Hi,
a while back, a few days before Christmas, I bought a spindle off a chappy in Vietnam. He gave me a great price and Fedex'ed it to me in NZ. I forwarded an email
to Fedex from the seller without opening or reading it. He declared a 'gift' of low value, $185USD, whereas I paid $1999USD (inc shipping).
NZ Customs smelled rat and seized it. I have been corresponding with them about it ever since. Today they have finally agreed to release it to me, I still have to pay tax/duty etc,
but I was always going to have to pay that.
I have been extremely lucky. This purchase including GST is $4000NZD, and that is personal money.....losing it would hurt big time!
The bottom line is that I did not check the declared value and NZ Customs were within their rights to seize it, and it would have served me right. I had the opportunity to correct
what I knew to be a false declaration and did not. I will not repeat that mistake.
I would urge any Kiwis reading this to consider that in order to save 15% GST you risk losing the entire thing. Don't do it. I came within a hairs breadth of losing a $4000NZD item.
Craig