Is importing WM dolls into Australia always this difficult?

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:44 pm

Hi TDF,

I am new here having made my first doll purchase recently and wanted to check with my fellow Australians if the import process is always this annoying?

I purchased a WM doll off one of the well known reputable vendors on this forum and everything was going smoothly in transit until she arrived in Australia. Then I received an email from TNT delivery to say that Australian Customs are holding my order as they believe the sender undervalued the product. After opening the consignment note attached I was a little disappointed to see that they had in fact undervalued it big time, like more than 70% less than what I had paid for it! I don't know if they do this to dodge import tax or what but really wish they had just put in the full amount and I would have happily paid the import tax myself and she would have arrived home 3 days ago.

Anyway fast forward to now, I have had to send the poor office girl working at TNT photographic evidence of all items purchased, an itemised invoice with all the graphic details (you guys know what I mean

) and Paypal proof of payment details. Then Customs rejected the invoice because it did not include the senders company name or address on it so now I am bouncing back and forth trying to chase details from the supplier.

Just wanted to see if any fellow Aussies have had a similar experience and can share their insights as to how they satisfied Australian Customs in regards to proving their purchase price for import duty calculation?

optical delusion · Post by **optical delusion** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:53 pm

things must have changed in the last 18 months. my first $2700 AUD doll was declared as $300 USD. for this reason she was stopped, opened and inspected and re packed poorly. at that stage all i had to do was provide a receipt of payment from me showing the true value and the seller (vendor) confirming that is indeed what i paid and they had received that amount. did not need an itemized account of everything.

this under valuing really pisses me off. a few hundred or so in import tax i will happily pay to avoid this unnecessary attention. mostly its the re packing by customs which can be less then ideal. check your girl over thoroughly in case they just dumped her back in. if you asked to undervalue that is one thing, for it to be the default by manufacturers is just wrong and illegal with you being the one that has to deal with it.

to any other Australians reading this....just tell them to declare the correct amount and save your self the head ache

Anung Un Rama · Post by **Anung Un Rama** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 9:36 pm

luckykat65 wrote:Hi TDF,

I am new here having made my first doll purchase recently and wanted to check with my fellow Australians if the import process is always this annoying?

I purchased a WM doll off one of the well known reputable vendors on this forum and everything was going smoothly in transit until she arrived in Australia. Then I received an email from TNT delivery to say that Australian Customs are holding my order as they believe the sender undervalued the product. After opening the consignment note attached I was a little disappointed to see that they had in fact undervalued it big time, like more than 70% less than what I had paid for it! I don't know if they do this to dodge import tax or what but really wish they had just put in the full amount and I would have happily paid the import tax myself and she would have arrived home 3 days ago.

Anyway fast forward to now, I have had to send the poor office girl working at TNT photographic evidence of all items purchased, an itemised invoice with all the graphic details (you guys know what I mean ) and Paypal proof of payment details. Then Customs rejected the invoice because it did not include the senders company name or address on it so now I am bouncing back and forth trying to chase details from the supplier.

Just wanted to see if any fellow Aussies have had a similar experience and can share their insights as to how they satisfied Australian Customs in regards to proving their purchase price for import duty calculation?

This is standard for every doll import into AUSTRALIA now. It is mainly all about the Goods and Services tax revenues nand the ability to smash you with a 84 dollar customs entry fee and 9 dollar security fee, as soon as they hold the doll, plus gives them the change now to actually overvalue the item to extort further GST on top. I have written volumes on this.

viewtopic.php?p=1411558#p1411558

and everything you need to know in this topic

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=104736&hilit=ABF+customs

These are the most recent posts with the most recent links.

Anung

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 10:14 pm

Thank you so much for the responses guys, exactly what i was looking for and i'm glad to see I am not alone on this. Yes would definitely advise Australians to tell your supplier to declare the full purchase amount on the initial consignment note to avoid all of this headache and just pay the GST on the full amount when she enters the country.

I will keep on thinking positive thoughts and hopefully I can be with my lady soon!

