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Buying electricals from the UK when in OZ


vixxy666

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Hi all just a few months till the big move and my brains working overtime so you'll be sick of the site of me :)

 

Trying to keep the shipping costs relatively low as a lot of our furniture is ikea and could do we new stuff anyway so only bringing kitchen stuff, 2 beds, tv, xbox, imac, sofa and some boxes so aiming for about 1k which had quotes around so all going well.

 

I need knew pans and dinnerware, kettle, toaster and microwave just wanted to be a bit savvy and order these items from debenhams(shop of choice-going to miss browsing it ) once in oz as shipping would be free after a certain amount and due to the advantange of the exchange rate being in OZ favour against the UK i thought id save container costs and maybe get things cheaper than buying with UK £ in the UK. But as some of the items are electrical how does the tax work when they come in through customs? and if I have to pay it seperately how much is it as a %?

 

Thanks V much - Vix

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Guest Guest31881

If you are living in Australia and wish to buy products from overseas the Customs duty starts once the goods exceed $1000, anything less is not subject to import duty.

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But won't you need a kettle, toaster, microwave, pots and pans etc from the moment you get here? How will you manage while you wait for the Debenhams stuff to arrive?

 

Seems like a lot of effort to me. I'd just buy the stuff here. Then at least you can use it from Day 1 and return it easily if there are problems with it.

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Hi Nickynook I see your point were planning on renting fully furnished for a while so thats why i was thinking of getting it shipped seperately rather than in the container. Is there a store like debenhams/house of fraser etc you would recommend ill be in rockhampton qld but ill look online. Im just clearly hopeful that everything i buy will work hadnt even crossed my mind, my rose tinted glasses must have fell over my eyes lol Thanks

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I've only ever spent half a day in Rockhampton so I'm no expert on their shops.

 

Apparently they have a Harvey Norman and a Good Guys. Neither of them are remotely like a Debenhams but they're good for electricals and you can play them off against each other for the best deals.

 

Rockhampton is just a large Queensland country town - there will be plenty of day-to-day stuff, but I wouldn't be holding my breath while looking for english-style department stores.

If Rockhampton is where you're moving to, it might not be a bad idea to order and ship stuff from the UK. :biggrin:

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Yes, all the State Capitals (and some of the larger cities) have large english-style department stores.

 

Smaller places like Rockhampton might have a smaller, local department-type store but as far as I know there is no large DJ or Myer there.

I believe Mackay has a new (or one is planned) Myer store.

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In my experience, the department stores tend to be more expensive than places like "The Good Guys" anyway. Don't forget (as somebody else pointed out) that furniture and electrical shops are open to haggling over price, particularly if you're buying several items at once.

 

...and, having posted Christmas pressies both ways at various times, I'll be surprised if the shipping/postal costs don't nullify any price differential. We bought a $19.95 popcorn maker for my son last year and they were going to charge almost $50 in postage. Luckily son and family visited us last year and we gave it to them early.

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Guest Diggerc

Hi there

 

The Good Guys if you pay by cash you get 10% off. By the way if you are bringing the Tv forget about it because you will have the hassle of buying box in order to get freeview in Australia with the Tv bought in the Uk

 

Good luck

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Has anyone ever tried bringing over hardwired appliances from the UK? I'm getting a new kitchen and the oven I want is 800 quid in the uk, versus $4000 here. There's different answers as to whether I can legally install it as it doesn't carry the Aus kitemark. A person from Miele says it's irrelevent as it meets a universal safety standard but a sparky has outright said he won't touch it with a bargepole

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thanks for the good guys info I'll take a look. Eera what about getting a Pom to install as they will be trained in uk appliances and presumably trained to oz safety standards etc

PS do you know any big company's that have laboratorys in the rockhampton area I'm hunting online but Gladstone seems the closest Thanks :)

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Hi there

 

The Good Guys if you pay by cash you get 10% off. By the way if you are bringing the Tv forget about it because you will have the hassle of buying box in order to get freeview in Australia with the Tv bought in the Uk

 

Good luck

 

Not necessarily true, some TVs work and some don't. Yes you might need the set box for free view but you can buy a cheap one for about $30-$40.

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Guest Guest31881
can u get foxtel/sky equivalent and just get your tv working through that ours is only a year old so just gonna bring it with

 

if your TV is only a year old the chances are that it may find the Australian channels automatically, if not you check to see if it can have the country code changed to Germany and if all else fails you can buy a Set top box for Australian freeview, use satellite or cable depending where you are settling. The TV will work here even if its only as a monitor for satellite or freeview

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Vixxy, I think it's the liability they're scared of incase things go wrong.

 

ALS have a lab in Rocky, and SGS have facilities in both Rocky and Gladstone, but whether that's their testing or training branch I don't know

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You may also find that Debenhams don't deliver certain things here.....even some of their shoes they won't despatch !!

 

If you are coming to live here.....then why not live Australian and get used to what this country has to offer.

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The following is a link to a Victorian site, but chances are Queensland is similar: http://www.esv.vic.gov.au/For-Consumers/Appliances-and-equipment

 

In essence, it's an offence for a licensed electrician to install an electrical applicance that isn't approved for use in Australia.

 

Also, you'll find that shipping internationally often voids the warranty anyway - you're better off buying in Oz :)

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You may also find that Debenhams don't deliver certain things here.....even some of their shoes they won't despatch !!

 

If you are coming to live here.....then why not live Australian and get used to what this country has to offer.

 

Because if "what this country has to offer" is precisely the same product for twice the price, why throw your money away?

 

Going back to the OP, bring TVs by all means if you already have them, but they (and other black goods, electronics etc) aren't particularly expensive here so no need to buy from elsewhere

 

White goods are pricey, so buy in the UK and bring them

 

I personally wouldn't fancy the delivery costs and import aggro from importing (by ordering online) electricals from the UK or elsewhere when actually in Oz. I'm 100% OK with ordering other stuff online that's much easier delivered, doesn't attract import hassle and is also overpriced here though (clothes, shoes, books, media etc)

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I'm not sure about that "white goods are pricey" bit either. I just did some online comparisons between Currys and Harvey Norman. A good many things seem to have different model numbers but I did find the same Bosch 7kg. washing machine on both sites. At Currys it was £649 but with a cash back offer so I took the price as £549 or about $825 at the present exchange rate. Harvey Norman had it for $999 but I've never, ever paid the full list price for anything there--I'd anticipate getting it for between $850 and $900 based on previous experience.

 

Add in shipping and the advantage of having a local warranty and I suspect it's better to buy here.

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Fair enough. I was just going by the fridge and washer we bought when we arrived, both of which seemed pretty expensive compared to what I was used to paying. I didn't do direct like for like comparisons though

 

But where did you buy and how hard did you haggle?

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But where did you buy and how hard did you haggle?

 

Exactly. I was lucky in that my wife has live in Aus all her life and is a natural haggler anyway. I'd never have thought of trying some of the haggling she did in furniture and appliance shops but, with the exception of some stuff already heavily discounted, she's never failed. She drives such a hard bargain that we once walked off and they chased us to the carpark to give us the price she'd demanded on a dishwasher!

 

i think a big issue with buying a fridge before you come is that the buggers often end up being too small or too big for the fridge space in the house you end up in. :(

 

Yeah, I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be any such thing as a "standard" fridge space. We've ended up measuring the new house then going to the shops with a tape measure.

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