Cheap Freight From the USA

[OzzyElsie]

I haven't been dealing with Ebay USA in recent years because of the exchange rate and the stupid Ebay postage charges, but I saw some particular wheels and forks I'm interested in at very reasonable prices. The killer is going to be freight. The parts are in Wisconsin. Has anyone any suggests, advice, comments or recent experience in such things?

At this stage the parts are cheap enough to use USP but I might have to use one of the other services - but I think they are all equally exxy.

I've got 6 days to decide or organise.

[hybrid]

If they offer free ground shipping within the US, you could try one of the remailers such as comgateway to do the international part.

[ged]

Are they still planning to drop the GST threshold from $1000 on all imports from 1 July?

[JonW]

well, 'kinda...' The theory is that GST will be applied at source with large orgs like ebay and netflix being the most talked about, but it is the thin end of the wedge for our tax free imports for sure and I expect that in the future we will see faster postage for pre-paid gst imports from those orgs that collect on behalf of our govt as other parcels will need to be assessed for duty on entry and those wont, cutting down the number of parcels-to-be-asessed dramatically which leads to less random checking as staff can cope better etc etc.

So, everything Ive read suggests that right now we still have the 1k in place, but for how long? After all, if i buy from ebay it costs the 10%, and yet Partzilla wont... i cant see anyone complaining about that, can you...? LOL!

The ebay/netflix style orgs are prob 80% of the imports, and we all understand the 80/20 rule i expect... but would our govt give up their cut on those 20% when they have an organisation that asesses parcels daily already? Im saying they wont...

[hybrid]

The whole thing is BS.
Wankers like Gerry Harvey are having a whinge about a level playing field. But the cost of goods in Australia is WAY more than 10% compared to overseas.
They are hoping it becomes enough of a PITA that we will just buy locally instead, because nobody can really believe that the GST is having a real affect on the decision to import or buy local. It's ridiculous.

Now GST is the least of their worries with Amazon coming to town. I really hope Amazon don't jump on the "Australia tax" bandwagon and we start to see some real competition here.

[JonW]

The whole thing is indeed BS, and when you initially look at it it might seem that the govt has sided with local retailers, but really I think theyve given them a huge slap in the face. I'll explain: By adding this tax at source it seems that the govt isnt saying 'see now its 10% more expensive, you might as well by local'. As Jeff points out we all know 10% isnt enough of a difference in the price of things here vs abroad, but rather they are saying 'youve all decided to buy outside of Aus, we get that, we just want our cut'. Its a 'cant beat em, join em' thing.

With tax applied at source, there is nothing else the govt can do to make stuff more expensive and 'help' local retailers, its now up to the rip-off-aus local retailers to drop prices or die a slow death. As an aside, there are some good videos by Bright Sun Films on youtube about the death of huge chains in the USA for those with time on their hands.

Recently I asked JBHifi about pricing, they said 'dont ask us to match kogan, but we'll beat anyone else in Aus'. I feel even that might change soon. ie If i buy from their online site, the only difference is the Aussie Market specific product set, which if we all bought from overseas wouldnt 'need'[1] to exist anymore... we make a rod for our own backs... food for thought

1 - a product set that keeps us buying locally and 'in our box'. Also provides 2yr warranty under Aussie law... but if you pay GST on something from a foreign retailer its starting to seem like its local anyway, so we should see warranty cases be tested on that eventually, its a global village (terrible term) an getting smaller every day...

[ged]

So, its yet another ballsup from the Eleventy Joe and Wingnut era... Well done fellas.

I haven't bothered bringing much in from the US lately with the exchange rate the way it is, but I did bring a guitar body in a couple of weeks ago using the new eBay International Postage system, and it got a bit bizarre, but it actually worked ok and was reasonably cost effective. It seems to work the same way as the US forwarding systems do, with the parcel going to a US PO Box in Kentucky somewhere (but not using my name!) before being onforwarded here. The box was about 600x450x150, 4kg or so and cost $60.

Exchange rate to the Euro is still providing opportunities though.

[L.B.]

Pricing for postage has become a total joke lately with ebay. I dont even bother looking at it anymore. Same with Canada,so much goid stuff there but postage is a killer everytime.
Dont know if anyone else has noticed but transit times are taking longer lately....again is why i just cbf.
Looking more at Japanese market lately. Quality parts good prices & ok postage.

[JonW]

I agree with you Jason, Japan may well be our new go to place. Ive had more and more issues with Euro companies not wanting to even deal with you once you speak English and live outside of the EU sadly as with their tax off and good value post they were great for a while.

[JonW]

For those following the new levy of GST for online you may be 'amused' to see that the govt has been very clever by keeping the tax on female sanitary products, know as the 'tampon tax'. This means that while the news about the online taxation is out there, its masked by the tampon tax moaning in the press so the full horror of the tax is hidden from us. sigh. I should add 'yet again' as its been very hard to get real info about what the changes truly will be all the way thru on this.

[ged]

Hey. Look over there!.... Modus operandi of the political class these days.

I suspect we're not hearing the whole story because, a) its not going to work out very well for us, and b) they haven't actually worked it out yet.

I can see the whole thing turning out to be a disaster spurning whole office blocks full of beauracrats and "compliance officers" costing more than it raises. One way of generating jobs I suppose.

[JonW]

FYI, saw this today in a message from ebay...

"If you’re a private seller: GST of 10% will be applied to your fees and will be shown on your monthly invoice."

So, instead of 10% in fees to sell something to a fellow Aussie, we will now be paying 11%... ebay is really starting to not be worth the hassle I fear.

[Ozhammer]

Surely they can't charge a private seller for GST on something second hand that has already had tax applied at the original point of sale, or am I being too simplistic?

[JonW]

Theyre only charging you GST on the 'service' you used, ie ebay, to sell the thing... so its GST on the ebay fees, not your sale.

[ged]

Hmm. That's one part of the puzzle in place then, at least as it relates to fees. I'm sure well see more come 1 July.

On the other side of that coin, at least eBay is obviously having to declare that fee income as earned in Australia, as opposed to their previous arrangements of booking the income in Singapore, thus bypassing any tax liability on their earnings.