In Reply to: Customs Broker Australia posted by Customs Broker on Monday, 20. June 2011 at 16:29 Bali Time:
these numbers are just not right.
I have shipped decent quantities of stone, stainless steel, material and wall plaques using both a shipping agent myself and dealing with all landing and clearance, and also used Trish at her Balcatta operation (Now run by Brett I believe)
When using Trish, the packaging was done by Balistones and this was quite expensive, although good value in that nothing was broken and packaging good.
The delivery of goods to my door was hassle free and the process cost effective.
When shipping and clearing myself, the cost was also reasonable but I spent best part of a day running around various offices in Fremantle to get the goods cleared so as not to incur additional storage
charges.
For this reason I would use a home based agent in shipping anything next time.
As for the argument about buying at home as opposed to Bali there are other factors than just cost.
There is the challenge and sometimes excitement in going out and finding that special something in Bali, and the satisfaction of arranging everything and looking forward to delivery.
This is a different experience to going to a mass produced Perth or anywhere "Bali" outlet and buying something that the guy next door has.
The trick is to do your research, go to the source to buy and cut out commission takers along the way.
When the item is installed and finished you will get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that you did it yourself and it's a
unique piece.