Internat Purchases

[fred]

just wondering,, if i order some stuff in american bike shop or ebay, would i be tax by oz govt? such as sales tax or import duties/gst?

or would i be better off asking them to fed ex the stuff direct to my place?

am thinkg of ordering or ebaying some hubs or cranks\\

thanks

[mikesbytes]

just wondering,, if i order some stuff in american bike shop or ebay, would i be tax by oz govt? such as sales tax or import duties/gst?

or would i be better off asking them to fed ex the stuff direct to my place?

am thinkg of ordering or ebaying some hubs or cranks\\

thanks

You need to check the latest rulings, but I think you are entitled to $1000 of goods to be imported (in the financial year?) before you are due for tax of any form.

[DrEvil123]

I have ordered a fair amount of items from overseas of up to around $500 value. I have never been charged any taxes on them but my understanding is that there is a large amount of "luck" involved as I believe that almost any item can be taxed if the import officers decide to.

If you order a few items then although it may save on postage to ship them together it may be worth splitting the order to reduce the chance of any taxes.

[Halfanewb]

I bit the big one today and ordered a polar cs200cad from a ebay seller in the US for $201 au. i read in threads about the batteries and i'm a bit confused, can the batteries in all the units be replaced by myself when the time comes?

[europa]

I bit the big one today and ordered a polar cs200cad from a ebay seller in the US for $201 au. i read in threads about the batteries and i'm a bit confused, can the batteries in all the units be replaced by myself when the time comes?

Yes they can, quite easily - it's simply a matter of using a coin to twist off a cover, and it's explained in the manual.

Richard

[Halfanewb]

Sweet, thanks Richard!
thats my main worry out of the way, i wanted to buy the thing off probikekit but got a screen about not being able to sell to australia etc etc. , then i went hunting on fleabay for one. The seller has a good rep, so bar getting a doa all should be well.

[DrEvil123]

PBK Update:

Sent the update email off on Thursday night and still no reply from them. This order has been strange, they didn't even send me the usual "your order has been shipped" email. My order a month ago went flawlessly, this one has a lot left to be desired.

If only their prices weren't so good

My email from last Tuesday has finally been replied to and the missing goods have now been shipped to me. Hopefully they will arrive in the next few days

[gururug]

After 12 days waiting for my seatpost and camelbak from KOM, three emails and two phone calls.

I have finally been informed that the seat arrives today and the camelbak arrives on thursday so if i'm lucky i'll have the items by the end of the week (15 days since purchase).

The official reason is that the "supplier" is out of stock.

I wonder what the percentage of items is not kept at the store
I also wonder how many customers have to wait longer than their claimed turnaround period of 2-4 days due to goods being out of stock.

I'm going to stop winging about stores now because I believe I ahve made my point and learned what I needed to about the way to use the system / what to expect.

In future though, I believe we should continue to learn from each others mistakes and that the majority of online retailers need to pick up thier act with relation to product acquisition, delivery and customer liasion. ([edit] and the accuracy of products available)

[stevos]

i bought something of torpedo 7 and it said it arrived today and then it says its currently in customs? does this mean ill have to pay tax?

[europa]

i bought something of torpedo 7 and it said it arrived today and then it says its currently in customs? does this mean ill have to pay tax?

No it doesn't.

Customs randomly open packages - sometimes yours will be opened, sometimes not. I wouldn't worry about the thousand dollar 'rule' mentioned above either. I imported model aeroplane bits for about three years. Nearly all my packages were worth over $1,000 - it just wasn't worth doing it otherwise. I was never charged tax. Maybe a third if that many were opened by customs. The packages all came from businesses so the details on the manifests were all accurate.

Just my experience.

Richard

[stevos]

cheers

[gururug]

Well, 15days after the order from KOM, my seatpost and camelbak arrived today and surprise surprise the seatpost is the wrong size!!!

I hope they don't expect me to pay for postage back to them for the incorrect part.

Does anyone know the regulations for internet stores if they send you the wrong part. Their site policy has detail on faulty goods and unwanted items but if they deliver something other than what you ordered I would think that they should fork out to get the right part to you.

I will not buy from these guys again, long wait, slack communication and now WRONG PART.

I've been without my dearly beloved for two weeks, god knows how long its going to take to get these guys to get the right part.

