Hi Brian, and welcome.
A little bit of houskeeping, first off: Could you please observe our forum rules, in the pink section just above your post, and put your meaningful location into your profile? It will help us to help you. Please refer to the
FAQ for a definition of "meaningful".
Buying off-shore always involves some element of risk. First of all, there is no local warranty. If something goes awry with your body, then you're on your own.
Then there's the actual process of buying: you need to understand the laws, and how various importers work, and then you can make some assessments as to how you may wish to proceed.
This is by no means legal advice, but it's a rough summary of what I've observed over the years .... basically, for anything with a value (price) in excess of Au$1000, you are required to pay, upon importation, any duties and taxes due for the class of product being imported. So, if a D3X is going to cost you, say, PP6000 landed, then you can expect to pay another PP600 in GST, and depending upon how it's being handled, and by whom, there will probably be maybe another PP150 in fees and charges.
That's the law, and that is what you must, in all reasonableness, expect to transpire. Customs can and may choose any shipment, at random, to inspect and investigate, and if appropriate, impose charges, taxes and fees against. This can occur regardless of the shipment's value.
A great number of imports can and do arrive, however, with no such inspection, and free of any of these imposts. You are really in the lap of the gods here, but different vendors have different attitudes to some elements of your transaction.
That said, if you are buying from the USA, from a reputable vendor, you can expect the paperwork to accurately reflect the transaction you are conducting, and all of the foregoing will most likely apply, which means that you should expect to pay GST etc on your purchase.
If you are buying from somewhere like HKG, then you might find that some vendors are a little more creative in the documentation side of things, and perhaps a careful choice of vendors might help to improve the odds a little. But you should look on that, if it occurs, as a bonus, not an expectation, and you must always expect to be levied GST etc.
Of course, buying from HKG introduces a few other potential issues. Like who are you buying from? How reputable are they? Will they deliver on their promises?
Please review our
FAQ, which contains quite a bit of information on this very subject, and our Traders Opinions section, to get an idea of who you may, or may not, wish to deal with.
Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:48 pm