eBay Charges Australia GST Tax On Domestic Orders In Error
eBay Australia has an ongoing technical issue that is incorrectly charging GST tax on domestic orders for which it should not apply, overcharging buyers as well as extra fees being charged to sellers since taxes are included in the total to which fees are applied.
a buyer won't oay as my order of $99 has GST added to it, why? It has never been added in the past?
one of my customers was charged gst today, the 19th of August - would anybody know what's going on; it'll be very difficult to conduct business on ebay if they start charging our customers without any warning or explanation;
I recently made some purchases and was sent an invoice by the seller. But when I went to pay at checkout eBay was requesting payment of extra GST-payable on low value imports.
When I clicked the learn more link at checkout, it took me to the 'Paying tax on eBay purchases' help article. It clearly says on eBay's own article that GST is charged for items located overseas: 'If the item's located in Australia, the listing price is GST-inclusive...
eBay is required to collect GST on orders up to AU $1,000 imported into Australia. If you're buying an item located outside Australia and you select an Australian delivery address, eBay will add GST to the total at checkout.'
The item and the seller is located in Australia and sent to an Australian address, so is the extra GST being charged lawfully?
It doesn't just seem to be me that's affected. There's a recent eBay community post by a seller titled 'GST suddenly put on buyers invoice, in Australia'. If eBay is automatically and unlawfully charging GST for all purchases when buyers receive an invoice, many others could be affected.
Has anyone had this problem today, I cannot get paid as ebay have put GST on buyers invoice here in Australia
Have had same issue.
Further to interaction with buyers, what appears to have happened is that ebay relocated items to outside Australia, one to Switzerland one to USA. Invoices over AUD100 therefore were charged GST. One buyer was even invoiced in USD!
Thought it had been fixed, but one buyer reported (after sending invoice that did not show GST) that when came to pay, the GST was added again.
ebay well aware of the situation, and advised that i contact buyers and update them, advising that they would be refunded.
eBay has acknowledged the issue, saying they will be in contact with impacted users to provide "next steps." However, they've downplayed the seriousness of the problem by saying it has only affected a small number of orders to date.
We heard from the community that some buyers are being charged GST on domestic orders that have already had GST included in the item price. It’s been reported on only a small number of orders to date.
Our technical team is aware of this issue and is actively working to solve it. We know this may mean some buyers/sellers are being charged more than necessary at checkout/or in final value fees. If you have been impacted by this:
- We’ll be in contact with you to share next steps
- Any excess amounts we’ve collected due to the error will be refunded to you
We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused any of our members and appreciate your patience at this time. We’ll post a further update here when we have it, so keep an eye on the announcement board.
Have you had GST incorrectly added to your domestic Australia eBay orders? Let us know in the comments below!
