Hi All,

I am thinking of purchasing the insider Northlander but cannot get full clarification of final price for Australia.

The order form quotes the price as $1,150 US dollars.

The question is at what stage is the final conversion to Aust dollars done ie at time of ordering or arrival in shop etc . Also does this price include local tax GST and can a shop charge more or less above/below the RRP set by Marklin. ?

If membership is via a German dealer would the VAT be deducted for export as per regular orders ?

Any input from the experience of members would be appreciated.

Cheers and thanks

Diesel

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the quick reply and apologies for not being clear in my question.

I want to purchase from an Australian dealer but trying to clarify if the Marklin RRP as per order form which is in US dollars is the actual final price we are charged by the dealer ie it should have no hidden extras like local taxes ie GST or postage from Marklin and at what stage is the final price conversion worked out as it can take up to 12 mths or more from time of ordering to receiving at the dealer.

Due to changing owner ship of Australian shops staff knowledge about the final price is vague.

Hopefully the experience of other Australian insider members can shed some light on normal procedure.

Regards

Diesel

The USD price does not include any VAT. Here in the US, sales tax, if any, is added to the list price and paid by the consumer. If the item is sent overseas, no sales tax will be charged because the item is not consumed locally.

Thanks for the replys all and Adrian your thoughts confirm my thinking so I will investigate a little further.

Regards

Diesel

It's a mixed bag ordering anything from OS from Australia. I have bought things which have taken forever even though I paid high freight fees. An order order from Japan, reasonable price & turned up reasonably quickly, a modestly top end needle for turntable (record player).

The quickest items are for my Land Rover from England. Order on Tuesday & arrives by 4pm Friday, DHL. The supplier must be on a discount rate, ok, not cheap, but not out of hand either.

It takes longer to get most deliveries across Sydney.


Items for hobbies, I suppose it is a cost triangle. Cost/need (satisfaction)/timeframe... & exchange rate!


I have bought a few items in Germany. One order the supplier doesn't deliver to Australia, so still with relatives in Germany. I I got the order delivered to relatives in Germany. Paying Germany's bloody tax rate because it was not exported, the price one pays for one's priorities.

The order will eventually come to Australia in "hand luggage".

It's that priority triangle again!

The German dealer will tell you the final price in EU and without VAT (assuming you've told them its for export to Australia - export price). If they wont deduct VAT, buy elsewhere.

You then pay the dealer that price in EU + shipping (my dealer charges 25 euro flat, others will charg up to 50).

It is up to you where the currency conversion takes place when you pay the dealer and depending on payment method. Standard banks and paypal tend to have poor conversion rates so I use a 28 degrees mastercard (credit card) which is charged in EU and converted here to AU - they charge no conversion fee and have great rates. The CC itself has no annual fee or anything either.

If you use paypal they ask you if you want to charge your card in EU or AU. If you select AU then that is telling Paypal to do the (expensive) conversion. If you choose EU then it gets converted by the bank.

As long as the item(s) price is no more than around 600 euro (shipping not included) then you can import without being charged import fees and GST.
If there is a question of the goods value from border security, they e-mail you (make sure dealer includes your e-mail on the packaging) and you can just reply with a copy of the invoice and converted currency amount which will be under $1000 AU.

Shipping will take 2-4 weeks.

You should not be buying from someone charging in USD since their price is in EU and you're in AU...

As for Insider items specifically, you need to be an Insider member to order them. If you have a membership number you can have any dealer order it for you.
Otherwise you will find some dealers selling them without needing to be a member - this is because they order Insider items for all their own customers who have Insider membership, and if the members don't want them then they just sell the item to whoever wants it so they have excess stock.
So if it's a very popular insider item you may struggle to find one for sale. This is also why you are seeing Insider items on ebay etc. for anyone to buy.