Retailers who have been pushing the Federal Government to introduce a 10% GST tax on items purchased from overseas web sites have a lot to ponder after the Reserve Bank Of Australia revealed that overseas credit card purchases via the Internet grew by 10% last year.

It has also been revealed that domestic online purchases grew by 15% which does not bode well for the likes of Harvey Norman, Retravision and several other consumer electronics retailers who have chosen to still with brick and mortar retailing as opposed to investing in online web sites and related marketing.

The Reserve Bank said that International purchasing is growing faster than domestic purchasing with Australians now taking advantage of the Australian dollar which has been above parity with the US dollar for the past week.

Australia Post has also revealed that inbound parcel deliveries have grown 10%, with the bulk of this attributed to online purchases. It has also been revealed that online searches of Amazon.com and EBay have jumped significantly since the Australian dollar started to climb and the debate over a 10%GST on Internet purchased good was launched by several retailers including Myer and Harvey Norman.

On the 18th of February the Federal Government is set to hold a one day seminar in Sydney to discuss the implications for retailers in Australia from both overseas retailers and the impact of a rising Australian dollar.