Why not just get it here and claim back the GST, shop around for a good deal and then claim back an extra 10% discount from the government?
Spend your kitesurfing $$ in Australia, the industry is not that big that we can afford to lose heaps of sales to overseas, the industry here needs your $$ to survive so that it can be around when you need service.

What happens if you need to claim warranty? You might be Ok on some kite brands, but it is going to be hard to get a warranty claim on a board.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack

You can claim 10% back when you take the goods out of the country.

Must have spent more than $300 at the one shop and must have been bought within 30 days of departure.

Also, it is meant to be for carry on luggage only, but this can be avoided.

Mind you, when you bring it back into the country, we will get the GST back from you (minus inflation).

Hi Steve,

Yes I am a Customs Officer.

A good Customs Officer would be aware of all goods the passenger has in possesion.

We rely on the intuative of this Officer to request invoices/receipts of the goods are suspected of being less than 12 months old and worth enough money to justify a taxable import.

As kite surfing is not widely recognised as an 'expensive' sport, it is unfortunately rather easy to bring these goods in undetected, as a Customs Officer may not be aware of their retail value.


look at it this way. If you bought a $10,000 diamond ring in Sydney, then travelled to New Zealand , claiming your 10% GST back ($1000) on the way out... Surely you can see that we want that $1000 back when you bring the ring back in to Australia 1 week later.

Otherwise everyone would do this for expensive goods, seeing as though you can get a return airfare to NZ for about $500

you've just been told steve......

Thanks for the info Carbine.

I'll send someone out to get our $120 off you!

warranty.

but to be honest the warranty you get through most shops in aus is ****ing useless anyway.

ok - so there are a number of negatives to take into account like service and warranty.

Anyone got any idea as to any positives such as price?

Surely if the value of the goods as annotated on the receipt are below the duty free allowance (900 from memory for normal passengers) no GST can be charged.
PS which port do you work at monkey?

ive looked into buying stuff online from the US however it doesnt work out that much cheaper. eg Best Pro series US$499 = A$ 680 compared with Stonker 130 for A$ 825 delivered.
I now ride Stonker and recommend this board as its great Aussie built product. Alex at Stonker stands behind this product. Occasionally he has factory seconds (deck print not perfect) for arround $650

Visit www.stonker.com

El

other places might be though. Best has a retailer in bali now, selling at US rates

quote:

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Originally posted by carbine

warranty.

but to be honest the warranty you get through most shops in aus is ****ing useless anyway.

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I don't know where you have been shopping I have had no probs at all with warranties in Oz. A good dealer local to you would help you out if you happened to have a prob with your gear, regardless of whether it was a warranty job or not
And yeah, if you ask for a price in Oz, you normally get quoted better than retail nowadays anyway
Keep your money here, I think the industry does need it. I'll keep buying here anyway - just my 2 cents

To answer the original post, i went to the US for work a few months ago (about November). Work for me is near 3rd Ave CA and there are plenty of kite shops there but it was just after end of season which is great timing for buying cheap. The wind there is crap over winter and the gear is very seasonally purchased. I went to two shops and both had huge end of season discounts. I bought an Underground FLX42 (ironically made in NZ) for USD$399 (Aus$marked down from about $799 so i reckon that is a bargain. I freighted it home via inter-office mail at work (don't tell them it's not a server). Funily enough the guy in the shop was telling me the local gear made at Santa Cruz etc was all local rubbish, it's funny how imported kit is always supposedly cooler wherever you are.

I found the price of kites worked out about the same from what i saw, however he had some great deals on 05 model second hand kites but i didn't buy one.

I am guessing the web sellers don't have off season sales as good as the shops so I'd try finding the small shop's websites, some of them list their clearance deals then maybe buy from them delivered same/next day to your US location. Also keep in mind many US shops cover snow boarding as well as kiting so you might find some kiting shops near the snow you are going to.

I found the kite shops where i was going using this page:
http://www.sfkitesurfing.com/
I just had a look at this page www.asdwindsurfing.com/kite.htm and they have these "blowouts"
2005 KITEBOARDS
North Dragon Small 399.00
North Sumo 148 325.00
Naish Haze 153 325.00
RRD TripleX 128 299.00
RRD Triple X 130 299.00
RRD BS 160 249.00

To the shop guys, i bought almost all of my other kit locally but if i am in the US and at a kite shop and can buy a board for about half price i will do it and did. Peace :)