Thread: Importing stuff...Grrr...

No company in the UK, will advise you on local fees, thats because they have no idea. And these fees can be different at times.

You should see what they charge us to move a container 900 yards from the wharf to the customs house $900, and thats just the start of the 5k left to pay.

The issue isn't that they don't know of the fees. It's in the fact that I wasn't advised until after dispatch that it was only door to airport and that there would be local fees. When I contacted customs they directed me to their site which I had previously seen which detailed buying and importing over the internet and the scope of fees there is simply cost of goods plus shipping & customs duty equals taxable import value. If this amount is greater than $1000- then GST is calculated and added. To calculate if & what duty is applicable you refer to this page, Working tariff 2012 , The guys at DHL go through a 18month training course before starting work as a duty assessor just to understand the content. It's an insane read and even with an assessor working through it with me it, and he agreed, doesn't make any sense for a lot of the classifications. It's just that you need to put it into the most applicable category and if you, say in Juddy's case, have a container of multiple items then each item needs to be listed and categorised individually, and you pay for that service.

So in a way, coming in the way mine did was good as they categorised it to minimise my costs and managed to keep it under the GST threshold. But not knowing I'd be up for an extra $400- when landed. I was advised if it got assessed by customs (if it was a larger or different type of or used goods) I could have been up for up to $2000-+.

All I can say is;

1. If you are bringing in assembled or semi assembled items, have them documented as rebuild kits/parts and new. This negates the need for quarantine inspection and cleaning.
2. Have goods partially assembled or bundled into as few a number of "kits" as possible. As an example, Ashcrofts Master Rebuild Kit for the LT230 has a lot of individual items in it. If they were all listed individually then it would cost $5-50 per item for the categorisation and they would fall under a different category depending on the material, type of part and application. As a kit is simply a kit, one part, one fee.
3. Ship it under a door to door service whenever possible. This way all costs are part of the shipping charge. It turns up, you sign and thats it. If it's too large, assess if it's cheaper to break it up into a couple of smaller packages.

Another thing I'll be attempting to do is find out if there is or have done is a guide for (and it's only DHL because I have a meeting there) personal imports, types of shipping and pre paid packages, sizes and weights and costs. They advised that the express door to door services that I've had other stuff come under and doesn't attract landing charges are within the max size (approx apple box size is a guide) and weight (about 50-60kg). So I'll try to get a list of size/weight/package combinations and have it listed here as a guide. And finally perhaps a contact so people can have needs and costs assessed, there were very insistent that they would advise and assist in any way they could to have services originated locally so the receiver could organise their own freight, know all costs and details up front and they would simply need to know packaged size/weight or DHL could supply packaging as determined by need to the supplier and return to pick up the shipment when ready for collection. That way all shipping is costed in local currency.



More to follow.

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

The issue isn't that they don't know of the fees. It's in the fact that I wasn't advised until after dispatch that it was only door to airport and that there would be local fees. When I contacted customs they directed me to their site which I had previously seen which detailed buying and importing over the internet and the scope of fees there is simply cost of goods plus shipping & customs duty equals taxable import value. If this amount is greater than $1000- then GST is calculated and added. To calculate if & what duty is applicable you refer to this page, Working tariff 2012 , The guys at DHL go through a 18month training course before starting work as a duty assessor just to understand the content. It's an insane read and even with an assessor working through it with me it, and he agreed, doesn't make any sense for a lot of the classifications. It's just that you need to put it into the most applicable category and if you, say in Juddy's case, have a container of multiple items then each item needs to be listed and categorised individually, and you pay for that service.

So in a way, coming in the way mine did was good as they categorised it to minimise my costs and managed to keep it under the GST threshold. But not knowing I'd be up for an extra $400- when landed. I was advised if it got assessed by customs (if it was a larger or different type of or used goods) I could have been up for up to $2000-+.

