NZ and mayb AUS buyers (Another thread but an important one)

[Fallenae]

Hey guys I got a message from an Oculus fella. Sure we all know its USD now and I can come to terms with the price. But I'm still not 100% sure about the GST thing and didn't really get a solid answer here. Palmers tweet says extra money is for local tax, this guys says regulatory fees. Do you think its a possibility it could be shipped with GST paid sticker or something? I just highly doubt it, based on past experience.

[–]to TheTwistgibber sent 1 day ago

Hi can you confirm is $699 for NZ is in USD? Also is NZ GST included and paid for?



[–]from TheTwistgibber sent 48 minutes ago

Yes, it is in USD. The price is inclusive of all regulatory fees.

http://www.whatsmyduty.org.nz/whats-my-duty website is quoting $236.85 and you have to register a client code by mail beforehand because its over $1000NZ???

Item Duty
Computers
Value: 699.00 USD

NZ Value: 1,043.28 NZD

Duty: 0.00 NZD

GST: 156.49 NZD
156.49 NZD
GST on freight 31.12 NZD
Total 187.61 NZD
Entry fees* 49.24 NZD
Amount due 236.85 NZD

*Entry fees:
Once the threshold of $60 of duty and/or GST payable is reached, then a Customs import entry transaction fee (IETF) of NZ$29.26 (GST inclusive) is payable. Please note that the $60 threshold does not apply to tobacco and alcohol products. Entry fees are collected on these two regardless of the amount. A Ministry for Primary Industries biosecurity system entry levy (MPI Levy) of $19.98 (GST inclusive) is also collected by Customs. The total fees equal NZ$49.24 (GST inclusive)

This is all way to complicated for me just to buy a toy for me games.

Could someone from Oculus PLEASE just let me know that either:
-Yes, all GST is covered and it will be shipped and delivered to my door.
-No, I will have to get my shipment from customs after paying GST and fees.
-Sorry, we really don't know.

So that I can put my mind to rest and just look forward to April..

[metalnwood]

I thought I saw a post/tweet/something from oculus saying that international orders included relevant local taxes for that country.

Much like later with DK2 orders they started to charge aussies for GST on their order and they were not required to pay it in AUS. (which they didnt need to as it was under 1k anyway 🙂 )

For NZ, 699USD is $10 more than the 15% GST, I assume they just round it but it is covered.

Re the shipping, depending on who they ship with, you dont need to pay the entry fees. Eg, fedex, it's already done by them. if it goes through NZ post, they will charge it, it's not part of the service.

When I got the DK2 and paid $75usd in shipping I had assumed it would not be sent by standard post, I thought it would be fedex, dhl etc and I wouldnt get charged the extr $50. To my surprise for that $75 it was standard mail and I got charged the $50.

For the $130+USD shipping it is this time, I certainly hope it comes from one of the international couriers who wont charge us that $50.

[blanes]

On my Aussie order it states customs fee zero but $132 US for shipping - so it should be similar for N.Z. orders

Did anyone else notice that their Paypal payment was processed via Ireland and not paypal Australia ( or relevant country ) as it normally should ?

This has been in the news alot here lately regarding offshore companies such as Google & Microsoft & Apple avoiding paying company tax in Australia by using a dodgy company tax loophole in Ireland.

It is now illegal in Australia because the government is currently bringing those companies to account for this practice and truly pathetic because it seems Oculus is already stinging Aussies an extra combined US $182 for tax & shipping when under current import laws we are entitled to tax free on goods valued under $1000. Overall this process has not improved at all since the dk2 pre orders which is surprising.

[Fallenae]

"jasonh" wrote:
I thought I saw a post/tweet/something from oculus saying that international orders included relevant local taxes for that country.

Much like later with DK2 orders they started to charge aussies for GST on their order and they were not required to pay it in AUS. (which they didnt need to as it was under 1k anyway 🙂 )

For NZ, 699USD is $10 more than the 15% GST, I assume they just round it but it is covered.

Re the shipping, depending on who they ship with, you dont need to pay the entry fees. Eg, fedex, it's already done by them. if it goes through NZ post, they will charge it, it's not part of the service.

When I got the DK2 and paid $75usd in shipping I had assumed it would not be sent by standard post, I thought it would be fedex, dhl etc and I wouldnt get charged the extr $50. To my surprise for that $75 it was standard mail and I got charged the $50.

For the $130+USD shipping it is this time, I certainly hope it comes from one of the international couriers who wont charge us that $50.

God I hope this is the case. The price as it is is really pushing me (well my partner :p) to the limit. Just the fact that no-one will flat out confirm it is freaking me out. guess its just wait and see and hope for the best then.

