The online retail group eBay has dismissed a campaign from department stores in Australia to lower the goods and service tax threshold for imports, saying it would punish shoppers for the low investment by traditional retailers in their online businesses.

The head of eBay in Australia, Deborah Sharkey, said big local stores were lagging behind their overseas peers in backing online retailing.

With the Australian dollar hovering near parity with the US dollar, she said foreign retailers were filling the gap created by the weak online presence of the Australian firms.