All I can say is;

1. If you are bringing in assembled or semi assembled items, have them documented as rebuild kits/parts and new. This negates the need for quarantine inspection and cleaning.
2. Have goods partially assembled or bundled into as few a number of "kits" as possible. As an example, Ashcrofts Master Rebuild Kit for the LT230 has a lot of individual items in it. If they were all listed individually then it would cost $5-50 per item for the categorisation and they would fall under a different category depending on the material, type of part and application. As a kit is simply a kit, one part, one fee.
3. Ship it under a door to door service whenever possible. This way all costs are part of the shipping charge. It turns up, you sign and thats it. If it's too large, assess if it's cheaper to break it up into a couple of smaller packages.

Another thing I'll be attempting to do is find out if there is or have done is a guide for (and it's only DHL because I have a meeting there) personal imports, types of shipping and pre paid packages, sizes and weights and costs. They advised that the express door to door services that I've had other stuff come under and doesn't attract landing charges are within the max size (approx apple box size is a guide) and weight (about 50-60kg). So I'll try to get a list of size/weight/package combinations and have it listed here as a guide. And finally perhaps a contact so people can have needs and costs assessed, there were very insistent that they would advise and assist in any way they could to have services originated locally so the receiver could organise their own freight, know all costs and details up front and they would simply need to know packaged size/weight or DHL could supply packaging as determined by need to the supplier and return to pick up the shipment when ready for collection. That way all shipping is costed in local currency.



More to follow.

Any more on this? I think Craig would be interested.

Resurrecting this old one cos we're thinking of getting some stuff from the US.
This is not LR stuff, but FIAT, but the principle is the same of course.
Has anyone got experience with using the US Postal Priority Mail Service? The supplier uses them for insurance purposes. They mark all packages as 'Antique Auto Parts'. Anything we get will be less than $1000 inc shipping. Anyone see any pitfalls here?
After the experiences that prompted me to start this thread I have no intention of importing ANYTHING without doing some homework first.

Reading this old thread, I notice there are quarantine cleaning charges. Well what about stuff that's bought privately online? You buy a used part, it's posted to you and you get it in the mail. The soiled part by-passes out quarantine.
I bought a used fly reel from Canada, who knows what organisms arrived with it ready to be introduced into our water ways.

Originally Posted by johntins

Resurrecting this old one cos we're thinking of getting some stuff from the US.
This is not LR stuff, but FIAT, but the principle is the same of course.
Has anyone got experience with using the US Postal Priority Mail Service? The supplier uses them for insurance purposes. They mark all packages as 'Antique Auto Parts'. Anything we get will be less than $1000 inc shipping. Anyone see any pitfalls here?
After the experiences that prompted me to start this thread I have no intention of importing ANYTHING without doing some homework first.

After my experiences with shipping from the USA I would advise not to.
Shipping fees are ridiculous, $28 for an item the size of a match box and about as heavy and it was 19 days in Florida USA, (item from N.E, coast) and 2 days actual getting from there to my door.
If I remember correctly Dave (Incisor) posted a Sticky about a third party shipping agent that could do it quicker and cheaper.
Also bought a Cam Timing kit from USA, kit cost AU$128, shipping was AU$120, small package under 3KG, took a month to get it both through UPS, they've lost me.
Shipping from UK don't seem to bad, except for cost, Paddocks quoted AU$158 for a MM alternator and AU$150 shipping, bought same item from Karcraft in Sydney for $305, delivered next day, regards Frank.

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

Reading this old thread, I notice there are quarantine cleaning charges. Well what about stuff that's bought privately online? You buy a used part, it's posted to you and you get it in the mail. The soiled part by-passes out quarantine.
I bought a used fly reel from Canada, who knows what organisms arrived with it ready to be introduced into our water ways.

It must be very difficult to monitor postal items, containers and large air freight seem to be what AQUIS concentrate on. Having said that I have never not had a AQUIS pass and no cleaning required on used cars/parts.

I bought a disc conversion kit for my s2a from the Netherlands. Two parcels, very heavy. Seperate receipts so i didnt have to pay import duties. Sent Friday afternoon from the Netherlands.
On my door step Monday morning.
Thanks fed ex.
Bought 2 bluray discs from Melbourne.
Took 2 weeks. Work that out. Importing is quicker if u use the right carrier IMHO.
Freight wasnt cheap tho, but was quick.

Cheers Rod

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