Would a 10% GST surcharge stop you from buying overseas?

[AUbicycles]

Retail Cycle Traders Australia and Bicycling Industry Australia are members of the The Fair Imports Alliance which, in a nutshell is lobbying the government to reduce the tax threshold for goods imported into Australia - The threshold is currently $1000. Goods currently imported with a product price and shipping value less than $1000 do not incur GST and customs duty.

This is a broad topic (and is raised frequently on this forum), feel free to discuss it here. For simplicity I am interested to know that if GST was charged on all items (eg. $8, $80 or $800), would this stop you from purchasing from overseas retailers. Think about your general spending patterns.


If you don't purchase overseas, probably best not to vote as this is aimed towards 'consumers' who purchase overseas.

Cheers
Christopher

[}SkOrPn--7]

Nope no way things would still be cheaper OS plus I still get better warranty coming from OS goods than trying to deal with the boffins here in Australia then add to that OS customer service out shines the useless tools in this country from my experience.

Ricky

[JV911]

Nope no way things would still be cheaper

+1!

[apsilon]

When I'm saving up to 80%? Not a chance. I'm at a point where I buy almost everything other than food from OS.

Retailers need to stop blaming consumers and start looking at themselves and their distributors and work out why they can't compete in the global market.

[Oxford]

No.

[Redbull]

Asso Chamois cream - LBS AUD$40, Ribble AUD$12, Wiggle AUD$18
Schwalbe Tyres - LBS AUD$119, Wiggle $39

I don't mind paying a little more an understand that they have to make a living, but I watch my pennies too.

[hannos]

Nope. Why? because even with 10% tacked on it still comes out incredibly cheaper than what you can buy in Australia

[jillybean]

Nope. Why? because even with 10% tacked on it still comes out incredibly cheaper than what you can buy in Australia

+1

Also astounds me that the postage from the UK is in many cases much less than getting something delivered from elsewhere in Aus.

[steve-waters]

I am with jillybean - I can get free postage from OS but locally don't think they can even spell it.

[Phil]

If the local shops were only 10% dearer then there would not be this discussion, unfortunately its usually more like 30-50% dearer.

Sometimes I want things in a hurry, or its the sort of items I need to be sized for, but most consumables/clothes (I know the sizing of), parts I will continue to buy overseas.

[simonn]

I would not stop. I would probably vote with my feet and do my best to completely avoid LBSs as well, even if it cost me a little more as I refuse to support people who want me to pay more tax for their own benefit. Seriously, if I was allowed to swear on this site I'd say **** them.

[sogood]

Charging 10% won't stop me buying from O/S. But if AUD falls back to 0.6 to USD, then it'll cause more serious reconsiderations. At least not paying through the AUD CC.

Blame it on the buoyant AUD and greedy distributors, not import duties.

[trailgumby]

It's not just the 10% GST, it's import duty as well, so add about 25%.

Even so, I'd still buy offshore.

I understand that local bike shops can't stock everything you want, but would expect the distributors to fill this gap and this is where service frequently breaks down.

Recently I got one of my local bike shops to rebuild my damaged rear commuting wheel with a CXP33 rim. The order was placed on the Monday and the local Mavic distributor still hadn't shipped it by the following Friday.

If I'd ordered the rim offshore, it would have been less than half the price and a week earlier. They really don't help themselves.

[Racer]

YES!! but only if the 10% made it more expensive than locally, which is unlikely, and usually if its only 10% difference i would buy locally anyway..

[mikesbytes]

Pretty much boils down to price, if there's still a big difference I'll buy mail order, if the price difference isn't that great I'll buy from the LBS

[CommuRider]

Nope. Can consumers bring an action against the Retail Traders at the WTO for this protectionist trade barrier? That's how ridiculous it has become.

More variety overseas even if AUD goes down. Retailers should start embracing online shopping - a lot of good Aussie products need marketing overseas. Their economic loss if they think they continue living in this protectionist mentality.

