Online shopping v Local shopping
 

Purchased quite a few things online lately mainly from O/S. Saved a lot to as dollar is so good. Notice Gerry Harvey and quite a few others demanding that GST should be applied to these purchases as there is a $1000 threshold before GST is charged............Is it a fair and level playing field ? Looking at it from both sides.......

Normally the only things I buy online are things that I cannot get locally.

Although not long ago I saw a book I wanted at a local book shop for $100
I got it from England for $50 including shipping and everything. SO I was happy with that.

Add GST - its still going to be cheaper to buy overseas anyway.

Gerry needs to remember that those that are buying online are taking a risk with warranty, and delivery for that matter.

It's a shock when you see the price differences between things in the US and the same item sold locally. Especially in car audio, sometimes 3x the price. For that difference I'd take the risk and pay the postage back if I ever needed warranty repairs.

Spot on. I buy heaps of stuff online. I bought 4 parasols for my wedding at around $26 each delivered when the best I could find locally was $89 each (and not in the 4 different colours we needed).

The cordless phone battery was $1.99 delivered when it was going to cost me $29.95-$32.95 locally.

If these were 10% more would I still buy them? Of course!

I also run my own online business, and have bumper Christmas sales each year, but my items cannot be bought at shops and my prices are roughly half the competition.

I import my goods in $800-$900 lots to avoid the tax every few months. I if the $1000 threshold was scrapped my costs would go up. But you know that age old saying... there are only 2 things in life you cannot avoid.

I'm curious... how many tens of thousands if items are bought in each year under $1000, under $500, under $100, under $50 and under $10.

Will the labour involved in charging a $5 'import' 50c GST be worth it??

I wonder.... what would have Gerry said to a customer 10 years ago prior to the online buying revolution questioning the huge mark up of his products sourced from overseas??

Probably "Tough faeces".....

Now that the tables have turned he is crying foul....

you guys are costing local jobs and doing your little bit in stuffing the bloody country up.....

You're joking are you not. The internet is here to stay and it's worldwide not just Australia that the Gerry Harveys must be feeling the pinch. Add Gst and who wins? The government and they already get enough of our money.

Most of these stores have discounts for shopping on line so don't tell me it's about their employees, if they could sell everything on line they wouldn't need so many and do you think Gerry would care? Not likely more profit for him and his shareholders

I hope they end up leaving it alone , it's only ever going to be a small percentage who buy and we live in the real world now and Gerry knows that as he has stores in several countries.
Cheers
GT450 .

So much of what I purchase is cheaper to buy incl shipping from overseas. My model planes, in Aus they will still cost more to buy than getting the same aircraft from Hong Kong, add to that Aus post charge more for registered post in this country than what my supplier in Hong Kong charges for registered and insured airmail and it takes the same time to get to me lol, it is far easier for me to use online. However it is pretty much only models and games I buy online, usually if a store has it here for a good price I buy it.

The retail sector has taken a massive hit this year, retail spending is well down predominantly because of online shopping...
Its hard not to look at the savings by buying online but its hurting retailers badly..
Shopping centers have become research facilities now...

Whether you buy from Hardly Normal, Bunnings or online overseas, you're handing money over internationally anyway.

Here's a couple of genuine options, tell me what you would do...

You can buy one white LED from jaycar for $5.95. (if you buy more than 25 the price is reduced to 4.95ea)
Or you can buy 50 comparable (actually proabably better) white LED's via ebay for ~$13.50 including delivery.
The ebay ones even come with a pack of 50 resistors to suit 12V applications. (That's an extra $23 from jaycar)

That's $270.50 (including a pack of resistors) from Jaycar or $13.50 via ebay.
Who's getting screwed?

Yes, but you're removing the most important aspect of the sale, the retail layer which is what supports employment....

If you compare the retail costs of goods to the imported costs of the same goods you see the amount it costs to operate a retail organization and employ staff.

I dont know the solution because im guilty of importing too.....

I reckon its fine. America has alot of products that we simply do not and their packaged food is mostly better than ours. especially their potato chips.
Just loved their food whilst in the states in the middle of this year.

Some detailing and refinishing products for my workshop I also source from the USA. mostly stuff that is not available here or is not sold in gallons and some that you wouldn't think could be used in detailing of any kind.

My buffing pads I get from the best auto body supply shop in america. $8 bucks per 8 inch pad. the best pads you can buy too. compared to 25 - 36 dollars a pad here if they even have them

Special sanding blocks for hand use of 4000 grit DA sanding discs and much more.

and then the price of eggs was.....

Gerry is buying big time overseas!!! He's the last to talk about local production... Most shops here you need a sniffer dog to get service etc...
O/S orders are to your door so it employs just as many people here...
Funny how these co make billions yet cry foul including banks...