McPickle · Post by **McPickle** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:06 am

I just ordered a doll from Irontech. I told them specifically not to undervalue the doll and paid them directly the GST deposit. We will see what happens.

optical delusion · Post by **optical delusion** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:12 am

erwin201 wrote:I just ordered a doll from Irontech. I told them specifically not to undervalue the doll and paid them directly the GST deposit. We will see what happens.

huh, i would say that when the doll is stopped pending import tax you will need to give them the payment info. may be wrong

if you do it yourself and pay by credit card it is released same day. not sure how iron tech will pay. bank transfers can take a few days to clear.

Anung Un Rama · Post by **Anung Un Rama** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:05 am

optical delusion wrote:
erwin201 wrote:I just ordered a doll from Irontech. I told them specifically not to undervalue the doll and paid them directly the GST deposit. We will see what happens.

huh, i would say that when the doll is stopped pending import tax you will need to give them the payment info. may be wrong

if you do it yourself and pay by credit card it is released same day. not sure how iron tech will pay. bank transfers can take a few days to clear.

maybe not, A month or so ago, I was contacted by Jeff from BCD, about this very thing, as to how to foriegn vendors collect GST at checkout and remit to the ATO.

As this saves us this end being fee raped by customs hold fee and bullshit overestimation of value for GST extortion.

Leonard form Iron Tech was extremely interested, so I passed back the relevent info to him via Jeff at BCD.

Thus it is possible, he has this now in play like EBay, Amazon and Ali X do, and if so, gives Irontech a great advantage on customs fees savings and hassles this end if this is the case

Take note makers!

In the event, that this is still in process, ensure your invoice has GST, shipping, insurance and item value, itemized and total, with the correct business name credentials.

If you got this, ABF can not charge you a cent this end, and if they do, sure pay it, and you claim the refund, and if you really want them, you then sue for fraud and extortion and get the media involved for gov double dipping on GST. In most cases if you got these details on the invoice, you flick it to your freight import broker(who contacts you - if there is a hold) and they will sort it.

Been there done that, had a ball. The Fat sheriff has struck me from his Christmas card list

Anung

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:57 am

This would be some great info to get out to all the major suppliers of dolls into Australia; some method to prepay the GST and save the headache/hold fees for their customers when they arrive.

Just a quick update guys, after spending all day trying to submit 4 attempts of a so called 'commercial invoice' to customs it seems we (the supplier and myself) finally got it right. For anyone else interested in what it looks like it must have the seller's company name and address, your name and address, and an itemised list of your purchases and their values i.e. WM doll $x, storage case $x, clothing outfit $x etc.

Customs have accepted it now so we will see how it goes and I will be sure to keep the results updated in this thread to hopefully help out any other Aussies like myself that are new to the doll import process.

Anung Un Rama · Post by **Anung Un Rama** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:31 pm

Ok, for makers and vendors exporting to AUS, for AUS Imports the GST payable and forward-able to the home office coffers is 10% the total, including shipping.

This is waht Ali X, Amazon, eBay is doing when charging 10% GST for any items shipped to AUST, at the checkout for these markets.

So some links here for merchants and importer/exporters.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST/In- ... ted-goods/

http://www.maccustoms.com.au/GST.php

https://www.penguinaccounts.com.au/gst- ... orts-2018/

Without doing this, your customer gets fee raped!

The issue is the system has now geared, so that they can get extra GST through BS valuation estimates, and then also sting the importer with 93 AUD extra in fees on top, for holding the item to assess GST.

This is why businesses like EBay, AliX, and Amazon, now do GST at checkout, then forward on the GST component of the sale to the AUST Tax coffers, otherwise people can not afford to buy a 10 dollar item, then get slugged with 93 dollars in fees to import it.

Primarily, though this feature is relevant for under 1000 AUD, but these companies still do the GST for larger purchases too, and the tax office hates it, as they can not steal extra from the importer, as the dues are already paid.

These links explain more about what the big market places are doing.

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/pay ... es?id=4771

so open up the pluses and have a read. This explains what eBay does and how they do it to a degree.

https://which-50.com/as-amazon-blocks-a ... a-gst-fix/

and this article, which shows what the markets are now doing.

OK, so hope those links can help, otherwise the poor importer gets smashed this end now.

