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

[Kasper]

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

Oh, right I see what you're saying. So in effect Australian's are paying VAT in Scotland, then GST when it comes into Australia (which would entail a 10% GST charged on the VAT as well as the product). Yeah, that would pump the price up a fair bit.

 

[DarkKnight]

Update guys; Aero told me via email they're looking into alternate shipping options. So hopefully a satisfactory alternative for shipping can be found. Fingers crossed.

 

[Thuggee]

Oh, right I see what you're saying. So in effect Australian's are paying VAT in Scotland, then GST when it comes into Australia (which would entail a 10% GST charged on the VAT as well as the product). Yeah, that would pump the price up a fair bit.

So Australians paying VAT is legit or are we being taken for a ride? I’ve bought from other vendors in the UK ect and it’s always been removed at checkout, this doesn’t happen with Aero, I run a business in Australia that occasionally deals with overseas clients we are not supposed to and don’t charge anyone outside of Australia the GST ( or my accountant is giving me the wrong advice)


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[Thuggee]

Update guys; Aero told me via email they're looking into alternate shipping options. So hopefully a satisfactory alternative for shipping can be found. Fingers crossed.

Sounds promising [emoji106]


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[Kasper]

So Australians paying VAT is legit or are we being taken for a ride? I’ve bought from other vendors in the UK ect and it’s always been removed at checkout, this doesn’t happen with Aero, I run a business in Australia that occasionally deals with overseas clients we are not supposed to and don’t charge anyone outside of Australia the GST ( or my accountant is giving me the wrong advice)


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It looks like it's legit. You can claim the VAT back in certain circumstances at the airport when leaving the UK, but not on Internet sales delivered outside the UK or frieght.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/taxfree-shopping

So if you timed your next Aero jacket with a Scottish holiday, you could claim 20% VAT back at the airport apparently.

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[DarkKnight]

UPDATE - Aero kindly looked into alternative postal services as I mentioned. They ended up sending to me via Parcel Force Worldwide which is apparently very expensive, so some cost was passed on to me. I think it was £65. However, (and I don't know if this is a rule and something that can be consistently relied upon to happen) I did NOT have to pay any customs duties or anything else in order to pickup/receive the jacket. That's a massive victory for me, even with the £65. Plus the jacket is awesome!

The packaging looked exactly like Kasper's post. Invoice is clearly displayed on the outside as £870 or whatever it was, but yeah, no customs hold up/import duties.

 

[dan_t]

Hi @DarkKnight , really glad that this worked out for you.
Also, I'm not at all surprised that Aero went out of their way to find an alternative - they are that kind of company.

I have to reiterate here though a point I made earlier.

Customs duties and GST are not at the control of either the shipper, or shipping company.
The Customs team are a federal arm of our Government & independent of either the shipper or shipping co.

Now, I can accept that perhaps some shipping companies are more diligent in capturing the add-on costs than others, but in all likelihood, it all comes down to one thing;
That Australian customs do not check every package. This is just a physical impossibility.

It really is in the most part down to dumb luck as to whether you get stung for the extras or not.

Best to mentally add up to +20% on a purchase price and be pleasantly surprised when you don't have to pay, than the other way around.

 

[Benny Holiday]

This is good news DK. Very happy for you mate! I agree with you dan_t, I copped customs duties once for a package (so long ago I can't remember what it was now) and always figured it was dumb luck, that it just happened to be one of the packages Customs checked.

 

[Thuggee]

It’s no dumb luck DHL have made it into a little earner for themselves and go out of their way to extort money from you , if your package comes by Parcel Post/EMS it’s highly unlikely you will get stung with any customs fees of any type, I’ve yet to be hit once and have purchased dozens of things over the years over the $1000 threshold, DHL suck it’s as simply as that


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[DarkKnight]

Well yeah I know it's in large part luck - but it seems that to my understanding, some postal services such as DHL might deliberately be incurring extra costs. Be it because they volunteer their parcels more readily for inspection or something? Or maybe they even just automatically add on the cost, whether it's caught by customs or not. Seems like DHL has a much higher hit rate with import duties and extra fees than some others. Having said that, this isn't personal experience for me.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Don’t DHL add some sort of “processing fee”? Great way to extort a few extra $$ from your customers....

 

[SpeedRcrX]

Companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS have agreements with customs to process your package and apply import fees themselves. This is the reason they also have a handling fees they make you paid for processing your package with custom fees, this is insane...

Most of the time I choose the national postal company like USPS. With them this is the customs agents whose do the processing so it’s random.

 

[Thuggee]

And you have no way of knowing if DHL even pass the collected tax on to the ATO, their admin handling/admin fee can be what ever they like you can be sure they make good money out of it , I got hit with VAT and 2 other mystery charges which they couldn’t or wouldn’t explain on my latest jacket delivery , it’s all a legal form or robbery and extortion under the guise of we have to collect customs fees for the government , on a side note via Facebook Aero have said they will use other delivery services upon request such as Parcel Post (EMS) how that works in real life I don’t know as their website doesn’t accommodate alternate postage options at the checkout stage as far as I can see, for example if you buy something from the sales page unless I’m mistaken you are asked to pay for whatever the default delivery service is ( DHL) they really need to update their website.


