GST on international purchases!

[Cruzn65]

GST on internatioanl purchase article

This won't make us happy if it happens!

[Foresight]

It'll make the local suppliers happy though.

Taking everything into account the current system is unfair to local businesses, especially when you can generally get away with splitting up packages to keep them below the 1k threshold.

[ponyride]

It's not surprising, given that on the importation of a car for instance we already pay GST on services that occur in another country (ie transport, insurance) which I will never understand, so why not goods?

[Cruzn65]

sure but the postage/shipping is a disincentive and the proposal doesn't take into account, in our circumstance, that there are not a huge number of suppliers.

The big retailers mentioned don't like the competition as it eats their profits, they might have to catch up with the rest of the world and what e-commerce is doing globally.

The proposal would make the government happy in some respects..... more GST for them to waste!

[ozbilt]

Seems it will not go their way easily though, if at all...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/online-t ... 19e3h.html

[xpconnor]

Looks like big business is just trying to screw us out of a few more dollars. Our dollar has gone up so they are all panicking that we are spending our money OS. Yet with the dollar up I have not seen a noticeable decrease in the cost of imported goods here in OZ. When were these big chains going to pass on those cost benefits to us? It never happens. Yet as soon as the aussie dollar drops they will be increasing prices and trying to justify it by telling us it is due to the increased costs they have incurred by the slide of the dollar.

Kinda like the current situation with fuel, it went way up as the price of oil increased and the dollar was at .70 to .80 cents but now the oil price has dropped and the dollar is at parity or better and we are still being shagged on fuel prices which have dropped f$#k all in comparison.

Small business could be helped by some sort of GST exemption but for companies like target, myers and harvey norman to come out crying poor just because they had a quiet christmas period really gives me the s@#ts.

[Foresight]

I don't mean to stir the pot fellas but I don't understand the Aussie mentality that the government and all big business wants to do is screw them. People quickly forget the jobs and general community benefits that these big businesses provide but that's for another topic.

The problem is that on orders under 1k people aren't paying GST so the local businesses are at a 10% disadvantage instantly which is unfair.

In hobbies like ours the few suppliers are small businesses so they aren't able to save on the shipping costs by importing massive amounts. This means that the personally shipping costs aren't much of a disincentive.

If spending is going overseas because of a tax loophole then how are businesses going to pass on the cost savings from a strong AUD when their revenue is down? It sounds like they are trying to protect themselves against an unfair situation more than them trying to screw us.

If local businesses regardless of size can't get their model to work on an even playing field then maybe their business model isn't sound, but currently the playing field is bias against the locals.

[ozbilt]

Good points Lee, however the "mentality" here will never improve while gov & big business beats down small business.

Another point is that Aussies always seem to base what they want on price first. How many times have we seen the word "cheap" on these forums when someone is looking for a part?

What Myer & Harvey Norman wanted to do was set up in Shenzhen (China, near Hong Kong) & export the product bought online direct to us. Bet the price would have remained the same as local (without the tax) & they would have done away with warehousing & shipping costs (shipping would have been added).

In the US, the gov promotes small business because it knows that is what creates employment & helps big business. However it has gone off the rails lately.

We got lots of help & info when setting up back in 96/7. Other small businesses helped us along the way. Local gov was good as well.

In the US, if you buy "out of state" it is tax free, so when I used to buy Summit or Jegs, it arrived in 2 days by UPS or FedEx.

That does not exist here.

Biggest issue for both Australia & the US though, is that we have stopped producing product, we have to get back to that & would mean a better product that is OS made at an equal price or it will not sell, as we have becoe cheapskates.

Yes I know, we had a factory in China, but again, could not produce the quality of the goods in the USA (& quantity) for anything near what we were doing. Actually could not find the tradesmen to do the work, which is what sent my partner over there in the first place.

[xpconnor]

I don't disagree with you Lee that at the moment the system is unfair, but for large companies like myers (coles/myer?) to come out and have an issue with fair trading and competitiveness in the market place is just hypocritical. Until these larger companies offer good customer service and competitive prices I don't fell sorry for them.

That said the smaller retailers that struggle to compete with the bigger companies are the ones I do have sympathy for with the current GST setup, and as you said these are the types of companies supporting our hobbies.

[Foresight]

If Myer and Harvey Norman did do that it wouldn't surprise me if their prices didnt drop initially but that is their reward for pioneering a new model. Once competitors started replicating the model then natural market forces would level the playing field again.

You hit the nail on the head regarding local production prices being the problem but I don't know how that can change without something drastic being done.

I agree xpconnor that some of the big companies approachs to competition is questionable, but if the big guys that are meant to be cleaning up are worried then everyone should sit up and listen because something is seriously wrong.

