Amazon has only 1/3rd sellers ready for GST; Will it lose the remaining?

Amazon is celebrating the growth of its online seller base which constitutes around 2 lakh online sellers. That’s a great feat for Amazon. But, it’s surprising to know that only one third of the sellers it has onboard are prepared for GST implementation. Many have debated the pros and cons of the new tax regime in ecommerce. So, could it be doubts and lack of clarity that’s holding sellers back from readying for GST?

Amazon to lose sellers?

Only a third of Amazon sellers are compliant with the new tax structure, disclosed persons with knowledge of this development. According to GST rules sellers must be registered under GST to do business on online marketplaces. The date of implementation is fast approaching and time is running out quickly.

The US-based online marketplace is looking to conduct an internal test on 15th June, (Thursday) to determine its total preparedness for GST. The Indian ecommerce arm of the company has informed sellers that if they are not GST complaint by 15th June, their seller accounts on the platform will be deactivated.

A person with knowledge of this matter stated, “So far, about 50,000-60,000 sellers are good to go once GST kicks in officially. This is a cause of concern for the company as it boasts of having a large seller base. They are hoping the warning might see more sellers taking note of the message.”

When Amazon was questioned about this topic, the company’s spokesperson offered the following reply,

“At Amazon, our priority is to enable our systems to be geared up for compliance with GST regulations. As always, we will work customers backwards to ensure they are not inconvenienced. We have also launched `A-Z GST Guide‘ programme that has trained and enabled thousands of sellers already to get ready for GST through tutorials, blogs, free online training sessions and paid professional support from third-party service providers. We continue to train and enable more and more sellers and look forward to a simplified implementation to improve ease of doing business for our sellers and serving customers even better.”

Most etailers have accepted GST and are looking forward to its benefits. However, they expect the transition to the new tax will be a hectic task. For information on how be GST ready click here!