As we reported last month, eBay sellers in Australia must comply with the site's new policy regarding taxes (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m05/i23/s01). All sellers who are required to be registered for and pay GST must include GST in the price of the item from the time it is listed. But sellers posting in forums expressed concern they would be violating Australia's tax laws by following eBay's new policy.

eBay said they imposed the requirements because buyers complained about having to pay GST on top of the selling prices. eBay said it worked with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), a watchdog agency, to develop the new policy. But sellers are upset because they can not possibly know when they list an auction what the final selling price will be. Platinum PowerSeller Kevin Atkinson listed his concerns in an email to AuctionBytes:

• eBay is now effectively charging FVF on the GST component.
  
  
• International buyers have the right to demand eBay Australia sellers to reduce final bid price by GST component (1/11th). Tax Law prohibits GST being charged on export sales. (Note: GST component for tax inclusive prices is calculated by dividing total by 11)
  
  
• By making all final bid prices GST inclusive, shouldn't all non-registered GST sellers be refunding the 1/11th of sale price because by law they are not allowed to collect GST tax?
  
  
• GST-inclusive auctions make sellers who do not collect GST far more competitive - example International sellers, GST unregistered sellers, and other sellers who evade GST.
  
  
• The common practice in "real" Auction Houses is to add the GST to the final bid price. Why should the world's largest online auction be any different?
  
  
• The ACCC should not be ruling in an area outside its jurisdiction. If this issue went before the ATO the result would be entirely different.
  
  

Atkinson believes the solution is for eBay to add a GST Checkout field in the eBay Checkout process, as it is done for other country's taxes. "Only sellers who provide verified ABN (Australian Business Numbers) would have this option available in their SYI forms," said Atkinson. "This would solve all the concerns of the ACCC. It would also stop any sellers not registered for GST trying to cheat the tax amount out of buyers."

eBay Australia held an online workshop on the issue on June 16. Users who attended the workshop did not appear happy with eBay moderators' responses to their concerns (http://forums.ebay.com.au/thread.jspa?threadID=300015886&start=0).

Dianne Wilks sells on eBay for a registered & incorporated children's charity in Australia. She said she had been a gold-level PowerSeller, but as a result of eBay's recent policy changes, "our level of enthusiasm for selling has dropped dramatically as have our sales which have now approximately halved." Wilks said eBay is "stripping Australia sellers of their rights."

"We are not happy campers over here!" she said.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/seller-gst.html