Question for any Australian PFer who has bought ring or stones from the Us

[katebar]

I have recently discovered this forum and are about to buy myself a treat in the form of some earrings from Whiteflash. Now as you all know this forum gets you thinking and now I have been decided to upgrade my ER for my 20th wedding anniversary. This has started me a researching like crazy over online versus Australian jewellers. Can anyone tell me what the hiddden costs as in customs duty was. I have tried looking on the Australian customs web site but haven''t found what I ''m looking for.I know I would have to pay at least 10% but is that all? Iwould really appreciate some of you sharing your expereriences with me.
The very exciting news is that I broached the subject ofthe upgrade with my husband over the weekend and he was very enthuastic and gave me an "oh my god are you sure!" budget so now the fun begins!

 

[Shay37]

Oh, my goodness, that does sound fun. I am in the states, so I cannot help you with this at all. Congrats anyway.

shay

 

[valeria101]

I''m somewhat mid-way between US and Australia... can''t help.

But there were at least a couple of Australian Pricescopers so you may want to runa search for their stories.

THIS is the most recent story.


The interesting citation from that thread should be:

"For those wondering, it works to your advantage because there''s a free trade agreement between Australia and the US, so you don''t need to pay customs/duties on the ring. Shipping is a bit of a chore, because of all the export declarations that need to be filled out, but I felt it was worth it"

Sounds like good news to me

And so does the result...

 

[katebar]

Thanks Valeria wow that is one amazing story from Brian but alas I don''t think Australia has embraced the free trade deal as enthusasticly as the US. Up till last month we paid 10% custom duty on every single thing we bought into the country. Now they have changed this to only those things with a value over $1000 and my oh my I am going to be spending much more than that!

 

[MissIndecisive]

Hi katebar

I''m in Australia too

, I''m not sure about customs but can I suggest if you would like to buy a loose stone, www.diamondexchange.com.au are fantastic!

That only works I guess if you have a jeweller that can make the earrings and do the ER upgrade.

I bought my stone from Diamond Exchange and I think they are great!

Although I can see why you want to go to WhiteFlash

 

[rubybrierley]

Hi Katebar,
I''m in Victoria and received my cushion cut stone from Mark T last week. You pay 10% GST on all stones and an additional 5% on set stones. I obviously didn''t have to pay the additional 5%. The only problem I did have was that my stone wasn''t declared as a diamond, it was declared as crystallised carbon. Customs wouldn''t release it until Mark completed a commercial invoice and declared it as a diamond. The girl from Fedex told me they''re getting really really strict so that held my stone up for about 5 days. I''m getting Phil at Platinumsmith to set my stone - will be pics here as soon as it''s on my finger! HTH

 

[katebar]

Thanks MissIndecisive I have contacted the diamond exchange.com just to enquire and they do seem a lot more than the US online shops. Precious metals in Melbourne obviously have great stones and they will give half of the insured value of my existing stone (they assess it I guess) towards a new ring. Yvonne from their has been very helpful to me.
Thanks to you too rubybrierley this is exactly what I want to know. I am just going to have to do lots of research over the coming months hope like hell the Aussie dollar picks up keep living vicariously as I watch all the other Pfers post their latest diamond stunners