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[DarkKnight]

And you have no way of knowing if DHL even pass the collected tax on to the ATO, their admin handling/admin fee can be what ever they like you can be sure they make good money out of it , I got hit with VAT and 2 other mystery charges which they couldn’t or wouldn’t explain on my latest jacket delivery , it’s all a legal form or robbery and extortion under the guise of we have to collect customs fees for the government , on a side note via Facebook Aero have said they will use other delivery services upon request such as Parcel Post (EMS) how that works in real life I don’t know as their website doesn’t accommodate alternate postage options at the checkout stage as far as I can see, for example if you buy something from the sales page unless I’m mistaken you are asked to pay for whatever the default delivery service is ( DHL) they really need to update their website.


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Well it doesn't matter about the website checkout. They don't charge your card until the order is ready to ship. So just send an email quoting order number I'd imagine and ask for alternate shipping. Also this is something they just updated so, give them a chance. I'm the first person that they've used parcel force with.

 

[Thuggee]

Well it doesn't matter about the website checkout. They don't charge your card until the order is ready to ship. So just send an email quoting order number I'd imagine and ask for alternate shipping. Also this is something they just updated so, give them a chance. I'm the first person that they've used parcel force with.

And if it’s a jacket from the sales page they charge your card directly after they get your order, having to then send a follow up email asking for a alternative shipping method then being asked to pay again a 2nd time ( assuming the alternative shipping method is more ) all while hoping they haven’t just sent your order by DHL is a backward painful way of doing things for the buyer ,yes let’s hope they make some website changes , when I buy online in today’s world as a buyer I expect websites to accomodate things like alternative shipping methods it’s not hard it’s just lazy considering what they charge for their jackets


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[Hide'n'seek]

And if it’s a jacket from the sales page they charge your card directly after they get your order, having to then send a follow up email asking for a alternative shipping method then being asked to pay again a 2nd time ( assuming the alternative shipping method is more ) all while hoping they haven’t just sent your order by DHL is a backward painful way of doing things for the buyer ,yes let’s hope they make some website changes , when I buy online in today’s world as a buyer I expect websites to accomodate things like alternative shipping methods it’s not hard it’s just lazy considering what they charge for their jackets


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Our website is a little dated in terms of being able to easily add new features etc.... we have a brand new website in the pipeline that we should be launching in the spring.
Currently no payments are ever processed automatically, they are always done manually usually a few hours or next day from the actual order being placed, this is the case for all items, sale jackets, stock items etc....
During the ordering process there is a special instruction box where all sorts of information or requests can be entered such as requests for alternative shipping methods.
It has only just come to our attention that some of our Australian customers are sometimes experiencing “extra” charges. We pride ourselves on our customer service and will work with customers to find the best solution to any problems.

 

[Downunder G Man]

Reactivating this thread.

Just today on ebay.com.UK bought a used Schott jacket

Went to pay thru' paypal and BINGO , 10% added with no chance to object from my end.

Bearing in mind this was a USED purchase, obviously a private sale , jacket over 10 years old.

Including post the jacket was way way under $1000 AUD ( WAY UNDER !!)

Related to purchase transaction ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Payment recipient: eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Limited

A separate payment has been sent to cover charges related to your purchase.

Total GST
£ XX.OOGBP
From amount $XX.XX AUD
To amount £XX.XX GBP
Exchange rate: £0.54 GBP

Payment sent to: gst_au@ebay.com


kinda/sorta knew this was coming , today was my first ( and maybe last !) experience

May be eBay.co.au from here on in !

 

[Graemsay]

The rules changed on July 1st. Foreign businesses who turn over more than $70,000 trading with Australia are now liable to charge GST at the point of sale.

I've got a feeling that it's a voluntary thing, so large companies (Amazon, eBay, Mr Porter, etc.) will charge it, but you might avoid it with the smaller ones.

 

[Thuggee]

Reactivating this thread.

Just today on ebay.com.UK bought a used Schott jacket

Went to pay thru' paypal and BINGO , 10% added with no chance to object from my end.

Bearing in mind this was a USED purchase, obviously a private sale , jacket over 10 years old.

Including post the jacket was way way under $1000 AUD ( WAY UNDER !!)

Related to purchase transaction ID: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Payment recipient: eBay Australia & New Zealand Pty Limited

A separate payment has been sent to cover charges related to your purchase.

Total GST
£ XX.OOGBP
From amount $XX.XX AUD
To amount £XX.XX GBP
Exchange rate: £0.54 GBP

Payment sent to: gst_au@ebay.com


kinda/sorta knew this was coming , today was my first ( and maybe last !) experience

May be eBay.co.au from here on in !

Between this and their global shipping rip off charges EBay is really becoming somewhere us Australians should avoid ,so was it really no where stated that GST would be charged up front? That in itself must be illegal at least with the global shipping crap the charges can be seen before you buy so you have the opportunity to walk away


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[ProteinNerd]

I honestly think charging GST on private sales of used clothing is beyond ridiculous.

I think we are heading back to the days of people asking friends to grab xyz items for them when they head overseas and bring it back in their luggage...