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Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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I did some painful thrashing about in the mire of beauracracy (customs.gov.au) today and the united states postal service and found the following.
NiCad batteries attract a 5% duty, and a 10% GST on import, and the GST is calculated *including* the shipping cost (grumble). However, if the value of the total shipment is less than $250, or the amount owing to customs is less than $50, they wont bother.. so..
The weight on the N3000CR is 84grams per cell, so 840grams for a 12v pack, double that for a 24v pack - not allowing for solder, wire, conenctors, heatshrink and packaging - so close enough to 1kg per 12v.. and 1kg = 2.2 pounds.
Assuming we want them in a hurry (about 1 week) then USPS Global Express Mail starts at $28US for up to 3 pounds, (which immediately near doubles the cost of the pack if you just buy one), and each additional pack adds about $8.80US to the postage.
Assuming we want to avoid the duty and tax, we need to stay under a single shipment value of $250 Aus or about $175 US.
4 packs would be $120US, plus $52.80 postage, which brings us in at $172.80US or about $246 Aus. (right on the limit before tax gets added).
That makes it about $61 Aus per 12v pack.
Not too bad. I dont have a price on new N3000CR cells from Master Instruments, but based on the other prices I got, I'd expect them to come in around the $6-7/cell mark (if you buy 100 cells), so these 2nd hand packs are costing about the same per cell as new ones would here, but you get the assembly, soldering, heatshrink, wire and connectors thrown in which tips the balance slightly in their favour. If you got slugged for the Duty and GST though, they probably wouldnt look so good, so dont order more than 4 packs per shipment
So, who still wants some, and how many ? I suggest trying to get 4 packs per shipment, and get the shipments done by John to 1 person in each state (assuming noone wants 4 packs to themselves), then you can pickup your share of the shipment from your local receiving point. . I'll do the Melbourne receiving point if anyone else wants any. who's going to do the NSW one ?
(I'm still going to get my new cells from Master Instruments, but I might grab a pack or two of these to see how they go). _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
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Sun Sep 12, 2004 10:02 pm |
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