Update on Australia Tax Changes for Online Purchases - Another Year of Transformers

I don't live in AU and this makes me mad.

WreckerJack wrote:I don't live in AU and this makes me mad.

I do live in AU and this makes me mad.

From what I can gather, it seems like a lot of this push (at least publicly) is coming from Gerry Harvey - whom, may I remind as stated in the quoted article, is

chairman of retail behemoth Harvey Norman

Yeah, I don't think his "behemoth" is in danger of collapsing just because overseas companies aren't paying the same taxes as he is (on top of whatever they are paying that he isn't, no, no need to worry about that if you want to 'level the playing field'). If shipping from outside Australia (which I must mention, is often exorbitantly expensive) on top of the cost of the item from overseas, still costs enough less than your same item that people choose to buy online and wait a week or so before they get it rather than buying it at your local chain, maybe you need to sell your stuff cheaper.

...What a world we live in, where people from outside our own nations don't even have to actually immigrate any more to be "taking our jobs!!1!"

No one ever talks about New Zealand but we've actually had this same thing implemented recently (either earlier this year or last year - I don't remember), except that our tax (GST - Goods and Services Tax) is 15%, and right now, it's often cheaper to import stuff from Australia because of how expensive things are, even compared to our major neighbouring country. But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

TCJJ wrote:No one ever talks about New Zealand but we've actually had this same thing implemented recently (either earlier this year or last year - I don't remember), except that our tax (GST - Goods and Services Tax) is 15%, and right now, it's often cheaper to import stuff from Australia because of how expensive things are, even compared to our major neighbouring country. But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

Urgh, that sucks man! I'll admit that NZ doesn't often come to the front of my mind but rest assured, I'm distinctly upset on your behalf as well, now that I'm aware that it's an issue there too.

Out of curiosity since I didn't know this sort of thing had already happened somewhere: did any international companies stop dealing to NZ like they're threatening to with Aus? Much as I'm sure it sucks having your country serve as a case study for this, it could be interesting to compare the two situations - one already happened, the other still in progress.

Qwan wrote:

TCJJ wrote:No one ever talks about New Zealand but we've actually had this same thing implemented recently (either earlier this year or last year - I don't remember), except that our tax (GST - Goods and Services Tax) is 15%, and right now, it's often cheaper to import stuff from Australia because of how expensive things are, even compared to our major neighbouring country. But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

Urgh, that sucks man! I'll admit that NZ doesn't often come to the front of my mind but rest assured, I'm distinctly upset on your behalf as well, now that I'm aware that it's an issue there too.

Out of curiosity since I didn't know this sort of thing had already happened somewhere: did any international companies stop dealing to NZ like they're threatening to with Aus? Much as I'm sure it sucks having your country serve as a case study, it could be interesting to compare the two situations - one already happened, the other still in progress.

Not as far as I know but I'm not entirely sure. Our government, so far, have done a poor job of enforcing it - I don't think most places are currently charging NZ GST for overseas purchases, but it's only a matter of time before it comes into full swing.

It's even more ridiculous because of how expensive things are here to begin with (and they're expensive enough as it is in Australia) - people are only importing because the cost of living has become exorbitantly high here, and even something like Transformers is basically a luxury now (Deluxes, for example, are now NZ$40 at retail, which is currently AU$38.42 or US$29.16).

TCJJ wrote:But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

Actually we do, but in regards to things like this (and sightings) we rely on our member base to bring it to our attention.

Burn wrote:

TCJJ wrote:But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

Actually we do, but in regards to things like this (and sightings) we rely on our member base to bring it to our attention.

Apologies, I'm just very cynical because people normally leave New Zealand out.

TankedThomas wrote:

Burn wrote:

TCJJ wrote:But no one cares about New Zealand, so I guess that's okay.

Actually we do, but in regards to things like this (and sightings) we rely on our member base to bring it to our attention.

Apologies, I'm just very cynical because people normally leave New Zealand out.

Oh that is entirely understandable! Had we known of the GST shenanigans when they happened for NZ, we would've reported - but as Burn points out, we have few vocal NZ users/contributors. Now that you've revealed yourself, expect pestering from news staff/me.

I make no promises about limiting the sheep jokes though.

