Recent importing a TiVo

[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.

[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.