As an importer or exporter, you’re no doubt always on the lookout for ways to save your money. But there’s one place you shouldn’t be skimping on, and that’s cargo insurance. Sure, you might never have had any problems with your shipments in the past. Or you might feel it’s worth the risk on a small or low-value shipment. But there are many misconceptions about who is responsible for ...
Read articleA dangerous and highly effective new online scam is affecting New Zealand importers. The scam has already left several Kiwi businesses severely out of pocket, with some businesses losing deposits of over USD 250,000 to scammers. How does this hacking scam work? Email hackers are infiltrating the email accounts of overseas suppliers – particularly free email accounts like Hotmail and Yahoo – an ...
Read articleOur clients often ask us about the goods that are restricted for importing to New Zealand. Can one bring necessary medicine, favourite DVD collection or some rare artwork as an unaccompanied baggage? Despite New Zealand’s reputation of having a very strict rules at the border, a person can import almost every possible household item apart from prohibited by International law goods. The main rule ...
Read articleInternational Postal Regulations require that every item passing an international border is subject to Customs inspection in the destination country. Postal items coming into New Zealand are inspected by the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) for a number of reasons. These include but are not limited to inspecting the item to identify: Customs Charges, Duty and taxes (importing of items va ...
Read articleImporters to New Zealand need to beware of a legal ‘loophole’ that leaves you exposed to unexpected and unwarranted charges on your imported goods. When you buy goods overseas under cost and freight rate (CFR) terms (see our Incoterms page for more about this), this should mean the seller covers the costs of freight to you in New Zealand. But in some recent cases, importers have be ...
Read articleWith the rise of internet shopping more and more New Zealanders are importing goods from overseas using postal and international courier services. Whether the goods are a pair of sunglasses from America or a carton of cigarettes from France; a cellphone from Hong Kong or a bolt of cloth from Scotland – all will be liable for Customs duties and charges when they arrive. Customs Minister Mauric ...
Read articleThis information is to help people understand the collection of Customs tariff duties, plus goods and services tax (GST), on articles imported into New Zealand. It explains how Customs tariff duty is charged on goods imported into New Zealand, lists a number of concessions, and describes which goods are subject to strict import control, or are absolutely prohibited. WHAT GOODS WILL I PAY TARIFF DU ...
Read articlePeople often get confused by these two words Demurrage and Detention. Well then, what is the difference? When dealt with in the context of containerised cargo, simply put, Demurrage relates to container storage at terminal (charged by the port) Detention relates to container usage (charged by the shipping line) How does it work for Imports? Container demurrage at terminal: The port authoritie ...
Read articleTHE MAIN ADVANTAGES TO IMPORTERS ARE: Deferral of the payment of Customs charges for up to seven weeks, with a minimum period of three weeks. No requirement to pay cash on each import entry. Instead, importers have an account with Customs and settle one month’s transactions with a single payment. SOME CHARGES CAN BE DEFERRED All charges on import entries can be deferred: Customs Duty GST HE ...
Read articleEasy Freight has responsibility in making sure your orders not only head to the destination in good condition but actually go through customs border without delay. When you decide to transport any products you will soon realize that you have to deal with the numerous barriers that have to be overcome to ship the product to the end customer. To comply with export documentation and shipping requirem ...
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