There's still no gst on imports under $1000 from astro shops. GST is applied to bigger outfits like ebay but not small businesses.
Make sure you are paying straight to the seller with a credit card and not via PayPal. PayPal adds GST to any online overseas purchases, not only to eBay.
Make sure you are paying straight to the seller with a credit card
That's something I would never do ( although I haven't owned one in over 10years ) ....there has been stories that some who have done it this way, find that a little while later, their credit card account shows an ' illegal purchase ' has been made by some unknown party using those gredit card details.
Then the rubbish you have to go thru' to get it sorted out with your bank and a refund ( if at all you get it ) of the monies involved.
If you have no fear of using your credit card , then do so .... but be very carefull
Make sure you are paying straight to the seller with a credit card and not via PayPal. PayPal adds GST to any online overseas purchases, not only to eBay.
Hmm, not my experience. $127USD invoice from a US company last week, paid via paypal and was charged at the prevailing exchange rate. Goods appeared this week with no further payments required.
Now as for ebay and being charged $0.10 GST on a $1.00 packet of screws from China. I feel a certain degree of smugness knowing it probably cost them more than $0.10 to collect the $0.10 GST.
Make sure you are paying straight to the seller with a credit card and not via PayPal. PayPal adds GST to any online overseas purchases, not only to eBay.
Couldn't you claim this back?
If you don't get charged GST on purchases under $1000 then it would have to be claimable, wouldn't it?
Make sure you are paying straight to the seller with a credit card and not via PayPal. PayPal adds GST to any online overseas purchases, not only to eBay.
I checked a recent transaction and it didn't appear that paypal added gst. I bought a Starsense for Skywatcher from the UK for $400 less than the price locally. For some reason we are particularly gouged on that item.
I placed a Delos into my Bintel Cart last night and it was $509. I went to pay for it earlier today and it had miraculously jumped to $569 in my Cart.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by MortonH
Yes, they were around $400 then increased to $449 a few months ago and now $499. That's an increase of around 25% in less than a year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cimitar
Sorry, I know it's not TV related, however, the same thing happened last week with the ZWO cameras. ZWO manufacturer announced a "world-wide" discount of $100-250, commencing on 16 Nov, for the majority of their cameras/kits etc. I wrote down the existing pre-sale prices, for ZWO & Bintel sites, in anticipation of how much I might save.
Literally overnight, Bintel put many of their ZWO camera prices up by $100-$200. Suffice to say I thought the timing of their price increase was a tad odd as well.
ZWO's pricing on its own website genuinely appeared to reflect a discount.
Gary/Tony,
That's quite interesting. Because I also purchased a few things recently from overseas - small shops, not big brands and PayPal charged GST on a separate transaction in the same way they were doing for eBay - one transaction for the actual purchase and another transaction for GST. Hmmm....
Thinking about purchasing from Stellarvue... Might try PayPal option again. Almost went with just a pure credit card purchase to avoid GST.
Brendan,
No, you cannot claim it back. Or at least I do not know any legal way of doing that. Gov pushed GST on all purchases regardless of the price so even a $10 transaction should incur GST.
Col,
Yes, this is true. There is always a risk. However nowadays banks are more intelligent with identifying frauds and illegal purchases. I'm not saying it's safe, but it's a bit better these days than it was before.
Gary/Tony,
That's quite interesting. Because I also purchased a few things recently from overseas - small shops, not big brands and PayPal charged GST on a separate transaction in the same way they were doing for eBay - one transaction for the actual purchase and another transaction for GST. Hmmm....
Hmm, maybe the little man that sits at the border with his clipboard and calculator (there must be one mustn't there?) had already reached the $75k limit for your shops
Hmm, maybe the little man that sits at the border with his clipboard and calculator (there must be one mustn't there?) had already reached the $75k limit for your shops
Certainly! At least clothing and electronics are much more popular than scopes so they are on the watch-list.
Anyway now I wonder why PayPal differentiates non-eBay purchases.
Yes, this is true. There is always a risk. However nowadays banks are more intelligent with identifying frauds and illegal purchases. I'm not saying it's safe, but it's a bit better these days than it was before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlashDrive
Then the rubbish you have to go thru' to get it sorted out with your bank and a refund ( if at all you get it ) of the monies involved.
Col....
Banks are hellbent on retaining good customer sentiment regarding credit card safety. Having been on both ends of the CreditCard Fraud process, I have seen the following:
Having lost $2500 on some scumbag ordering airtickets to Philipines, and a hotel in Amsterdam, I called the bank. Explained I have never been to either place, and never want to. Banks staff said "fine, leave it with me". 7 days later, money was refunded.
Having been a shop manager, a customer unfortunately forgot that he'd bought a $60 videocard 3 months ago from us. The bank sent us registered mail, stating that in no uncertain terms that this money would be removed from our account, if we could not prove that this customer spent the money in our store, of their own free will. All the burden of proof was upon us, and the letter was quite abrupt. Proof was easy, we found the receipt and called the bank. We also called the customer, and had a nice chat. Poor old guy forgot that we'd fixed his computer, and all was well. This was 12 years ago.
Whilst it's easier to rip off C/C numbers as time goes on, the banks are petrified of the population losing faith en masse. They bend over backwards to restore your funds and your faith. ...and these words come from someone who distrusts banks as much as every other Australian.
At least clothing and electronics are much more popular than scopes so they are on the watch-list. 