Imported or locally produced? :nana

I just bought a mobile phone battery on Aussie eBay for $4.60 incl postage.
Locally, they wanted $49.95. I'll search Ebay every time I want something from now on!

next door neighbour straight out of a chooks front bum with itty bitty bits of poop and feathers thanks.... :lol

I buy most of my things - clothes, toys - whatever online. I can't stand the blatant robbery we are having to deal with, with retailers. Sick of getting bent over and reamed every time I want to buy an item of ANY sort..


And I will try my hardest to avoid giving our government any more money then they already liked to dip their fingers in. Yes I understand that this hurts retailers and Australians but I can barely afford to live buying things that cheap anyway and i'm not about to sacrifice my standard of living so that the government can waste our tax money on more dumb freaking surveys, focus groups and failed transport plans...


Sore subject for me lol.

:doh :doh :doh :doh :doh :doh :doh :doh :doh

Yes yes I know but when moneys tight so am I.

There's a big difference between being tight or careful with you money and having a limited, selfish or simplistic view of local retail economics, the cost of providing employment and the cost of providing govt funded infrastructure and services.....

what about online locally? every now and then there is something that you need that is in another state. that hurts (a vic pride thing) me more sometimes than buying from O/S.

It is the costs that are slugged onto the retailers that cause the high prices in Australia, thrown in a much smaller market than OS and you have yourself high prices. If we can buy a product for $10 OS, so can the retailer, probably less in fact. But by the time they have paid their import taxes, payroll tax, wages, super, workcover, exorbinant fees to Westfield etc (rents in Australia are beyond comprehension) then throw in the complexity of the Australian tax system and managing that and you have your very high costs to deliver a product to you on a shelf in a shop.

Until government tries harder to help drive small business there will be less and less competition out there for the Gerry Harveys etc who can then charge whatever they want and still swim in their money pool.

As consumers, we like our money to stay in our pockets, I believe Australians pay taxes on taxes on taxes as it is. If I go to the supermarket and buy a tin of baked beans I look for Australian made and will spend a little more on it if need be.

I work, I get paid and my wage gets taxed. So therefore I have been taxed once, whereas my employer has been taxed at more times than that just in getting the money into my bank account eg payroll taxes. So now I have my money that has been taxed at least twice already, then I buy petrol which has a 37c excise and GST on top of that (taxing a tax) and now my money has been taxed 4 times (3 while in my possession). The more tax everyone pays, the higher prices rise, look to your government for inflation because the more you earn and spend the more they can tax you and raise inflation. Alcopop tax for example.

It's not a question of shopping online, it's a matter of the internet having shown us Australians how badly we are being ripped off not just be some retailers but also the tax system which is robbing our retailers of being competitive on a world stage which they are now on.

I will continue to buy online if the price means there will be significantly more money in my pocket.

you internerd shoppers will grow old and fat in front of that computer.......

Well I am about to buy local. I can't get my car tinted overseas lol. $300 for darkest legal, unfortunitely my guy in hong kong can't compete lol.

Its a lovely economics 101, but only has relevance in the real world argument if Gerry isnt trying to perpetually increase return. If he was barely breaking even, then maybe he could argue that with credibility. He went from, by his own account, net worth of 2 billion to 1 billion during the GFC but has recovered somewhat. He isnt doing badly, the size of the hit he took had very little to do with online sales, it was the GFC. He was all over the stimulus package. Add into that, there are other stores in Aus, operating under the exact same market conditions, that sell the exact same TV, for considerably less. In the last 2 weeks I bought a Sumsumg LED monitor for my PC, and ordered a Panasonic 32" for my sons room for Chrissy, and Hardly Normal was nowhere near JB.

He is using this argument simply to dress up his real motivations. Making the average Aussie feel guilty for doing exactly what he does, making the most of their dollar, and keeping as much for themselves as possible. Yeah yeah, taxes, rents. Poppycock, JB has the same pressures. He only has himself to blame. We are idiots if we fall for the line that its our choices that are screwing up retail in Aus. Some stores are by simple greed. They did away with the mum and dad stores through convenience, and now convenience is moving away from them.

Once the little guys were gone some saw it as they didnt need to be competitive, until now. Bring it on. The key to a healthy market is a market with much competition, and as noted, we are a small market by global standards. This helps to pressure the oligopolies to act as if they were competing in a very competitive market, because they are as a result of online shopping.

He just has to suck it up that he cant keep making the profits he has, the market has spoken. And it seems to be saying he wants too much.

Oh yeah, his hypocrisy is palpable.

100%!!

Gerry spends money internationally so at the end of the year he has as much money as possible in his pocket.
I spend money internationally so at the end of the year I have as much money as possible in my pocket.

I always buy locally, I mean my local town locally. Even if the city has a price $10 less on say a $100 item, I generally buy it locally in mysmall town. Support the community. I haven't got into online shopping.