It's very simple: local companies are trying to pretend it isn't a global market. They no longer offer any advantage whatsoever - and that's not just price, it includes service, turnaround time for delivery (I've had things delivered faster internationally than locally) and especially product choice.
This is nothing but an attempt to make it okay to be mediocre, for the sole reason that you're local.
As the debacle with Premium Collectables has shown, price isn't everything. If I have to, I will pay more to get what I want when I want. If they can't compete or differentiate, I'm perfectly okay with local companies going under. Look at Australian car manufacturing. They didn't or couldn't make the cars people wanted to buy. It started over a decade ago (visible starting with the demise of the Ford LTD, Falcon wagon and other variants as the market lost interest) and it was inevitable and obvious.

Gerry Harvey is just scrambling. Amazon is just around the corner and he knows it's going to hit him hard.

Instead of pumping money into the coffers of his political mates, he should have been taking a look at his business. Know how Harvey Norman can compete against online? Face to face service.

If I have to pay a few more dollars for a big ticket item locally, I'll do it. Because I know if I have a problem I can go back in and deal with them face to face.
(But I fucking swear Josh, you try to push Product Care on to me again despite me saying no multiple times, I will punch you in the face)

And that's a sentiment shared by many.

Gerry's attitude though is to blame not just the multi-nationals, but the consumer as well, he acts the victim.

This tax though, when you combine it with the "Earned here taxed here Google/Microsoft/Apple" Tax (which I honestly don't have a problem with) just screams of a Government that is so confused by this digital age we live in they just flail at it wildly in the hope of catching some money.

While I understand this issue might affect a portion of the Transformers collecting community, I fail to see how it is considered "Transformers news". When my state (Florida) added an online sales tax requirement to corporations who make over a certain amount of profit, I had to switch from BBTS to TFSource to avoid the tax. It seems TFSource doesnt hit the minimum profit margin to require Florida online sales tax. And Florida was not the first state to do this, they followed several other states. We got no front page news story warnings. I found out the hard way when my card got charged. Taxes are a part of life. Deal with it.

Rated X wrote:While I understand this issue might affect a portion of the Transformers collecting community, I fail to see how it is considered "Transformers news". When my state (Florida) added an online sales tax requirement to corporations who make over a certain amount of profit, I had to switch from BBTS to TFSource to avoid the tax. It seems TFSource doesnt hit the minimum profit margin to require Florida online sales tax. And Florida was not the first state to do this, they followed several other states. We got no front page news story warnings. I found out the hard way when my card got charged. Taxes are a part of life. Deal with it.

The difference, I think, is that some of the bigger international companies are threatening to geo-block their international websites to Australian residents because of this proposed tax. Yeah it sucks when you suddenly get an extra charge for buying TFs online and choose not to buy from certain sites anymore because of it, but the real news story comes in when protests against this tax from international companies suddenly result in the population of an entire country being literally not allowed to buy TFs from a bunch of really major online retailers. (Which hasn't happened yet, but that's the threat from eBay etc., so to my understanding that's why we're keeping up on it.)

What Qwan said.

Qwan wrote:

Rated X wrote:While I understand this issue might affect a portion of the Transformers collecting community, I fail to see how it is considered "Transformers news". When my state (Florida) added an online sales tax requirement to corporations who make over a certain amount of profit, I had to switch from BBTS to TFSource to avoid the tax. It seems TFSource doesnt hit the minimum profit margin to require Florida online sales tax. And Florida was not the first state to do this, they followed several other states. We got no front page news story warnings. I found out the hard way when my card got charged. Taxes are a part of life. Deal with it.

The difference, I think, is that some of the bigger international companies are threatening to geo-block their international websites to Australian residents because of this proposed tax. Yeah it sucks when you suddenly get an extra charge for buying TFs online and choose not to buy from certain sites anymore because of it, but the real news story comes in when protests against this tax from international companies suddenly result in the population of an entire country being literally not allowed to buy TFs from a bunch of really major online retailers. (Which hasn't happened yet, but that's the threat from eBay etc., so to my understanding that's why we're keeping up on it.)

Unless they're somehow located in the country, they should just tell them to F off when they come for taxes.

Found TLK Voyager Hound & Megs and RiD Crash Combiner Dragbreak, at Kmart and Big W respectively, on today's rounds. Are these new to Australia? I don't have time to check sightings right this moment, but if they're new down under that's cool! I grabbed Megatron and will check him out this afternoon, but he looks pretty stylish in his box! Having trouble getting over Hound's cold-pea-soup-green , but I'm sure I'll be getting him some time in the next few days as well.




(Whyyyyy is Wildbreak the F1 racer)

Thanks to a post on Ozformers by user griffin, we've got a confirmed sighting of Transformers: The Last Knight Allspark Tech toys at an Australian Toys R Us! Coming at about 35 Australian Dollars each and being the wave containing Drift, Hound, Bumblebee and Barricade; take a look below and tell us if you want to get any of this lot in the forums!

