Shopping in the US

[GS608]

Had my first online shopping experiance the other day, i ended up buying two dimarzio guitar pickups with shipping through UPS for $225 AUD, thats almost half the price i would pay to buy them over here!

tip of the week: Get in and grab stuff from the US if you aren't already, could save you LOTS of money!

[Kirky]

Yes it is good shopping, I bought a bit from the states, Car audio gear, Bose home theatre, iphone a sat nav (already had Australian maps for it) the list just goes on! I would say on average I save at least 50% even after the hefty postage fees.

[DTFRMONT]

Originally Posted by Kirky

I would say on average I save at least 50% even after the hefty postage fees.

Would have to agree there. I bought a suit from ebay (proper 100% wool) for $150, that included the postage. Much nicer than the $4-500 ones at myers, not to mention saving a stack, will be buying more at those prices.....

[shane3]

I love the U.S, I collect knives, king of knifes at Chadstone had the "Buck" brand knifes "pilot" for $125.00 and the smaller "mantis" for $99.00, jumped on eBay and found them from the one dealer (both knives), I got it from the U.S for $19.00 (pilot $125.00) and $16.00 (mantis $99.00) with $11.00 postage, so instead of paying $224.00 I payed $46.00

[sgt_doofey]

There is a service where you can set up a mail box in the US which will allow you to buy stuff from sites that only ship to America. You can then review what you have in you mail box, package them up and ship them back to home.
It allows you to buy more stuff.

[LUXO_8]

i've bought a lot of efi windsor parts from the states....things like airflow sensor/throttle body, injectors, inlet manifold etc.

masssive savings
keeping it under 1k saves on taxes/duties.


soon i will be making a much larger purchase, (trickflow top end kit - will be about 2400us)
can anyone who has imported expensive items help out with a rough estimate of the import taxes/duties on such a purchase....

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by LUXO_8

can anyone who has imported expensive items help out with a rough estimate of the import taxes/duties on such a purchase....

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4226

[smally289]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

There is a service where you can set up a mail box in the US which will allow you to buy stuff from sites that only ship to America. You can then review what you have in you mail box, package them up and ship them back to home.
It allows you to buy more stuff.

Got any more info on how to set this up?

[Dazza XLT]

I've bought 7 golf clubs from the US over the last 2 months.
The first lot (3 Wedges, 2 Putters, 3Doz Balls) only cost $65.00 to ship.
The second lot (Driver, 3 Wood, Pair of shoes) only cost $40.00 to ship (With 3 free gloves thrown in)
Saved myself at least $300, even with the higher shipping.
And.... Via Fedex, they only took 4-5 days to arrive!

[LUXO_8]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=4226

cheers, will have a read later

[wados]

yeah i just bought a pair of oakley gascan the ducati version from the states for $90 and they cost around $170 - $180 here

[3vXT]

PS3 stuff is way cheaper.

New dual shock controllers for $55 or $95-$100 here,
Blueray remote for $32 or $50-$55 here,
and don't get me started on games...

[BabyJ]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

There is a service where you can set up a mail box in the US which will allow you to buy stuff from sites that only ship to America. You can then review what you have in you mail box, package them up and ship them back to home.
It allows you to buy more stuff.

Originally Posted by smally351

Got any more info on how to set this up?

Yes, please elobrate and Pm sent.

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by smally351

Got any more info on how to set this up?

My wife's friend does it. I'll find out from her tomorrow and let you know. I haven't looked in to it myself, as I haven't needed to buy anything from the US, yet, and if I did, I'd just use my wife's friends service. :

[genebaby]

I was buying EMG pickups for half price years ago when the AU$ was around half the US$. Found a good place and got a bunch in. Customs began opening my packages after the first few, probably looked sus.

[sgt_doofey]

OK, my wife's friend uses Access USA: http://www.myus.com/

You also have to muck around with a credit card as I believe some sites only accept credit cards with a US mailing address, but I think you get around that by having your statement sent to you Access USA mail box.

From the Access USA site:
Sign-up and Fees - AUSTRALIA Effective: April 17, 2008
All prices in U.S. Dollars
Standard Membership
Ability to receive Merchandise and Documents (catalogs, magazines, letters).
Setup (one time, non-refundable) $35
Annual Membership (per year) $132 OR
Monthly Membership (per month) $15
Each Additional Name (per year) $20


Shipping Rates - AUSTRALIA
1. Express (1-4 day delivery)
Minimum Charge: 800 grams or $ 26.00
Rates:
Each 100 grams, up to 1 Kg
Each 100 grams, over 1 Kg
Each 100 grams, over 5 Kg
$3.25
$1.58
$0.96


2. Air Freight (5-7 day delivery)
Minimum Charge: 70 Kg(155 lbs) or $ 429.35
Shipments over 70 Kg $0.61 per 100 grams ($6.10/Kg or $2.77/pound)


Handling and Packaging Charges - AUSTRALIA
Additional service charges
Documents (letters, cats, mags) FREE Handling and Packaging
Merchandise Consolidation FREE for first two boxes; then $3 per box.
Commercial Invoice $8 (if required *** )
Merchandise Insurance $2 per $100 insured value (first $100 is FREE for Express)
Merchandise Storage First 45 days FREE, then $5 per box plus $1 per pound per month.

