A couple of points
- It does seem like it would be very difficult to police this for small items.
- If the big retailers really care about a level playing field then they would not take advantage of buying power to undercut smaller competitors (or to make a greater margin than smaller competitors) - somehow I doubt that Harvey Norman pass up on any competitive advantages that their size gives them.

R0bert

Good point RObert. Some of the larger stores sell certain products at wholesale or under wholesale price to get customers in the door to buy all the other overpriced goods. One retailer (books) I spoke to said it was very hard to undercut the big guys who have bulk purchasing power.

Forrest I tend to look for hidden agendas too. Some years ago I ran a business that sourced only Australian products but ended up importing one product line that does not exist in Australia except for one distributor who overcharged to bu**ery. I figured I may as well import the same product that they were at much cheaper prices. There were no Australian equivalents. Interestingly at that time (1999/2000) there was a still a small import tariff applied.

Looks like small retailers are now getting in on the push for a GST on online goods.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/small-retailers-join-web-tax-push-20110109-19jt5.html

Otokonoko I have no problem with business making profits - I do have an objection to massive profits if they come at a cost to employees (less than a living minimum wage as in the US), the environment, exploitation of the poor, health risks and skewed competition policies such as the imposition of GST on local online sales and not on all sales. Dymocks was planning to take their online component offshore to avoid having to charge GST which of course impacts on the jobs in Australia. Dymocks has shelved the option for now.

I suspect the GST applied to OS online sales will be negligible if the tax applies to purchases over $100AUD given most sales are for smaller product items.

Look as someone with allot of retail experience I can clearly see that the price of manufacturing has increase on products because not of material but a better cut.

I recon that people should be entitled to shop tax free online as there is the fact that this is not a physical shop, not customer service is involved and all you need is stock and a website nothing more.

This is a benefit to online companies and it is cost saving and does not require the staff or expense of an outlet that is passed onto the customer.

If everyone shopped online everything would be cheaper..

One aspect of the online shopping debate that has not been broached so far, is that a lot of the aggro exhibited by consumers to the Retail Coalition may be a result from the anger that people experience when they realise they have been, or are being, manipulated.

My personal beef on this score is that many film companies release movies on OS markets but not here. Even worse is their nonsense of region codes etc that is usually a cover for differential pricing.

I am even more concerned with the efforts that are being made to limit and censor our individual use of the internet. It is something that has empowered people to 'find out for themselves', a right that I take very seriously indeed!
Epsilon