Help...Tiffany's Charging Tax & Duty

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Ms.M

Ms.M

On the Orange Side
O.G.
Jun 21, 2010
432
1
#1
Hello everyone ~ I was hoping that someone could shed some light on this....

So..dh has decided to purchase two shared setting rings from Tiffany's, because we are in Australia we thought to take advantage of the current exchange rate and purchase from New York...
I speak with a sa from New York and they are happy to send internationally but are charging tax & duty

I was under the impression that one does not have to pay tax and duty if it is leaving the country so i asked why is this so?? sa responds that it is normal procedure but i will not have to pay duty and tax once it reaches Australia

Could someone please clarify this for me

TIA
 
#2
Well I live in Canada and ship a LOT of clothing etc. from the US (a bit of an internet shopping habit!) and there are usually two scenarios: they will pre-charge the duty and taxes (J. Crew, Shopbop, Neiman Marcus do this)... or ship it and let the Canadian Customs at the border decide what I owe and they charge me directly. Either way I think you'll get dinged when it crosses the AUS border. We have a NAFTA agreement with the US but if it's not manufactured in the US we get charged duty, and we always get charged Canadian sales taxes.

IF they will offer you a choice (pre-pay or let your borders decide) I'd suggest asking them to let your border customs charge you ... in my experience it ends up being less... but it might be different from AUS.

Good luck!
 
#3
There's no way around the taxes and duties, at least not a legal one. There was a big discussion about this stuff on Pricescope at one point about how the folks buying jewelry do it, there's a big tax when it gets to Australia I think they have to pay to collect the package.
 
#4
The only way around avoiding taxes & duties os to pick it up yourself, or if you have a friend who travels or family member, they can pick it up for you if they happen to be there.
 
#5
Many thanks ladies for your replies ~ unfortunately there is no way around this but to pay prior to shipping ~ I will keep you all posted next week until then have a wonderful weekend xxx
 
#6
What about buying it from Tiffany's in Oregon. We have no sales tax here. They can also ship a ring etc in from any Tiffany's in the USA. I got my e ring here in Oregon and it was shipped in from another state.
 
#8
Hi ladies ~ just an update ~ I have received my rings :cloud9: In order to have them shipped duties and taxes were paid prior but i had no troubles clearing customs in Australia ~ unfortunately they had to be paid either way i guess my concern was being double charged!

Thanks for your replies xx
 
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