Global Shipping Program

[hamisgoodforyou]

Hi all,
Just curious as i bought a guitar in america i bought it for $2350 AUD and is will be shipped through the global shipping program which says it includes import fees etc. My question is will i still have to pays fees, gst etc to customs here later on also will i still have to fill in seperate paper work through the customs for importing?

Cheers

[imastawka]

  Wow.  A 1972  Walnut Gibson.  I love Gibsons.  They have a nice

rich tone to them.  I don't like a dirty guitar.

I don't know about Customs, sorry.  But someone will be along to answer

that.  That's a lot of GSP postage you paid there.  Hope you paid with Paypal

for that little beauty.

[hamisgoodforyou]

I know, i completley agree with you love the look and sound couldnt look past this one! I certainly did, wouldnt have it any other way.

[padi*0409]

It would seem that you've paid $152 for shipping plus $568 for import duty (which seems a lot to me) on it so you shouldn't have to pay any more when it arrives.

Hopefully GSP will actually send it to you without repacking it or even refusing to send it, there have been a lot of posts on the boards about problems with the GSP in that respect.

Hi Stawka.....................

[amber-eyed-girl · Accepted solution]

All import duties and charges are meant to be included.

Pitney Bowes, is being paid to appropriately pack your item, fill in all required paperwork, and send it on its way from the U.S. to you.

that means, to fill in all required paperwork for customs on your behalf, and pay any charges due.

If customs holds your guitar for any duties and/or fees, call them, and say that Pitney Bowes took the money for the import costs, and email customs your receipt from Paypal.

If there is still an issue, you would have to contact Pitney Bowes. 

Should be O.K., they calculate the appropriate charges for your shipping address at checkout, and they do this for a living 🙂

they are charging the duty, to take care of it.

[cq_tech]

To the best of my knowledge, all necessary paperwork and import charges, GST, etc., are included in the rather exorbitant US$720.12 which will be payed to Pitney Bowes (and which will be charged as a separate transaction by Paypal) so the only thing you'll need to do now is to sign for it when it is delivered to your door by the courier.

I must say though that whilst the postage component of US$151.93 is bad enough, the amount of US$568.19 being charged by Pitney Bowes seems way over the odds when the actual GST payable on the entire amount should come to no more than around A$300 or so.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/shipping/globalshipping/buyer-tnc.html#paymentsplit should explain most of what you need to know.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Hi cq 🙂

when importing an item over 1000$, the GST is only one component of the costs.

there is also a broker's fee, for the paperwork. This can be a few hundred dollars. If you do not do that yourself.

it depends on the shipping company, as to what they charge.

so the straight answer is no.

you should not be paying anything more when it arrives.

[cq_tech]

Hi amber, and yes, you're quite right about there being brokerage fees on top of GST, but we're talking about a guitar here, not a container-load of various items being imported for resale so on that basis, Pitney Bowes appear to charge like a wounded bull.

I would have asked the seller to post it via USPS myself, and had he been agreeable, the only added amount payable upon arrival would have been 10% GST on top of the actual item & shipping costs, which would come to well below A$300 in total. 🙂

[lyndal1838]

There will not be any more fees or charges levied once the package arrives here.  It is Pitney Bowes job to work out all the levies and apply them, do the paperwork and generally see the item through customs clearance.

There is a lot more involved than just 10% GST.  From personal experience many years ago I found that the charges were roughly 25-30% of the amount of the item plus the postage.

My daughter works for a company similar to Pitney Bowes in Australia and she confirmed this figure....and it can go higher depending on what the agent charges for their services.  You can bet PB is charging as much as they can get away with.

[bigbrickshop]

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@padi.0409.0409 wrote:

It would seem that you've paid $152 for shipping plus $568 for import duty (which seems a lot to me) on it so you shouldn't have to pay any more when it arrives.

Hopefully GSP will actually send it to you without repacking it or even refusing to send it, there have been a lot of posts on the boards about problems with the GSP in that respect.

Hi Stawka.....................

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Did you know what happens to items that PB refuse to export and are not returned to the original seller?

They are sold on eBay! (to buyers in the US only). The GSP seller uses the pics and description from the original listing, complete with any spelling mistakes. And the seller has poor feedback for packing and shipping!