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Any Australians here would like some advice on a jacket purchase/customs invoice

Kasper

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
Australia
Buying direct from Aero your hit with approx AU$100 DHL shipping then DHL hit you again for around 30% of the total cost in bullshit admin/custom fees , I ended up paying close to AU$400 to have my new jacket delivered via DHL with a good chunk of that going towards bullshit DHL admin fees


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OMG! I'm so lucky that didn't happen to me; I couldn't have afforded to pay it. I can't see Aero being too happy their customers being fleeced either; not good business for them if a service provider is effectively raising Aero's prices by 30%. I run my own business and there's no way I'd put up with my customers treated that way if it was reported to me. Does Aero know about it though? It's important you let them know if you haven't already.

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dan_t

Practically Family
Messages
950
Location
Sydney, Australia
There IS an alternative Gentlemen.
There is an Aussie stockist in Melbourne. Pickings & Parry.
They’ll look after you, manage the ordering, shipping & taxes etc. you’ll even have an agreed price at the start of the process.
If enough of us start to support them, who knows, they might be able to build a business here & provide the kind of support we’d all love.
Also, I can very confidently recommend contacting Carrie @ TB. They’ll do what they can to assist. I won’t elaborate further, just contact Carrie.
+ 25% - 30% in duties is prohibitive to say the least.
 

Fonzie

One Too Many
Messages
1,574
Location
Australia
OMG! I'm so lucky that didn't happen to me; I couldn't have afforded to pay it. I can't see Aero being too happy their customers being fleeced either; not good business for them if a service provider is effectively raising Aero's prices by 30%. I run my own business and there's no way I'd put up with my customers treated that way if it was reported to me. Does Aero know about it though? It's important you let them know if you haven't already.

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I did contact Aero to let them know that I was being charged 30% in fees and taxes extra and they said it was beyond their control.


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dan_t

Practically Family
Messages
950
Location
Sydney, Australia
It is.
The problem isn’t with Aero - let’s get that bit clear - it’s our Governments’ policy for importations greater than AUD$1,000.
 

Kasper

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
Australia
It is.
The problem isn’t with Aero - let’s get that bit clear - it’s our Governments’ policy for importations greater than AUD$1,000.
I certainly understand it isn't Aero that applying the extra charges, but do Oz gov apply other charges than a 10% GST on imports valued at $1k and over? I was only aware of the GST being applied, but I'm pretty unfamiliar with it all

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Fonzie

One Too Many
Messages
1,574
Location
Australia
That’s right, but also DHL have extortionate fees.
Aero has no control over it unless it offers a different shipping supplier option.


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Fonzie

One Too Many
Messages
1,574
Location
Australia
So stay clear from DHL by buying from Pickings and Parry or Thurston Bros.



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ProteinNerd

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,902
Location
Sydney
This is what I was slogged with on a declared US$1000 used jacket plus US$160 postage fee....

a2240f7714b4d1170238f2d98086a7d9.jpg
 

DarkKnight

Familiar Face
Messages
75
Location
Sydney, Australia
Yeah, looks like it. I didn't know any of this at the time, I didn't make any request or anything. But looking at a photo I took of the box on arrival, it says EMS. I can post it if it's helpful to you?

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If you still have that photo it might actually be helpful. Did you order direct from Aero?
 

Kasper

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
Australia
Sure. I've just gone and taken another photo of the label. The one I took originally was of the entire box and some of the details of the label were pixelated, but here's the label itself. I ordered direct from Aero.

20171128_073707_001.jpg
 

Lord Flashheart

A-List Customer
Messages
398
Location
Victoria, Australia
I think Aero could ease the pain a little by selling "duty free" to Australia. Any jacket I've bought they charge at ticket price. I don't know the background to this but I'm pretty sure this is extra cash in their pocket.

Garry
 

Kasper

New in Town
Messages
26
Location
Australia
I think Aero could ease the pain a little by selling "duty free" to Australia. Any jacket I've bought they charge at ticket price. I don't know the background to this but I'm pretty sure this is extra cash in their pocket.

