Supply Made through e-commerce operator

[Sangeetha D]

If I sell my products through Amazon (an e-commerce operator), who is responsible for paying GST to the government — the seller or the e-commerce operator? Explain the conditions under which the e-commerce operator is required to pay GST on behalf of the seller.

[Sadanand Bulbule]

In most cases, the seller is liable to pay GST on goods sold through Amazon (an e-commerce operator). However, the e-commerce operator (ECO) is liable to pay GST only in specific notified cases as per Section 9(5) of the CGST Act.

 The crux of the issue is: Goods are sold on Amazon, not by Amazon. 

[KASTURI SETHI]

Dear Querist,

(i)  What are your products ?

(ii)  What is your turnover ?

(iii)  There are different models for ECOs. These are

(i) Market Place Model 

(ii) Aggregator Model 

(iii) Inventory Model. 

Easily available on google.

I fully agree with the reply of Sh.Sadanand Bulbule, Sir

[Shilpi Jain]

You could also consider checking the applicability of TCS in case amazon is collecting the consideration for sale. 

Presently only a few services are covered under the provision requiring ecom to pay the GST.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

You are liable to collect GST and pay it to the government. E-commerce operator will collected TCS and pay to the government and its credit would be passed on to you. Few services as listed u/s 9(5) are treated as supplies from e-commerce end. 

AI Summary

E-commerce sales: seller generally liable for GST; operator liable only in notified cases under section 9(5). Ordinarily the seller is responsible for charging and remitting GST on goods sold through an e-commerce platform; the e-commerce operator is liable to pay GST only for a limited, notified class of supplies where it is treated as the supplier. Platform models (marketplace, aggregator, inventory) influence supplier treatment. E-commerce operators commonly collect TCS on consideration they handle, remit it to the government, and the TCS is passed as credit to the seller. Sellers should assess turnover and product character when determining GST obligations.