Any exporter who is likely to ship in excess of 50000 USD (75K AUD) worth of goods in to AUST (so say 25 dolls as a guestimate) every 12 months, should definitely consider this option for GST payment at checkout, and on forwarding.

I have no doubt, noting the ATO is having difficulty monitoring who has paid what to whom, and is relying on vendor honesty, that margins are being made by sellers here

So there is the info for sellers smart enough to take it, as it will save your customer well over 200 dollars this end, and that is a definite market advantage!

Anung

Outkast · Post by **Outkast** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:58 pm

I'm dealing with this crap right now as we speak. My 'package' is being held by customs and I hope I don't have to pay a tonne to get it released

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:03 am

Sorry to hear Outkast, but I have some positive news. After submitting the correct invoice to satisfy customs and payment evidence I have received a same day duty bill to have her released! The total amount is 10% of what you paid for your girl, plus AQIS service fee $33, and Customs fee $50. Depending on who you bought your doll through I contacted my supplier and they said I can send them the Customs invoice and they will reimburse me for half. I am just so happy that she is on her way again and hopefully the ABF officers didn't hurt her too much. Will post some photos when she arrives

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:13 am

Anung Un Rama wrote:Ok, for makers and vendors exporting to AUS, for AUS Imports the GST payable and forward-able to the home office coffers is 10% the total, including shipping.

This is waht Ali X, Amazon, eBay is doing when charging 10% GST for any items shipped to AUST, at the checkout for these markets.

So some links here for merchants and importer/exporters.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST/In- ... ted-goods/

http://www.maccustoms.com.au/GST.php

https://www.penguinaccounts.com.au/gst- ... orts-2018/

Without doing this, your customer gets fee raped!

The issue is the system has now geared, so that they can get extra GST through BS valuation estimates, and then also sting the importer with 93 AUD extra in fees on top, for holding the item to assess GST.

This is why businesses like EBay, AliX, and Amazon, now do GST at checkout, then forward on the GST component of the sale to the AUST Tax coffers, otherwise people can not afford to buy a 10 dollar item, then get slugged with 93 dollars in fees to import it.

Primarily, though this feature is relevant for under 1000 AUD, but these companies still do the GST for larger purchases too, and the tax office hates it, as they can not steal extra from the importer, as the dues are already paid.

These links explain more about what the big market places are doing.

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/pay ... es?id=4771

so open up the pluses and have a read. This explains what eBay does and how they do it to a degree.

https://which-50.com/as-amazon-blocks-a ... a-gst-fix/

and this article, which shows what the markets are now doing.

OK, so hope those links can help, otherwise the poor importer gets smashed this end now.

Any exporter who is likely to ship in excess of 50000 USD (75K AUD) worth of goods in to AUST (so say 25 dolls as a guestimate) every 12 months, should definitely consider this option for GST payment at checkout, and on forwarding.

I have no doubt, noting the ATO is having difficulty monitoring who has paid what to whom, and is relying on vendor honesty, that margins are being made by sellers here

So there is the info for sellers smart enough to take it, as it will save your customer well over 200 dollars this end, and that is a definite market advantage!

Anung

Awesome awesome stuff Anung Un Rama, so much insight there. That post needs to get stickied somewhere in full view of the big doll companies to save future doll buyers being stung by unexpected fees and also to stick it to those ABF SOBs who want to wrought extra money from honest buyers!

Anung Un Rama · Post by **Anung Un Rama** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:58 am

They all know about it fella, i chat with them regularly, they just got to do the math and figure if the incentive is worth the time for the AUST market. We only like the 5%to 10% ers here man

Sorta ironic, when there are quite a few of us ozzies, actively well versed in the ins and outs of the industry.

Anung

luckykat65 · Post by **luckykat65** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:55 am

All's well that ends well guys, my ladies arrived today and were cleared through Customs fairly quickly once I paid their GST invoice. I purchased them in storage cases with wheels and am so glad I did because I live in one of the upper floors of my apartment and the TNT delivery guy said he couldn't help me carry the boxes as he couldn't leave his truck unattended. One weighed 60kg and the other 40 kg lol. My ladies arrived 100% perfect, no damage whatsoever. Customs didn't even open the containers and just wanted the factory photos emailed through to verify the dolls didn't look under age.