Thread: Importing, Shipping, pitfalls and work arounds

Originally Posted by steven

What happens when you import > $1000NZD?

I have got a NZ Customs client code number but otherwise I have no idea on what I need to do to make an import go OK. So what if anything do I need to set in place please?

You place the order, it gets sent.
There is an address on the box....yours.
If it is assessed as being subject to GST, ( depending on the declared value ), the value of the item plus the cost of shipping will attract GST....and maybe MAF levies as well.
Customs will mail a GST invoice to the address on the box.
You can pay buy CC over the phone if you wish.
Customs release the item and it is delivered.

Or you get lucky and it slips through.

B

Originally Posted by shift14

If a price differential of up to $NZ484 for an identical suitcase isn't a rip, then what is.

I bought our OR Goretex jackets from a store here probably much the same as your friends, but not at RRP, on sale, less 35%. I did check off shore prices, but there was nothing in it, so I didn't import.

Discerning buyers aren't the threat to people such as your mate.

The Briscoes / Rebel Sport and Warehouse / Torpedo7 / R n R Sport Groups with their buying power and vertical structures don't seem to be struggling.......

B

Originally Posted by shift14

Mates and my son got sizing sorted

How did you do that? By going into a shop and getting service from staff being paid wages, where the shop is paying power rent etc? Yes, often NZ retailers can struggle to simply beat a price from oversea, but when you buy from offshore, I suggest you buy off shore. Dont ask a local retailer to carry what you want so you can check its size before buying it else where, Dont ask a NZ agent to fix it cos it broke, and when it arrives damaged in transit, buy another one from the first supplier.

Retailers and importers here have to cover warranties on products themselves, and any damaged goods are not usually able to be returned to factory so they wear that as well. I support local and NZ when I can, and if that means paying more for service, then I rest easy knowing a staff member will get paid for what they have done. Otherwise when these shops close, the staff lose jobs and we all end up paying for that.

Originally Posted by timattalon

How did you do that? By going into a shop and getting service from staff being paid wages, where the shop is paying power rent etc? Yes, often NZ retailers can struggle to simply beat a price from oversea, but when you buy from offshore, I suggest you buy off shore. Dont ask a local retailer to carry what you want so you can check its size before buying it else where, Dont ask a NZ agent to fix it cos it broke, and when it arrives damaged in transit, buy another one from the first supplier.

Retailers and importers here have to cover warranties on products themselves, and any damaged goods are not usually able to be returned to factory so they wear that as well. I support local and NZ when I can, and if that means paying more for service, then I rest easy knowing a staff member will get paid for what they have done. Otherwise when these shops close, the staff lose jobs and we all end up paying for that.

I don't ask the local retailers to stock anything. What they do stock is their business. Where I spend my money is mine.
It's the 21st century, not the Muldoonist 70's thank goodness.

Read my posts in their entirety. Don't just selectively quote the instances where I bought off shore. If the local price stacks up, I buy local.
Wanking on about warranty and local support for items purchased overseas is a giggle.
Elsewhere on this forum I've given examples two examples of Swarovski after market service with regards scopes bought offshore.
A Z6 I had a ballistic turret retrofitted to, and a Z5 with a scratched ocular.
Both were returned via the local agent ( NZ Ammo ) who I was upfront with regards the purchase history.
The service from both parties was outstanding. The Swaro service centre guy said you buy the brand, not just the scope..

If you're going to preach to me from the moral high ground, I hope you spend more time there than it takes to post here.

B

Originally Posted by timattalon

How did you do that? By going into a shop and getting service from staff being paid wages, where the shop is paying power rent etc? Yes, often NZ retailers can struggle to simply beat a price from oversea, but when you buy from offshore, I suggest you buy off shore. Dont ask a local retailer to carry what you want so you can check its size before buying it else where, Dont ask a NZ agent to fix it cos it broke, and when it arrives damaged in transit, buy another one from the first supplier.

Retailers and importers here have to cover warranties on products themselves, and any damaged goods are not usually able to be returned to factory so they wear that as well. I support local and NZ when I can, and if that means paying more for service, then I rest easy knowing a staff member will get paid for what they have done. Otherwise when these shops close, the staff lose jobs and we all end up paying for that.

What?? Retailers don't have to cover warranties themselves if they havnt imported it themselves. If they buy of a nz supplier and something goes wrong, the supplier will fix the issue as covered by warranties or consumer G Act. IT depends on the product etc but its life in the real world now. If you can buy something overseas far cheaper than you can here you a fool not too unless you have no money issues and happy to throw it away.. Same with damaged stock, I work in retail, if we don't import the stuff ourselves (we do with some things) if it arrives damaged we don't wear that at all. The supplier we send a new one, or repair and replace with no cost to us

Originally Posted by deer243

What?? Retailers don't have to cover warranties themselves if they havnt imported it themselves. If they buy of a nz supplier and something goes wrong, the supplier will fix the issue as covered by warranties or consumer G Act. IT depends on the product etc but its life in the real world now. If you can buy something overseas far cheaper than you can here you a fool not too unless you have no money issues and happy to throw it away..