We have some more sightings news for Australian Transformers fans (if you are out there reading this, come by and say hi). Thanks to Griffin of Ozformers we now know that the following new Rescue Bot toys are found in Australia:

Rescue Bot Flip Racersand Flip Racer Launchers at Super Toyworld

Rescue bots Knight Watch Bumblebee at Toysrus

If you are in Australia and found these or other cool new Transformers product, click the "view discussion" button and let us know!

Australia scores the first sighting for Titans Return Sligslinger. He was found at Myer. There are indeed no other new toys aside from him in that wave and from what we see on the pegs, it coud be assumed that Hot Rod is one of the repackaged figures in wave 6. But don't be too envious of our Australian friends since they had yet to recieve the wave 5 deluxes, until just now. The wave 5 deluxes were found at Kmart (not the same as US Kmart). So yes, both waves first appeared in that country within a day apart from eachother.

Also, since we are in the Ausralian sightings thread, it is worth mentionning that the new Transformers: The Last Knight voice changer masks, such as Megatron, have also been found at Kmart.

The sightings and photos were all found on the Ozformers facebook page and are credited to members Paulbot and Justowen

YESSS! Hopefully that means I'll be seeing them around me soon - fingers crossed.

I actually checked all my local stores just this morning and found nothing new, but my Kmart does seem pretty low on TR Deluxes (just a Twinferno and 3 Breakaways left) so with any luck they'll restock soon with the next wave/s. I do hope though, that this odd timing doesn't mean we'll see Wave 5 pushed to the wayside in favor of the "new" Wave 6 figures.

*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

Terrsolpix wrote:*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

Lol..isnt it funny how the American company gives the figures to America last? Maybe Afghanistan will get them before us too. Thanks Hasbro...

Rated X wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

Lol..isnt it funny how the American company gives the figures to America last? Maybe Afghanistan will get them before us too. Thanks Hasbro...

Yeah, it's almost like the toys aren't even being produced in America...

I think on the whole most "major" countries tend to have a relative balance of what gets seen when. Even within countries, especially those as large and varied as the US, some places probably won't see certain figures for a long time (or I suppose in some rare cases, at all) while others have had them around for a while. Take for example, the fact that Wave 4 has been sighted in the US previously, but not at all in Australia up to this date. (Not to mention that I've seen exactly one case of the Wave 4 Deluxes in my area so far.)

And of course, when you're feeling down that Australia's gotten Wave 6 before the US, bear in mind that (to my knowledge) Australia basically didn't get the Thrilling 30 Generations figures, like at all. The only reason I even have any of them is because I either bought them from US-based online retailers, or found them at a local niche collectables store that picked them up after none of the major retail chains chose to carry the figures. So, balance.

Terrsolpix wrote:*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

It seems like just yesterday everyone is the US was afraid they wouldn't get their hands on Twinferno and ther est of wave 3 because they were being bought as soon as they were on the shelves. We had even written an article just about the boats with more wave 3 stock arriving just because people were so worried we wouldnt see anymore in the US.

william-james88 wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

It seems like just yesterday everyone is the US was afraid they wouldn't get their hands on Twinferno and ther est of wave 3 because they were being bought as soon as they were on the shelves. We had even written an article just about the boats with more wave 3 stock arriving just because people were so worried we wouldnt see anymore in the US.

That's not entirely true.

Here in Philly PA waves 1-3 have been shelf warming in Walmart, TRU, Target and Walgreens for the past 4 or months. With some Wave 4's popping up in Targets the last 2 months.

Wave 5 is what I'm really waiting for.

Slug Slinger feels Generic, as does Windblade and Misfire I'm skipping for Takara's version.

So all I really need is TwinTwist, the Walgreen's exclusive Clones and Overlord to complete my TR collection. Oh, and that BBTS set to but I'm selling all but Pounce since paying $50 just for him on eBay sounds asinine.

YoungPrime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:*meanwhile in america* TRU: "let's get some wave 3 cases. Twinfefno never shelf warmed!

It seems like just yesterday everyone is the US was afraid they wouldn't get their hands on Twinferno and ther est of wave 3 because they were being bought as soon as they were on the shelves. We had even written an article just about the boats with more wave 3 stock arriving just because people were so worried we wouldnt see anymore in the US.

That's not entirely true.

