SMC Discussion Areas

     Seems a lot of machines have been purchased by Austrailians lately.

     I shipped an 81 earlier this year and since then 2 more members  have been contacted from down under about purchasing 81's.

     Easiest method was Creighters and Freighters.

     They picked up the machine from me, built a crate and had it fumigated as required by customs.

     They handled the customs paperwork and delivered it to the port of Long Beach. Total shipping qoute was about $1300.00.

     I got a call from C & F when it arrived over there, customs asking them what kind of freon was in the machine?

     If they didn't already know it was R-12 I wasn't going to tell them.   I replied that it was R-134, the safe stuff.

     Well here is the final e-mail I got from him:



          G’day Glen,

Finally I can pick the machine up tomorrow after 0900 am. What a marathon it turned out to be in the end. Our federal government has introduced a carbon tax, little did I know after checking with them previously nothing was mention about applying for a licence to import gas into the country, after paying $430 then saying this could take up to 6 weeks for this to be processed. The paper work involved with custom and the clearance and then brokers fees another $760. The storage fees up to $45 a day while waiting for the clearances. Learnt a bit about importing but I still think it will all be worth it, I am staying very positive.

I will let you know how I get on.

Hope all is well at your end.

Cheers

Michael  



        Whether intended or not, Michael is now a broker and can import all the soda machines into the country he wants.

        This whole problem could have been avoided if the system were evacuated and filled with Nitrogen. They can add the R-12 later.

WOW! They sure make it hard.... seems to be more BS than it's worth. I guess the good thing is, he is dealing with it, and not trying to pass the buck on to you, or trying to cancel his purchase.

I guess he could try to cancel if he wanted to, but with it already sitting there in Australia, I'm can't see it working.

This is one thing that always worried me about customs. I've thought about buying a Yamaha MU series Tone Generator, and having it shipped from Japan. They're kinda hard to find here. The thought of dealing with customs has stopped me every time. That, and the Japanese sellers want a fortune to ship.

Carbon tax? How would the government of Australia tax a volcanic eruption were one to occur withing it's jurisdiction?  :upside:

Sounds like some of the California laws. 

        Another thing I learned about shipping outside the country is don't identify it as an antique vending machine.

        Some can and will interpret that as being used for the production of income, and throw it into a higher tax bracket.

        I lable the crate as a Coca Cola cooler.

I've shipped one Vendo 81 to Austrailia last year and went through the same stuff.. had to find the right crating material marked that it was Fumagated and also had to fill out a Degassing Certificate saying we removed the Freon from the system.

once it left here I never heard back from the buyer or anyone.. I've contacted them and never heard back..

but if I have to do it again.. Glen I'll call you!

Thanks

John