Actually, two days until they communicate a resolution with me, three-five days slack time for postage and five days for them to get the right part from the supplier. So i'm probrably looking at 11days until I can ride my bike again

[europa]

You need to march back to the shop, bang on the counter and embarress them in front of other customers ... oh, hang on, that won't work will it

Sadly, I suspect that some internet shops have just that attitude, however, I'm equally sure that there are some good firms out there.

Bummer about the seatpost though. Post it in the 'for sale' section of the forum, you never know, you might be able to help someone out (and them you as it happens).

Richard
yes, swearing is an appropriate reaction (though not on the forum )

[gururug]

Sorry, I should clarify. I ordered the correct part but they sent me a size that I did not order.

I wanted a 27.xmm x 350mm but they sent me the longer one (410mm), I think it will still fit but it's the principle.

[europa]

Sorry, I should clarify. I ordered the correct part but they sent me a size that I did not order.

I wanted a 27.xmm x 350mm but they sent me the longer one (410mm), I think it will still fit but it's the principle.

I knew you'd specified the right part, so no need to clarify there. The longer seat post isn't a problem, just shove it down the pipe. Besides, you might find you need just that wee bit more than you expected Could be they didn't have the shorter one and provided one that will still do the job - didn't charge you for the longer one did they?

Good thing it's useable though, nothing worse than coming home with something that doesn't quite go in the hole - that's why the Europa isn't wearing her new brakes yet (I have to make some brackets to lower the modern calipers), the holes in the frame are drilled for a snug fit on a metric bolt ... and I bought quarter inch bolts which are about half a mm fatter and won't go through the confounded holes

Richard

[DrEvil123]

PBK Update:

Sent the update email off on Thursday night and still no reply from them. This order has been strange, they didn't even send me the usual "your order has been shipped" email. My order a month ago went flawlessly, this one has a lot left to be desired.

If only their prices weren't so good

My email from last Tuesday has finally been replied to and the missing goods have now been shipped to me. Hopefully they will arrive in the next few days

The sunglasses arrived last Friday, hooray!

They seem awesome for $35, worked really well on my short ride yesterday...

[stevos]

got my stuff from torpedo 7 last week, very quick considering the public holiday and it was from NZ. Very happy with what i got i just havent tryed them yet.

[pospete]

So as you all know, from my understanding provided items in post are of a value of less then $1000 you won't have to pay any tax etc. We have received around 70 parcels in the last year all from the USA, and some very large, and have not paid 1 $ in tax. Some of the parcels have been valued around $700.

[fred]

thanks postpete for clarifying that.

internet buying.

All goods (except for tobacco products and alcoholic beverages) may be imported duty and tax free if their value is $1,000 or less.

from customs.gov.au

[rdp_au]

Just placed two orders, one via eBay for a crankset, and one from http://www.this link is broken for a bottom bracket.

Let's see how things go. My experiences with eBay have been good, as it was the only time I used Torpedo. Hopefully Chain Reaction will be as well.

Cheers,

David

[rdp_au]

So far so good. Chain Reaction sent an email this morning notifying me that the order had shipped. Let's see how long it takes to get here from the UK via Royal Mail.

David

[MichaelB]

Just placed two orders, one via eBay for a crankset, and one from http://www.this link is broken for a bottom bracket.

Let's see how things go. My experiences with eBay have been good, as it was the only time I used Torpedo. Hopefully Chain Reaction will be as well.

Cheers,

David

What were their prices like compared to others/LBS ?

[rdp_au]

Prices were pretty good. Less than half what you'd pay retail.

David

[senator52]

Just bought some R600 brake levers and Tiagra calipers via this link is broken as well, $120 the lot (inc. postage from UK) not too bad, also will see about shipping time, those UK blokes have it sweet sometimes next day delivery but I'm told 5-8days.

[rdp_au]

Just placed two orders, one via eBay for a crankset, and one from http://www.this link is broken for a bottom bracket.

Let's see how things go. My experiences with eBay have been good, as it was the only time I used Torpedo. Hopefully Chain Reaction will be as well.

Both orders (crankset and bottom bracket) arrived today. Both were correct. Elapsed time from ordering was eight days. I'm well happy!

Think I might be spending some time this weekend fitting a new crank. Now that will let the mighty bentech go even faster!!

Cheers,

David