Here in Philly PA waves 1-3 have been shelf warming in Walmart, TRU, Target and Walgreens for the past 4 or months. With some Wave 4's popping up in Targets the last 2 months.

You just said it, the past 4 months. But wave 3 was supposed to be out everywhere in january. So you bet your ass that back in January, people in the US were scared shitless they wouldnt find wave 3 since the early december stock had gone up and dried and none of it was being restocked. I remember Triggerhappy being 40$ on e-bay early 2017.

If we could (read SHOULD) get this topic back to Australian sightings and NOT about piss poor distribution in the US, that'd be great.

Dammit I was planning to save these waves for TFcon DC to wrap up TR then and there but if they show up in my area I might have to pick them up. Also "Sligslinger"

Prime Target wrote:Dammit I was planning to save these waves for TFcon DC to wrap up TR then and there but if they show up in my area I might have to pick them up. Also "Sligslinger"

Sligslunger might be my most anticipated of these figures, aside from Twin Twist possibly. I'm guessing, though, that he'll only be at Myer for now (if he's even going to be common there either; I remember there were a few isolated Australian sightings of Broadside - including one I found - back in Feb or so, and he didn't hit wide distribution to my knowledge until last month). I'm just looking forward to the Wave 5 Deluxes for now!

Though, seeing as I've only found a single case of Wave 4 Deluxes around me too, is it possible that even the Wave Fivers are an isolated occurrence? What's the status of Wave 4 for other Australian collectors at the moment: have they hit properly wide distribution around Aus for the most part, or are they still trickling out too?

Speaking of "isolated" ... Qwan, did you ever find a Sixshot at TRU? Have seen some guys on TCCA getting excited because their Sixshot they ordered online had arrived. Seems he didn't get a wide distribution? (I just assumed he did as he made it to Cairns)

Burn wrote:Speaking of "isolated" ... Qwan, did you ever find a Sixshot at TRU? Have seen some guys on TCCA getting excited because their Sixshot they ordered online had arrived. Seems he didn't get a wide distribution? (I just assumed he did as he made it to Cairns)

I don't have a TRU near me, but none of the stores nearby have had Sixshot in at all - nor have they had any TR Leaders past Wave 1 in fact. Whether Sixshot saw a wide release or not, it seems like another major factor is whether stores even choose to carry figures of that size class. (I know I've said it many times before, but the one store near me that has any Leader figures at all, still just has a bunch of CW Skywarp. They're on sale down to $39AU by this point and I'll probably get one eventually TBH, but there's still like 15 left and I'm waiting to see how low they'll go. )

In other news:



It does seem like Kmarts are getting the Wave 5 Deluxes in! Hooray! (I checked literally yesterday afternoon and they didn't have anything new, but I figured I'd check again today after the sighting, and voila.) So, probably not an isolated occurrence then! There were two of each 'bot, so that's... 2 cases? I can't remember how many figures to a case right now. No clue if they're turning up at other stores though, since I checked Kmart first and went straight home once I got 'em because I'm an impatient child.

It does still make me worry for those who haven't seen Wave 4 around Aus yet though. It'd be cool if Kmart and Myer turn out to just be considerably ahead of the curve, and people can just get three (four, counting Wave 3?) waves' worth of Deluxes at once by simply visiting different stores. Best of luck to anyone looking for these or the previous wave!

Two items have appeared on shelves in Australia. These were found at the Toyworld in the Westfield Indooroopilly shopping center. The first is the Sqweeks Voice Changer Mask, it is priced at $79.99. The second item is the new Rescue Bots Flip Racer Chomping trackset which is priced at 59.99 (Don't let that faded label fool you!) We have some images of these items below, thanks to griffin from Ozformers.

If you find any cool new toys or other Transformers related products, be sure to let us know!

I know somebody who will leap over Ayers rock in a single bound to get his hands on this.

A helmet that makes me look like this guy?



No thanks

Thanks to Ozformers, we have news that the Transformers The Last Knight Wave 2 deluxes have finally found their way down under. They were found at Big W. As for Rescue Bots, Stegosaurus Chase & new Optimus have been found Kmart.

Ozformers wrote:New to Australia - Movie Wave 2 Deluxes (four months after they were released to the world) at BigW, and Rescue Bots stegosaurus Chase & new truck Optimus at Kmart.
The Movie Deluxes (Drift, Slug, Steelbane, Sqweeks) have been found at various BigW stores this weekend, as most stores are getting in a product pallet that also includes the recently released Movie wave 3 1-step toys (Scorn, Drift, Cogman) and the newest (and the final) wave of RID Warriors (Bludgeon, Thermidor, Twinferno).

william-james88 wrote:Thanks to Ozformers, we have news that the Transformers The Last Knight Wave 2 deluxes have finally found their way down under. They were found at Big W. As for Rescue Bots, Stegosaurus Chase & new Optimus have been found Kmart.

