Slong's topic has reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask. Who has imported stuff and been hit for duty and GST???
I have bought stuff on the net, mainly cd's, books, some bike stuff, etc, and never had a customs bill. Until the last thing that came. I got a letter saying I owed $45 in duty and $25 GST on $250 worth of stuff...
The letter says that you have to pay duty and GST on EVERYTHING that comes from O/S, except if it is a gift under $200 value...
Since I have never had to pay it b4, it was a surprise. Has anyone else who gets stuff on an irregular basis been hit???
I haven't been stung with it yet, I've imported a fair bit of non-bike related stuff, pc/console type things. I think that it's only if the receipt is on the outside of the package with the value showing. For some reason the last lot of stuff I got the shop printed on the front that it was like valued @ $20 instead of $250 or so. Worked well for me. The real receipt was inside. A mate got stung with the duty though, I don't recall the GST part, but it wouldn't surprise me.
So who are you supposed to go and pay it to D?
-jon-
I recently got some bike intercomm's into Aus & didn't pay anything, no duty or GST.
Richard, you have mail... Dave
I have mail??? Seemed to have missed it Can you re-send?
To pay, I got a letter instead of the package, and I had to pay it at the post office to release the goods. No cards or cheques, cash only.
In relation to the "docket", I dunno, because I think the docket was on the inside. However, my package had been opened for customs inspection.
I suppose I didn't mind paying the GST, it was the fact that it was Duty as well. All adding up to over 25% of the value of the goods bought.
Sorry. Got that mail. Ez-inbox, not email inbox... thx.
I didn't have to pay any import tax on my KBC helmet from the states,i told the dude to mark it down as a gift!
I'm sure Firestorm Mark would know the answer to all of this
Maybe he has ditched us.
G'day
over the last couple of months I have imported over 30K $ of racing and high performance parts so here is the deal
this is what our f#$king Govt will hit you for
1Processing fee
2. tradegate fee
3. tradegate GST
4. screening fee
5. AQIS fee
6. Quarantine fee ( on any second hand parts )
7. Import duty
8. and good ol GST which is charged on the total of all the above fees , + total cost of goods + all transport fees at the exchange rate on that day :"> :"> :"> :"> :"> :">
in total I was charged almost 5K $ on top of the cost of what I imported BUT the weirdest thing is that it was still about 20% cheaper than buying it in good ol aus
so I will continue to import my parts untill I can purchase them cheaper here
Hawkwind
But that's exactly why it costs so much more here. Because the importer has to pay all of that, and still add some to make a profit. So even if they get the goods wholesale, they are struggling to sell it for what we pay retail and import it ourselves...
Wouldn't the importer be buying at trade or wholesale and have that % reduction in dutys also??
I've brought several things in ,some you get hit dutys some you don't.Even with dutys i've worked out at about 3/4 local price and some things that arn't available here 1/2 what others would bring them in for.
yes I agree that the importer has to make a profit being a business owner myself ,but when does a fair & reasonable markup become a blatant greedy grab for cash , some examples , a certain m/c wrecker and performance parts supplier in S.A. who happens to be the "accredited " importer of Carrillo rods wanted $600.00 PER rod that is $2400.00 per set for a busa , I imported them for $900.00 aus when does a mark up of over 200% constitute a fair and reasonable profit ,another S.A business who is the importer of Mikuni carbs quoted me over $3500.00 for a set of smooth bore carbs and some other parts , I imported the same for $1200.00 aus, and I had 4 sets of custom pistons made by J&E
and imported for about a third of the cost quoted by a Qld performance bike parts supplier ,I could give you a dozen more examples of outragous prices and sales people saying they could get parts ,me paying a deposit and being informed months later after many attempts to find out where the parts were that they cannot get them or they don't make them for that model or the motor that sat for 10 months at a well known Sydney ( warwick farm ) motor builder , which I delievered from Canberra was assured that my motor could be built to achieve what I required ,on subsequent phone calls I was assured that all was going well only to be eventually told come and pick up your motor which was covered in dust and nothing had been done to it with out a sorry or any reasonable excuse :"> :"> :"> :"> this arsewipe will not get any work from me again
Aussie bike and performance parts suppliers really need to pick up their game in my opinion
Hawkwind
i have imported 2 identical cameras worth around a grand each from hong kong 3 months apart, both had "gift" written on the box, the first one arrived in my letterbox with no charges of any kind, but had been opened by customs for inspection, the second one i had to pick up directly from customs and had to pay GST only, was told to put invoice outside in future to avoid it getting stuck at customs and local post office would deliver but GST would apply,,
les
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