Garry

Respectfully Garry, I don't believe that to be the case. My understanding of import duties are they are imposed by the importing country to protect local products. For example, if Australia had higher import duties on foreign made cars, foreign cars would be more expensive for Australians to buy and locally made Holdens would be more competitive. We didn't have higher import duties on foreign made cars, Holden found it difficult to compete at those prices and now they've shut their doors. No more car manufacturing for Australia.

My understanding is free trade agreements remove import duties and allow direct competition, which can be very challenging for local markets. In recent times we've actually seen Gerry Harvey (Harvey Norman) lobbying the Australian government to increase import duties and apply GST to imports under $1,000 to make importing more expensive for Australians and protect his Harvey Norman business.

Accordingly, my understanding is that Aero have no control over the import duties, that they are dictated by the Australian government with a view to protecting local manufacturers. Same with GST applied to imports.

I think it's also important to note that choice of carrier is not always decided on cost alone. There may be other factors that are taken into account by Aero when they decide the carrier. One that springs immediately to mind is insurance. Sometimes packages don't arrive and are lost in transit. What happens then? When it's Australia Post what happens then is the person that answers your phone call says, "Tough" and hangs up on you. Some carriers may be better to deal with and better insured than others.

I don't know enough about the charges that some carriers are applying and why other carriers are not applying similar costs. I am confident however that import duties and GST specifically are beyond Aero's control.
 

Lord Flashheart

A-List Customer
Messages
398
Location
Victoria, Australia
Hi Kasper,

When I say "Duty Free" I mean VAT free. I'm Scottish and we always referred to it as duty free. VAT is the UK GST.

I'm lucky enough to own a Classic MGB and one of the parts distributors is in the UK and ships duty free and I've purchased many jackets from home and most have been duty free. The price reduction offer covers the postage costs.

Regards

Garry
 

Downunder G Man

One Too Many
Messages
1,190
Location
Australia
Yes , UK exporters SHOULD "knock off" the 17.5% GST ( or whatever it is these days !) when goods are exported out of the EU.

Worth watching that one. However most all of my ebay purchases out of the UK over the years have been USED goods , jackets included so no GST anyways !
 

willyto

One Too Many
Messages
1,616
Location
Barcelona
Yes , UK exporters SHOULD "knock off" the 17.5% GST ( or whatever it is these days !) when goods are exported out of the EU.

Worth watching that one. However most all of my ebay purchases out of the UK over the years have been USED goods , jackets included so no GST anyways !

Lucky you over there, anything over 22€ here can get taxed and it doesn't matter if it's used, second hand or new. You don't want to know how much I had to pay in custom duties and taxes over the past 2 years, hell I don't even want to check because it makes me angry.
 

Thuggee

Practically Family
Messages
906
Location
Australia
Has anyone actually requested alternate shipping from Aero? Can’t be that hard to offer a couple of options I’ll likely not order direct again based on them using DHL by default


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DarkKnight

Familiar Face
Messages
75
Location
Sydney, Australia
Has anyone actually requested alternate shipping from Aero? Can’t be that hard to offer a couple of options I’ll likely not order direct again based on them using DHL by default


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I'm going to be asking because Kasper got it via EMS. Maybe that's an option that they'll do for me too. Do you guys think there's a decent chance of not paying the import duties when it comes via EMS, or did Kasper just get randomly lucky?
 

Thuggee

Practically Family
Messages
906
Location
Australia
I'm going to be asking because Kasper got it via EMS. Maybe that's an option that they'll do for me too. Do you guys think there's a decent chance of not paying the import duties when it comes via EMS, or did Kasper just get randomly lucky?

My experience with EMS and I’ve bought many jackets and high end watches from overseas over the years, never once have I been hit with any customs/fees of any type, let us know how you go if it’s something that can be requested from Aero to Australia I would be keen to know the outcome


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