Ozformers wrote:New to Australia - Movie Wave 2 Deluxes (four months after they were released to the world) at BigW, and Rescue Bots stegosaurus Chase & new truck Optimus at Kmart.
The Movie Deluxes (Drift, Slug, Steelbane, Sqweeks) have been found at various BigW stores this weekend, as most stores are getting in a product pallet that also includes the recently released Movie wave 3 1-step toys (Scorn, Drift, Cogman) and the newest (and the final) wave of RID Warriors (Bludgeon, Thermidor, Twinferno).

Checked my local Big W yesterday, and no luck on any counts sadly . Of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that the total space allotted in that store for TLK Deluxes, TR Deluxes and RiD Warriors together is enough for about eight figures total. 2 Berserkers, a Barricade, 2 Twinfernos, a Hot Rod, and 2 Windblades - yaaaaay....


On the other hand they also have two of the massive Mega Turbo Changer Dragonstorm. Those aren't new to Australia, are they? I haven't seen them around before but that's rarely an indicator. I have to admit the sheer size of that toy is tempting on a semi-primal level, but the rational part of me has just managed to keep it all under control - so far

Qwan wrote:On the other hand they also have two of the massive Mega Turbo Changer Dragonstorm. Those aren't new to Australia, are they? I haven't seen them around before but that's rarely an indicator. I have to admit the sheer size of that toy is tempting on a semi-primal level, but the rational part of me has just managed to keep it all under control - so far

You talking about this guy right?

https://www.toysrus.com.au/transformers ... agonstorm/

He's been available online for australians for quite a while but I dont know if its a first sighting for in stores. You could check out Ozformers for confirmation and if it is indeed a first sighting for australia, then we could news it.

william-james88 wrote:

Qwan wrote:On the other hand they also have two of the massive Mega Turbo Changer Dragonstorm. Those aren't new to Australia, are they? I haven't seen them around before but that's rarely an indicator. I have to admit the sheer size of that toy is tempting on a semi-primal level, but the rational part of me has just managed to keep it all under control - so far

You talking about this guy right?

https://www.toysrus.com.au/transformers ... agonstorm/

He's been available online for australians for quite a while but I dont know if its a first sighting for in stores. You could check out Ozformers for confirmation and if it is indeed a first sighting for australia, then we could news it.

Yep, that's the guy! Ozformers does indeed have sightings for him already, so my hunch was correct - still, cool to see him making his way around a bit more. Now if only someone would hurry up and buy them already so they stop tempting me

Qwan wrote:Yep, that's the guy! Ozformers does indeed have sightings for him already, so my hunch was correct - still, cool to see him making his way around a bit more. Now if only someone would hurry up and buy them already so they stop tempting me

One way I handle temptation is I watch a review. Then I see what little a figure like that has to offer me and I feel better about saving over 100$ for something I would preffer.

Okay, I know it's not technically a sighting, but since it's to do with Australia specifically and spans more than one toyline I figured this was the best place to mention this. In a moment of idleness, I decided to check out a smaller toy-store that's further out of my way than the usual rounds - big surprise, nothing new, just Wave 1 TR and TLK stuff and two CW Hounds.

But these guys are often very helpful at this store, so I figured I'd do a bit of investigation about the expected arrival date for PotP stuff in Australia - I know Burn's said January, but I didn't trust Burn . Turns out I shouldn't have doubted anyway; apparently the PotP line has a shelf date of January 18th here in Australia (for smaller stores at least; I don't know if the same date applies to larger chains but I would assume so). I'm sure that's not huge news, it's about what was expected.

However. I don't believe up until now we've had much of an idea as to the date the Studio Series toys will hit? The staff member mentioned that line as well, and told me that it has a shelf date of... March? April?... next year. I repeated it to myself all the way home and still managed to forget the month. (Naturally, I remember clearly that it was the 21st of whatever month .) Useful information? Maybe not. Interesting enough for me to want to share? Hecks yeah.

(I'm heading out that way again this arvo, so I'll check back in and re-confirm the shelf date for the Studio Series stuff. Expect this post to be rectified within a couple hours!)

