I contacted BorderLinx USA recently wanting to buy an article weighing 15lbs and with described dimensions. They upscaled my request to a "Volumetric Rate’ and for a 15lb item costing $US27 the shipping cost was $67. I’m intending to make enquiries with other (are they called?) ‘transhippers’. Possibly their costs work well for some items and not for others.
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That is always the case. There are a few companies and each seems to have their own sweet spots, but you will probably find that the value of a package, the weight, the dimensions, and shipping costs will often have no relativity with each other. Value is irrelevant (excepting for insurances or max values) while weight vs dimensions are core.
Using air freight as an example with finite freight capacity on each flight, shippers are generally not going to put in a large light weight item for a small (weight only) fee when they could otherwise pack multiple heavy (higher charged) items in the same space, hence volumetric weight. It does make some items more attractive to buy locally when the shipping cost exceeds the value, but if the value+shipping cost is still half our local price most of us would still “buy now” while being offended at the seeming rip.
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There was a time when I was apparently in Ebay’s systems as a US account and an Australian account (I was an early online shopper; my first Amazon purchase is listed as 1999, but is not the book I remember as my first purchase there).
Being in Ebay’s computers as having two locations was only identified as an issue when I got two bills in one month for my ‘sales activity’ (I had sold one item). One bill was for $0.00, the other was for some greater amount. I contacted Ebay, and said that I was happy to pay the former bill thank you very much, and they said “uh… no”. They investigated, found the problem, and suggested that my life would be easier if I closed one of the accounts. I was silly enough to listen, but back then there was no plan to have Ebay collect GST!
What interests me just as much as the GST is the cost of postage. If I search for some small commodity, like a USB cable, someone in China (or several other countries) will be able to sell me three for $1, with no extra postage charge. If I order the same thing from Australia, it will cost a minimum of $3 + postage. How is it possible for the overseas entity to send me an item more cheaply than it would be coming from the next suburb?
@phb, Ebay is not a seller. It does not sell me anything, it merely provides a platform. What is being suggested is almost at the level of proposing that ‘the Internet’ should block child porn. There is no central authority, making sure that everything on the Internet is ‘good’ and there is similarly nobody at Ebay collecting taxes from sellers and distributing them to the local tax agent for the buyer. That would be a nightmare, and potentially would be a way of getting rid of the World Wide Web. Yes, Ebay is only a small slice of that web - but the principle behind this move is the same principle that sits behind data retention laws and ‘though shalt not encrypt’ laws: we (government) want to control what our people do/say/buy, and that means controlling the Internet.
@BrendanMays, why are you not running a VPN 24/7 already? Anyone who cares about their personal civil liberties should be conducting much if not most of their Internet use via a VPN. That goes double for Australians once the government passes its local version of the ‘snooper’s charter’ (with the full backing of Labor, because it does not want ‘security’ to become a ‘wedge’ issue). (PS to Great Leader: Australian laws are not able to override mathematical principles; you know this, but still lied. For whose benefit?)
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My personal view is that using a VPN to (try to) hide from ours or other governments is like walking into a bank wearing a balaclava … it would serve to initially hide my identity, but is likely to make me look ‘more interesting’.
Hiding actions from corporates is another thing altogether 
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If this BS from our illustrious, highly competent, highly qualified (choke, gag) government should ever come to pass, the way taxes are usually attributed is based on the shipping address being the proxy for point of sale. Regardless of where one is registered, or where the billing address might be, the shipping address has always been the trigger in my experience in the US, and buying from the EU (to escape VAT).
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In the UK they, the UK Government, do collect the VAT off EBay if they, EBay, fail to block sellers who do not collect it and pass it onto the Government. This is due to a law they passed a couple of years ago.
https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/business/news/spring2017/vat-changes
https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/business/about-vat
https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2017/ebay-to-introduce-vat-payments-to-uk-traders/
I am sure that our Australian Parliament has looked closely at those UK changes with aims to echo that here in Australia.
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@draughtrider, I understand the idea that a VPN says “This person has something to hide”, but have two responses.
- I actually don’t have any Internet traffic that is likely to be of interest to the government.
- If many people use VPNs - regardless of their activities - then measures such as metadata collection that reduce our personal privacy are going to fail.
- VPNs are apparently getting quite good at looking like ordinary Internet traffic, and so are not standing out to those who wish to monitor our every action.
Sometimes it is important to do something small, in order to be a part of a larger movement that seeks to protect all our individual freedoms. I recommend that everyone should get a VPN and use it - not to hide nefarious activities but simply because it creates ‘noise’ for everyone trying to monitor internet traffic. The fact that you have nothing to hide is not important; the fact that you have a right to personal privacy is incredibly important.
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Agree and even the use of Tor by greater numbers help protect those who need to use Tor to get information out to the public safely. There will always be those who use techniques such as VPNs and Tor for nefarious purposes but the vast majority use these tools to legally and ethically protect, and rightly so, their privacy in personal and business dealings.
However Governments increasingly want to know more about us so that they can to some greater or lesser extent control their citizens. They always couch it in terms similar to “if you aren’t doing anything wrong you will have nothing to worry about” but this is a false premise, you only have to look at the ethnic killings that have occurred in the past like Hilter’s purge of Jews. Once you have given up your privacy there is little hope of regaining it.
