Titan Import Question

[mick pinner]

l have someone in the states that can buy me a Titan and send it to me as a gift, does anyone know what import charges, taxes would have to be payed if any. thanks guys.

[TrevorW]

If you receive it as a gift none I think

[DavidU]

I had a nice guitar sent as a gift from Japan a few months ago, and yes customs here still sent me a bill for $350 duty tax etc !!!!!! There was no getting around this, so I had customs send it back to Japan.
So never rely on this "gift" idea.

[KenGee]

The best you can do is send it in bits and don't tell the truth about how much it cost. If your up for it, I would bit the bullet and pay myself, we have to pay for the Kev cheques some how.

[mick pinner]

l already pay enough to tax to cover any cheque l might get from Kev believe me.

[netwolf]

There is no Duty on Astro equipment. There is GST on price above 1000AUD.
So if it is 5000 all up with shipping, then add 10% of 4000. Total would be 5400.

[GrahamL]

Well if the mount was sent back for repair to somone and the returning
invoice has the double freight bill and the faulty part enclosed would customs still be able unjustly (imo) levy a fee in any regard to this item ?.. Sorry mick if thats a bit off topic but on the odd chance you come by a cheaper option it dosn't hurt to ask;)

[garymck]

If you inport you will be up for GST on BOTH the cost of the item and the freight/insurance cost. In addition you will have to pay a customs agent to clear the goods. You can do the clearance yourself, depending on who the freight company is. Some charge you a fee for clearance even if you have your own agent or do it yourself. Check beforehand. It's also not worth understating the value of the item to reduce the gst as if they are in doubt, customs will simply look the item up on the internet to determine a fair price. If your price is unjustifiably under then they may hit you with a penalty. Also the person who sent the item to you may have committed an illegality in their country by making a false declaration at their end. I was once at the Tullamarine postal clearance center when some ethnic gemtlemen were caught out spectacularly over the value of a pallet of inkjet printer cartridges......wow did the customs guys have some fun with them.....and did they pay and pay and pay.....

It's not hard to import stuff, as long as you do your homework properly....my own experience is that if everything is legit, then customs are VERY helpful and go out of their way to help a non professional importer....

cheers
Gary

[Peter Ward]

Mick....re-read Gary's post. It is correct in all the gory details.

I'd add that Oz customs do not make it very easy to do a personal entry
on $A10K worth of kit, and you will have to pay an agent to do the entry...probably $150 for that bit alone, plus the usual security fee and Customs EFT charges (another $69)

Titan's take up quite a bit of volume in terms of calculation of the shipping tariff...I'd estimate 130kg. Have you run a costing on FedEx or UPS websites on 130kg across the Pacific?....it ain't cheap...