Importing/Exporting Tariffs from the US to Aust.

[Aaron]

Sup y'all? In Australia everything costs an arseload. Fact o' lyfe.
I have a mate living in NY State for a year..

Is it illegal to get him to buy things on my behalf and him post things here?
Are there limits?
If so, does anyone know what they are [weight, cost etc]?
I'd be really appreciative if you could help me out.

[Pauly]

Prices are definitely a bitch.

Basically, you can get up to AU$1000 worth of gear tax-free if it is declared as a "Gift". This only applies if it is sent via the US Postal (not fedex etc).

If it sent by an alternate courier, or is not marked as a gift, the limit is AU$250. After this, you will be smacked with GST, some other tax (i think its 5% for musical instruments) and a $50 customs release.

The US Postal might have restrictions on size - not sure what the maximum dimensions are.

Also, surface and airmail both have a $1000 limit (USPS, Gift).

To be safe, get your friend to declare it as a gift with a value under US$150 (As I forget if postage costs are included in the tax bracket).

What are you looking at getting?

[Pauly]

I had a quick look through my filing cabinet and I managed to find the receipt for the only time I got bent over and violated by the Australian Customs.

I bought two cymbals off the US ebay, and got them shipped to Australia. He sent them via Fedex even though he said he was going to send them through the US Postal.

Basically, it says this:

Item Value: US$200 = AU$263
Shipping: US$48 = AU$64
Total = AU$327

GST = $32.73
Total Duty = $0
Total WET = $0
Other Charges = $50.60
Total Payable = $83

So I got charged $83 for being $13 over the limit.

The $50 "other charges" is the customs release I was talking about. You can also see that GST is calculated as the item value AND shipping in AUD.

I hope others are helped as a result of my misfortune :thumb:

[Josiah]

You can also make it a sale of goods through a business.


Technically speaking though, nobody should know whats in a box. So long as a dog doesn't sniff some thing enough to make em open it, I can't see how in the world anyone would know who, what or for why a given package was being shipped to a given place.

Let alone the value of the contained items.


I could ship a bean bag thats worth $200 that would take up the same size box as a drumkit worth $3,000.

[isp_of_doom]

you know if the gift thing works in new zealand? (bigger allowance for a gift)?

I could ship a bean bag thats worth $200 that would take up the same size box as a drumkit worth $3,000.
watch how you label that otherwise you'll end up f*ckt

[Pauly]

Technically speaking though, nobody should know whats in a box. So long as a dog doesn't sniff some thing enough to make em open it, I can't see how in the world anyone would know who, what or for why a given package was being shipped to a given place.

When I had a larger sized item shipped to me, I'm pretty sure customs opened it up and had a look inside. It was a cymbal in a fairly large box, but was still under the tax-free limit.

The masking tape they used to reseal the box was different to the one the seller had used, and customs had put a sticker on it marking they had opened and resealed it.

Isp, I'm not sure how NZ Customs works. It'd be pretty similar I'd imagine.

[Josiah]

Really? Well AU is not the least bit in strict on their importing.

I do supose Customs can pretty much do whatever they want - but how in the world would a customs agent know the difference between a $3,000 drumset and a $300 one?


Theres gotta be a way through it, be it he decalres the value lower or as aprivate sale, etc

[Aaron]

Alright, English Breakfast [loose-leaf if you please tea-lady] has kicked in and I can ask more specific questioning.

I'm looking at getting the following items:
2x DW 9000 Straight Stands
1x DW 9000 Double Cymbal Stand
1x DW 9000 Hi-Hat Stand
1x DW 9000 Lefty Double-Pedal

I'd have them sent separatley obviously.

As Timbob is an Australian citizen on student-visa, can he not declare the goods his own and say he is returning it to his permament place of residence [aka. my house, believe it or not, but it's true]. Would that negate the tariffs if he has already paid them in his buying them off Musician's Friend? My understanding is that he has just halted the postage of the goods for inspection as you can do under the guarantee [you have the ability to return faulty goods].

[Crazy and Stupid]

Okay well first off use USPS and make sure the total declared value is under $1000.

It's pretty simple really. Hardware is rather heavy though, so be prepared to have to use multiple boxes and pay a large amount for shipping... though you'll probably be still better off.

[Aaron]

Cheers plex, why you not on MSN so much? Back at school?

MXimericans: Would Musician's Friend be the cheapest person to order from for hardware?