Cost of importing stones into Australia

[chez]

Can anyone advise costs to get stones into the country ie. freight, customs, duty, gst etc ? and rates ?
Many thanks

 

[knuman]

This might differ, but when I got mine from an US internet vendor it was $100 for shipping/insurance, then an additional 10% GST on the value of the diamond + shipping. Then an additional $30.29 import processing fee. In my case that added about an extra $1,235 on the price of the diamond. All amounts in USD.

It was worth it for me because even with those expenses it was cheaper than any diamond I could have gotten in Sydney.

Hope that helps.

 

[chez]

Thanks, gives me a good idea of costs.

 

[Adylon]

2 words: mineral sample

I never ship any loose diamond internationally and declare the actual value or what it really is. It''s always a "mineral sample" worth $18.50.

I''ve had too many diamonds stolen by people within the shipping company as a result of declaring it a "loose diamond" and the actual value.

 

[jadeleaves]

Usually USD$100 for shipping, and 10% GST and customs handling fee of around AUD$50-60 for unmounted stones payable to Fedex as they act as a customs broker.

Adylon: I think most vendors ship diamonds as crystallized carbon and list the full value because they need to declare the value for insurance purposes too.

Imagine the amount of money we''ll save if we don''t have to pay the taxes on the rocks

 

[Adylon]

You don't have to declare the value to get it insured... unless you're getting it insured by the carrier.

There are many other 3rd party companies that will insure parcels up to a million dollars or more. You just call them up, give them the tracking number, what you want to insure it for, fax over the paperwork, get a fax back confirming everything is insured, and it's done. I do it all the time with a company called Parcel Pro. There are several other companies that do this as well.

They have strict instructions on how you package the goods, what you have to declare it for, etc.

As much as I would love to conform to all the international laws for import and taxes, my obligation to get the goods to the customer safe and secure trumps that.