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from the Ignore-the-customer-and-maybe-they-will-go-away dept.
The Australian government gave notice to online retailers that they must collect tax on behalf of the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and submit the tax collected to the ATO for purchases made by Australians overseas. Surprisingly, online retailers objected to this and at the time threatened to block Australian shoppers. Now Amazon has taken the step of preventing Australians from purchasing from their US site and sending parcels to Australia. Amazon have stated that Australians can now purchase products from the Australian Amazon site, which while true comes with a significant markup of, in some cases, 160 per cent or more over the price of the product in the US Amazon site. This does not prevent Australians from working around this technicality by engaging with a shipping company in America to bounce products through their warehouse and having the parcels forwarded on to an Australia address. In the mean time, from July 1st 2018 onward, Amazon will no longer ship products to an Australian address.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:17AM
Don't care so much about Amazon, but a lot of cheap good-enough electronic components can be sourced from China.
I hope Alibaba and ebay will get to collect the GST instead stopping the delivery; in any case, it will help the local retailers like a massaging the wooden leg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:18AM (2 children)
Country of dumb convicts.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @05:55AM
The one receiving Amazon US shipments or the one sending them? [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @02:21PM
Absolutely true, but not after a couple of centuries of reform and finding ourselves now we import them from the middle east, africa and other places to rape murder and pillage since we lost our way in the 1900s
AUSSIE LEBBY AFRI!! OI! OI! OI!
SHE'S NOT WEARING A BRA! IN PUBLIC! ASKING FOR IT! ALL ON! AFRI! LEBBY BROWNIES!! OI! OI! OI! DO IT LEB STYLE!! </sarcasm>
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:21AM (1 child)
I thought Amazon loves sales taxes when it helps them compete against smaller outfits who can't / won't deal with hundreds of different juristictions.
(Score: 2, Informative) by sonamchauhan on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:46AM
Interesting. What could have caused this is amazon.com.au recently launched, with warehouses in Melbourne and Sydney
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:21AM (11 children)
They say it's surprising, it's not. It's how Amazon does business. I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election -- which I won OVERWHELMINGLY. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business. I call them a no-tax monopoly!!
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:46AM (7 children)
Liar [usps.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by khallow on Sunday June 03 2018, @04:04AM (5 children)
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @04:42AM (1 child)
Since it pretends to be the current president of the US I would expect nothing it posts to be true.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:04PM
Since it's a fake persona of a liar, sometimes will tell the truth, otherwise it would be the true persona of a liar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday June 03 2018, @12:19PM
Well the real account with the real persona does it as well, so...
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Informative) by Spamalope on Sunday June 03 2018, @02:30PM (1 child)
I'm impressed at how well he's keeping in character. He's dedicated to the lampoon he picked!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Fluffeh on Sunday June 03 2018, @11:26PM
*meanwhile in the White House*
"Why do they think I am someone else pretending to be me?.. Of course I'm me!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @02:38PM
http://fortune.com/2018/03/29/donald-trump-post-office-amazon-losing-money/ [fortune.com]
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/06/higher-shipping-rates-and-the-amazon-effect.html [cnbc.com]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/10/amazon-prime-amzn-fedex-shipping/5361351/ [usatoday.com]
https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2016/ups-rates-increase-december/ [pymnts.com]
Some truth perhaps?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Sunday June 03 2018, @04:23AM (2 children)
Interestingly, the mailman showed up to my door last Sunday morning. This surprised me, so went ut to greet him. I made some remark like 'wow, Sunday delivery' to which he responded out of nowhere, 'yeah...Amazon really saved the post office'.
Well, that is the job of the postal system. If I had a choice between delivering some plastic widget that a kid will enjoy for thirty seconds before throwing away and a stack of advertisements that will go directly to the trash without being looked at, I'll go for the plastic. Cuz those are the only two viable options anymore.
(Score: 3, Informative) by suburbanitemediocrity on Sunday June 03 2018, @05:46AM (1 child)
Not sure why this is funny. He was serious.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Monday June 04 2018, @07:33PM
I'm always in favor of explaining humor, so...
That bit is funny, even if it is true.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:31AM (9 children)
This has been discussed for years, and was legislated last year..https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/19/gst-extended-to-all-goods-bought-overseas-from-july-2018
Amazon "launched" the Australian site in November last year https://www.smh.com.au/technology/amazon-australia-everything-you-need-to-know-20171121-gzphez.html [smh.com.au]
Chances are, the tax issue is just an excuse to gouge Australians.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:49AM
Quite mild for a cynical. Chances are? You can be sure of it, the corporate tax cuts won't refinance themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Informative) by coolgopher on Sunday June 03 2018, @03:56AM (4 children)
I'd like to also add that Amazon's Australian site is shite. Comparatively no products at all, and prices on par with other Australian sources (think ~2x Amazon US prices).
Mind you, I'd found the US Amazon site to have largely gone to hell too since they brought on board all the third party sellers. Used to shop Amazon, don't any more.
