Importing to Australia?

From what I've heard, it's a bit of pot luck as to whether customs catches you out or not. A friend recently ordered from a large English retailer and got 4 bottles into the country without a hitch. Others I know have not been so lucky, with GST, Customs handing fee and a $75/L alcohol excise. I know buying whisky in Australia is truly a world-class ripoff, but I'm not sure ordering from overseas would be cheaper.

Australia's tricky for whisky, because taxes and shipping will cripple cheapness - however given the fairly happy status the Aussie Dollar is presently enjoying it's fair to say that though the comparative retail prices are different, there's still lots of affordable whisky about. An excellent idea is to get in touch with Graham at The Odd Whisky Coy (www.theoddwhiskycoy.com.au) and join his mailing list - there's often great specials to be had there. He gets hold of some real gems, too.

Also I've found Nicks.com.au handy sometimes for deals.

Thanks for the info SpicyMcHaggis & jasonbstanding. Price is a motivating factor but so are some of the unique bottlings not available in Australia. I will just have to take my chances.

Hi feileacan, I wonder if you have had a chance since you posted this thread to import any whisky?

I was looking at the sums the other day, and I worked out that the biggest impediment to importing can be the cost of postage.

To land 3 Amrut Fusions from a supplier in the UK, who does not charge VAT to Australian customers, it was going to cost about AUD 330. I can get Fusion from an Australian supplier for $99 a bottle, and he does free delivery for orders over $100.

As you say, though, the attraction of ordering from overseas for me would be getting bottlings I cannot source in Australia. At the moment, I cannot find anyone who stocks Amrut Portonova, and I am keen to get my hands on a bottle!

I always get my whisky from whiskyexchange and yes it is pot luck wether or not customs charges you import tax. They usually don't in my experiance.

Wow this is an old thread!

I've only ordered 3 times or so from TWE and have been slugged by customs only once.

From another site (not MoM), I got slugged because they didn't declare the goods properly (would've been fine otherwise I suspect).

Once or twice ordered from WhiskyBase and got through customs fine.

If you only order a few bottles from TWE I'd be very surprised if customs could be bothered charging you, I think TWE being so up-front with the contents and value, customs usually let it slide. I don't know what happens if you order a half dozen or more bottles at a time though - if anyone has tried that many and got it through customs please do tell!

@Rodstar Ah yes I know that Aussie site, bought lots of samples there! Nice selection of independent bottlings not seen anywhere else in these parts.

@systemdown I've been talking to a couple of the folks at MoM and Abbey and I've been informed that with the new shipping regulations coming down the pipe in the UK (bottles will have to be shipped freight and not post) that pretty much we can expect to get slugged every time from now on. Not sure how true it is, but I can believe it. Mind you I've had shipping containers full of beer that we've declared and customs just kinda ignored them so maybe we'll get lucky....

@SquidgyAsh Hmm thanks for the info.. we'll have to wait and see I guess. I might try making a cheap order (standard strength, cheap malts) for my next UK import just in case.

@systemdown Yeah that's what I'd try just to be safe. Hopefully that's not the case though. I want to be wrong.

I've ordered three full-sized bottles and six miniatures from TWE, and just received a call from from a Fedex customs officer. First time ordering from the UK and from TWE and I'm paying around 30% of total value in Customs charges and/or AQIS (Quarantine) fees. Pretty substantial, but overall, worth it for I bought a few gift packs which weren't available to purchase here. Will determine how cost-effective future overseas purchases will be now, while factoring a 30% add-on.

Actually, it was more a 50% of the transaction value ( the customs + taxes ( biggest charges ) + gst ), but sometimes, it may be a little more as you can see by example on the government website. Was going to buy a few bottles from Poland, next month; will see how hard that hits when they fly in.

I don't think size of an order is a real factor. The biggest import order of whisky I've done was 5 full bottles, 2 samples and a sniffer glass. Thankfully that one snuck past with no customs charges, funny enough the only thing I've been charged import tax on was a bottle of gin I ordered that I ended up returning because the damn cork broke in the bottle.

@Jason0142 I didn't take the gamble and make any out of country orders. Instead I decided to be a bit patient and purchase some good value whisky when traveling through airports. They may not have the selection or limited run expressions but I purchased whisky I would not otherwise be able to afford/justify in Australia. Eg. 2 X Glenlivet Archive 21yo = Aus$105 (Dan Murphy's = $230each, Ardbeg Corryvreckan = Aus$65 ($150 from Nick's). You can contact airport duty free outlets prior to departure in most counties and work out what airport you are passing through to pick up your dram. I got lucky due to the 30% off these two bottles at the Bangkok airport. I wish I had put a couple more in because no one checked me on the way through Oz customs. Even if you don't travel you may know someone that does who would be willing to be your "mule" so to speak.

It may have already been discussed but there might be merit in starting a thread on what countries/airports have the best selection and price/value.

On the topic of searching for value, I stumbled on this for all you bargain hunters to consider: danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_727458/…

Thanks for everyone's help in running the import gauntlet.