Qwan wrote:I know Burn's said January, but I didn't trust Burn . Turns out I shouldn't have doubted anyway; apparently the PotP line has a shelf date of January 18th here in Australia (for smaller stores at least; I don't know if the same date applies to larger chains but I would assume so). I'm sure that's not huge news, it's about what was expected.

I wouldn't have said what I said if I didn't have inside info.

I just couldn't back it up as the source is private.

Besides, hopefully I'll have helped hook you up with a hands on, so ner!

Burn wrote:

Qwan wrote:I know Burn's said January, but I didn't trust Burn . Turns out I shouldn't have doubted anyway; apparently the PotP line has a shelf date of January 18th here in Australia (for smaller stores at least; I don't know if the same date applies to larger chains but I would assume so). I'm sure that's not huge news, it's about what was expected.

I wouldn't have said what I said if I didn't have inside info.

I just couldn't back it up as the source is private.

Besides, hopefully I'll have helped hook you up with a hands on, so ner!

Don't worry, I've learned my lesson now. Always trust people on the internet

So my dad saw the PotP toys for the first time and I wasn't there...guess what store he found them at? Freaking Toyworld out of all of them.

Darnit.

Rainmaker wrote:So my dad saw the PotP toys for the first time and I wasn't there...guess what store he found them at? Freaking Toyworld out of all of them.

Darnit.

Yeah, they've been out at Toyworld and some of the smaller stores for a few weeks, we're waiting on a more widespread release before reporting on it.

Hi Australian fans! One of the more enigmatic lines has been the Transformers Authentics line. It's mere existence confuses fans since these are not part of any line yet share an evergreen style we keep seeing pop up, even in the upcoming Cyberverse line (though more stylized there). The availability and distribution is also something that was not clear since they did not seem set on appearing at wide retail. There are two size classes and they have not been found in several markets. However, there is now a confirmed sighting for the smaller assortment in Australia. This includes Megatron, Bumblebee, Optimus and Starscream. As assumed, it was not found at the typical dedicated retail outlet for toys, but instead at Woolworths, which is a big grocery chain. The sighting comes from Prismartyr who wrote this to us:

Hey guys. I haven't seen them before, but the 4 inch Transformers Authentics figures have arrived in Australia. I have images I can send you for proof. They were spotted at the Woolworths at Lisarow, New South Wales.

If any of you find a toy in stores you think is new, let us know as Prismartyr by sending us a message though the "contact us" button at the top.

I found Studio Series at Myer and Toys R Us

Well, it's begun. The Australian Government are planning to introduce GST (Goods & Services Tax) on all imported products (currently GST only applies to imports over $1,000) from July 1. In a typical brain dead move, The Australian Government expected the likes of eBay to collect and then remit the tax for them (even though eBay are not the seller).

That hasn't stopped other major websites looking at how they will be exposed to this ludicrous law. Amazon announced today that from July 1, they will no longer be shipping to Australia.

Why they're doing this is unsure, they may be making a pre-emptive move to avoid the burden of GST, or they could be doing it to drive Australian customers to Amazon.com.au which was launched in November of last year.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busines ... 046f63b894

Big news for Australian fans. Thanks to a post on Ozformers' Facebook page, we now have news of multiple new retail sightings.

Firstly, Brawl and Megatron from the Studio Series have been found. Along with Power of the Primes Inferno, which is the final voyager of the line seeing a mass retail release.

The biggest news though is that the Cyberverse toys were also found. This is the first worldwide sighting for the one step, scout and warrior figures in the line.

These were all found in a BigW store and here is a quote from Oz himself explaining why the Cyberverse toys may have been released by accident.

Several HUGE sightings from today, and one from a week ago.
.
- POTP wave 3 Voyager Inferno found at a BigW in NSW.
- Studio Series wave 2 Voyager Brawl & Megatron found at a Toyworld in Victoria.
- POTP wave 2 Deluxe finally having a definite sighting here with an appearance at a BigW in Canberra.
.
And the big news, the new Cyberverse toyline hitting Australia before the rest of the world, but since it was at a Victorian Toyworld, it might have been an accidental early release, as we've had some Movie toys in recent years being released early by accident.
Then again, these could be their official release, and we just got lucky with the toys... but not the prices, as the Toyworld prices were apparently not right, with them being way over their normal size-class price point.
.
Three sizes found - Scout, Warrior and 1-Step.
(photos posted to Ozformers board by members Hypnos and Gehirn)

They'll go the way of Toys 'R' Us with prices like that

Music from Transformers is now available through JB Hi-Fi
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/music/Whats-H ... -c/318691/