Originally posted by demuire How does the claiming GST back thing work with bringing it back in when you return? Don't you have to declare and pay the GST back when you return here?
Claiming GST is easy - show the thing and tax invoice on the way out.
BUT on the way back you must declare if you are bringing more than $900 of stuff (some exceptions to what counts as stuff - such as clothes and personal effects) but major electronic items are stuff. So the after refund price of AUD1300 item is >AUD900. I have heard of friends who claimed on large items (~1500) on the way out and were inspected for them on the way back. Since they travelled as a group and each had claimed on different things ...
I recently got one from Paxton's in Sydney for about $1300 including postage, arrived within a week, to get local after sales support and no tax on the way in (which B&H would result in since the value is greater than AUD1000 - the limit for parcels). If posting it in, with invoice documents the declared value would be the price you paid for the pile of stuff, it is irrelevant what price the shop would have charged if you bought them separately, and there is no documentation to describe that. (And if you really needed to argue the point you would have your credit card statement to show your side of the story.)
Look at the Ricoh distributor page:
Store Locator | Ricoh Photographic Australia and combine that with one of the web searchers for low prices, but the lowest prices come from places not listed - probably grey market.
To me $1300 is 'big' - I want after sales service.