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Buying from US, help?

Hi,

I haven't found any decent US online stores that post to Australia! My friend and I are both looking to buy a pile of stuff and the prices locally are ridiculous in comparison (even with $100 extra postage haha). Does anyone know of any shops that post internationally? OR does anyone have any contacts on the "inside" that could arrange it?

Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks.

If you think you can get a full-blown keyboard sent around the world for 100 dollars, I think you're mistaken. Maybe, just *maybe* some shipping companies offer this rate via ocean freighter, but it'd take 4 weeks to get to you. 10-day air mail for such large objects is probably around 200 us dollars (and I've bought my share of suff from the US... I live in Iceland and the only way to buy musical equipment is by intl. shipping). Also, you must not forget customs and taxes.
So in the end, it's not as simple as "it cost x dollars over there, but y dollars over here"

Check music123.com, I've dealt with them a couple of times. They ship intl., but can't ship all brands.

All the US equipment that I've bought have come from eBay stores. I've bought a mixer, amp, firewire audio card, effects units and compressors with no hassle or customs requirements. Give that a go.

Customs duty in Oz is applicable if the value is over $1000, however if you buy a heap of stuff worth less at the same time that adds up to 1000+, and they realise it you can be charged for it. Read their website for finer details.

quote:

Originally posted by skot_e Customs duty in Oz is applicable if the value is over $1000, however if you buy a heap of stuff worth less at the same time that adds up to 1000+, and they realise it you can be charged for it. Read their website for finer details.

I was under the impression it was only AUS$500, I bought a Jp-8080 from a store in NYC and they put the value down around US$600 and i ended up paying around 60 bucks in GST ontop of the shipping.

I told the store and they now write "gift" in the customs dec for me on all my other items.. lol

Well TBH it's a bit of a mine field, but this is from their site

quote:

All goods (except for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages) may be imported duty and tax free if their value is $1,000 or less. Note: However, where there are multiple packages to the same addressee in Australia from a single consignor overseas that arrive at about the same time, then the value of all packages will be combined for duty and tax assessment purposes. Refer to example 1.

More info here

Ok, I checked it out and will tell you what I know. Anything under $1000 gets in tax free. If multiple things arrive at the same time, they all get added.

audiomidi.com will prolly be your site. Which brings me to my next question, does anyone have any experience with them? Are they ever advertised in mags etc? Most important ARE THEY REPUTABLE???? I'm about to do a similar thing an spend around au$2000 so i wanna know

[EDIT] oh yeah... only thing is that if the gear breaks, you're up for a fortune in shipping to replace it. Thats the miefield part!

quote:

Originally posted by aquila All the US equipment that I've bought have come from eBay stores. I've bought a mixer, amp, firewire audio card, effects units and compressors with no hassle or customs requirements. Give that a go.

Not true. I bought my Delta 1010 from the States via ebay. You have to declare all items sent abroad and you will get hit by customs with import tax. Maybe not if you can convince the seller to declare the item as a gift but post 9/11 the US is really finicky about large packages whose contents are not declared that are sent into and out of the country.

In the case of my 1010, I was hit with 17.5% import tax. On top of the enormous shipping cost. On top of the fact that I had to buy a step down transformer to get it to work on a mains outlet in the UK/Ireland. In the end, I basically paid about the same as the full retail price in the UK.

Do the research. If theres anyway you can dodge the import tax (not likely) then it might be worth your while.

But what if the item is knocked about in the mail? What if it arrives damaged in transit? That possibility is increased the longer it takes to ship. I lost my warranty by default on the 1010 but even if you are lucky enough to keep the warranty - sending the item back in the event of damage will take fricking ages and it will cost you a bomb in postage fees.

This is happening to me now with my Dynaudio BM5as. I live in Ireland. Bought them from the UK. I got 2 pairs of defective monitors and I have been nearly 4 months without speakers of any kind. The whole situation sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by aquila All the US equipment that I've bought have come from eBay stores. I've bought a mixer, amp, firewire audio card, effects units and compressors with no hassle or customs requirements. Give that a go.

Not true. I bought my Delta 1010 from the States via ebay. You have to declare all items sent abroad and you will get hit by customs with import tax. Maybe not if you can convince the seller to declare the item as a gift but post 9/11 the US is really finicky about large packages whose contents are not declared that are sent into and out of the country.

In the case of my 1010, I was hit with 17.5% import tax. On top of the enormous shipping cost. On top of the fact that I had to buy a step down transformer to get it to work on a mains outlet in the UK/Ireland. In the end, I basically paid about the same as the full retail price in the UK.

Do the research. If theres anyway you can dodge the import tax (not likely) then it might be worth your while.

But what if the item is knocked about in the mail? What if it arrives damaged in transit? That possibility is increased the longer it takes to ship. I lost my warranty by default on the 1010 but even if you are lucky enough to keep the warranty - sending the item back in the event of damage will take fricking ages and it will cost you a bomb in postage fees.

This is happening to me now with my Dynaudio BM5as. I live in Ireland. Bought them from the UK. I got 2 pairs of defective monitors and I have been nearly 4 months without speakers of any kind. The whole situation sucks.

I baught my midi keyboard from the US.
It cost me $60 USD to get it shipped and I received the item in less than two weeks.
No fees.
USB powered.
I saved about $400

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