Retailers Trying to End Overseas GST Free Purchases

Forums › Off topic › Retailers Trying to End Overseas GST Free Purchases

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

4066 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Snowflake

#785598 22-Mar-2013 17:58

mattwnz: One thing that I don't think has been discussed is that the NZ dollar is currently very strong. This makes importing stuff a lot cheaper but I don't see prices of things like books and games any cheaper in the stores as a result.

one of my global suppliers is using a really old fixed-rate conversion factor on the NZ<>US which means we don't get the benefit of the stronger dollar.... i'd rather pay them (or get paid by them) in actual USD!

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#785605 22-Mar-2013 18:13

There are other reasons to buy overseas. The changes to the parallel importing laws that stop DVDs from being released here until 9 months after they're available.

I'd rather just get what I want via Amazon UK rather than wait for late, overpriced stock from some NZ outfit.

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#785616 22-Mar-2013 18:31

GST should be collected on all purchases.

Sure, it will remove the relatively small advantage many foreign-made and sourced goods have over the local foreign-made goods have.....so buy locally.

But for a LOT of stuff, even paying the GST on the lower purchase price of overseas-sourced goods STILL sees you saving a mountain of money.

For example, this video of a DIY video camera stabiliser made from PVC bits and pieces the author bought for less than US$5.

I priced these parts at Mitre 10 Mega in Wairau....and stopped when the total reached NZ$200. The locally available parts (maybe even from the same factory in China).....are > 40 times more expensive (4000%+).

The corner joints and T-joints this guy got for pennies in the US are $14.95 and $16.95 *EACH* at Mitre 10.

Importing the parts this guy used - and paying GST - would still save a pile of cash.

(Aside: Maybe this explains why building houses in NZ is so expensive. It might be worth looking at importing a disassembled house.....if the 4000% price difference on materials was even remotely consistent).

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

Linuxluver

5828 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#785621 22-Mar-2013 18:41

NonprayingMantis:
timmmay:
Lias: Scrap GST. Problem solved.

Scrapping GST means general tax levels need to be raised. That could disadvantage the poor if it was done fairly, or disproportionately tax the high earners. High earners already pay a lot of tax by way of higher tax rates and GST on all the things they buy.

GT is generally regarded to be a regressive tax (that is, higher earners generally pay a smaller proportion of their income out as GST compared to lower earners - mainly because they save more and have a higherproportion of their income go on non-GST things like mortage)
So scrapping GST and replacing it with a flat increase in tax of, say, 4% of income (just making up a number) would move it away from being regressive

Progressive taxation ushered in the most properous period in human history.

The numbers backing that up simply can't be denied.

As taxation has become less progressive, prosperity has waned...so taxes have been cut further...and prosperity has waned even more.

The people who suffer OCD around money (a.k.a. "greedy") don't like to talk about that. But the past 85 years make the correlation impossible to ignore all over the Western world...and the countries at the top of OECD are - still - mainly the countries with the most progressive taxation...while those lowering taxes are sliding down the list.

Have a look for yourselves.....

My own "explanation" is that progressive taxation gives rich people access to the money of OTHER rich people, cycled through the hands of people who can't hold onto it.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#785623 22-Mar-2013 18:44

Lias: Scrap GST. Problem solved.

That's one approach. However, GST raises over $14 billion a year for the government to spend. If you really want to scrap it and be taken seriously, you also need to identify the specific other tax increases and spending cuts that would plug the gap this would leave in the govt's books.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#785626 22-Mar-2013 18:46

CYaBro:
Elpie:

When NZ-made products from a NZ manufacturer are cheaper overseas then I can only conclude we are being disadvantaged by the size of our market. Being able to shop internationally just evens things up a bit.

Yea just look at Xero, an online, digitally delivered, New Zealand made application that you pay more for here in NZ than if you were in the US.

Regionalised pricing is nothing new - it exists in many forms in the retail environment. There are plenty of examples that can be used inside NZ right now.

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#785631 22-Mar-2013 18:56

Linuxluver: GST should be collected on all purchases.

Sure, it will remove the relatively small advantage many foreign-made and sourced goods have over the local foreign-made goods have.....so buy locally.

Except if it costs more to collect GST on <$400 items than they'd get in return..

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

rayonline

1734 posts

Uber Geek

#785634 22-Mar-2013 19:08

It's like the film camera days. With the less developed interneting days stuff here costed double or triple. Even now with the internet while few people shoot film they just rocket up the cost 4x (3x more) b/c for the few people if they get 1 or 2 rolls they might just put up with it and that may outweigh if they priced it better from the shop's point of view. NZ might not be able to compete with the big places overseas and with the internet peopel would go abroad regardless so foer the v few who buy in store here why not reap into them. OTOH cannot do that with digital cameras b/c the audience is too large and they will just take their business elsewhere. Like milk is not it ... or anything. They can rip you off in NZ so they do it, if they do that overseas people there may have other alternatives so they cannot do that. Non-NZ milk, or maybe forgo it altogether and have a local breakfast instead, - congee, rice, noodles but over here milk / dairy is what most pepole basically only eat. It's a monopoly here, NZ doesn't have foreign milk afaik. Most people here don't have rice or noodles for breakie. They aren't into soy that much but soy in NZ is even more expensive isn't it.

