Hello,
It's been a while since I've needed to make an order from Schmiedmann, and in the past, I have been stung by the GST at customs for orders over AU$1000, as outlined in
this sticky
However, it seems that information is now out of date, and searching has not revealed any new information.
So, the issue:
Since around the middle of last year, the government has changed the GST rules on items ordered from overseas, and the threshold for GST being applicable, has been reduced from $1000, to zero. This means that Ali Express, eBay et al. have now begun charging GST at checkout, problem solved, no need to pay "at the border".
Where does this leave Schmiedmann? As far as I can tell, during ordering, there is no line item for GST that is being charged. Does this mean that every package that I will order will go through the same process as packages over AU$1000 under the previous rules?
Reason I ask is, previously, it was not a case of paying the 10% and you have your parts. As outlined in that thread i linked above, there are other charges and admin fees charged, and so it works out to being closer to somewhere around 20+%, which is very significant.
My question:
Has anyone ordered a sub-AU$1000 package from Schmiedmann in the last 6-8 months? What was your experience, was it stopped at the border? I'm hoping to have a few responses, as I know that even under the old rules, it was a bit luck-of-the-draw whether it would get stopped.
Any one had experiences they can share, with
any other vendors that don't charge the GST at checkout, since these new rules came in?
Thanks in advance!