Buying from Lee Valley Canada

[lesmeyer]

Zelk,
I don't know if you have place the order yet. But as a relative inexperienced purchaser form Lee Valley - I have only made 16 purchases up till now - I have not had a single problem - except 1 item shipped in error - they immediately dispatched the correct item which was at my home in 4 days. All businesses should be run the way Lee Valley run their business. Customer service is paramount at all times. In fact their service is legendary. Many posts on this forum will bear witness to that.
Regards
Les
Order # 17 coming up soon.

[lesmeyer]

Geez,
I hate it when I lie. It is not 16 orders but 19. # 20 coming up soon. Just checked my order status which has a complete history of all my orders. I humbly apologize for the misinformation.
Les

[ian]

Well here's the deal, in

Four Veritas planes and a spare blade amount to $888, the local retail price is about $1511 normally ie: without any haggling.

Purchasing from Lee Valley, I have 3 delivery options $106, $164 and $227 with max corresponding delivery times 12 weeks, 6 days and 10 days.

Assuming I get 10% off the local prices and pickup the planes myself, the final cost would be $1360.

If I purchase directly from Lee Valley and choose the $164 shipping option, the final price would be $1052.

Well, that's a saving of $ 308 or 23%.

Now, I ask my dear forumites is it worth it?

Zelk

Zelk

watch out for the AUD$1000 limit on tax free private imports
your proposed order is very close and could go over if the AUD$ moves the "wrong way" by a a few cents


ian

[zelk]

Zelk

watch out for the AUD$1000 limit on tax free private imports
your proposed order is very close and could go over if the AUD$ moves the "wrong way" by a a few cents


ian

Thanks Ian,

If I were to place and pay for two orders, each $999, ten minutes apart, how would customs view this?

Regards,
Zelk

[ian]

Zelk

I don't know what tracking systems Customs use

It might depend on whether the two packages were seen by the same person on the same day or there may be some form of computer matching

why don't you try and tell us what happens?


ian

[rsser]

Last LV order, I opted for the 12 week shipping option and it arrived in less than 2.

[zelk]

I have taken delivery of my planes and various other items.

Using the UPS delivery option, it took six days for the goods to come to my door.

On a purchase just under $AUD1000 the saving was 22% over the normal retail price here.

I can say that I would be very comfortable dealing with Lee Valley again.

Zelk

[damian]

I think you were lucky. I bring a lot of stuff in from overseas and my understanding is the $1000AU INCLUDES shipping costs.

Also customs monitor incomming shipments and if you have multiple shipment with the same sender/destination the system flags it and you may get hit. The system isn't 100% hitrate and some orders like yours slip through over the $1k limit, but be aware you could have got hit for 10% GST plus whatever duty applies on the WHOLE amount. That is you pay taxes on the shipping charge.

I bought a motorcycle in Colorado years ago for $500US. Long story but landed it was $4k.

Also UPS and Fedex have a reputation on shipments between the US and Canada of deliberately bringing them to customs attention and charging an agents fee to process the papaerwork. They don't seem to do it on shipments to aus.

Congratulations on your purchase. I am very happy for you. Just a heads up for everyone about the potential charges.

edit: I was wrong. They have changed it.

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549

A couple of years ago it included the shipping, now it doesn't. Note the sentence on multiple shipments.

Edit again: I was part right. The duty is payable on the item price, GST is levied on the combination of the price, the shipping and the duty. So if your order had been over the $1k you would have been hit for 10% on the WHOLE cost. Also (I don't think it's on that page) if there is an invoice in the parcel they calculate exchange rate per the day you were charged, so if the currency moves suddenly you won't (shouldn't) get bitten.

Sorry I've made a bit of a mess of this post. The short answer is if you call customs they will tell you what's what. I've had a couple of sour experiences with them, but most of the time they are extremely good.

[zelk]

I think you were lucky. I bring a lot of stuff in from overseas and my understanding is the $1000AU INCLUDES shipping costs.

Also customs monitor incomming shipments and if you have multiple shipment with the same sender/destination the system flags it and you may get hit. The system isn't 100% hitrate and some orders like yours slip through over the $1k limit, but be aware you could have got hit for 10% GST plus whatever duty applies on the WHOLE amount. That is you pay taxes on the shipping charge.

Damian,
I should add that the $ figure mentioned included shipping costs. There seems to be debate as to whether or not the $AUD1000 limit includes shipping costs, I played it safe and made sure that everything totalled to less than $AUD1000.

I wondered if and how multiple imports of less than $AUD1000, over a short period of time, were monitored. How long should I wait before importing again?

Zelk

[Wongo]

You must be a very happy boy right now. Enjoy.

[damian]

I don't know. Sorry the above is a mess. I would probably give it 3 months plus to be safe.

Like you I either keep the total under $1k or I factor the GST/Duty into my sums. Better safe than taxed.

Just another suggestion generally. It's worth looking over the various US suppliers. Often the price is higher but the shipping so much lower it swings it. In your case buying LV products changes it all, but buying more generic stuff it's worth shopping around. I buy stuff from carbatec, they are down teh road from my butcher. I've bought stuff from Timbecon. I've had great service and good prices from both. BUT when the price gap is very large and especially when I'm dealing domestic mail order I don't hesitate to go overseas. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm not saying anyone else is wrong, I'm just saying that's what I do.

I think we need some photo's of these beautiful new tools so we can all bath in the glow....

[zelk]

You must be a very happy boy right now. Enjoy.

Yeh, that's right Wongo.

My birthday is coming up soon (don't tell everyone) and family were obliged to buy a gift of my liking. I chose a couple of planes and tried to help out with the costs. They are still boxed and will have have to wait until BD to have a feel

Zelk

[zelk]

I think we need some photo's of these beautiful new tools so we can all bath in the glow....

Damian,
as the saying goes 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'....if only I could show you what I see.

Zelk