[metalnwood]

Yes, I also just read cyber say it again in another thread. If it will work like it was in aus then it will go to a company in NZ and then be sent to us so we will never see any import bits and pieces.

[Aus21]

This is pretty much what I am confused about, I live in Australia so this question is tailored to my country.

There are a number of issues with the price that I am confused about, Cyber, can you please clarify this as it really is important.

1. If Oculus is importing the units directly Australian consumers then there are no duties or taxes to be paid as the unit is less than $1000. Please explain the additional $50 USD added when Australia is selected?

2. If the Rift is locally distributed then you are required to issue a tax invoice clearly displaying the amount of the GST tax in AUD not USD. If this is case please explain the $50 USD charge, this doesnt even add up regardless of which way you look at it.

3. Added to this, $130 US for shipping? What are you doing? Going out on a date, showing it a good time then sending it on its way to AUS? Worse, if it is locally distributed as is the consensus seems to be, please explain the $130 charge when all you use is old Australia Post surface parcel post.

The bottom line is none of how you have priced this up makes any sense. At best you are looking massively incompetent, at worst you are breaching Australia consumer and taxation law.

Please, PLEASE clarify just what it is we are paying for.

[Fallenae]

"Aus21" wrote:

2. If the Rift is locally distributed then you are required to issue a tax invoice clearly displaying the amount of the GST tax in AUD not USD. If this is case please explain the $50 USD charge, this doesnt even add up regardless of which way you look at it.

Yea good point. Tax invoice would be good.

[michealv]

We had a similar issue with the DK2 from memory. I just knew the orders were going to be a nightmare again but never imagined we would be this misinformed, its a nightmare worse than what I went through with the DK2.

I am from NZ btw, and i have ordered the CV1 already.

[radimoto]

I would also like to know the answers to Aus21's questions please! Thanks

[onefang]

I have grabbed the details of my order using the method outlined here -

https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/3zrnjm/get_extra_info_on_your_order/

The relevant parts are -

original_offer_price: {formatted: "$649.00", currency: "USD"}
customs_fee: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$0.00"}
customs_fee_tax: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$0.00"}
shipping_handling_fee: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$120.00"}
shipping_handling_fee_tax: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$12.00"}
tax: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$59.00"}
total: {currency: "USD", formatted: "$781.00"}
country_code: "AU"

So let's analyse that to see if we can get some answers, or more questions. BTW, the "tax" for Australia is GST - Goods and Services Tax, it's a fixed 10% of price.

First the obvious, despite the country being Australia (country_code: "AU"), all amounts are currency: "USD", which I assume to mean United States of America Dollars, the "$" on the formatted amounts backs that up. So we can entirely ignore exchange rates for now, that's not relevant to these amounts. I shall use the more correct "US$".

The second most obvious thing is the original_offer_price: US$649.00. https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-now-open-first-shipments-march-28/ says -

pre-order for $599 USD*

*Additional fees may apply, including tax and shipping costs. Price may vary for non-USD purchases. Final pricing presented at checkout.

We have already established that this is a USD purchase, so the "Price may vary for non-USD purchases." part should not apply. So there's no explanation for this mysterious extra US$50. Well, in Australia recently there's been a big stink about what we call the "Australia tax". Any aussie knows what that means, for the rest - the last government held an official enquiry and determined that lots of companies (off the top of my head, Adobe, Apple, Google, and Microsoft at least where dragged in to explain) charge extra for Australian customers. The conclusion was that these companies charge extra simply coz they can get away with it. That government encouraged Australian citizens to use VPNs and such to dodge geoblocks, and try to avoid paying this Australian tax. So us aussies are kinda sensitive to mysteriously inflated prices, to us this extra US$50 smells like Australia tax. Oculus might have been dragged in front of the last government to explain it, had this happened while they where investigating.

We can ignore the customs fees, they are 0. shipping_handling_fee: US$120 sounds rather huge. I note that the Europeans are complaining about theirs being $40, this is three times that much. There's also shipping_handling_fee_tax: US$12, though I think this is the first time I have seen the shipping fees tax listed separately. I'll leave this shipping and handling fee for another reply, that's a whole can of worms by itself. I'll just point out the tax is valid at least, though obviously would reduce drastically if the shipping and handling fees got closer to sanity.

tax: US$59.00, this is very curious. As mentioned above, in Australia this tax is 10% of price. US$59 is 10% of US$599, not the US$649 price we are getting offered. Which again points to something being very wrong, either this tax is wrong, or the offer price is wrong. If the former, Oculus is screwing the Australian government out of tax, if the later, Oculus is screwing Australian customers.

This just plain ain’t adding up Oculus, this is why we have questions, and so far, you have lousy answers. Take note of "Australia tax" Oculus, google it, it's a cultural thing that might explain why us aussies are more annoyed than you might expect.