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“right to privacy” in this country is interesting - limited at best, even when we are signatory to the international covenants/etc that might have the appearance of providing a broader base for privacy it is not necessarily reflected in local legislation to a degree that enforcement is likely or possible, and where legislation is in place, it seems heavily contextual and dependant on conflicting interests. I think the idea of personal privacy is a wonderful concept, but my experience in this area leads me to believe thats all it is, and (@grahroll) all I feel it has been for many many years as we’ve progressively given up privacy in various names (security, etc) - which probably explains my Weltschmerz (thanks to the Germans who seemingly have a word for everything). My opinion only, I’m not a lawyer
Re points 1-3 - I’m not reassured, there’s nothing that can’t be broken … time will tell …
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Yes ideologically, but I find being private on the net an oxymoron. Even those who think they can operate outside the legal framework anonymously, like the creators of selling bays on the dark net, are not as private as one would think…as discovered recently.
Using the net one should assume that any information could be made available at some time by someone… …and treat the net that way when using it.
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/agree, but with a caveat. Make it as difficult as possible for anyone who may be interested in knowing your personal details to find even the most innocuous information. The more effort required for anyone who is not operating with your specific agreement to get anything useful, the less it pays - whether that someone is operating legally or not. This is why I argue for all VPN, all the time.
Oh, and don’t forget to be terrified of the terrorists.
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Well, I have been reading all these comments on the Federal Government’s plan to charge GST on purchases made overseas, including Ebay and international stores.
What I find interesting is that the Government has all this prose about free trade, the benefits to Australia and yet they want to apply a GST to small overseas purchases through Ebay and other international businesses. There are a lot a mum and dad sellers on Ebay, the small business entrepreneur trying a make a go of life. Ebay is a cheap way for mums and dads to start up a small business with little risk not only in Australia but in every country.
The man behind one of our big franchises, I remember was a huge lobbyist for the GST on imports into Australia, you often seen him on TV or heard him on the radio. You cannot tell me his interests were in the best interest of Australian citizens. It was about how do I get people back into my franchises and sales increasing. The businesses that live in the past and do not learn from businesses likes Amazon, Costco, Aldi, Alibaba and the smaller shops also setting up in Australia. The GST will not save you, everyone is looking to save a dollar except for some retailers who want to squeeze more out of the consumer.
Well, some big overseas companies have set up in Australia and more are coming, this is good for the Australian consumer. The only issue here is will the government collect its fair share of taxes from these international conglomerates’. The Governments of the world have not been able to get their fair share of taxes from these companies to date. When you can’t catch the big fish then it appears the next best option for Governments is to tax the consumer wherever they can for they are not united and are too meek to fight back for a fair deal.
On the subject of privacy, we should never give up our privacy or our rights. Our privacy and rights are about the only things we have left as everything else has been slowly taken away. Just read your fine print when you sign up to the NBN to see another consumer right taken away, the waiving of the CSG (Customer Service Guarantee).
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Re the collection of taxes it can sometimes seem be a double edged sword . Well really government wise I think they see it as being very single edged . All their way .
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Well, Amazon are going to try it …
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It will be interesting to see if amazon constrains us to the amazon.com.au sellers or they will link amazon.com.au to their US/global sellers as a quick and easy means to cover their tax obligation. If it is the latter it would be a lesson to Gerry Harvey and his ilk that it is not about the GST, it is about bad retail practices and limited ranges.
If we are cordoned off from competition to be at the mercy of our ‘great’ retailers I would hope enough of us respond at the ballot boxes come next election.
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VPN will not work… Amazon announced today that even with VPN they will not post to Australia. you might post it to a USA address and get them to ship it to you.
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Easy for some of us, not so easy for others But you are right, generally if people don’t have a forwarder or a relative it won’t work. Last I looked at forwarders they weren’t cost effective for low volume/one off and I bet customs will be protecting the ATO from we citizens anyway!!
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Customs will be. tough, even on packets that state gifts. Looked at our Amazon and it’s obscenely expensive & stock is limited.
Either way we lose.
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I’m sure there will be some Australians using freight forwarding services and VPNs, in an attempt to circumnavigate the blockade.
Will Amazon block these sales anyway? While it is impossible to say, it seems to me unlikely that they would block all freight forwarding services or find a way to block all means of access, but I could be wrong here. No doubt the people at Amazon have factored in the likely outcomes and costs before choosing this course of action.
Will Customs block international Amazon orders or other low value goods (less than $1000)? Currently they advise there will be no changes to border clearance processes. For consumers, this could mean paying duty and GST chrges to have your items cleared (to my understanding, a courier may process this charge).
As we note in our article, you need to be sure of the weight of your product to avoid any unexpected frieght forwarding costs that will eat up your savings, and it’s worthwhile factoring in an additional 15% on top of your other costs. There’s also the cost of the VPN, but you might already use one or find other uses for it. It’s all a bit of a run around, but financially it might still prove worthwhile in some cases.
It would be interesting to hear some different perspectives on this. In theory, would you go to the hassle of purchasing item from Amazon international to save money?
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Probably not.
The other issue is what happens if the parcel doesn’t arrive or is damaged. I could see each party which may have touched the parcel pointing the finger at everyone else and the customer being left in the lurch.
I think the easier option would have to placed a financial levy on non-business financial transactions…say 3-5% for any money transferred from within Australia to overseas. The cost impact on products would have been minor but the revenue (lost GST) could have been significant.
Banks and money transfer companies (pay pal, western union, credit cards) would be responsible for taking and paying the tax.
There would need to be exemptions for payments made when travelling overseas…but this would be relatively easy to sort out.
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