[Jean]

Charging 10% won't stop me buying from O/S. But if AUD falls back to 0.6 to USD, then it'll cause more serious reconsiderations. At least not paying through the AUD CC.

Blame it on the buoyant AUD and greedy distributors, not import duties.

+1, I could only see it having an effect if the AUD fell dramatically, but even then I expect I would still do most of my bike related shopping overseas, predominantly in the UK. For all the reasons that are regularly set out around here.

[Baalzamon]

Some of the gear I'm using/acquiring lbs look at me blank when I enquire so I have to order offshore. $2000 for a rohloff hub here locally vs $1000 from OS hmmm decisions

[DavidS]

Same debate is going on at a HiFi forum I'm on.

The usual arguments come back at you with this issue. The best one is is about transporting goods all the way to Australia. That might have had some legs back when things were made in Europe or the USA. But just about everything is made in China now and it is closer to us than to Europe. You buy a Chinese made good, it is shipped to, say, the UK, and then there's postage back here and it's still heaps cheaper. There is something seriously wrong with the distribution and selling model here when that is the case. I actually think it is the distributors and it would not surprise me if the LBS is paying more for some items than we pay on an overseas web site. The distributor model is dead, they add little value and suck up their own profit. It's time to go.

I recently bought a camera and I took Gerry Harvey's advice: I bought it from Hong Kong. It saved me a few hundred dollars. Why should I pay 30% more to get it here?

I am quite willing to pay a premium to buy here for the service and to support local businesses, but when the premium is hundreds of dollars then forget it. GST won't make one iota of difference, the GST is not the problem.

One thing I will add. I don't think the Gerry Harvey's of this world really care if a GST is imposed on goods bought overseas. What this campaign is about is to create a smokescreen while they offshore their retail business. How soon before Hardly Normal and the like offer online shopping from their Chinese warehouse? And where were these retailers when Australian manufacturing was being offshored? They were busy shunning Australian made and buying cheap from overseas to increase their profit margins. No sympathy from here I'm afraid.

DS

[mitzikatzi]

I buy online because I get better service. I get my parts cheaper and faster than if I buy at a LBS. I also don't have to put up with blank stares when I ask questions for which they do not know the answer and no attempt to find out the answer for me. Online shopping won't kill off local bike shops the poor service many LBS's provide will.
Last trip to a local shop. I needed a packet of "carbon friction grease" (greeted with "what's that", a phone call to the owner establishes they do sell it). $14 at LBS or $11 from PBK including $9 postage I haven't been back.

[Baalzamon]

I'm actually going to be spending $500+ on a mixed bag of camping assortments. Even with $150 shipping it is miles cheaper than here. The longer I wait as well the cheaper it will be due to our strengthening dollar.

[X-wing]

Nope, no difference.

I keep telling myself to drop into the LBS for a chat and an impulse purchase, but when I do I see things in there that I can get for 30 - 50% less, including postage, from UK.

I know these guys are being held hostage to the dollar and the middle-men, but 50% is a big ask on $$$ items.

[eeksll]

No, its still more or less about price. It will be worth a little to avoid extra annoyance to have to actually pay the fee. But I am sure I'll get used to that ...

also +1 to the shoddy local service and warranty service.
Something else is that many bike stores are not open at times convenient to me. Online store are always open ...

[chill]

No way. Retailers/distributors have been gouging us for years. Even servicing is at ridiculous prices now. $250 for a bike build I was just quoted, the cheapest was $150. Tools online = $65.

They can tack on all the GST, duty, custom, taxes they like. I'll buy online and get friends and family to post things for me.

[mikedufty]

The 10% gst wouldn't make a difference. But the likely associated 2 week delay and $100 charge for customs to assess and bill it could make a big difference especially for small items.
A lot of stuff that is easily ordered from overseas is simply not available in Australia anyway, or if it is available it is too difficult to find.