Gear Import vs Bring Back

Old subject but new post ... have searched throughout aus.bicycle for
answers so I thought I'd bother those in the know once more.

Off to Italy/Europe for a couple of weeks skiing in Dec. Was thinking about
the benefits of bringing back a carbon frame (or two) for personal use
and/or resale.

Any ideas/recommendations/traps for young players?

Cheers

yeah, in my experince if France, Spain and Italy you'll wander around
looking at bikes and frames and thinking, "I can get that cheaper in
Australia" or more commonly "I am sure I saw that cheaper on the net"

Once again IME only, I found bikes and frames at retail stores in
Europe to be generally about the same or a bit more than in Australia.

Go over armed with prices
If you can find a bargain beforehand, the only thing that might be a
hurdle is possibly getting slugged with tax/duty/whatever on return
The easiest way to avoid this is, box up a ****ter and take with you.
return with shiny goodness instead

or jsut stick it in your boogie board bag. They_never_look_there!



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flyingdutch

Thanks lads.

Dutch ... do they record if you take a bike over? How do they know not to
charge duties etc?

Before you go, ask Customs what are the duties on whole bikes, or
frames, or parts. I do believe whole bikes aren't dutiable, but parts
might be. Not that they asked about my groupset!

Marc Wrote:
Thanks lads.

Dutch ... do they record if you take a bike over? How do they know not
to
charge duties etc?

The box it's in will have Oz stickers all over it for a start.
If it looks kosher and youre a returning ozzy they arent likely to
look.
even if they do, just place some of the componenets from the ol' donga
i the box and explain you took your bike over to tour/ride/race and are
now coming back. My father-in-law does it once a year to Switzerland for
the last 6 years and has bought back 10 bikes this way for himself and
mates


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flyingdutch

For post and air cargo - if the Customs Value is less than $1000, then
the duty rate for the import is "free", and it is classified as a
non-taxable import for GST purposes.

For passenger baggage - the duty free concession is also $1000. There
is a catch though - if you go over $1000, you are charged duty/GST on
the ENTIRE value of goods (not just the amount over $1000).

The safe way is to get your gear posted to you from overseas, in lots
less than $1000 in value.

Abby (talking about work again....!!)

Absent Husband Wrote:
For post and air cargo - if the Customs Value is less than $1000, then
the duty rate for the import is "free", and it is classified as a
non-taxable import for GST purposes.

For passenger baggage - the duty free concession is also $1000. There
is a catch though - if you go over $1000, you are charged duty/GST on
the ENTIRE value of goods (not just the amount over $1000).

The safe way is to get your gear posted to you from overseas, in lots
less than $1000 in value.

Abby (talking about work again....!!)

yeah, but that's all based on the 'supposed to work that way'.
In reality, they check only a percentage of stuff and depends what mood
they are in

In Feb i bought back a new suitcase with iPod, DSLR, Powerbook,
PolarHRM, lots of other stuff, approx worth $8K. didnt pay a cent of
duty. Either did any other local they were too busy being distracted by
the loud yank with motogp tyres. sucka



--
flyingdutch

flyingdutch Wrote:
yeah, but that's all based on the 'supposed to work that way'.
In reality, they check only a percentage of stuff and depends what mood
they are in

In Feb i bought back a new suitcase with iPod, DSLR, Powerbook,
PolarHRM, lots of other stuff, approx worth $8K. didnt pay a cent of
duty. Either did any other local they were too busy being distracted by
the loud yank with motogp tyres. sucka


mmmmmm I wont put into print the value of what I came back with!
Fly via the US on the way back and arrange to pick up what ever you
want from there. The mailorder places will send via overnight if the
best price isn't from a bikeshop near a major airport. If you are
questioned when you come through customs, just say that you bought it
cheap on Ebay.

Cheers

Geoff


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geoffs