import a lot although mainly under $1000 so no import issues but I have done a few containers.

A few questions

1. Is your consignment valued at under AU$1000 at time of sending? If yes then then do nothing. It will find its way to you once it is cleared by customs. Have you organised onward shipment after arrival or has your sender?

2. If over $1000 the items will be subject to inspection, GST @ 10% plus 5% import duty and maybe more depending on the items classification. THe GST on this can be treated as a tax input credit and claimed back if you are claiming GST. The 5% is a tax. And not an expense as such and will need to be factored into your costs.

3. To organise your own clearances can be problematic especially for novices. I wouldn't do mine even now as customs brokers are fairly cheap, their fees are tax deductable anyway. Would you ask a baker for legal advise?  If all there is , is an address/name on there then most probably customs will write to you and ask for relevant clearance documentation to be prepared. Be aware though they may charge additional fees for storage of the goods if you mess them around. All that yinfo should be on their website and may have changed since I last did it but its basically done to encourage you to use a broker. So by trying to save money by not getting a broker you may end up incurring additional fees.

My advice - if its under $1000 let nature take its course and the goods should arrive to you as long as there is onward forwarding organised ( which is most likely) and the freight passes any customs inspection- if it's over $1000 get a customs broker. There are loads and they are not expensive.

Be wary of whats on the box description as well. A few weeks ago I bought in a load of Bananas in Pyjamas items. The shipper wrote "bananas hats' on the commercial invoice. My shipment was impounded for a week as customs thought I was illegally importing fruit and went through the whole consignment!!! Generally they are particuarly interested in anything with live materials in it (or once live) such as wood or paper for example.

Cheers