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

Originally Posted by mikee

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

I know that , the retailer has to sort it for the customer but the fact is (in our business) we always go back to the supplier, they 100 pcent always sort it , and its sorted for the customer. Esp with scopes, and firearm and hunting related items the warranties are so good from the suppliers the stores don't do a thing. Its sorted by the supplier is it not and then sorted by the store to the customer. Ie if your Leupold scope fucks out its no cost to the retailer to fix it, the supplier will sort it with the life time warranty. If you buy a bed and its a sleepyhead brand and theres a issue with it, its not the retailer anymore that's sorting it. Sleepyhead deals direct now with the customer to get it sorted and fixed or replaced, we don't even deal with the customer after the first phone call.....things are changing from what they used to be 20 years ago and everyone seems happy. Of cause if it didn't get resolved we fix it ourselves but we havnt had to do that in ten years...unless we import it ourselves or the suppliers gone bust then we do

Interesting. I work for a distributor and in my personal experience. Retailer sells the stuff and hospital passes all issues back to us even if its not really our issue at all. Ie installation whoopsies by retailer

Originally Posted by mikee

Interesting. I work for a distributor and in my personal experience. Retailer sells the stuff and hospital passes all issues back to us even if its not really our issue at all. Ie installation whoopsies by retailer

That's abit different, that's not a problem with the product, but with the people who installed it . If the product is faulty nor doesn't work for some reason the way it should the retailer these days hardly ever have a cost involved to them. The supplier will sort it for the retailer in most cases, we even charge the supplier pick up costs etc if we have to go pick it up to be repaired or returned back to them and they all paid.(dozens of different suppliers).
In the firearm, hunting business I doubt HnF etc are wearing any cost at all as stated by that previous post for fauty or damaged stock. Freight company either paids or the supplier or manufacturer sorts it for them at their own cost.

P S if the retailer imports the product themselves and are responsible for faulty items etc etc nearly all of them increase the mark up on that product to ...
1 Cover any extra cost that they may incurred if it is faulty.
2 To make better margins of profit to take advantage of getting the items cheaper importing themselves.
Hence, they not wearing extra costs that the punter isn't already paying for them

I generally agree but NZ retailers and manufacturers (if you can call being based here and getting your stuff made in china) seem to operate on the "make it as cheap as possible and mark up the hell out of it. End result is what should be cheap crap that doesn't last is expensive crap that does not last (or fit properly).

Hell I wear a 2xl shirt but had to get a 4xl Huntech top before it would fit me

I have started buying a bit of Sitka stuff locally and Kuiu online. Yes the prices make your eyes water and your arse pucker but you can see its well made and actually fits properly. Was most likely also "made in China"
Why is is well made and last?? Well its because for all their faults Americans don't like buying crap maybe

NZ retailers / manufacturers should stop whining about people buying on line, price is only part of the reason we do it.

Originally Posted by mikee

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

I understand that some cannot see past the dollar signs on what they want, they cannot see any value in service and cannot see the implications or consequences of their actions. Why is there so few small retailers in hunting goods? Why did Hamils disappear? It wasn't because they were making a big profit. None of them are.

From a legal standpoint and the CGA a retailer is ONLY require to cover goods THEY sold. They are NOT required to cover any goods they did not sell themselves. If the Distributor (in the case mentioned above Swaro) chooses to then that's good for them, but understand, the CGA does definitely not cover goods that someone imports themselves from overseas. The only seller that is the required to fix is the one who sold it to you. And if they are overseas then the law here has teeth so blunt they will need dentures.

As for moral High ground. Well that comes from dealing day in and day out with customers for 25 years in retail and customer service. The one thing we have over cheap imports is service and reputation. We stock what we believe in and we back it up with service that you will not get from a overseas supplier. I have dealt with all manner of complaints, and most of them are genuine. We have a few try it on and I have even had people tell me they want me to honour another retailers product they we have never sold. Rule of thumb here is if it doesn't sell then we dont stock it. If everyone imports their own we wont carry any in stock as it is dead money and will not sell.

With so many companies trying to make ends meet, how any of them would cover someone else's warranty issues and continue to survive is challenging to say the least. Do you honestly think that if everyone imported their own Swaro scope and the local distributor sold none, that they would continue to service them under warranty? I suspect more likely they would stop importing them, stop stocking them, dump the agency and tell you its not their problem.

I do import products that we cannot obtain locally, but I do my own research, and any warranties are covered by us. We cover anything that goes wrong as more often than not the cost of returning it to the factory exceeds anything we would bet back. Usually the retailer can take a return to the original distributor if it was sold by them and as a sign of good faith (read honest trading) most suppliers will honour this, especially if they want to sell more of them. They are not obligated to as retail is not covered by the CGA as the act only applys to non commercially supplied goods. You buy it for a company or business and the CGA changes very quickly.

