|
I recently returned back home to Oz from the US and I ended up buying a nice gift for my wife and posted it back home ahead of us. Only to find out the hoops you have to jump through with Customs (which we were aware of so wasn't a suprise - except for the extra fees!!)
Out of interest, I enquired about a G11-G from Opt and they confirmed on Friday 4 Feb that Losmandy will be shipping week 4 of February.
Price : US$3120 for the G11 with Gemini
Mastercard Exchange rate : AU$1 = US$1.0035
Mastercard Foreign currency exchange rate = 2% of the purchase value
Delivery to Australia = US$690.
Delivery time = 5 days from shipping (or 3 if you want to pay more)
Customs Duty = 5% for tripods etc.
Customs Duty is applied to delivery as well as the product and customs duty calculation in AU$ is done at the time of arrival at customs (eg the exchange rate could drop to AU$1 = US$0.95 meaning customs will apply the duty on the AU$ converted price at that time - not at the time of purchase!!)
Customs handling fee = $40.40
AQIS Fee = $23.10
GST = 10% applied after all of the above fees added.
Customs will release usually in 24hrs of paying the duty.
In other words, buy over seas today and you pay approx AU$3900 after conversions etc. Expect to pay an additional AU$500 for duties and you're looking at about AU$4400 for a G11-G shipping in week 4 from the US. However, you take the risk the exchange rate may bite you in the rear end when the shipment arrives in customs if the forex drops!
Buyer beware but if you're budget conscious and prepared to take the risk - you could save a little. However, looking around on this forum, the price here in Australia is almost the same when you factor in these costs (and you get the consumer protection laws with Australian purchases)
Cheers,
Darrin...
|