(Score: 5, Informative) by MostCynical on Sunday June 03 2018, @04:14AM (2 children)
https://www.amazon.com.au/SanDisk-Extreme-SDSDXXG-128G-GN4IN-Newest-Version/dp/B01J5RH06K [amazon.com.au]
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-128GB-UHS-I-SDSDXXG-128G-GN4IN/dp/B01J5RH06K/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1527998967&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=SanDisk+Extreme+Pro+128GB+SDXC+UHS-I+Card+(SDSDXXG-128G-GN4IN)+[Newest+Version] [amazon.com]
$97 vs $56
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday June 03 2018, @11:56AM (1 child)
You realise your first link is AUD97, not USD97
The second link looks like USD61 to me.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday June 03 2018, @12:28PM
In Oz, price was in $AUD
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 03 2018, @08:34AM
I bought an Acer laptop and a Universal (World Wide) AC adapter from a third-party newegg dealer. The products were reasonably priced and promptly delivered.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by isj on Sunday June 03 2018, @02:38PM (2 children)
I did RTFA but didn't get any wiser as to how the Australian GST rule impacts Amazon differently than the internal EU rules. Can anyone enlighten me?
The EU rule is that if a company in country A sells for less than X euros per year to country B then they just collect GST in the country A. If they sell more than X euro per year to country B then they must collect GST for country B instead. The euro limit varies but is generally around 35.000. So small shops don't have to worry about it. There are slightly different rules for import into the EU (tariffs etc).
So I'm wondering if there is any different impact on Amazon than selling to EU countries, of if Amazon is just trying to avoid GST completely thereby undercutting local companies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 04 2018, @12:07AM
The cost of interacting with the Australian Tax Orifice
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday June 04 2018, @02:33AM
Australia launches new GST rules for overseas sellers | Taxation
https://www.taxation.co.uk/Articles/.../australia-launches-new-gst-rules-overseas-sellers18 [taxation.co.uk]
18 Jul 2017 - From 1 July 2018, businesses that sell goods into Australia will be required to charge goods and services tax (GST) on goods valued at A$1,000 or less. UK businesses that sell more than A$75,000 of taxable supplies (including low value goods) a year to consumers in Australia will need to register with the …
Even under the $AUD 75,000 threshold, GST has to be collected and remitted.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @04:13AM (1 child)
what the bloody oath is this amazon stuff? can i cook it on a barbie?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:06PM
yeah, mate, you can but only t'die.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Corelli's A on Sunday June 03 2018, @05:34AM (5 children)
That time when we wanted to make ourselves sound credible and important by citing NUMBERS! but were too lazy to actually look them up or edit with precision.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @08:52AM (4 children)
That time you couldn't be bothered to RTFA [news.com.au].
You might also like to read:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-31/amazon-blocks-australia-shopping-deal-how-it-affects-you/9820312 [abc.net.au]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @11:29AM (3 children)
Could part of the "markup" be the exchange rate? US Amazon listing an item in US Dollars and Aussie Amazon listing in AUS Dollars?
1 United States Dollar equals 1.32 Australian Dollar (variable I am sure based on the money market)
I am not a math genius but that tells me an item that costs 1.00 dollar US would cost 1.32 AUS
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:10PM (1 child)
How hard can it be to multiply $139 with 1.3 and compare the result with $360, mmm?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:31PM
shhhhh don't bring logic into this
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:13PM
Any excuse to charge more.
A case cited a while back was Microsoft Office and similar products. The reason for the Australian tax being applied - the markup - was the electricity costs and so forth for employees etc in Australia. For software already coded and released in America with a AU language pack bolted on.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @09:31AM (3 children)
Lobby groups, and Gerry fucking Harvey are to blame for this shit.
We already pay gst on imports over $1000. The government want to tax ALL imports below 1k to appease idiots like Gerry fucking Harvey. This idiot runs a shitty chain of retailer stores that don’t really sell the stuff people want.
Yet, the productivity commission already ran the numbers. It’s not economical to collect gst on small purchases.
The government seriously expect American and European online retailers to COLLECT and then REMIT gst to the Australian government. Seriously!
Malcom Turnbull and Scott Morrison are on drugs, and have no fucking idea how the real world works.
These are the same conservative idiots who claim to be for free enterprise.
You can’t make this shit up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:37PM
So true. When I make it, I'm always making shit like this downwards, so it doesn't fall on my head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:47PM
All Turnbull can see is the $$$
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday June 03 2018, @01:51PM
Yes, they are for free enterprise, but not any kind of it. You need to be able to donate to their parties to skew their policies towards your "freedom"
Just as happened, a good thing some barnaby screwed up a certain pooch, so that he fell from deputy PM-ish, he was quite hardline against investigations into banking sector. Once down, some of national MP-es supported the shove of the royal commission into banks ass, in spite of the other idiots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford