Thread: Amazon to block Australian shoppers from its US website

Online retail giant Amazon will block Australian consumers from its global sites to counter new laws to force it to collect the good and services tax on transactions.

From July 1 when the new GST regulations begin, Australian consumers shopping on Amazon international sites will be redirected to the local Australian site.


Consumer campaigner Christopher Zinn said shoppers will notice a significant reduction in options when browsing the internet for goods.


In a statement issued to the ABC, Amazon said it regretted the move and the inconvenience to customers accustomed to visiting Amazon's global online stores.


"We have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites," a spokeswoman said.


Currently GST is applied to items bought overseas for more than $1,000.


Under the new GST collection laws beginning on July 1, online retailers like Amazon will be forced to apply the 10 per cent GST to goods purchased on international sites and shipped to Australia.


The requirement came after years of intense lobbying from local retailers in Australia such as Harvey Norman, Myer, JB Hi-Fi and David Jones, who have seen their traditional bricks and mortar sales suffer from online competitors.

MORE. Amazon to block Australian shoppers from its US website - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The requirement came after years of intense lobbying from local retailers in Australia such as Harvey Norman, Myer, JB Hi-Fi and David Jones, who have seen their traditional bricks and mortar sales suffer from online competitors.

Sounds like these suckers should diversify their products.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Sounds like these suckers should diversify their products.

Alternatively, it could be that Amazon are killing their business like it's killing the high street business.

(I have no real opinion on that, as the shit on my High Street is probably not available on Amazon).

Originally Posted by cyrille

Sounds like these suckers should diversify their products.

Amazon and other online retailers have had an unfair advantage by not having to pay GST.

Originally Posted by TizMe

Amazon and other online retailers have had an unfair advantage by not having to pay GST.

Let's face it, that's one many things about their business model that makes their costs so much lower than real shops.

Originally Posted by TizMe

Amazon and other online retailers have had an unfair advantage by not having to pay GST.

GST/Sales tax is paid in most US states and EU countries. Aussies just now catching up. Even so Amazon prices are cheaper due to the volumn discounts they get from suppliers. Large brick and mortar retailers are pretty much done except where folks want to do traditional shopping.

Originally Posted by Norton

GST/Sales tax is paid in most US states and EU countries. Aussies just now catching up. Even so Amazon prices are cheaper due to the volumn discounts they get from suppliers. Large brick and mortar retailers are pretty much done except where folks want to do traditional shopping.

Quite unfortunate and dangerous to real economic stature.
.....and some societies will learn why after it's too late.

Big Corporate Rule.

And it would be very fortunate if they will pay a tax - sometimes...

Don't know anything about Amazons business, how it works etc. but the Australian Government and most other Governments, same, same, talk about free trade, world economy on a flat playing field.
Wages and conditions have to go down, as we play on a level world stage, but when the governments tax base drops, it's not level for ordinary Australians.

Capitalism, free trade means just that, free trade, not how many billions you import or export.

Originally Posted by Norton

Large brick and mortar retailers

Have chain of shops with associated costs and not massive shipping centres in the desert where things are cheap.

The Australian government is notable for it's largesse- to itself. The Australian PM earns a lot more than the US Potus, or British PM- and politicians pension entitlements are astonishingly generous. Ditto the senior Defence force command, and civil servants. Someone has to pay for this generosity, namely the Australian taxpayer. Heck, you can only legally carry 3 packs of duty free cigs into the country. Of course the pollies will tell you it's for 'health reasons'- but we all know the real reason. Revenue.

Then again, I tried to order a Meade ETX astronomical telescope from Amazon some years ago- at about 40% what it would cost in Australia. No can do- Amazon would not accept the order. I have many a good thing to say about Australia, but the intrusive self serving Australian government is not one of them.

Don't quite understand this. I haven't used Amazon that often, though a few weeks ago I bought a pair of shoes from the US. The amount that I paid was the advertised price plus the import duty to Thailand. As a consequence, once it hit here, it was Customs cleared and delivered to me by UPS with no further payment required, unlike when I've bought stuff that has been imported by DHL/Fedex etc, where I've had to pay the duty to the courier when delivered. Why couldn't the same criteria apply in Australia?

^ Paying the tax to the courier locally seems to be how Amazon wants to do it.

Australian govt hits out at Amazon for decision to 'blacklist' Australian customers over GST

CANBERRA (XINHUA) - Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison has slammed US e-commerce giant Amazon for its decision not to ship overseas goods to Australian customers because it did not like new tax rules that targeted international retailers.


Amazon announced on Thursday (May 31) that it would prevent Australians from buying from the Amazon US store - or any international Amazon stores - which frequently have cheaper goods and a greater range compared with the Australian Amazon store.


From July 1 this year, Australian customers who visit an international Amazon store will be redirected to the Australian site, which has been running since late last year.


