Consumers getting screwed

General Gibberish Forums The nickyd News Room
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I’ll start with this one. But I’m sure you’ve all got other gripes that you’d like to share.

AMAZON TO BLOCK ITS US WEBSITE FOR AUSTRALIAN SHOPPERS

Australians will be blocked from shopping on Amazon’s international websites and restricted to using its smaller local platform so the e-commerce giant complies with new GST rules on online purchases.

Amazon said on Thursday that Amazon.com, its American website, and other overseas sites would no longer ship to Australian addresses from July 1. Shoppers visiting those sites will be redirected to Amazon.com.au, which launched late last year.

Australians will be restricted to Amazon’s local website from July.

Australians will be restricted to Amazon’s local website from July.

July 1 is the date new rules come into effect forcing online retailers to apply the 10 per cent GST to all online purchases being shipped to Australia from overseas.

GST currently applies only to items bought from overseas retailers worth more than $1000. This so-called “Amazon tax” was brought in after heavy lobbying by local retailers - which have to apply GST to all sales, whether online or in store - to “even the playing field” with international online rivals.

“While we regret any inconvenience this may cause customers, we have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites,” an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Fellow online trader eBay also threatened to block foreign sellers if the tax changes went ahead. Fairfax Media has asked the marketplace platform if it intends to follow Amazon’s lead.Loading
Australian shoppers will still be able to access 60 million products available on Amazon.com.au, including many from international third-party sellers.

The company will also be launching a “global store”, opening up access to another 4 million items previously available only on its American website.

However, the number of products available to Australians will be only a fraction of the estimated 500 million available on Amazon.com.

Amazon’s decision to not even ship products to Australia regardless of where they are purchased will scupper any plans tech-savvy shoppers might have to use geo-blocking software to get around the ban.

In a submission to a Productivity Commission inquiry into GST changes last year, Amazon said delivery companies such as Australia Post, DHL and FedEx should be responsible for collecting the tax instead of vendors such as itself and eBay.

A model in which vendors collected GST was “fundamentally flawed” because it required voluntary compliance from thousands of offshore online retailers, Amazon argued, and consumers would simply seek out vendors that did not comply.

Putting the burden on a small number of logistics companies, which operated in the Australian Tax Office’s jurisdiction, would ensure greater consistency and compliance.

Treasurer Scott Morrison’s office has been contacted for comment.

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Everytime you go to the petrol pump

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How is this consumers getting screwed?

People ■■■■■ about corporations not paying tax this enforces it

It helps local business compete.

Sure we have to pay 10% more but the overall benefits would be higher

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There’s reasons most people turned to online shopping and that’s cheaper and if you’re gonna deal with ■■■■ service may as well not pay a premium for it.

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Well that’s just made the forward shipping companies happy

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Bluff has been called!

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Agreed.

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You are wrong in saying you have to pay 10% more,

If the price differential was only 10% people would not be buying so much stuff from overseas.

Amazon will still not be paying significant tax on its income here, only the 10% it collects from the poor old consumers.

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I support the right of the consumer to buy goods as cheap as possible. If this means buying from overseas then so be it. It’s a global marketplace and if local retailers can’t compete (primarily by providing better customer service to compensate for the higher prices) then there’s no reason they should be protected.

Moreover, Amazon are also screwing Australian consumers as well, they could have chosen to comply with the new laws but instead, they choose to block Australian access to their site so they can direct consumers to their local site (where presumably their margins are higher).

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People even use Amazon? Totally forgot it existed in Aus already.

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I’d assume Aussies will get around it by using one of the Postal Sevice set ups that will send on if the seller doesn’t ship o/side US anyway??

May be time to buy some shares in said Companies …:thinking:

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I also recognise it’s much more difficult for my serious posts to be taken seriously with this new avatar

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Or they’ll just use the other re-badged Aliexpress site (eBay).

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The GST is not a business tax.

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The talk is of blocking us from International sellers on ebay too though.

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People justifying the “Australia Tax” in this thread SMH.

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Seems to me they are using the tax to push aussies to the .com.au site instead of the US one. The aussie one is ■■■■■■■ ■■■■. A fraction of the products at not great prices.

If I need something from amazon US ill just continue using shipit2 forwarding.

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Yeah I now, but general population struggles with the distinction.

Closes a hole in the GST revenue base though. As more sales become increasingly online it’s probably needed.

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The competition isn’t just bricks and mortar vs Amazon. It’s also uncompetive for Australian online retailers. I assume Kogan is GST and Amazon isn’t. Same goes with online clothes retailers. We are actually giving a benefit to overseas companies for no reason.

Make Australia great again etc, etc.

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Id still ship forward then ever buy anything of kogan.

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