What repercussions will the GST have on the hobby?

Coopz05 · Aug 24, 2015

So the government seems set to add 10% GST on all overseas purchases now, including eBay etc.

I assume we will soon fall into the Texas-type category, where lots of eBay card auctions state something like "all Texas residents must add 8.75% tax to final bid price"

Will we have to pay 10% on eBay checkout or every time a card goes through customs I wonder?

How will it be handled with COMC deliveries? will they declare your package value, or do you?

With the dollar already high, will it force most buyers to buy direct from eBay Australia now?

Let your thoughts be known here...

Grindnation · Aug 24, 2015

great thread,i've heard this was not coming into effect until 2017? if we could get some links to articles maybe OP you can update it ?.

I think it will be all based on you as the buyer to declear it correctly and pay the excess but i do not know much of inbound/outbound taxes.

Me personally i think i will attempt to purchase more Australia based as it really is going to become to expensive if the Australian $ stays where it is.

Getting a $30usd card will be like $41.70 (roughly estimate) + $2.80 to be delivered to COMC (individually) + delivery from the Ebay seller roughly $5 about $50 without the price of it getting to Australia.
Adding in if this card was something you were not hoarding and got a delivery by itself that = $15-$30 depending on how you get it here + 10% tax = way to much $ from the Australian Buyer.
*Please note i am highly off on the amounts but rough estimates show it be like $70 AU for a single card to come on the lower end delivery.

This alone will make me as a collector attempt to purchase local more but the quantity of PC cards will shrink by alot.

drobfan8 · Aug 24, 2015

I think I'll be selling my cards and buying a boat.

Mico · Aug 24, 2015

Not as much impact as the AUD dropping it's guts.

edabomb · Aug 25, 2015

Always had this problem in NZ. Any overseas purchase declared for over NZ$350-400 draws a GST charge - but they also chuck an $80 charge on top of that for appraising the value.

It basically means it is too expensive to purchase anything more a couple of boxes of discounted Preferred. Annoying - at least you guys won't get that $80 bill chucked on everything if it is automated at checkout though.

ben82 · Aug 25, 2015

the lower dollar is the killer for me an extra 10% i can live with that. The lowering of the import threshold would be a killer i often go over the $1000 mark now if it get lowered I'm screwed lol

Coopz05 · Aug 25, 2015

@ben82 the new GST laws will put GST on everything, even items under the current threshold

ben82 · Aug 25, 2015

Coopz05 said:
@ben82 the new GST laws will put GST on everything, even items under the current threshold

I'm aware of that i got scared when they were discussing a processing fee of $17 on any item that would have ended almost every hobby i have.

taffster74 · Aug 25, 2015

Typical liberal government. As if they haven't gouged the public enough, they go and through this in?!

penny collector · Aug 25, 2015

I would love to buy local but the problem for a player PC is most stuff you want is busted overseas! In the last 3 years I have only got about 15 cards from people in OZ. Now that I am more focused on higher end PC stuff it is a bit of a killer. I mean I bought a 500 card recently and it actually cost me 750 delivered after conversion which sucks balls, but add another 10% on top makes it 825 that sucks dogs balls!

I guess it will depend on the exchange rate at the time the tax rolls in, but if the exchange rate keeps dropping I am sure the quality of Maildays will aswell, It already has compared to 18 months ago there is only about 5 guys doing regular rounds nowadays when I joined there were about 20 of us!

West Oz Cards · Aug 28, 2015

The Productivity commission did an investigation into this charging gst on all imports and found it would cost more to implement the system than what it would generate in revenue.

Firstly keep this in mind;

The low value threshold (LVT) is not indexed, and has remained at $1,000 since 1985, losing value in real terms. If indexed, the threshold would be significantly higher.

The main points of note from the executive summary;

To collect GST on items below the LVT would require additional processing. The cost of this additional processing depends on the level at which a new threshold would apply—whether at zero, or some value between zero and $1,000.
Depending on the level at which a new threshold is applied, the cost of the additional processing required might be greater than the revenue raised, resulting in a net cost. This would reduce the GST revenue flowing to state and territory governments.
In its analysis the Productivity Commission estimated that ‘with current parcel volumes and processing costs, removal of the LVT would generate revenue of around $600 million at a cost of well over $2 billion borne by businesses consumers and government’.
In a constrained budgetary environment, it is unlikely that governments (at either a Commonwealth, or state and territory level) would pay a net cost to remove the distortion that the LVT creates.

However these changes are not aimed at the sports/non-sports trading card hobby as the tax revenue created by this industry in Australia would be minuscule in comparison to the multitude of other retail areas they are focused on curtailing the overseas spending such as clothing and electronics.

Previous analysis suggests that removing the LVT (charging GST on all items) would have a very marginal negative impact on the economy overall, but would benefit the retail sector.

Make no mistake, this is driven by the multi-nationals to push people back towards local retail.

italic excerpts taken from: http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliam...rliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/OnlineShop

Depending on how they implement it, I'm not sure how many people its going to take to evaluate and process the gazillions of <$1k imports that flood into Australia every year but I foresee extended wait periods on lots of items that have some missing or incorrect information on the import documentation etc. This will in effect cause a gazillion more phone calls, emails and snail mails to be sent from customs processing facilities and causing lots of headaches for everyone involved.

I am very conflicted on the subject because;

A) I don't want to pay gst on my Shawn Kemp pc cards that I've purchased from a fellow trader in the USA, they're my cards and I bought them from a private entity, not a business entity.

B) In Australia you have a lot of people importing sports card boxes and not paying gst and retailing them on the cheap. Therefore when this gst on all imports kicks in their prices will be going up 15% to meet gst registered retailers like myself and others who pay the gst. And I guess this is how the rest of the Australian retail industry feels too.

