Ebay know your product

I walked into an autoparts shop(chain type store) on friday and the manager is on the phone discussing what prices he can get stuff for and what the should set the reserves for on ebay with his mate.Just goes to show buyer beware.

Tex

Not only at auctions (and ebay)- must the words 'caveat emptor' be appreciated.

It also applies to the small print on some of the warrantys & guarantees being offered on items (eg the 'warranty' on tires- but only in metropolitan areas).

Also, the way some people rave about the fantastic warranty service on items that if they break down- just take it back and get a new one. Thats all good- but I would be a little peeved if (say) my car fridge spat-the-dummy on the 4th day into a 2 month trip??? All my tucker is rotten and the beer is warm. But there is a fantastic maunufacturers warranty !!!! Big Deal.

Was it 'planned obsolescence' that was a buzz word a few years ago??

If you have to include what money you receive from items you sell on Ebay as taxable income wouldn`t you be allowed to claim any money that you spend buying items on Ebay as a deduction ? ? ?

Unless you post on E-bay with your real details (whicj I doubt) how did the ATO know who you are? Or are the ATO and E-bay exchanging details?

Mike Harding

If you are only selling items that you no longer need then you do not have to include the proceeds in your tax return. Otherwise the ATO would be chasing down anybody who sells anything through a newspaper ad, garage sale etc.

The exception to this would be if you were buying and selling, or had previously claimed a tax deduction for the item. In that case Capital Gains Tax may apply.

Regards Plugger

I believe that the ATO is automatically advised of any sales over $au 1000 & it is reasonable to expect that EBay would have to comply as do the banks in notifying the ATO of transactions/ interest over the threshold which is currently $1000.

They are trying to stop the black economy, there are a lot of people who sell via Ebay and the goods are sent in from overseas, & there are heaps of people who sell goods in Australia using Ebay as a shop & if you do this you have to pay tax on your earnings apparently.

I'm not affected, but I have had a run in with the ATO before & they are like a terrier with a bone....

foward him the email stating $15.95 postage and see what reply you get

Truckster , did just that ,then got email back saying 'so sorry 1st postage quote wrong ,you pay $32.95 or we leave bad feedback on you " still not getting my $.

Alloy - report him to ebay....

These sort of things tend to go the way of whoever reports them first. The seller is just as likely to report you for nonpayment, and ebay will get narkey on you.

Chump

Yup, report to ebay... with copies of the emails.

You could leave them the worst feedback possible but will only get revenge back

I have created a webpage in the past with copies of emails from the scum seller tryin the same thing...

He soon changed his tune..

I bid on a 1HZ on e-bay a few months ago & was winning it for $1200 and the only bid, right near the end this person puts bids on in increments of $100 & I end up winning this thing for $2500, my highest max bid, I wasn't real happy but a bid is a bid so I decided to cough up, I got the bank details to put the money into an account & bugger me dead if it wasn't the same name as the person who was bidding against me, I searched the ebay site knowing this must be against "ebay law" & found a bit on what they call "Schill bidding", its getting a mate to bid on your stuff to increase the end buying price & if they go over & be the winning bidder, they retract the last bid leaving the last bidder with the item for their max bid instead of getting a bargin, I contacted e-bay & they said they could see nothing wrong with the transaction, so I contacted the seller & told him I would not be paying & he told me to check the rules about not paying & he would use them to the full extent including legal action, so I told him to check e-bays rule on schill bidding & would run him through, next day I recieved positive feedback & a letter of apology, he end up selling it but with a higher starting bid & a lower finish price. I was very lucky & he was very stupid

Joombi, I'm surprised ebay did nothing about the schill bidding - they tend to see this as very serious.

Alloy - one thing to watch out for is the postage. A number of sellers are using this to circumvent the ebay seller fees as ebay only charges a % on the final bid price, not the freight cost. Hence a lot of items seem to be an obsolute bargain when you consider the final bid, however can have up to 40% jacked on as postage costs - not making the item much if any cheaper in the long run. I've been burnt this way a few times - particularily when the seller didn't mention the postage in the original ad. I've refused to pay on this basis twice - or negotiated a reduced postage rate.

Postage is such a scam at the moment!

There are heaps of things selling for 99cents, only to have postage equal the same amount as the item would be if you bought it in the shops.

The bad thing is if you do have a problem, the seller only has to refund you the purchase price........

It sux, but u have to read everything, ask questions, and only bid on things you are certain about.

Cheers,

Chump

Yeah, Postage is absurd... I was looking at an item, a reversing camera, & the postage was $au100. I sent the seller a query on this & he replied in jinglish that that was their price I contacted the HK post office & was told that the price to send an item of that weight 750gms would be $HK50, about $10 AU, got back to them & they said I had to use their contractor, complained to ebay who told me more or less to pay the postage or shut up...

>> he told me to check the rules about not paying & he would use them to the full extent including legal action,

I would have told him my lawyers name, and reminded him, once he starts, he cant withdraw the charges with the courts, and we would see who would win.