Retailers Angry at Online Shopping.

[Grennan]

Source: Retailers launch GST on imports campaign

Australian retailers will launch an advertising campaign urging the government to impose GST on all goods bought over the internet.

From Tuesday, major retailers including Myer, David Jones, Harvey Norman and Target will take out the print advertisements, The Australian reports.

The local sector has suffered from heavy discounting during the Christmas shopping period from overseas online retailers and a surging Australian dollar.

The ads warn that a failure to act "will see a reduction in hours and shifts for casual and part-time workers, and ultimately cost Australians jobs in retail, manufacturing, logistics and related services".

If the government does not want to impose GST on internet purchases, which are free of GST and import duty if valued at less than $1000, it should not impose it on domestic purchases, the ads also claim.

Retailers, ultimately have themselves to blame for people switching to online shopping. With the AUD comming into parity with the AUD, the expectation is that prices on some goods to drop. When I heard about this I instantly thought of EB Games (and their big cry about "Steam").

The excuse the Australian Gaming Industry has always used was the exchange rate between the US and AUS. Games in the US, cost approx $60, Games in Australia (from game retailers) cost $100-120. So why, now that the dollar is stronger, are our games (and other goods) still the same price? The GST is not the price difference between online and retail prices.

In the end, I am happy to go and pay extra in a store if the price is reasonable and the service is good.

 

[SIG-054]

Stuff the Aus industry, id rather look after my own back pocket. Id rather buy a LS1 camshaft at US$350 than buy one here for $600+

 

[Dum*P*ster]

2 reasons why people buy online.. Normally. customer service in shop is so poor.. It just makes you mad
And, of course.. Normally its cheaper. 'Somtimes'.

 

[NonStick Squid]

haha i barely ever buynew games for exactly that reason, i picked up gears 2 and oblivion both with all dlc included for $62 bargain

 

[Cúl-Báire]

They have no-one to blame but themselves; the dollar has gone up but (not) surprisingly the price of goods in the stores continues to go up. The major stores leading the charge have done nothing at all to tackle the online market, nor are many of the products they sell competitively priced in comparison on other retailers in the market. Take Harvey Norman for example, their furniture is made overseas just like everyone else’s, the quality is sub-par and they charge bullshit prices for it! Of course people aren't going to wear that...

 

[Bravotwozero]

I can see their point about the GST.

 

[Grennan]

Thats the thing, the GST is #### all.

Ill go back to my gaming example because its what I buy and know best, a game, purchased on Ebay in Australia costs ~60-80 depending on title brand new (from online stores). JB Hi Fi and other bigger stores like Harvey Norman sell them for 80-100. They have a larger variety of products and games are merely to get you in the door so they can cut prices on them. EB Games and Game are at 100-120 for new games. I understand why they are higher than other places (they only make their money on games), however thats 60 dollars above the USD RRP, EB Games is not reknown for its sparkling service, so why on earth would you pay double the price?

 

[hakhawk]

heard a bit of this on the radio today

dont all australian online shops have to charge gst?

theres parts i cant get in australia for my cars(and some that are just ridiculously overpriced), so because no one imports it, i have to pay extra ontop of the usually extreme shipping rates i have to pay? its almost sounding bad enough to pack everything onto a shipping container and move myself overseas.

 

[vsl67]

I put the exchange argument on YT once when it was Dollar for Dollar and it was still cheaper to buy the Yt roller rocker from the US Delivered than Australia even though before their excuse was the us company bought them when they had a higher dollar ,There is always an excuse why we pay more here no matter what the dollar is doing .Retailers only have themselves to blame for people shopping online and another part of it Australian retailers dont have the range of goods they have overseas ,But has anyone noticed its mainly the multi million dollar Companies and execetives who are having a whinge

 

[SIG-054]

I put the exchange argument on YT once when it was Dollar for Dollar and it was still cheaper to buy the Yt roller rocker from the US Delivered than Australia even though before their excuse was the us company bought them when they had a higher dollar ,There is always an excuse why we pay more here no matter what the dollar is doing .Retailers only have themselves to blame for people shopping online and another part of it Australian retailers dont have the range of goods they have overseas ,But has anyone noticed its mainly the multi million dollar Companies and execetives who are having a whinge

Same with PWR, cheaper to buy from the states than it is to buy local even though they are a local company.. Issue was raised on the LS1 forum.