OutlawNinja · Aug 28, 2015

Yeah the Aussie dollar sinking to god knows where is my most worrisome factor at the moment.
Their excuse/reasoning behind putting this GST on online purchases is bullshit anyway, how is this going to benefit bricks and mortar stores in Australia?
I heard one analyst state, that it will not in the slightest.
Just the government cashing in on a little extra money to pay for their helicopter ride to the laundromat.

ben82 · Aug 28, 2015

GST on what essentially is a second hand purchase is hard to swallow, as for the bricks and mortar stores I'm roughly 300km in any direction away from a shopping centre 90% of my shopping is online, so if i am paying for delivery anyway i shop globally for the best price. It really is a prime example of the government ignoring the fact we live in a global community now.

West Oz Cards · Aug 28, 2015

OutlawNinja said:
Yeah the Aussie dollar sinking to god knows where is my most worrisome factor at the moment.
Their excuse/reasoning behind putting this GST on online purchases is bulls*** anyway, how is this going to benefit bricks and mortar stores in Australia?
I heard one analyst state, that it will not in the slightest.
Just the government cashing in on a little extra money to pay for their helicopter ride to the laundromat.

Yes, the Aussie dollars free fall is a more worrisome factor, I wholeheartedly agree.

However, I also believe the National Retail Association report over that of your "one analysts statement" in the reasoning behind the tax;
The NRA commissioned research in 2012 which estimated that ‘around 118,700 traditional retail jobs in Australia could be lost to the online sector by 2015’.[50] Of those jobs lost, the report estimated that 33,400 ‘directly related to retail sales going to overseas online providers as a result of the continued operation of the LVT’.[51] The remaining 84,600 potential job losses ‘would be lost to the traditional sector due to the structural changes and competition caused by the growth of online retailing.’

So for one, we will see unemployment slowly drop as consumers come back to local retail creating more revenue and hence, more jobs. (ie: less dole payments and more taxes to recover)

All this in effect strengthening the Australian economy and our Aussie dollar.

ben82 · Aug 28, 2015

West Oz Cards said:
Yes, the Aussie dollars free fall is a more worrisome factor, I wholeheartedly agree.

However, I also believe the National Retail Association report over that of your "one analysts statement" in the reasoning behind the tax;
The NRA commissioned research in 2012 which estimated that ‘around 118,700 traditional retail jobs in Australia could be lost to the online sector by 2015’.[50] Of those jobs lost, the report estimated that 33,400 ‘directly related to retail sales going to overseas online providers as a result of the continued operation of the LVT’.[51] The remaining 84,600 potential job losses ‘would be lost to the traditional sector due to the structural changes and competition caused by the growth of online retailing.’

So for one, we will see unemployment slowly drop as consumers come back to local retail creating more revenue and hence, more jobs. (ie: less dole payments and more taxes to recover)

All this in effect strengthening the Australian economy and our Aussie dollar.

a stronger focus on warehousing and distribution alternatives to Aus post is needed the over heads on a physical shop is almost not worth it now days.

West Oz Cards · Aug 28, 2015

ben82 said:
GST on what essentially is a second hand purchase is hard to swallow, as for the bricks and mortar stores I'm roughly 300km in any direction away from a shopping centre 90% of my shopping is online, so if i am paying for delivery anyway i shop globally for the best price. It really is a prime example of the government ignoring the fact we live in a global community now.

I totally agree with your sentiments Ben, the world is a global community now.
And there will always people living remotely and they should not be punished for doing so by having a tax put on them, but that percentage of people in the same situation is low.

As I said, there is arguments for an against. I'm neither here nor there on the subject as I can see both sides of it.
As the report says, the Government will find it very hard to stick with abolishing this $1k LVT for gts on imports as it clearly states.. it will create a net revenue..

Question: Is our government really stupid enough to enforce something that makes the them lose money?

ben82 · Aug 28, 2015

West Oz Cards said:
I totally agree with your sentiments Ben, the world is a global community now.
And there will always people living remotely and they should not be punished for doing so by having a tax put on them, but that percentage of people in the same situation is low.

As I said, there is arguments for an against. I'm neither here nor there on the subject as I can see both sides of it.
As the report says, the Government will find it very hard to stick with this LVT for imports as it clearly states.. it will create a net revenue..

Question: Is our government really stupid enough to enforce something that makes the them lose money?

maybe not stupid enough but definitely short sighted enough to use a bandaid measure without really investigating a long term solution.

Trevorjs84 · Aug 28, 2015

West Oz Cards said:
I totally agree with your sentiments Ben, the world is a global community now.
And there will always people living remotely and they should not be punished for doing so by having a tax put on them, but that percentage of people in the same situation is low.

As I said, there is arguments for an against. I'm neither here nor there on the subject as I can see both sides of it.
As the report says, the Government will find it very hard to stick with this LVT for imports as it clearly states.. it will create a net revenue..

Question: Is our government really stupid enough to enforce something that makes the them lose money?

I think we all know the government is stupid enough

penny collector · Aug 28, 2015

Our government sells of utilities that earn it 2 million dollars clear profit a year on average for the last 5 years! If that does not fall into the stupidity category I don't know what does!

shawnkemp40 · Aug 28, 2015

COMC only declare the value of cards that you bought on COMC. For example my last delivery had say $1200 worth of cards but i only bought $50 worth on COMC itself, they don't know what you paid for items sent to your mailbox and as a result can't put a value on it. So my COMC parcel had a value of $50 typed on it. That is the only option i will use from this new tax onwards. Only down side is if your parcel gets lost, stolen or otherwise effed up.....you are a threaded piece of metal being twisted into wood.

What repercussions will the GST have on the hobby?

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