Or How to Save Time and Frustration
When Vu Dang imported a camera from overseas this month, he thought he would receive a letter from Customs saying that it had arrived and how much money he would need to pay.
But that is not what happened, and his problems were not resolved until he contacted customs broker Peter McRae of Platinum® Freight Management.
Mr Dang said he waited for four days to receive the Australian Customs / Australia Post letter and no letter was received, so he called up Customs and was told he had to wait for the Customs notice, then would have to complete the form B374 and then submit it by fax or email. Then they would look at it and issue him with an invoice for taxes which he would then pay by EFT or credit card – then they would wait for the money to clear before releasing the camera to Australia Post who would then send it on to him. That is when he sought Platinum® Freight Management’s customs broking services.
“I then contacted Peter McRae who stepped in and the camera was cleared in one single day, even though I had not received the notice from Customs yet, Peter was able to work with my reference number from Customs.” said Mr Dang.
Mr McRae says ”importing products worth over $1,000 without a customs broker will almost always lead to delays of at least ten days until the paperwork is processed, but if you contract a customs broker, the paperwork will be done within 24 hours. The decreased processing time is a result of Customs licensing customs brokers who are directly linked to Customs and assist in reducing the processing of the parcel.”
Mr McRae says the cost of a customs broker is less than $100, but when you need a product quickly, that can prove a big cost saving especially as a good customs broker will also attempt to reduce the import duty.
As Mr Dang said on Platinum® Freight’s website: “Peter McRae was very professional in dealing with me.”
“To be fair,” said Mr McRae, “while I would love to be a miracle worker, this is the way the system works. There are a huge number of small packages coming into Australia on a daily basis and using a customs broker is the quickest and easiest way of making sure your package comes through as quickly as possible.”