AirNZ has complained that competition is so tight these days and they mention that airfares haven't changed but costs have increased. Isn't afaik 20 or 30 yr ago a airfare to Asia was $2,000NZ? But $2,000 back then will be a lot more today. Gotta think about how much they made back in the days though ...

I heard that airfares to NZ from UK is a lot cheaper maybe b/c they have a lot of other airlines there going to other places like Canada / USA / Australia that AirNZ has to be competitive but when they are in NZ they have the ability to price it higher. Just going over to Australia they have more airlines to the rest of the world but for a NZder to do that would mean an extra return fare to Ozzie first.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#785638 22-Mar-2013 19:43

Linuxluver:

I priced these parts at Mitre 10 Mega in Wairau....and stopped when the total reached NZ$200. The locally available parts (maybe even from the same factory in China).....are > 40 times more expensive (4000%+).

The corner joints and T-joints this guy got for pennies in the US are $14.95 and $16.95 *EACH* at Mitre 10.

That isn't a good example, because are the chinese ones exactly the same brand, quality and grade? There are different brands, qualities and grades. Some of the cheap stuff from china is absolute rubbish, and low grade copies withlow grade weak plastic and burs. The mitre 10 ones are likely high quality professional plumbing grade. If a plumber instead imported 10 cent ones from china, and installed them in a house, it could cause thousands of dollars of damage with no comeback if they failed. Whereas they would have comeback if purchased from a local retailer and supplier. It's better to compare it with say a store in teh US selling the same parts.

That said, I have purchased plumbing parts off Ebay. I got a some branded components for about $8 US, plus $8 postage. Where as a supplier in NZ was charging $40 plus about $8 freight. Not sure why freight in NZ is so expensive either, as that doesn't help NZ retailers..

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#785685 22-Mar-2013 20:54

This is probably OT and maybe wrong but someone said earlier that GST effects the 'rich' more as they spend more money. Shouldn't it actually effect the 'poor' more as they are likely to spend more of their income as a percentage without any remaining surplus income. The 'rich' not only have surplus income but can spend it non taxable activities like housing investment.

Bung

6477 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#785694 22-Mar-2013 21:20

Linuxluver:For example, this video of a DIY video camera stabiliser made from PVC bits and pieces the author bought for less than US$5.

I priced these parts at Mitre 10 Mega in Wairau....and stopped when the total reached NZ$200. The locally available parts (maybe even from the same factory in China).....are > 40 times more expensive (4000%+).

The corner joints and T-joints this guy got for pennies in the US are $14.95 and $16.95 *EACH* at Mitre 10.

Those are stupid prices, even a plumbers wholesaler has much better list prices than that but most have levels of discount afterwards. There's at least 1 TM trader selling 15mm 90s for $1.20 and Ts for $1.68.

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Snowflake

#785716 22-Mar-2013 22:37

The corner joints and T-joints this guy got for pennies in the US are $14.95 and $16.95 *EACH* at Mitre 10.

this is the same as Dick Smith, Harvey Norman etc selling $2 a/v cables for $15-$30 each. A lot of the larger ticket items have little margin (sometimes none or even sold at a loss). They bring you in with the big discounts and rake it back in accessories sales.

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

about.me/nzregs
Twitter: @nzregs

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#785719 22-Mar-2013 22:46

Regs:

The corner joints and T-joints this guy got for pennies in the US are $14.95 and $16.95 *EACH* at Mitre 10.

this is the same as Dick Smith, Harvey Norman etc selling $2 a/v cables for $15-$30 each. A lot of the larger ticket items have little margin (sometimes none or even sold at a loss). They bring you in with the big discounts and rake it back in accessories sales.

There are different qualities of cable though .I have purchased a few audio cables from Deal Extreme, and after only a few weeks of pulling them in and out, the cables have cracked at the joints, as the wire is too hard and has poor flexibility. Yet ones I have purchased locally are still performing well as th wires are softer. So sometime cheap overseas purchases can be false economy.
When Norman ross closed in my town I picked up some monster audio cables for $2 each, when they we listed at $100 on the box, although they were a very good build quality so were worth more than $2.

Accessories like ipad covers is another place retails make big margins on. An ipad cover is like $70, but you can buy one on ebay for about $10, although the $70 is probably better quality and will last longer.

GBristow

178 posts

Master Geek

#785725 22-Mar-2013 22:59

There's a solid argument for ending GST and increasing personal/business tax rates. This is going to be an increasingly common problem. Removing GST promotes all kinds of positive effects for the economy. Of course this is unpalatable to the voting public because it means less cash in the hand.

Geektastic

17942 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#785727 22-Mar-2013 23:02

Just as soon as NZ retailers

a) Stop ripping us off

b) Get some decent choice of stock

c) Learn what proper customer service actually is - ie that they exist for the customer not the other way around

d) Discover the concept of offering MORE warranty than the minimum legally required

Then I will be happy to ignore Amazon et al.

Until then they can poke it and I really do not care if they all go bust, to be honest. I do not exist as a consumer merely to provide their income as a right.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8