ... primarily because as far as Im aware, he doesnt have any, secondly because no-one is lamenting mine.
If he's not happy with his cut .. simple .. get out of it ... IMO ... its all greed.

To finish ... even if they DO WIN and GST applies .. all the advantages (stated in previous posts) of online shopping will still be the same.

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #11 07-01-2011, 04:39 PM

Even with GST added to large expensive heavy items from USA (incl shipping/insurance/customs fees etc)...they more often than not are still quite a bit (a lot) cheaper than here in Aus.

This should not be so.

Gerry has open his mouth so much this time his foot is stuck!

JethroB76 (Jeff) · #12 07-01-2011, 04:41 PM

I had to laugh when I read this article:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/ha...106-19hjx.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerry Harvey

''Because of my profile, I then get all these threats and people hone in on me. It becomes me, Gerry Harvey and Solomon Lew - billionaires, greedy, ugly, old, out-of-date c---s, and the people writing this seem to think we have been ripping them off for years and that we deserve this.''

Yes we do, Gerry. That's the problem mate.
Compare the prices in HN even to other locally based shops. The place is a joke.

torana68 (Roger) · #13 07-01-2011, 04:49 PM

so they want to inforce an Australian tax on an overseas company? good luck with that idea.... maybe on Australian based companys, who will rapidly go off shore, more jobs lost. Start selling competatively and see how that changes but whilst i can buy the same thing from the US for 1/3 price (sometimes 1/10 A$ price) I wont buy locally.

The Mekon (John Briggs) · #14 07-01-2011, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torana68

so they want to inforce an Australian tax on an overseas company? good luck with that idea.... maybe on Australian based companys, who will rapidly go off shore, more jobs lost. Start selling competatively and see how that changes but whilst i can buy the same thing from the US for 1/3 price (sometimes 1/10 A$ price) I wont buy locally.

Enforcing tax on overseas companys?? Clearly you do not understand that the final user (ie YOU) pays the GST. I am afraid most of the members on this forum are greedy penny pinchers who refuse to pay there fair share of tax. The $1000 GST free may derive from the concession to overseas travellers. Perhaps each person should be allowed this just once per year, whether travelling overseas or not.

What is more Australian than a fair and even market? At the moment it is skewed towards foreign sellers.

Just wait a few years and we shall be just like Europe with a GST of 20-25%. Then we shall hear the same members now posting here, have a real whinge!

Barrykgerdes · #15 07-01-2011, 05:08 PM

I see that everyone thinks we should cut out the middle man and buy overseas because of the mark ups our retailers put on. How many of you people earn a living either directly or indirectly via the retail trade. If these places decide to stop employing because they can't make money who is going to pay off their mortgages which are mainly funded from overseas in any case.

We are lucky in this country that we have a vast resource of assets that can be sold to finance our high standard of living but it won't last forever as a great proportion of these assets is already owned by overseas investors.

In any case disregard all this as the world will end in 2012. So live it up while you can!

Barry

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #16 07-01-2011, 05:10 PM

Funny ...a lot of lack of poor sale figures for HN has been actually created by HN buying OS goods and selling here...for a fat profit. The flow on is the reducing manufacturing and jobs in this country..and indeed the same things have happened in the USA. They created a monopoly in bricks and mortar.

Thus when the $Aust raised, individuals were placed in position they could buy from OS more cheaply...exactly what GH did.

So GH got rich doing what he is not wanting us to do.

In the words of Darren Hinch...Shame Gerry Shame!

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #17 07-01-2011, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Mekon

... I am afraid most of the members on this forum are greedy penny pinchers who refuse to pay there fair share of tax. The $1000 GST free may derive from the concession to overseas travellers. Perhaps each person should be allowed this just once per year, whether travelling overseas or not.
!

Jeez that's a bit harsh. Wasn't it Johny Howard who upped this GST free amount...not the individual.

As for paying tax...jeez just look at that slob lizard Packer. Who sneered at a parliamentary hearing on personal income tax..stating .."...you wouldn't want me to pay more tax that I am entitled...by law".

In actual fact his personnel income tax I believe was in the order of $30,000. It was obvious he was into big tax minimisation..to which the average person cannot attain.

So ..refuse to pay tax and greedy...hmm maybe this should be directed to the top end of town.

FlashDrive (Poppy) · #18 07-01-2011, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrykgerdes

I see that everyone thinks we should cut out the middle man and buy overseas because of the mark ups our retailers put on. How many of you people earn a living either directly or indirectly via the retail trade. If these places decide to stop employing because they can't make money who is going to pay off their mortgages which are mainly funded from overseas in any case.

We are lucky in this country that we have a vast resource of assets that can be sold to finance our high standard of living but it won't last forever as a great proportion of these assets is already owned by overseas investors.

In any case disregard all this as the world will end in 2012. So live it up while you can!

Barry

Hey Barry......Did someone give you a MAYAN Calendar for Christmas....

mswhin63 (Malcolm) · #19 07-01-2011, 05:23 PM

I agree with you Barry, we have only the resource to live by, most retired people have nothing to worry about now but for the younger, you future will be very uncertain.

Personally as more people buy from overseas the less revenue the government will get. Whether it be 1 year or 10 years I think it will be inevitable that GST will be added to overseas purchases maybe as a customs duty which is still a tax.
It is not a vote winning decision so it will be done early after an election to avoid the backlash and can assume only each party wants the other party to do this.

I know the difficulty trading in Australia but I can only try my best. I wish I could earn enough to get out of renting.

I personally do not like Harvey Norman or the other big retailers as they make it difficult for me as well. Like all people have a point to the adding the GST on purchases, Gerry Harvey also has a point and is entitled to his own opinion. Gerry though has the media attention capability which I do not like. I wouldn't be surprised that he pays the networks to air his thoughts as well.

torana68 (Roger) · #20 07-01-2011, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Mekon

Enforcing tax on overseas companys?? Clearly you do not understand that the final user (ie YOU) pays the GST.

yeah maybe but I dont pay it to the govt the retailer or buiness provider collects it for the government. the ONLY way to collect it would be to stop every parcell comming in and levy "GST" at the border, not doable.... or have a law that requires the business you buy from to collect the "GST" for the Govt... not doable