Originally Posted by mikee

I generally agree but NZ retailers and manufacturers (if you can call being based here and getting your stuff made in china) seem to operate on the "make it as cheap as possible and mark up the hell out of it. End result is what should be cheap crap that doesn't last is expensive crap that does not last (or fit properly).

Hell I wear a 2xl shirt but had to get a 4xl Huntech top before it would fit me

I have started buying a bit of Sitka stuff locally and Kuiu online. Yes the prices make your eyes water and your arse pucker but you can see its well made and actually fits properly. Was most likely also "made in China"
Why is is well made and last?? Well its because for all their faults Americans don't like buying crap maybe

NZ retailers / manufacturers should stop whining about people buying on line, price is only part of the reason we do it.

I have no problem with people buying online, or off shore (and there is a difference), And overall I think the market can handle both retail and online / off shore trading. There are pro's and con's to both. Retail costs more as there are costs involved that are not added to off shore purchases. But CGA does not apply to goods purchased from overseas. As such the things I import are things I can sort, fix, assess and repair myself, and generally things I cannot get here easily, but the things I do not import are things that are prone to fault issues, generally expensive or complicated items or items that are readily available here.

Quality counts for a lot. With retail I can see how good it is, and know that what I am getting will do what I need it to do for as log as I need it to. Importing from a photo does not and we have all seen the "genuine Leupold scopes direct from china". How many of you have those? More importantly how many of you dont now you have one of those....? If you take one of those to Leupold for a warranty, where will that get you? but if you bought it from a retailer here in NZ, you are covered, and that law has teeth.

Some manufacturers put pressure on retailers to do all the shitty no profit warrantee returns for them. They put lifetime back to base warrantees on the box and insist the local guy handle it despite not receiving any initial sale profit. Its not a CGA issue but it is not something the retailer can shrug off on the moral grounds that the customer is screwing them over. "Mate I know its a bitter pill to swallow" said one guy who had broken his 3rd scope.

I reckon we will see shops go the way of places like apple where they only have demo shops. You cant walk away with anything because they know you wouldn't buy it anyway. You get touch something a hundred people touched that day (yay for hygiene) and then you leave empty handed, probably grumbling about that service you didn't pay for. Yep thats what's heading for us and its inevitable - You cant have your cake and eat it too.

As for me, yep i'm guilty. Brought in things to save a dollar that in turn probably then went and spent on more powder / brass / projectiles. Maybe that's all that will be sold in local operations of the future, stuff too complicated to import.

Originally Posted by timattalon

I understand that some cannot see past the dollar signs on what they want, they cannot see any value in service and cannot see the implications or consequences of their actions. Why is there so few small retailers in hunting goods? Why did Hamils disappear? It wasn't because they were making a big profit. None of them are.

From a legal standpoint and the CGA a retailer is ONLY require to cover goods THEY sold. They are NOT required to cover any goods they did not sell themselves. If the Distributor (in the case mentioned above Swaro) chooses to then that's good for them, but understand, the CGA does definitely not cover goods that someone imports themselves from overseas. The only seller that is the required to fix is the one who sold it to you. And if they are overseas then the law here has teeth so blunt they will need dentures.

As for moral High ground. Well that comes from dealing day in and day out with customers for 25 years in retail and customer service. The one thing we have over cheap imports is service and reputation. We stock what we believe in and we back it up with service that you will not get from a overseas supplier. I have dealt with all manner of complaints, and most of them are genuine. We have a few try it on and I have even had people tell me they want me to honour another retailers product they we have never sold. Rule of thumb here is if it doesn't sell then we dont stock it. If everyone imports their own we wont carry any in stock as it is dead money and will not sell.

With so many companies trying to make ends meet, how any of them would cover someone else's warranty issues and continue to survive is challenging to say the least. Do you honestly think that if everyone imported their own Swaro scope and the local distributor sold none, that they would continue to service them under warranty? I suspect more likely they would stop importing them, stop stocking them, dump the agency and tell you its not their problem.

I do import products that we cannot obtain locally, but I do my own research, and any warranties are covered by us. We cover anything that goes wrong as more often than not the cost of returning it to the factory exceeds anything we would bet back. Usually the retailer can take a return to the original distributor if it was sold by them and as a sign of good faith (read honest trading) most suppliers will honour this, especially if they want to sell more of them. They are not obligated to as retail is not covered by the CGA as the act only applys to non commercially supplied goods. You buy it for a company or business and the CGA changes very quickly.

All good.

I didn't put up the post to debate the rights or wrongs of importing.

It was my observation that guys were asking the same questions about shipping/ importing regularly.
I thought it would be helpful to summarize my experiences.

B

Originally Posted by shift14

All good.

I didn't put up the post to debate the rights or wrongs of importing.

It was my observation that guys were asking the same questions about shipping/ importing regularly.
I thought it would be helpful to summarize my experiences.

B

All got bit off track then.......

No worries.