The move is a response to Australia's new goods and services tax (GST) policy to all overseas purchases under A$1,000 (S$1,010) announced by the Turnbull government last year in a bid to "level the playing field" between Australian and overseas retailers.


Although Amazon has said it supports the new GST rule in principle, it argues that delivery companies such as Australia Post should be made to collect the tax, not the stores.


"We have had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites," an Amazon spokesman said on Thursday. "From July 1 we will be redirecting Australian customers from our international Amazon sites to amazon.com.au."





Some international products will still be available to Australians on a new platform called the global store, but the range will be much smaller. The global store currently has 4 million items, compared with roughly 500 million on the full American store.


Amazon's ban applies to all shipments to Australian addresses, which means that even customers with VPNs (virtual private networks) that hide their location will be able to access an international site but not be able to ship their goods home.


Mr Morrison slammed Amazon for being unwilling to collect GST while other online retailers were happy to work within the system.


"The second biggest company in the world, run by the richest man in the world (Jeff Bezos) shouldn't get a leave pass from paying tax in Australia," Mr Morrison said on Friday.


"If multinationals aren't forced to pay their fair share of tax, they will have a competitive advantage over retailers here in Australia."


Mr Morrison said it was purely an issue of fairness, and about creating a level playing field.


"The government doesn't apologise for ensuring multinationals pay a fair amount of tax here in Australia," he said. "That tax revenue is used to fund essential services."


The move is seen as a win for local retailers which had lobbied for the 10 per cent tax to apply to all goods purchased from offshore retailers - not just on those greater than A$1,000.


One of Australia's leading retailers, Mr Gerry Harvey, the executive chairman of Harvey Norman, welcomed the government's decision and criticised Amazon for its attitude.


"They think they have the right to pay no tax in Australia," Mr Harvey said on Thursday of Amazon's decision to "blacklist" the country.


Meanwhile, Labor MP Andrew Leigh said Amazon's ban was "an utter embarrassment" for Mr Morrison and the government. Like Amazon, the opposition supports the general principle but has taken issue with the government's model.


"Less purchasing choice means higher prices for Australian consumers at a time when they are struggling with record low wages growth and cost of living pressures," Mr Leigh said.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/au...lian-customers

^

The point that I was making was that Amazon do collect import tax from the purchaser, and in my particular case, the import taxes are presumably paid to local Customs by the Courier (again in this case UPS) otherwise they wouldn't be cleared. It's a simple formula for the appropriate taxes to be applied to the destination country.

When I've ordered items to be imported from the US or Europe (direct from suppliers rather than Amazon), I've never known how much tax was due until they were delivered to my door by the Courier. I much prefer Amazon's modus operandi where the full cost is up front.

Just recently, I have started to be charged sales tax on e-books purchased from Amazon. Comes out around 9%. No idea if it's Federal or State tax. Do know it's fucking irritating.

Wonder if Alibaba might step in and fill the vacuum? Probably better located to carry on Ecommerce in Australia than Amazon too.

Amazon ships 3 million packages a day, Alibaba ships 12 million. Another interesting factoid: On Cyber Monday, America’s great ecommerce shopping day, Amazon processed 37 million orders. On Singles Day, an annual shopping holiday in China created by Alibaba itself, Alibaba processed 278 million orders.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248345

And people want a trade war with Chinese citizens.

Originally Posted by OhOh

And people want a trade war with Chinese citizens.

"People" don't.

Well, I'm quite amaz(on)ed! Just got an email from their payments department, and I'm being refunded. This is the text of the email:

Hello,

We're writing to let you know we processed your refund of $107.13 for your Order 111-7470174-3625813.

This refund is for the following item(s):

Item: Bruno Magli Men's Mico Oxford, Black, 10 Medium US
Quantity: 1
ASIN: B071XKSXTM
Reason for refund: Export fee reduced

Here's the breakdown of your refund for this item:

Import Fee Deposit Refund: $107.13

We'll apply your refund to the following payment method(s):

MasterCard Credit Card: $107.13

We've processed a refund for the above order in the amount of $107.13. In most cases, once a refund has been submitted, the issuing bank will post it to your account within 3-5 business days when issued to a credit card. Refunds issued to a bank account or pin-less debit typically take 10 business days to reflect on the account balance. This time frame may vary from one financial institution to another.

Have questions about our refund policy?
Visit our Help section for more information:

I'm quite flabbergasted. At first I thought it was some kind of scam, i.e. send us your bank details for a refund etc, but no. Well played Amazon. That's a decent lunch on it's way, or at least a couple of bottles of Hennessy brandy.

Amazon are good like that. In the days when I used to order DVDs to be shipped here to the sandpit, if they ever went astray, Amazon would simply ship a replacement order.