Buying parts from America

[swordfish 30]

Hi guys.

I've been looking through a few US website parts catalogs and found so much awesome stuff there... So now I am pretty interested what are the laws in New Zealand related to bringing all this stuff here? Does anybody know how expensive is the freight cost? Do the customs check it here and do you need to pay anything to them when the parts arrive?

Any information related would be very much appreciated.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

Think you need to pay around 15% of the value of the parts to get them through customs (GST + duty) and for some reason $1000 value comes to mind. Freight is quite expencive from NZ to USA, havent investigated the other way, imagine it would be cheaper though. There was a recent thread on this (few weeks ago?)

Edit: <a href="http://www.bimmersport.co.nz/forums/index.php?showtopic=27285">here</a>

Edited January 21, 2010 by ethrty320

[swordfish 30]

Great! Thats helpfull Thanks.

[Silver Fox 43]

Under $400, no GST or Tax, over $400 you are liable for it, but don't always get charged. I've bought in bits up to $1500 worth and got them in free, it's the luck of the draw. I always try to get goods sent USPS if from the States, seem to be cheapest by a long way, and I've had no problems with them. Up to 10kg is around $30 us, but I've been charged as much as $80 US for the same size package, get shipping quote first, it can make a difference as to who you buy from.

Go for it, it is generally cheaper, and fairly safe now.

[e30ftw 410]

Yeah I agree with David, USPS has ALWAYS been far cheaper every time I have bought things. Most things take about a week or two to arrive to so the wait isn't that long.

[Boyce 0]

I imported some wheels from the states not too hard. But depending on what the value is you may need an importers number if you bring it in with DHL then you can get a number through one of their agents. GST+customs can really sting you was about 400 on my wheels so be ready for that too. Shipping can be expensive to I think I paid around 250-280ish US from memory for four 16" wheels

Edited January 22, 2010 by Boyce

[Nobimmer 694]

I just recieved some Bushes and payed just over 15% of the total.

Which starts to get a bit dare if you are spending anything over $1500.

But have had no problems at all, you pay the taxes and they send you the goods.

[allan 295]

Have purchased a number of part from the states ie Pelican part and many others. The cost of these have been at most two thirds that of price's quoted by dealers here in NZ. As stated $400.00 is the cut off before you may get hit with GST. As for the best shipping time frame I found ring them on a Friday NZ time as they are some 20hrs behind us. This gives time to sort the order do all the paper work and it should be on the plane to NZ over the weekend and about 2 working days later in your hands. So about six to eight days in total most if not all items these days have a tracking number so not a big deal to keep an eye on happy shopping.

Allan

[Eagle 1661]

Ive had stuff arrived from pelican parts fast than stuff being shipping within nz. Even with shipping costs and gst alot of the more expensive bits can end up quite a bit cheaper.

[MLM 57]

Im currently going throught the learnig curve of havng parts sent privatly from denmark. There has been a bit of toing and froing with customs and i am expecting to get hit for duty. This may be due to it being from a private seller making customs more wary.

On the other hand i have bought from Turner motorsport and had parts in my hand in a few days with customs having opened the package to check. It all seems a bit hit and miss. However if plan for customs to take their cut there wont be any surprises.

The best source of info is the customs website.