Recent importing a TiVo

[zollymonsta]

Hi All,

I'm considering another TiVo to play with (so I don't stuff up my main one) :)
I'm a geek! :D

Has anyone in NZ recently imported a TiVo from George at Eklectik Systems without worries (From Customs etc)

[thomson]

Has anyone in NZ recently imported a TiVo from George at Eklectik Systems without worries (From Customs etc)

Four "acquaintances" of mine have recently (in the last month) imported units from George without any issues at Customs. All up, the unit, TurboNet and shipping comes to around NZ$390.

[fixxer37]

My first Tivo at the end of July arrived in 3 days from George, no customs, straight to my door - and it was very easy using a free paypal account etc which has a limit of $750US before you have to pay $1.95 and stuff around with account upgrades.
Last week I ordered 4 for friends, family and a spare, and this time I decided to double them up for shipping as per his email - to pay $137 for 2 instead of $85 each shipment. He does state that this could affect customs duties - and it did. He tapes two of the tivo DVR boxes together and packs them in with proper foam boxing stuff. However the larger box must have attracted attention at customs and they pinged me for GST even though they aren't new. I had to pay 62.50NZD on each box (30 bucks each tivo) which is still cheaper than the separate shipping, however it took customs 5 days to post a letter telling me what I had to pay and how to do it. I had been watching the USPS track and trace eagerly for a week, and I eventually called NZ post to find out what was up (then the letter arrived!) I got one box of 2 on Friday and the other one got separated.... it _should_ arrive today... bahhh.
Of course shipping just 1 doesn't guarantee no-customs worries either.... 1 unit only is still applicable to GST - it's just if they notice it or not!!
So George's service is great, and hopefully the customs info helps too.
If you're paying by creditcard, you'll find a tivo+turbonet equates to about $400NZ as they CC companys screw you on the exch rate...

[clive]

FWIW, ditto the comments above - easiest international transaction I've ever made, George is excellent to deal with, fast on the email, fast on dispatch and the box arrived in 3 days from date of order, no customs. Am musing over getting another while the getting is good ... :rolleyes:

[zollymonsta]

My first Tivo at the end of July arrived in 3 days from George, no customs, straight to my door - and it was very easy using a free paypal account etc which has a limit of $750US before you have to pay $1.95 and stuff around with account upgrades.
Last week I ordered 4 for friends, family and a spare, and this time I decided to double them up for shipping as per his email - to pay $137 for 2 instead of $85 each shipment. He does state that this could affect customs duties - and it did. He tapes two of the tivo DVR boxes together and packs them in with proper foam boxing stuff. However the larger box must have attracted attention at customs and they pinged me for GST even though they aren't new. I had to pay 62.50NZD on each box (30 bucks each tivo) which is still cheaper than the separate shipping, however it took customs 5 days to post a letter telling me what I had to pay and how to do it. I had been watching the USPS track and trace eagerly for a week, and I eventually called NZ post to find out what was up (then the letter arrived!) I got one box of 2 on Friday and the other one got separated.... it _should_ arrive today... bahhh.
Of course shipping just 1 doesn't guarantee no-customs worries either.... 1 unit only is still applicable to GST - it's just if they notice it or not!!
So George's service is great, and hopefully the customs info helps too.
If you're paying by creditcard, you'll find a tivo+turbonet equates to about $400NZ as they CC companys screw you on the exch rate...

Ahh sounds about right. Wonder if the rate is about the same.
I got mine around the beginning of the year (from memory) and it was indeed about $400 on my Visa Card. Was just wondering if since then customs had cracked down. Looks like they haven't really.

*contemplates* Hehehehe.. How many TiVos is too many? :)

[zollymonsta]

FWIW, ditto the comments above - easiest international transaction I've ever made, George is excellent to deal with, fast on the email, fast on dispatch and the box arrived in 3 days from date of order, no customs. Am musing over getting another while the getting is good ... :rolleyes:

Yep, George was excellent I found too with my first TiVo. :D
If I DO get another one I'll be getting it from him.

