Subject:
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Re: Lego Australia Phone conversation
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.au
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Date:
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Wed, 29 Mar 2000 05:45:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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1348 times
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"Whytcross, Benjamin" <BWhytcro@pacificaccess.com.au> writes:
> Or cheaper, why don't we put together a list of the sets everyone wants, and
> get someone over in the US get them for us
> [everyone sends the money to one person in Australia, who forwards the order
> to someone in the US. This person gets the sets for us, and sends them all
> to one address over here, where they are distributed from...And that way,
> maybe we'll be able to get the sets at a good price, instead of the Aus
> price, and save on postage. ]
Importing them will enable you to buy things that you can't get in
Australia but it may not significantly reduce the cost of items compared
with those available here in Australia.
The import of a single item is often allowed to enter Australia sales
tax free because the cost of Customs collecting the sales tax far exceeds
the tax that would be collected. As a rule, they don't think it is worth
pursuing $50 or less tax (meaning an item value of about $180). However,
a large shipment of Lego would definitely attract sales tax.
Importing directly has the advantage of using volunteer labour to manage
a distribution chain normally done by paid staff of Lego Australia,
the various retailers, etc. So that's where you save. Lego Australia
presumably can buy the goods cheaper than retail purchases in the
USA, and probably do so in volumes that optimise shipping (e.g. a
containerload). So that's where it will cost you more.
A practical problem that I encountered recently is how to ship a large
box of toys (not Lego, as it happens) from the USA to Australia. Air
freight is very expensive. And once the box gets over a certain size
*or* weight, USPS won't take it, even for surface freight. Instead you
have to find a shipping company or someone filling a container. A lot of
hassle or a lot of expense, take your pick. Incidentally, despite what
USPS says on its WWW site about size/weight limits, it doesn't mean you
can persuade an actual US Post Office to accept an item of that size --
we were refused despite being within the published guidelines.
So, the items would need to be shipped in relatively small lots or you
will have trouble shipping them at all.
If all the goods come to one address in Australia, then there is
additional expense in repacking and reposting them to their final
destination. So shipping in smaller parcels might be good as you could
sent each one to a different city to simplify distribution within
Australia, but this involves more people in the organisation.
Another logistical hurdle is payment. The person in the USA will be
spending a lot of money so probably would expect to have that money
upfront. This means collecting the money here in Australia upfront
before the costs of purchase, tax, shipping, insurance and forwarding
are known. So, this probably means overestimating the cost and then
giving a refund later. Also, how do you divide up the costs of shipping
and insurance? By dollar value of each person's purchases? By volume? By
weight? What about the cost of forwarding the goods within Australia? Each
person pays the actual cost, or the costs are split between everyone,
so people in other cities aren't disadvantaged?
The other side of this is that a lot of people aren't flush with funds,
and can't afford to buy their year's Lego needs in one hit. I suspect
some people will express a lot of interest but will never quite get the
money together.
All of this will take a lot of work to collect orders and payments,
arrange for the purchase and shipment from the USA, divide and forward the
shipment, calculate refunds (or horrors, demands for additional payment),
and handle any complaints about people not getting what they ordered,
or finding the goods damaged etc.
I'm not saying "don't do it", but I guess I'm saying "go into this with
your eyes wide open".
If you are serious about it, I suggest trying to do it on a smaller
scale first. Just buy a big order for yourself and a few friends who
live closeby. If it works out OK, next time do it on a larger scale,
e.g. other people who live in your city and are happy to come and pick up
the goods at your place. Finally, move into Australia-wide distribution.
It might also be worth checking if doing this on a large scale might
create any tax or licensing implications for you.
Kerry
=============================================================================
Dr Kerry Raymond, Distinguished Research Fellow E-mail: kerry@dstc.edu.au
CRC for Enterprise Distributed Systems Technology Phone: +61 7 3365 4310
University of Queensland 4072 Australia Fax: +61 7 3365 4311
=========================================== WWW: http://www.dstc.edu.au/kerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Lego Australia Phone conversation
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| (...) From watching Lugnet it seems that there is a much more lively sale and clearance climate in the U.S due to the size and competitiveness of that market. This is probably where savings could be made. (...) does sales tax = customs duty , are (...) (25 years ago, 29-Mar-00, to lugnet.loc.au)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | RE: Lego Australia Phone conversation
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| Or cheaper, why don't we put together a list of the sets everyone wants, and get someone over in the US get them for us [everyone sends the money to one person in Australia, who forwards the order to someone in the US. This person gets the sets for (...) (25 years ago, 29-Mar-00, to lugnet.loc.au)
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