The dollar

[Steve Smith]

What is GST?


Steve.

 

[Tony Egan]

What is GST?


Steve.

VAT.

We just call it a goods and services tax as we can't see where the value bit comes in!

Currently no GST (10%) on overseas internet purchases less than AUD 1,000 but the retailers have been complaining about this via their CEOs and lobby groups.

 

[PeterB]

Steve, GST is a Goods and Services Tax. It is like the VAT in Europe and state taxes in the US. It is 10% of the purchase price. In OZ an individual isn't required to pay GST or customs duty when bringing goods into the country if the purchase price incl shipping is below A$1000.

 

[Steve Smith]

We just call it a goods and services tax as we can't see where the value bit comes in!

I like your reasoning!

It is 10% of the purchase price.

Ours is currently 20% That's on top of the income tax we have already paid to earn the money to buy the goods!


Steve.

 

[PeterB]

Get in before the Norman/Lew lobby lays the GST on us. ..... But perhaps the extended bureaucratic procedure is what Gerry and co. are really aiming for as a deterrent.

There is absolutely NO reason why Gerry Harvey (co-founder of Harvey Norman and its CEO) can't get with the 21st century and compete online for Australian customers against the rest of the world. He has seen this coming for ages. With the Aussie dollar so high, he can now purchase stuff in bulk at say 20% less than what we pay for it, then add 15% for shipping+administration and a 5% mark up for profit putting the price equal to those already online and hey presto it's now cheaper for you to walk into a store and get it, or if you get it shipped domestically then the shipping is cheaper than from the US and the total cost is Still cheaper for the consumer.

Gerry is very wrong to try and get GST applied to imports <$1000. Let the market forces work it out, not some kind of tariff to force us to purchase from him instead.. Tariffs are BAD.

 

[NDP_2010]

I agree. Previously without the internet and also 5-7 years ago weaker AUS dollar it wasnt worth it. They still sell for high price. Now when we can do well by buying from over seas they are crying becuase they aren't making the big $$ profits anymore.

 

[darcyjohnperkins]

There is absolutely NO reason why Gerry Harvey (co-founder of Harvey Norman and its CEO) can't get with the 21st century and compete online for Australian customers against the rest of the world. He has seen this coming for ages. With the Aussie dollar so high, he can now purchase stuff in bulk at say 20% less than what we pay for it, then add 15% for shipping+administration and a 5% mark up for profit putting the price equal to those already online and hey presto it's now cheaper for you to walk into a store and get it, or if you get it shipped domestically then the shipping is cheaper than from the US and the total cost is Still cheaper for the consumer.

Gerry is very wrong to try and get GST applied to imports <$1000. Let the market forces work it out, not some kind of tariff to force us to purchase from him instead.. Tariffs are BAD.

Except you are wrong. He can not buy these and get a massive discount, because he buys from official Australian distributors, from who he already buys the same volume of products as he would otherwise be buying.

And unfortunately, Distributors are VERY SLOW to lower their prices, as they must have an amount of "buffer" in order to protect against any sort of currency fluctuations

It's very easy to blame retailers, but what most people don't realise is that most retailers don't have a margin any (or at least much) bigger than any international retailer. The biggest problem is the cost prices from suppliers. Annoyingly, often the cost prices from SUPPLIERS is more than the price you can buy some items online (particularly rarer items like film products).

But this is slowly changing - e.g. the Fujifilm X100 is $1199 in the US, and $1,199 at Ted's here in Australia. And that is solely because Fuji has set a more reasonable cost price for retailers...

 

[PeterB]

Except you are wrong. He can not buy these and get a massive discount, because he buys from official Australian distributors, from who he already buys the same volume of products as he would otherwise be buying...

OK, so then the retailers now have two choices. They can either

1. Target the official importers and threaten to take them to the ACCC for price gouging or profiteering or some other anti competitive behaviour, or

2. Choose to import via a non official channel, thus making it a grey import with no mfg. warranty but instead offer their own warranty service (many companies do this with extended warranties, suck as Mack, so it wouldn't be too hard for a big retailer such as Harvey Norman to set up their own warranty system for the first year as the official importer then won't be interested in handling any warranty claims. Also get a 3rd party to service any serviceable claims, or simply just replace it for a new one if that is cheaper)

In a capitalist society the big manufacturers are taking advantage of the fact that there is nothing stopping them from charging whatever they can get away with. They will claim the economy of scale (Australia having <10% of the population of the US) forces them to keep their prices high, but that's only a small part of the reason.

 

[Ross Chambers]

But this is slowly changing - e.g. the Fujifilm X100 is $1199 in the US, and $1,199 at Ted's here in Australia. And that is solely because Fuji has set a more reasonable cost price for retailers...

I did buy a Fuji X100 (my first digital camera) in Oz.

1) Because the warrantee was possibly not applicable to Australia, had I bought it from foreign supplier.

2) Because Vanbar stocked it (and unlike Ted's) maintains some loyalty to film so it seemed the ethical thing to do. Ted's price is the same as Vanbar's BTW.

Regards - Ross