[SeanOffShotgun]

Four "acquaintances" of mine have recently (in the last month) imported units from George without any issues at Customs. All up, the unit, TurboNet and shipping comes to around NZ$390.

Being one of the "acquaintances" (bah!) of my FRIEND Thomson, I feel I could comment. If you keep the transaction (including frieght) under $400 then customs can't touch you for G.S.T. Mine came in at around NZ$1 = US$0.63 on the credit card (NZ$387).

But aside from that a wee hint...
Sometimes some people forget to put all the value on the customs forms when they send goods.

[waynez]

another thing to note, don't get them sent to a business address. For some reason this alerted customs. We imported two, had them delivered to the office, as we could gaurantee their would be someone in during the day.

Customs thought we had brought them to on sell.

That aside, George was great, items arrived in the time specified and with out any problems.

One other thing, don't rely on customs sending out a letter if the package is held up, ring them and chase them up, I'll post the phone numbers if anyone is interested for customs and courierpost ( New Zealand agent for USPS )

[zollymonsta]

My first one was sent to my work address, no hassles.
Perhaps there's been quite a few coming in lately too, which is why they're taking more notice?

[fixxer37]

I second that about the amount of Tivos coming in are attracting attention...

Also, here's an excerpt from the letter from Customs:
"All goods mailed into New Zealand are subject to GST and may also be subject to Import Duty. Import Entries for goods that have a value of $NZ100 or more are also subjec to an Import Transaction Fee of $18 (inc. GST)...."

Nothing there about 2nd hand goods being exempt, or the $400 thing either... although the shipping lable showed a value of $320US (for the 2 Tivos) compared to $245 for my first one.... so indeed the $400 limit could come into play. I think it's all a gamble depending on who's working that day! And the GST was cheaper than extra shipping (if getting 2!). But you can tell on the track and trace, if it says it's entered customs in NZ, then you should call straight away to get it cleared - cos the time delay is worse than the GST payment! Call NZ post on 0800 478 379, quote your USPS tracking code, to get your NZ Post "Entry Code". Then call customs on 0800 388 437 and quote the Entry Code (with your Creditcard handy) to have them released. They should arrive the next day...

[deanm]

I ordered one from George on the 27th.. shipped that day.. arrived today 31st.

No problems at all :)

[zollymonsta]

I ordered one from George on the 27th.. shipped that day.. arrived today 31st.

No problems at all :)

Mmmm *feels more tempted to get 2nd TiVo*

[Muzza]

I also bought two units in from George and found him fine to deal with - track and trace showed that they arrived into the country a couple of days after they were sent but after nearly 10 days I thought I'd try tracing them and sure enough they were just sitting at customs - no letters or phone calls so I guess they'd still be there if I hadn't rung them so the key is to wait 3-4 days and then try tracking them down yourself. I had to pay GST to get them released but I got over that once they arrived so nevermind! They ended up costing me $650NZD each in total including my 200Gb hard disk purchase from local supplier. WORTH EVERY CENT!

[zollymonsta]

I also bought two units in from George and found him fine to deal with - track and trace showed that they arrived into the country a couple of days after they were sent but after nearly 10 days I thought I'd try tracing them and sure enough they were just sitting at customs - no letters or phone calls so I guess they'd still be there if I hadn't rung them so the key is to wait 3-4 days and then try tracking them down yourself. I had to pay GST to get them released but I got over that once they arrived so nevermind! They ended up costing me $650NZD each in total including my 200Gb hard disk purchase from local supplier. WORTH EVERY CENT!

Ouch.. How much did customs sting you for gst for each tivo?

I guess two tivos arriving at once probably got their attention.

[Grant]

FYI,

servicedvr.com have refurbed tivo's with 2x120gb drives for US$210. I had a friend carry mine back in luggage so don't know about the NZ shipping, but it sure was cheap...

