Importing a ride on mower from the US

**Slunnie** · 18th April 2010, 11:26 AM

I've imported a few things from the US before, but the vendor has always been happy to arrange shipping etc for me.

I'm in a slightly different position this time as the vendor does not want to send the item to Aus, and it is frowned upon by the company policy.

I still want to sus this out, and was wondering if there were any heads up on how to do this????

This is what I'm after:

John Deere make the ride on mower that I would like to buy, but John Deere in Aus are not very price friendly compared to the US. We also don't get the range that they get over in the US, where they seem to get more powerful mowers with wider cutting decks.

Here is an example of the costings for the John Deere 100 series Lawn Tractors:

LA105 $1499US($1620AU) $3490AU
LA115 $1699US($1837AU) $3990AU
LA125 $1799US($1945AU) $4590AU
LA135 $1899US($2053AU) $4990AU
LA145 $1990US($2151AU) $5690AU
LA155 $2349US($2540AU) $AU N/A
LA165 $2549US($2756AU) $AU N/A
LA175 $2749US($2972AU) $AU N/A

There is a price difference between the US prices and the AU prices, and that can be explained by shipping costs, duty and GST and profit. For the base model the difference is $1870AU. By the time we get to the LA145 the difference is $3539AU, so I assume they are generating an extra $1500 profit for the fun of it. We don't have the LA155-LA175, to do that we need to step up to the X340 or something which is another $3000 or so on top of the LA145.

Anyway, there are warranty and support issues from importing John Deere equipment, but does anybody know who could be contacted to quote, procure and import a LA145 (48" 22hp) or a LA175 (54" 26hp) for me????

wesbt · 18th April 2010, 12:15 PM

Can't help with the purchasing, have a word to John Deere locally, you may find they do special orders? Alternatively surely a dealer on the US coast will sell you one and deliver to place of your choosing in US? A sales a sale, and profit is profit after all. I deal with a number of freight forwarders, would suggest most freight forwarders would help out. Another option would be to speak to US car import companies? They fill the spaces around the cars in the containers with car parts, but they may be willing to give you some space in a container for a small profit. Would think you could get to Oz for around $1k.

Remember will need to pay 5% duty on your invoice purchase price.

**Bigbjorn** · 18th April 2010, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by wesbt

Can't help with the purchasing, have a word to John Deere locally, you may find they do special orders? Alternatively surely a dealer on the US coast will sell you one and deliver to place of your choosing in US? A sales a sale, and profit is profit after all. I deal with a number of freight forwarders, would suggest most freight forwarders would help out. Another option would be to speak to US car import companies? They fill the spaces around the cars in the containers with car parts, but they may be willing to give you some space in a container for a small profit. Would think you could get to Oz for around $1k.

Remember will need to pay 5% duty on your invoice purchase price.

Plus 10% GST on invoice plus duty. There will also be agent's charges for things like their fee, crane and forklift hire, wharfage, etc.

McDisco · 18th April 2010, 02:23 PM

Surely you could just knock up a mower attachment for the disco Simon?!

**Ferret** · 18th April 2010, 02:45 PM

Have you had a look at the service these people offer, PriceUSA.

**slug_burner** · 18th April 2010, 02:49 PM

I am sure that on this forum there have been links to ebay traders that will allow you to ship in the US to their address and they will pay for the stuff put the stuff into a container for you. I think they do the car/motor bike market but offer to accept anything to fill their containers. I think it is refrigerated containers that would otherwise come back empty after taking beef over to the US.

**Slunnie** · 18th April 2010, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by wesbt

Can't help with the purchasing, have a word to John Deere locally, you may find they do special orders? Alternatively surely a dealer on the US coast will sell you one and deliver to place of your choosing in US? A sales a sale, and profit is profit after all. I deal with a number of freight forwarders, would suggest most freight forwarders would help out. Another option would be to speak to US car import companies? They fill the spaces around the cars in the containers with car parts, but they may be willing to give you some space in a container for a small profit. Would think you could get to Oz for around $1k.

