Never, ever send an item worth less than US$500 to Australia by
FedEx, DHL, TNT or similar - they all do this routine of making sure
that you pay duty on a low value item that would normally be exempt
so that they can get a brokerage fee. On high value items it is
worthwhile as otherwise you have to organise your own broker - not
difficult but annoying and there the courier does it a bit cheaper.
I once asked FedEx while in the middle of a rant about this form of
bureaucratic thievery (yes, mild manner me - astonishing what?) what
would happen if my son in the UK sent his dotty old Australian granny
a Christmas present by their execrable service and the reply was -
"We'd have to call her and ask her to pay the fees or we wouldn't
deliver." Nice.
And it isn't even that much faster. Some senders like it because it
allows them to track an item and because they don't have to go down
to the Post Office, but professional dealers like B&H NY will give
you the choice of FedEx, Global Priority (EMS) or USPS parcel on most
items.
As I said before, one would have to assume that they do not want to
sell outside NZ or have to put up a pretence of agreeing while making
it bloody difficult. Perhaps they have Oly breathing down their neck?
Paranoia anyone?
AndrewF
On 31/07/2005, at 4:18 PM, Brian Swale wrote:
> DHL are the international courier agent used by NZPost, and
> Australians
> have (rightly) complained about the extra costs imposed as outlined
> above in
> relation to goods couriered across the Tasman. Don't get suckered
> in to
> using the extra-fast service to Australia!!
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