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The company has quoted me USD850 for a single unit plus USD200 express delivery. After GST and customs fees I would expect to pay a total of about Aussie AUD1450 landed.
They quoted USD810 for 10 units. If others on this forum have been given lower pricing then we should go with the cheapest quote http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/..../winking70.gif
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Provided the cost of the shipped item(s) is below A$1000 you will not pay GST, regardless of the shipping fees. The shipping fees are not taken into account in calculating whether the A$1000 limit is breached or not. It's thus highly desirable to have the shipper list the item cost and shipping fees separately on the declaration that accompanies the item.
However, if the item itself does cost over A$1000 then you will pay GST on both the item AND the shipping fees. For items charged in a foreign currency the conversion to A$ is done based on the RBA's published rates (you can find them on its website) on the date of shipping.
I ordered a Megrez 90 telescope from WO in Taiwan a few months ago. Customs held it up because WO didn't break down the item cost and shipping fees on the customs declaration and the total of the two in US$ converted to just over A$1000, and Customs wanted me to pay GST and fees on that total figure. After I faxed them the documents to establish that the cost of the item alone converted to just under A$1000 (about A$985 IIRC) they immediately released the scope to me with no charges and it arrived the next day.
The upshot of this is; if you order a batch of scopes as one consignment you will have to pay GST on the total cost and shipping. Since it looks like you will be able to import individual scopes GST-free then a batch order would have to attract enough discount to more than offset the extra GST to be worthwhile.