Not a rant. A vent maybe.

[Handyjack]

My vent.

Ordered an item through eBay from a local tool shop. It took about a week to arrive, - in fact I forgot about it, - and it was the wrong item. Returned the item to said tool shop, 3200 metres away! (That's about 2 miles.) Got a refund. They told me that for some reason their deliveries were taking up to 8 working days.

Another item I ordered from a well known tool company. Item again sent by Aust. Post. Get an email to say delivery tomorrow (at 1:45 in the morning), later the same day get an email to say delivery today. Now which is it, today or tomorrow?


Thank you I feel better now.

[Lappa]

Tcccp.
This wouldn't happen to be a tool spare parts firm with a name similar to a U.K. tool spare parts company would it??

[Enfield Guy]

The GST collection by overseas suppliers is going ahead. But, the USA has opted out, China has opted out.They both say they will not comply. Canada has implemented a similar thing, limited to magazine subscriptions, that has been moderately successful.

What our government is doing, they are going to do it, is setting a precedent that has the potential to make small business the tax collectors for any nation you send to. Currently my international sales equate to about 8% of my business. I have shipped to more than 17 different countries. Who is to say that, if this is successfully implemented, that other countries may determine different rules, maybe a higher trigger point, maybe zero.

The big players have said that they will seriously consider geoblocking Australia. So you may not be able to purchase externally from Australia through the big platforms. You may still be able to purchase directly with the supplier, but that would be up to them.

The potential for damage with this legislation is enormous. We live in a global world. It would, in my simplistic view, be far better to take the approach of collecting the revenue at delivery point, post office, courier, ect. If you don't want to pay, fine, the item can be held for 30/60 days and then put to auction. If you know the rules you can choose whether or not you play in the park. This legislation puts the onus of collection on the seller who has no legal or constitutional responsibility to comply.

Ridiculous. Personally, I would prefer for this can of worms to remain well sealed. Ain't gunna happen though, the dickheads we have elected have decided.

Have a nice day.

[Tccp123]

Tcccp.
This wouldn't happen to be a tool spare parts firm with a name similar to a U.K. tool spare parts company would it??

Good call Lappa

[Lappa]

My part arrived 10 weeks after I ordered it and 3 weeks after I cancelled the order and got a refund back through PayPal.
Kept getting told the part was out of stock at manufacturer (Makita said that they had them in stock in Melbourne) for 5 weeks, then it was being shipped for the next 2 weeks then I gave up.

[Tccp123]

I'd love to say that's encouraging information ...

[bryn23]

there is talk of the gov delaying the GST collection for another 12 months as the government isn't ready and haven't worked out exactly to collect the money.

[bueller]

The thing they're having trouble with is the whole scheme was doomed to fail from the start. Currently anything under $1000 is exempt from import duties and that limit was set for a very sensible reason. Basically they realised trying to collect taxes on smaller amounts would result in a net loss due to the sheer volume of parcels that would need to be processed.

[Tccp123]

there is talk of the gov delaying the GST collection for another 12 months as the government isn't ready and haven't worked out exactly to collect the money.

Regardless of what they do about the GST it won't cure the problem that we have with Australian businesses. If they want to compete with overseas online businesses they have to provide at least the same level of service.

ATM this isn't happening.

Tony

[bryn23]

The thing they're having trouble with is the whole scheme was doomed to fail from the start. Currently anything under $1000 is exempt from import duties and that limit was set for a very sensible reason. Basically they realised trying to collect taxes on smaller amounts would result in a net loss due to the sheer volume of parcels that would need to be processed.

yes i read a few weeks ago, they were going to get 300 mil in extra GST, but it was going to cost 900 mil to run it???

[bryn23]

Regardless of what they do about the GST it won't cure the problem that we have with Australian businesses. If they want to compete with overseas online businesses they have to provide at least the same level of service.

ATM this isn't happening.

Tony

Your right, i don't mind paying a little more to buy in Australia, but not for the owner to retire early on.

But the thing is that in reality we are playing for a service and the level of service that we do get here is poor and then we get to the delivery option

[woodPixel]

Its more than confusing.

It seems that they want some small business in Latvia or Uzbekistan to collect and remit GST to the Australian government (somehow) because they happen to sell more than $75k of stuff in a YEAR based on the address.

what if they sell a million fidget-spinners to 212 countries of the world. Little Auntie Flo in Germany orders one from Poland and its posted to her nephew in Australia. What address do they use? Germany? If so, no GST.

if it isn't for Aunie Flo's, what if I use my Trust.Zone VPN and appear to come from Germany, pay in Euro on my credit card and post it to myself? Is this counted?

If not, VPNs and made up people/addresses are going to explode.

Worse, do they HONESTLY think that some other countries Bodgy FLyByNight Co will remit the collected GST to Australia? What???? I'd recon Poland cant get Bodgy Co to pay their taxes at all!!!!

now, last but not least, as a small business owner, I can say dealing with the entire taxation system here is a cataclysmic mess. If you start a small biz, it's hard enough to work out how to do the right thing WILLINGLY let alone for a small business in another country.

What a complete disaster.

[Sawdust Maker]

On another note I sent a prepaid 500g satchel to a suburb of Adelaide. Posted Tuesday 23 May - arrived today
checking the tracking it spent a couple of days in Casino (North NSW) and a further couple of days in Sunshine Vic.

lucky it wasn't real urgent

[Chris Parks]

On another note I sent a prepaid 500g satchel to a suburb of Adelaide. Posted Tuesday 23 May - arrived today
checking the tracking it spent a couple of days in Casino (North NSW) and a further couple of days in Sunshine Vic.

lucky it wasn't real urgent

I just had a package RTS to Perth from Sydney before it got out of Sydney Parcel Centre so it has to do the trip again. I wonder if AP the stung the sender for the same postage again, it will be interesting to see if I ever get it. The whole thing went down hill when they rebuilt all the parcel centres on the East Coast and installed new machines. I think I left just in time as I would have been right in the middle of it all.

[DomAU]

Well, just to provide a bit more contrast regarding AU vs International service, I ordered two pairs of Starrett dividers from my favourite international tool seller; Classic Hand Tools, this time locally while I was in London (they are about 200 km away). Ordered at 4pm yesterday over the phone, was told that they would try to ship them out that day if they could manage it, got the items delivered today. And that's with their 'free shipping' option when spending over approx $80 Au.

So now I know they don't just look after their international customers, but their local ones as well! What a shock. What kind of business puts customers first? Outrageous! Haha.