Thread: who are the 21 retailers?

To be honest I would have no problem paying the GST on the value of the goods. When I can get goods from abroad sometimes less than half price delivered, then an extra 10% would still make them a lot cheaper. If I was to say, save about 5% then I would not bother but, some Australian goods are so over priced it would be stupid not to shop abroad. Prices have come down in Australia in some cases (e.g. white goods) but there are still plenty that are just a rip off.
If someone can explain to me how goods manufactured in Australia are less than half price in the states than sold over here, then maybe I will listen to their complaining.

Ivan

Originally Posted by Ivan

To be honest I would have no problem paying the GST on the value of the goods. When I can get goods from abroad sometimes less than half price delivered, then an extra 10% would still make them a lot cheaper. If I was to say, save about 5% then I would not bother but, some Australian goods are so over priced it would be stupid not to shop abroad. Prices have come down in Australia in some cases (e.g. white goods) but there are still plenty that are just a rip off.
If someone can explain to me how goods manufactured in Australia are less than half price in the states than sold over here, then maybe I will listen to their complaining.

Ivan

Spot on. I don't shop overseas for a 10% saving on the GST, I may as well buy it here if that's the case. I shop overseas for 25-50% savings.

Originally Posted by richard4u2

gst is applied to goods sold in australia, when you buy goods OVERSEAS the said goods is not sold in australia there for NO gst is to be applied to the said goods ?

Thats an excellent point. When I buy stuff from the US, I'm making the transaction in the US and it has got nothing to do with Australia. I pay retail over there including any taxes etc that they might normally charge any other customer and then the product is shipped to Australia.

If they introduce GST on overseas purchases, then I guess they will need to make every person coming into Australia declare everything which they have bought while out of the country so that they can also be charged GST on that.

Lets be real, the Australian retailers are just looking for protection from the OS markets because we are paying too much locally, irrespective of whether the increased cost is from the manufacturer, the wholesaler or the retailer. If I can individually buy products cheaper from OS, then the local supply chain can do it cheaper again. They want us to pay more, and to pay it to them.

for me its 30-50% savings...thats the difference between buying a good quality product Vs not buying at all....so Aus isnt missing my sale really.

Point in case, I just bought some headphones. They retail in Aus for $899, on sale for $599 due to the strong Aussie dollar....from USA,delivered to my door in 5 days $315

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Thats an excellent point. When I buy stuff from the US, I'm making the transaction in the US and it has got nothing to do with Australia. I pay retail over there including any taxes etc that they might normally charge any other customer and then the product is shipped to Australia.

If they introduce GST on overseas purchases, then I guess they will need to make every person coming into Australia declare everything which they have bought while out of the country so that they can also be charged GST on that.

Lets be real, the Australian retailers are just looking for protection from the OS markets because we are paying too much locally, irrespective of whether the increased cost is from the manufacturer, the wholesaler or the retailer. If I can individually buy products cheaper from OS, then the local supply chain can do it cheaper again. They want us to pay more, and to pay it to them.

Not advocating an extra tax but half the transaction is done in australia if you went OS to purchase it would then be duty free including gst but if you go over the duty free limits then you pay import duty and gst thats the rules at the moment
Its only when buying online that we can get away without gst

Originally Posted by THE BOOGER

Not advocating an extra tax but half the transaction is done in australia if you went OS to purchase it would then be duty free including gst but if you go over the duty free limits then you pay import duty and gst thats the rules at the moment
Its only when buying online that we can get away without gst

I'm not sure how half of a transaction can be in Australia, if the purchase is processed overseas or from an overseas website as then it has all happened overseas. If I read out my card number over the telephone when I speak to the the vendor overseas, I'm not quite sure how the Australia government can make a claim on it. If thats the case, then perhaps for online purchases we should be encouraging the use of Proxy servers to make international purchases - or the Australian retailers become competitive by sidestepping the wholesalers who seem to often get the blame for high prices.

It is the responsibility of Australian Customs to collect the GST when the item enters Australia, not the overseas seller.
(See: http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/mi...s/charges.html)

Cheers
KarlB

I have been thinking a lot recently about WHY Australian retail prices are generally so outof line with international prices.

I think there are several reasons.

1 Australians are just slack and we are so rich we think its reasonable to pay say a window cleaner $100 per hour when the real rate should be $15, we pay heaps for dog walkers ferrchrissake. I am always amazed at what we pay tradespeople who in just about every other country are at the lowest end of the pay scale.

2 The real estate industry (before the net) worked out they could charge astronomical rents to retailers because of the above.

3 Retailers margins had to go up enormously to cover these rents so that the nett at the end of the day was+.

4 Our wage laws are crazy so that 17 year olds with no experience are paid more than anywhere else in the world.

5 Retailers such as Harvey Norman's business plan calls for instant product delivery so every store has a warehouse employing X people.

So I think there will need to be enormous cultural change to make Australian retailing competitive.

1 Distribution will have to change to National rather than state. This will also remove layers of profit margins for "state distributors"
2 property values for shopping malls will have to fall enormously, which bodes ill for valuations and property trusts.
3 Efficient web based sellers will have to increase in Australia. There are a few now, But generally web based sellers are not in the same galaxy as USA sellers in customer service. If some come up or maybe Harvey Norman starts one then this will quickly change the whole retailing model in Australia.

When I was recently buying shock absorbers I was astounded and still am how Australian companies get away with their pricing. Even a well known parts supplier I recently dealt with charged me $90 each for Armstrong shocks which retail including 15 %VAT in UK for GBP 12.50. SEE 1 ABOVE.Next time I will buy from UK even though their web sellers are slack. One has not yet answered an email sent on 29 December and followed up 3days ago.
Regards Philip A