Hi,
Just thought I would make this post to recount my experience with importing a x-carve into Australia.
I bought an x-carve in November 2017. At the time the deal going was free worldwide shipping which for me was a much greater discount over all than any of the other deals they have had. So I purchased it around mid-November and there were several items that were back ordered which meant that items were posted in a staggered fashion. I think I bought nearly every extra available which came in at $2100 US.
So most of the components were shipped separately except for a bundle that had the router and a bunch of small but expensive pieces such as all the router bits and some other pieces. This bundle came in at $1011 US and anything with a value of $1000 AUD or more is required to pay GST on. So I got a notification from the Border Force saying they were holding the package and I had to fill out a form (see below link)
http://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Forms/Documents/B374.pdf
At this point you are required to sift through a very large list of items (see below link)
and assign a numerical code to the items in your package. Technically you are supposed to do this for every individual item in the package however I lumped them all together and called it CNC Milling machine (disassembled) .
See Schedule 3, Section XVI, Chapter 84 - _Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof, Section 8459 - Machine-tools (including way-type unit head machines) for drilling, boring, milling, threading or tapping by removing metal, other than lathes (including turning centres) of 8458
I used the classification 84593100 - 25 which is
MACHINE-TOOLS (INCLUDING WAY-TYPE UNIT HEAD MACHINES) FOR DRILLING, BORING, MILLING, THREADING OR TAPPING BY REMOVING METAL, OTHER THAN LATHES (INCLUDING TURNING CENTRES) OF 8458:
25— Numerically controlled
Now I know that may not be technically accurate but it is pretty damn close and within the confines of the schedule it is actually the closest, as routing is not referred to but milling is. The whole reason for this is so you can attach a tariff percentage to the item you are importing.
So you are charged $90 straight off the bat as a processing fee, then GST 10% on top of that then the appropriate tariff which is between 0% and 5%. If you use the classification I stated above it correlates to a 0% tariff.
So now for some maths…
The total value of the package was $1011 US or $1295.85 AUD
- processing fee $90 = $1385.85AUD
+GST 10% = $1524.45 AUD
+Tariff of 0%
Total payable $228.5AUD
You pay the tax and once it clears they allow auspost to collect the items.
The whole process adds between 4 and 6 weeks to the total delivery time.
Now the whole reason I am writing this is to hopefully help some of you avoid the major headache that is dealing with Border Force. If you can buy different parts in seperate orders sometimes it is worth it to pay two lots of postage than pay the $230 in tax. Now remember it has to be under $1000 AUD which depending on the exchange rate will need to be less in USD.
I hope this helps anyone in Aus who is thinking of buying an X-carve and those of you who will have to go through this process also.
Best of luck.