Amazon Shipping

[kalakoa]

how I can get a Soda Stream?

Two options:

1. Move to the First World.

2. Arrange your own shipment of cylinders via freight carrier.

[Midnight Rambler]

GET on retail sales is 4% (surcharge aside), but on levels before that it's 0.25%. Nothing is going to go through more than three levels in Hawaii where GET would be paid (and the amount it's paid on at the wholesale level is lower as well), so the effective rate is still less than 5% of the final price. Most states' sales taxes are at least 5%.

Compare that to, for example, Ireland, which has a value-added tax (similar to GET) of 23% at every transaction level, but deductible for what each pays to the previous level, so that if there are three levels of transactions the effective rate paid at each step is 7.67%.

[kalakoa]

GET on retail sales is 4% (surcharge aside), but on levels before that it's 0.25%.

Wholesale rate is 0.5%. Stacking GET might mean as much as ~ 6% end-to-end, but that doesn't really cover the extremely high costs of doing business in Hawaii, and even those costs don't really explain how "Island Price" is often triple MSRP.

[Mac2017]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gus

Speaking of not shipping does anyone know how I can get a Soda Stream?

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I am sure you could get all that via private parties on eBay, if the c02 refill is the issue, you might try AIRGAS in Hilo. Their website shows they have food grade Co2. Maybe that would work out for you

[HighLow]

quote:

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Originally posted by kalakoa

you have to pay the California sales tax which believe it or not is more than our GET

Sales tax is applied once; GET is applied multiple times. Some economists estimate that the GET is equivalent to approximately 12% sales tax.

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I read a think tank piece a long time ago on Hawaii's GET and the article stated that if Hawaii implemented a typical sales tax instead of GET, the Hawaii sales tax rate would have to be in the range of 12 to 16%.

Hawaii charges GET on all business activity. Sales tax is usually limited to the final retail sale.

The California sales tax ranges from about 8.25 to 10.25% depending on all the taxing agencies grabbing their share of $$.

But you cannot compare rates alone, here is a California example where a person would pay very little sales tax:

Rent of $1000 per month. Zero sales tax

Purchases $10 of eggs, bread, milk at grocery store. Zero sales tax

Purchases $10 of used clothing and some pots/pans at Goodwill store. Zero sales tax

Purchases $10 socks at local Macy's store. 90 cents sales tax paid on average.

Purchases $30 monthly bus pass. Zero sales tax

Purchases $4 generic prescription. Zero sales tax

Goes to the dentist for a $120 checkup and cleaning. Zero sales tax

All of the above purchases in Califorina are exempt from sales tax except for the Macys purchase.

How much would a Hawaii resident pay in GET for all of the above?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

How much would a Hawaii resident pay in GET for all of the above?

That's a trick question.
A Hawaii resident won't buy socks at Macy's, or anywhere else for that matter. Rubba slippahs, brah.

Recycle Puna. Humans, although probably not you personally, have already left 400,000 pounds of trash on the moon. - YouTube's Half As Interesting

[Eric1600]

The GET tax is very invasive and I've seen the same thing get taxed too many times to count. I don't know of any states that have a system quite like it. It is also difficult because you have to file more often here and estimate taxes.

However on the subject of Amazon Shipping, sometimes they send stuff quickly (probably not for Hawaii) but you have to be careful what you wish for. Guy buys $6000 dlsr camera, get rocks. Complains, gets 2 day replacement with Amazon promising he definitely won't get rocks again....and it's bricks. https://youtu.be/DXPnOq-XJg8

(In amazon's defense this was a 3rd party and they shut them down but the video is funny.)

[LazyLehua]

I tried the trick others have suggested and searched for an item and then this time selected “international shipping” from the side bar on the left and finally found an item I had been searching for that I needed. Mahalo to those that suggested that trick. Worked for me!

[kalakoa]

The GET tax is very invasive

Almost as if it's really a tracking/reporting/paperwork requirement, and the money collected is just a bonus.

[MarkP]

WRT the camera/rocks/bricks thing what is to stop any of us from making something like that up if we wanted to hurt Amazon? It is only a video on the internet and shockingly SOME things on the internet turn out to be BS.