[donoauto]

I find it funny that the big guys are whining about us buying stuff OS but how about them in the 80's & 90's pushing the manufacturing offshore & doing aussie workers no favours. If it's alright for them , it's alright for us , isn't it?
The times they are a changin'

[Foresight]

As ozbilt pointed out it was probably those same aussie workers that were buying the cheaper os manufactured products which forced the companies to move offshore to remain competitive

Businesses don't think to themselves "let's move to asia to screw everyone" they do it for commercial reasons. If the market demanded australian made products then all of our manufacturing would be done in Australia. But the problem as ozbilt said is that everyone wants cheap, cheap, cheap. You can even see the same pattern with aussie travel patterns with families traveling to bali instead of heading down to a local spot because it's cheaper.

Why don't we say that aussie families taking their tourism to bali are screwing Australians and their economy?

If you ask me, without a market there is no business so the aussies creating the market for os goods are the ones that are screwing other aussies, not the businesses satisfying a market.

[HappyOne]

This subject is very amusing but also very close to me,



As with a somewhat rapidly diminishing group of Australian citizens ---- my job actually depends on our company remaining an Australian manufacture as much as physically possible- yes we also manufacture some gear overseas but the majority is made here!!

We are the market leaders in a diminishing market space and a declining market share (not a great feeling every Monday morning but it’s not stopping me)….. we are also an iconic Australian household brand …and very proud of it but I wonder for just how much longer?



The industry that I’m in, would suggest the big retail guys are the ones that always cry fowl first. They tell everyone they should support Australian Manufacturing then when everyone is not looking at them, the go and do a deal with the overseas Manufacturers/ Suppliers and flood the market with cheaper crap which then in turn drives our market further down as we are forced to reduce margins to a point where it may not be viable just so as not to lose any further market share. Which is an unsustainable approach to any business model in my view.

I have lost count the amount of deals we have seen lost, from the only Australian manufacturer of sanitaryware on numerous major construction projects throughout the country where "Hardly Normal" – Commercial and the like, have come in and under cut all the other suppliers with cheaper and inferior imports of Sanitaryware and Tapware and also sweetened the deal by a large plasma TV miraculously appearing at the builders / developers / plumbers house along with the surround system that goes with it all somewhere along the life of the particular project.

Just a reminder to everyone ----- a few months back we all would have seen Jerry Harvey on A Current Affair whining about this subject and the cost of bedding mattresses …..Now go and see how many mattresses (Aussie Made Ones) you can actually buy at a "Hardly Normal" store maybe two or three only …..What like there are only a few of them out there? there are plenty of companies here making them …so why not stock most if not all of them instead of any imports?

What some of the big guys do with one hand is not followed through with the other hand ..Is my point here?



Dick Smith is an exception in my view, at least had the balls to really put up his own money and “actually” started manufacturing some shit here!!.......but gets little to no real support… go figger!!


Where ever I can l follow this one simple principle … if it’s made here and it is of equal or better quality …I’ll buy the bloody thing here even if it’s slightly bloody more expensive…no matter what it is!!

Just wish everyone else had the same attitude!!

The real problem is it’s now really hard to know just what is made here …. As the Aussie Made campaign of years gone by is in my view CRAP now….much like the heart foundation tick of approval labeling system – a bigger Cheque book now wins the day!!


Happyone

[mach70]

Do you all realise where the root of the problems lies?

Shareholders!

It is that simple. They want bigger returns on their investment and the easiest way to make that happen is to reduce costs.

It is hard work actually increasing your market share and thus profits by attracting the customer in the first place. it is much easier to cut your price to under cut someone else than actually sell the item on its merits.

I once had a customer take his business else where because he could save 0.5c yes half a cent on safety glasses!

We were eventually bought out (assets only) by a bigger company that went out of their way and bought our customers by under cutting prices and going as low as 5% margin on items. You cant survive on that, but they could finance it for longer than we could.

There are a number of business in the mining industry (some now very large) that started off by begging for 90 days credit from us, and then as soon as they can save 0.5c they go away!

I have had my suppliers under cut me supplying their goods to the client for no reason. They lost money buy doing that and eventually lost the business by doing so. They screwed up. Then the rep comes in complaining about the low sales.

I now for the man instead of being the man. Much easier.

Shawn

[Foresight]

Shareholders run businesses which satisfy markets. Your example shows that it was the market that lost you the sale not any shareholders greed. Regardless of the intentions of the other supplier (whether they actively undercut you or fluked it) it was the customer who decided to pull the business and take it to the cheaper option. The cheapskate market seems to be the pattern.

I hope I'm not getting under anyones bonnet on a personal level (it isn't my intention) I just like presenting both sides of the argument.