Re: Whingeing retail billionaires and the 10% GST

"SG1"

** You suggesting there is a bata system going on with the worlds mail services ?

.... Phil

**Whilst I applaud the sentiment, I doubt that the problem lies only with retailers. Importers of certain high profile brands are probably making very large profits.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

I just read:

1219-1...

as a further sign of inaction, saying GST and

hey are considering mounting a campaign against

sting tax arrangements, overseas retailers are

ut, I decided to shoot off a letter to the

ew loosely linked subjects that have been

naire Gerry Harvey, and this 10% GST.

shopping on line from overseas, in order to

. Why pay sometimes two to three times the

price. Retailers simply have to be more

n by email. What about all the packages that

t. You can't have it both ways.

it into the toy timber yellow box out the front

, and cutting the slot out so that it will fit

ge for packages to the US that weight over 453

it's a secret.

I don't blame you. I'm also sick of how these people seem to have voice with government, and we have no real representation.

One probably with Gerry and co, (and for that matter the rotting dinosaur called the "music industry") is that they don't seem to realise that it is a different world now, and while they can try to force things to work their way, they won't change things either by taxes, rules, internet censorship and so on. Even the Soviets couldn't keep out western products or music if people really wanted them.

They have to provide value for money, or close their doors. If they don't provide it, it will be all over the net in a short time, as it should be and people will act accordingly.

The cat is long out of the bag and all they are doing with their childish pathetic whinging is drawing attention to internet stores and encouraging the public to look online. People (especially younger people) know what things are worth, find out very quickly where to get the best deal and they wont be gouged or treated like fools anymore.

Maybe could contact GETUP or similar, they are always out to get the banks. I'm sure that they would love to hit out at similar level greedy pigs like mentioned in this article.

Hi all, I've read Don's post and the replies upto this post and have the following thoughts.

I understand where the retailers are coming from, they're saying that their prices are going to be at least 10% higher as compared to personal imports below $1k being gst free.

I understand also that local prices will be higher for the following reasons: A retailer is just that, more often than not they are not the manufacturer or importer so there may be 2 to 3 steps in the chain each adding their costs and profit margin, and, part of those costs associated with the requirements of state and federal law (ie the trade practices act etc) ie warranty.

Now I would sympathise more with the retailers if they supported local manufacturing even if their prices for doing that were higher. It's a two way street, they want to maximise profits for shareholders but seems to relogate their commitment to community and code of conduct or ethics to the background. Just look at the amcor / qantas etc cartels - certainly no ethics or commitment to community there.

The other side of the coin of course is that personal imports are a risk - there is no local warranty and for items under $1k it may be cost prohibitive to return to place of purchase to honour any warranty they may actually offer. Most local distributors won't touch grey imports for warranty or even for repair quotes. Depending on your payment or shipping methods, there is also the possibility of doing your cash if the items don't turn up.

Again - I'd sympathise more with the retailrs if they were competing using local manufactured product - but who, in AUS, makes LCD or plasma TVs, digital cameras, hard drives etc etc etc. And who purchases white goods or furniture from OS - no competition there for the retailers.

If the gov't were to eliminate or reduce the gst thresholds for imports (which would be impractical to implement) I see this as another opportunity for the cartel mentaility, prices would no doubt go up rather than stay as before. The only way this could even be considered would be to give the accc some teeth.

Having said all that here's a whinge of my own. I find that the AUS gov't tends to favour international agreements over what is beneficial for AUS. Take for example the pv solar rebate programmes. I've yet to see one in AUS have any local content requirement. As a result many of the installers use imported panels where we have at least 2 manufactures in Australia. The USA, Germany , Sweden and others all have local content requirements for their pv solar pogrammes - but AUS, no we seem to believe that FTAs are far more important so the panels, inverters etc all come in from OS. This was true for most if not all the GFC incentive programmes too.

Greg

SNIP

"me here"

** Be dead easy for Gary Johnston of Jaycar to show with a ** proper costing ** that at $6 a piece - his business is actually LOSING money on each such lamp sold through a retail store.

.... Phil

In fact the minister has said that they are unlikely to change the $1K exemption for GST.

19-1...

=3D

emption for GST.

If you have large companies pushing, they typically get what they want over time.

kreed wrote

just

read:

exemption for GST.

time.

Bet they dont on this issue.

And they didnt with the mining super profits tax either.

And the banks in spades.

Nice theory.

Pity about the real world.

So you recon Jaycar should sell the item to the public at a price greater than $6 so they can make a profit, for something that you can buy for 90 cents elsewhere?

You have got to be kidding.

He can charge whatever he likes in a capitalist society, and the less he sells, the greater his cost of stocking them. Since you can already buy a pack of two in any Bunnings store for less than one at Jaycar, (and there's bound to be cheaper than Bunnings even if you are not interested in buying ten on the internet) I'd say it's simply up to the consumer to take their business elsewhere and let Jaycar worry about their inventory costs and sales. Let's face it, you should only buy items at Jaycar that you can't get (conveniently) anywhere else.

MrT.

I find locally a lot of electrical goods are becoming compeditive , comparing ebay price to local available gets within a few % , as for jaycar well there are plenty of places to buy if you plan and that's all that's required to save a small fortune , try buying big rf power mossfets online then compare to local supply

--
X-No-Archive: Yes

Hmmm - That link is no good- try this

(snip)

They may be losing a buck or two on their letter service (the reason they give for the planned closure of 27 PO's) but they must surely be making a killing on domestic small parcels courtesy of fleabay.

Then shirley the Gerry Harveys should be street-smart enough to threaten to bypass them and import direct (like K-Mart et al) if they don't smarten up their pricing to him.

**Many successful retailers do just that. However, there is a point where such a thing becomes very difficult to manage. If Hardly was to import a large number of the brands he sells, he would be doing several things:

• Financially exposing the organisation to massive overheads (products are usually purchased on a 30 day account, whereas importers must pay either when the product leaves port, or when it arrives in store).

• Warranty service (and the attendent stocking of spares for several years) must be maintained.

• Service and technical people would need to be employed.

• Some importers may be pissed off and remove their products from Hardly. This particularly applies to big, well advertised brands. And this is very important. Guys like Sony, Panasonic, LG, Samsung, et al advertise all over the planet. Local advertising may only reach a small percentage of the population, whereas international advertising may reach more people.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

"Trevor Wilson" <

** The mains issue is that most major brands simply will not supply retailers direct - they have contractual arrangements in place with their Aussie branch offices or have appointed local import agents they wish to support for many good reasons.

.... Phil

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With used equipment, If you have a registered company here and in another country, (with better pricing than here) you can get around the parallel import bullshit, by importing as "transferring stock within the organisation" Know someone who did this in the 1990s and made a lot of money out of it, bypassing the rorts in place that doubled the prices on the same gear.

Only reason he is not still doing it is that he retired ;). Whether it can be done with "new" gear I don't know.

On the other hand It's also quite possible that the major retailers are already getting excellent deals on their imported products, and just not passing them on to the consumer.

Crikey, that makes the $6 one look incredibly expensive.

I just checked mine with a multimeterand the telescopic arms are not insulated. The current is AC.

Being 12 volt and low amperage it's unlikely you would feel a tingle.

I recollect mine had a message to say don't put metal across the arms.

It's labelled as a Kambrook.

Yes domestic. Nothing on os mail. Same os they get sfa from AP.