*** Commercial Invoice is required for all Merchandise Shipments sent outside the U.S.

[muppet]

I really think it's about time Australians took a stand on this. The getting ripped off for the things we buy I mean.
I was looking into guitar amps , Engl's to be precise (made in Germany). Well the one I was looking at was $2500 au. When I looked at how much they are in other countries I realised that Australia is being ripped off something bad. These things are $1495 us and 999 euro now taking into account the exchange rate they both come out to within $100 of each other in au (about $1600 au). So why is it that in Australia they feel that we should be ripped off for just under a grand (above the price they sell them everywhere else in the world and still make a profit). So I thought that there must be some sort of import duty on these things that will make them dearer. The import duty on musical instrument amplifiers is %5 , that should really put the price up lol. I am just sick of being ripped off and will allways get stuff from the US or Europe if it is cheaper.I mean it was cheaper to get my business cards from the US than it was from just down the road , and that's just wrong.

[genebaby]

Speaking to the converted. There seems to be more middle men involved here with musical gear, all looking for a slice of the pie. You are correct though, there is no reason an item which has to be shipped from country of manufacture to the US or here should cost so much more here. All that should be taken into account is the current exchange rate, which is very favourable atm. Even when our dollar was worth US$.50 we were being ripped off.

[Homer1]

I've been doing this for some time now already. It's absolutely ridiculous the prices for the same products here compared to the US and even Europe in some cases. It's come to a point where anything I can order online from the US, I will get because even with delivery, you still save. I now encourage all my friends and relos to do likewise.

[satria]

wow reading this thread i may look into buying from the US?

is it as simple as buying something and saying "post here to Perth,WA" or is it more involved than that with customs etc?

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by satria

wow reading this thread i may look into buying from the US?

is it as simple as buying something and saying "post here to Perth,WA" or is it more involved than that with customs etc?

Small, cheap items will probably be left alone by customs. Bigger, expensive things (e.g. TV's) will attract attention and no doubt you'd have to pay import duties on it.
As for the posting, it can be hit and miss. Some sites in the US don't ship outside of the US. Hence why you can use services like Access USA which I posted above.
Then you have to worry about things as voltages on electronic items. The US is 110V whereas Australia, and pretty much the rest of the world, is 240V. So be sure that what you buy will work over here first.
Warranties is another issue. Most warranties will only cover you in the country of purchase. Check the warranty terms first to make sure they apply to you as well.

[Fev]

things cost australia more because of inflation etc etc

[genebaby]

Customs don't bother with goods and services worth less than $1000. This includes the shipping amount, as when charged import duty, the cost of shipping gets included if you are over the limit.

This all depends on the delcaration, but if you try and send over some gold bullion valued at "$100", they will smell a rat. I hear they are getting more cluey with the value of items.

[genebaby]

Originally Posted by Fev

things cost australia more because of inflation etc etc

Things increase in price because of inflation.

So a new guitar model that was introduced a few years ago, was made in Japan that had a street price in the US of $800 with case and here they wanted $3000 without a case, how does that work?

[stavros68]

bought an air flow meter $115 to my door, any place in australia your looking at about $300+

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by Fev

things cost australia more because of inflation etc etc

Nope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

If things start to cost more, then inflation goes up. Hence why we are currently seeing an increase in inflation due to the rising costs of petrol, groceries, etc.

[Kirky]

Last year while i was in the sates i bought a BOSE home theatre system! All up including postage it cost me $2,500AUD. Customs never opened it or charged me any import fees. I think i was pretty lucky though. Took 4 days from North Carolina to my home in Melbourne.

[LTD Ute]

I recently bought 4 overriders and 2 hubcaps for my friend's 49 Ford
Single Spinner, $10 US from ebay and $70 US postage. Try finding this
type of thing here.

For those of you that buy guitar stuff, look at the Seymour Duncan site and then sign into the Community Forum. I've been buying all sorts of gear,
like S/hand pickups for for $50 aud posted.
If anyone is interested in sharing some sites they purchase from, we could
set up a thread in the music forum here.

[ThePistonHead]

Care to post up some good trustworthy US sites other than ebay? Also anybody aware of a US site which will let me buy without a credit card?

cheers
TPH

[GS608]

a good site for fairly cheap music gear is woodwind and brasswind they're located in South Bend, Indiana, thats where i bought my Evolution pickups.

www.wwbw.com