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I have recently had a laser pointer seized by customs.
I didn't fully read up and assumed that by "permitted for astronomy use" it meant I could import. Wrong. Nasty letter ensued.
You can get permission to import one and if you're budget conscious it would be considerably cheaper (I didn't see any associated costs with getting permission bar postage).
I can understand, given the trouble that is associated with import of these items, but to mark up a $20 pointer to domestic price of $150 is a bit rich for the consumer, in my opinion. Still, I assume that at $150 the "idiot buys for non legitimate use" level is minimised.
Oh and one other thing. Even going below the maximum permitted power is not a sure thing. Customs will test the output of every laser and whilst I had been extremely mature in selecting a reasonably low powered laser, the test result just ended up being way higher than what I paid for anyway.
China sellers will send to AU. They don't care. They get their money, anyway.
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