Remember will need to pay 5% duty on your invoice purchase price.

Thanks for this. I've just made contact with a dealer over there, so hopefully he will gimme the thumbs up.... hopefully!

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Plus 10% GST on invoice plus duty. There will also be agent's charges for things like their fee, crane and forklift hire, wharfage, etc.

I've found this from austins freight forwarders. I'd expect it to be similar for a ride on.

CV (customs value) = A$3,000
Duty @ 10% = A$300
Freight = A$1,000
Insurance = A$120
GST @ 10% = A$3,000 + A$300 + A$120 + A$1000 (=$4,420)
= A$442
Total duty/tax = A$742

Originally Posted by McDisco

Surely you could just knock up a mower attachment for the disco Simon?!

I'll tie the Victa to the tow bar.

Originally Posted by Ferret

Have you had a look at the service these people offer, PriceUSA.

They look excellent! Thank you for this I'll sus this out. They look like they'll make life very easy.

Originally Posted by slug_burner

I am sure that on this forum there have been links to ebay traders that will allow you to ship in the US to their address and they will pay for the stuff put the stuff into a container for you. I think they do the car/motor bike market but offer to accept anything to fill their containers. I think it is refrigerated containers that would otherwise come back empty after taking beef over to the US.

Thanks for this, I'll try to sus this out too.

**3toes** · 19th April 2010, 06:33 AM

John Deere do come down hard on their dealers who knowingly sell outside the allocated territory. This is possible as like the UK the USA does not have the same protections for the dealer that Australian law does in this regard. With the USA belief that free trade should be allowed to proceed without interference do not expect to see any change on the short term. Even where this 'free trade' is restricted by the manufacturer !

The local importers in Australia suffer is sales terms of new tractors and agricultural equipment due to the USA market. Most farms over there are owned by large corporates with farm managers. These companies buy new on lease and return the kit at the end of the agreement and replace with another new unit. This results in a large imbalance in supply between the new and used markets. Their own dealers in Australia then go to the USA and purchase these nearly new factory maintained machinery and import them to Australia significantly undercutting the new market here. While the manufacturers attempt to stop it cannot in Australia so go after the USA dealers.

Not a lawn mower however might help to explain the USA dealers attitude.

**Slunnie** · 19th April 2010, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by 3toes

John Deere do come down hard on their dealers who knowingly sell outside the allocated territory. This is possible as like the UK the USA does not have the same protections for the dealer that Australian law does in this regard. With the USA belief that free trade should be allowed to proceed without interference do not expect to see any change on the short term. Even where this 'free trade' is restricted by the manufacturer !

The local importers in Australia suffer is sales terms of new tractors and agricultural equipment due to the USA market. Most farms over there are owned by large corporates with farm managers. These companies buy new on lease and return the kit at the end of the agreement and replace with another new unit. This results in a large imbalance in supply between the new and used markets. Their own dealers in Australia then go to the USA and purchase these nearly new factory maintained machinery and import them to Australia significantly undercutting the new market here. While the manufacturers attempt to stop it cannot in Australia so go after the USA dealers.

Not a lawn mower however might help to explain the USA dealers attitude.

Thanks for this 3toes, and I think that you may be on the money here which makes things difficult. Here is a copy of the returned email sent to one of the JD dealers near LA, and it basically says what you are also.

we have been instructed no units out of our territory. absolutely no units outside of us. sorry, cannot help you or risk losing our contract with jd

**slug_burner** · 19th April 2010, 06:18 PM

so much for competition.

I purchased a chainsaw from the US and during the time I was doing that Husqvarna stopped the seller from exporting and they clamped down on jonsored a bit later after I got mine.

I think that this is a restriction of trade and a means by which they can control prices and protect their dealers.

If you want to do it there are still ways around it however they will not support warranty claims out of the territory from which the product was sold. Electronics companies have being doing this for ages.

The Chinese don't care about a lot of this stuff having removed the zoning protection on things like DVD players.

Once it was up to governments to control and impose tariffs, now it looks like global companies are doing it.

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