[Muzza]

Credit card bill was $755.33NZD for George's part - 2 X Diskless TiVo's and Turbonet cards + extra remote. Customs charged me $62.50 and 200Gb hard disks were $236 each - so in total it was about $650NZD each one. I notice the hard disks have come down in price since I bought mine - around $200 each now.

[fishman]

Seems a good point to add to the topic, and, at the same time, say Hi to everyone...Steve here..in Timaru
Wel.... I got here by a different route. Browsing Trademe, I spotted the ad a while back for the Tivo.
A quick Google lead me to here...to the FFWD article..to Tim's place. This was for me. And the rest is history!....
George was out of stock, so as I don't do patience, I ordered one on Ebay(for Ebay read Poweron!) sorry George, I do feel bad about it. No problems ordering on line and payment via BidPay. From ordering to having the top off the Tivo, took 13 days...not so good. (Very ironic)
Cleared customs no problems and nothing to pay.
Now, with the Tivo sat next to the decoder, I've enjoyed every minute of the journey....yep....even when sat there, waiting for the light bulb to come on or wondering why the video is jerky.
Thanks, gratefull thanks, are all I can to say, to those who made this possible.
I look forward to being part of this community.
Steve

[fishman]

Oh and I forgot...under no circumstances...should you ever reboot 3 times, via Telnet, while your wife is watching "Now playing" on... "her" Tivo..without telling her first. I'm amazed we are still married.

[clive]

Oh and I forgot...under no circumstances...should you ever reboot 3 times, via Telnet, while your wife is watching "Now playing" on... "her" Tivo..without telling her first. I'm amazed we are still married.
... or hold a key down in a telnet session in the other room
... or change the channel via tivoweb :D

I predict the correct answer to the question "how many TiVo's do we need?" will quickly converge to "one for each TV in the house plus one". Welcome mate.

Clive

[zollymonsta]

Okay, well I've decided Yes. I've ordered a 120gb seagate HD and will order my second TiVo at the end of next week :)

Cheers all. :)

[zollymonsta]

Ordered my 2nd TiVO.. Bliss!! Now to wait for its arrival (and hopefully no snap from customs!) as I'm having it delivered to work rather then NZ Post leaving it on the doorstep and the neighbourhood kids deciding to use it as cricket stumps. ;)

[MrGadget]

No problem at all - I got mine in around 3 days, direct to our office. So quick and and easy, I wasn't prepared - had to race out and buy a Hard Drive(you just can't wait...!).
As mentioned, you can import up to $400 with no issue (as the GST on anything less than $400 comes in at less than $50 and doesn't get collected).

[zollymonsta]

Just to let everyone know, currently it costs around $397.36 NZ on a VISA card to import a TiVo direct from George at Eksys. This includes a Turbonet.

:D

[number6]

As mentioned, you can import up to $400 with no issue (as the GST on anything less than $400 comes in at less than $50 and doesn't get collected).

Thats a self-imposed [by customs] limit and is not mandated that there be such a limit by law.

Customs have decided that its uneconomic for them to collect less than $50 worth of duty/GST on incoming items.
They therfore will let items in where the total duty/GST payable is under $50, but they can, and sometimes do, ping you for GST for lesser amounts if they don't like the look of the box, or who is importing the goods, or if they think you're a business.

Customs have also said that this $50 limit will come down over time as they get more efficient and could in theory drop to $20 or less one day when you least expect it.

The GST calculation includes the cost of the goods plus the freight costs as well.

Think of all that $5 worth of GST the IRD is currently missing out each time someone here buys a book or DVD from overseas - you can just about imagine the Minister of Finance weeping at the thought of all this missing GST...

[zollymonsta]

My 2nd TiVO has arrived! Got caught up with NZ Post due to the weekend, else would have had it on Friday. No hassles with customs whatsoever (with a value of $160USD on the label) even though it was sent to my work address.