I have used Masters of Malt before they stopped shipping to Aus. They are good and usually customs free but they don't refund VAT. Nowadays, I use TWE for the international orders but they use UPS meaning customs is almost guaranteed to be incurred (for shipping to Melb at least!) On the plus side, they refund VAT.

On the local retail scene: Nicks and Dan Murphy's are the usual sources. Used to be able to obtain quite a few gems from Vintage Cellars too back when they still dished out Wine Club points for spirit purchases and carried a wide range of spirits.

There was a discussion on another forum about importing tobacco products into Australia. Some people there posted links to Australian customs. What surprised me was that even as an incoming tourist there is no $ amount or volume that is duty free. Truly draconian althogh I presume Australia allows people to leave the country with a duty free amount. Perhaps you could buy duty free in another country and bring it into Australia but theoretically even if a piddling amount you should still pay Australia duty. Here is the thread with the cites:

badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/…

@JeffC Actually, you can bring up to 2.25 litres of duty free alcohol into Australia (about 3 standard sized bottle 700 - 750ml.

It's the tobacco that they are restricting: 50gm or 50 sticks of ciggs.

@JeffC sengjc is correct about the duty free amounts however a word of warning. If you go over the 2.25 litres that you're allowed to bring in duty free you WILL be charged the tax on ALL of the alcohol, not just the amount that goes over the limit.

You can also have the following happening to you. A) Have all of the alcohol confiscated. B) Be fined (not sure on the amount). C) Be let off with a warning. Pretty draconian in my opinion!

Hi all, I just recently had a successful experience with importing 3 x 700mL bottles of whisky from Whiskybase (The Netherlands). I bought two bottles of Glendronach Batch 2 Cask Strength plus a cask strength Highland Park, for a total of AUD250 all up, including postage. No duties were levied through customs. By my calculations, I saved about AUD180 on what I would have paid had I purchased these items locally.

Whiskybase charges 35 Euro postage to Australia for up to 3 bottles, which makes it very economical. I am not aware of any other European vendor who has such a reasonable postage charge. The items arrived in 8 days, which is not too long to wait.

I am planning my next purchase. Whiskybase has Ardbeg Corry for only 60Euro (About AUD80), so that is one of the items of on my list. In Australia, this sells for between AUD135 and 150.

@sengjc Just wanted to mention that I have just recently been slugged $70 import duties on my second purchase of three bottles from whiskybase. It is not correct that no duties will be charged if the total amount of whisky stays below the 2.25L limit. My purchase totals 2.1L. Dang!

@Rodstar My friend that duty free limit only applies to when you're coming back into the country from overseas. Then you can bring in roughly 3 bottles, up to 2.25 litres, without customs.

However if you over the internet, ANYTHING you purchase is subjext to duty. It's pretty much luck of the draw at that point. Customs finds your package, you pay the duty. Customs doesn't find the package you're in the clear. Depending on what you order it's worth importing, i.e highend whiskies or whiskies not found/not easily found in Australia. Anything entry level you're better off just purchasing from the local because if customs finds you, whatever you saved, you've now lost.

A word of warning and I'm not 100% sure on how accurate this is, but I've been informed by the guys at customs that if you order enough spirits from overseas and import it into Australia, your name eventually goes on a list. Then pretty much whatever you buy is always scanned by customs. I can attest this is pretty much trus in my case hahaha.

Thanks for clarifying SquidgyAsh. Makes sense now. I must have got lucky the first time, and not so much the second.

By my calculations, I still ended up a little bit ahead. I think the real benefit with importing is that the Australian whisky vendors have a far more limited selection than what is available from overseas.

Same deal for me. Was my first online purchase (Whiskybase) and I was hit with $95 in duty/ customs charges. I had budgeted for it though and fully expected that it could happen, so I was still happy with my purchase.

@Whisk Can I ask how many bottles you had in that order? I find that if I get 2 or 3 bottles at a time there's less chance of being slugged at customs.

@systemdown Yeah I had heard that as well, so I limited myself to 3 bottles in that order - Glenmorangie Artein, Finealta and a Glendronach single cask. Oh well, I don't think it'll put me off ordering, but as SquidgyAsh mentioned, it's probably not a bad idea if I limit myself to expressions that I can't find locally.

Cheers, J

Hi all, both orders I have placed have had three x 700mL bottles of whisky. One attracted duties, the other didn't. No obvious distinction between the two orders. It appears to be the luck of the draw.

@Whisk @Rodstar Thanks guys. Was just thinking, I don't think I've been slugged at all for an order of 2 bottles from either TWE or WhiskyBase. Could just have been lucky so far though. As you said though @Whisk, one should budget for customs and fully expect to have to pay duty - and it should still be cheaper than buying locally so there's still really no dis-incentives to order from those kinds of places.

Has anyone thought of, or used freight forwarding services? i.e. have the product sent in-country to a service that then sends it to your preferred address.