Moving to Oz!

[WoodMarvels.com]

It has been a lifelong goal of mine to live in Australia (I'm Canadian and don't like winter)... and thanks to my company WoodMarvels.com, I caught the attention of a laser cutting/distrubution shop in Australia that wanted me there and 9 months later. I'M MOVING TO OZ!!! (ShopBot Desktop in tow)

I'll be in Adelaide on the 29th of June ofter 30 hours of planes and airports and then 6-9 months later relocating to Perth or Darwin or Brisbane (still up on the air). If anybody on the board is from any of those places, send me a note... I'd love to meet local ShopBotters! I'll bring the kangaroo steaks for the BBQ!

Jon

[pappybaynes]

Stay away from the Snowy Mountains then!...and kangaroo tail soup is awesome - my dad was an Aussie

[myxpykalix]

Land of OZ? Be sure to watch out for The Wicked Witch of the West! I hear those Munchkins LOVE to PARTY! And what ever you do keep your eye out above for those FLYIN MONKEYS! :rolleyes:

[WoodMarvels.com]

I had oxtail soup ounce... not bad... will see if I can find a restaurant serving kangaroo tail soup! Yeah, the land of Oz is a magical place where the small little things in your shoes will kill you (black widow spider) and jelly fish / manawars hang around in the surf of the most amazing beaches with their stingers set on kill!

I'll let you guys know how the ShopBot survives the trip and the customs / duties involved if somebody is interested in doing a similar trip in the future.

Jon

[davidp]

Jon,

Adelaide is a neat small city, Darwin only has two seasons the wet season and the dry season, other wise it is hot and hotter every day. Brisbane is full of Queenslanders and Victorians escaping winter. However all of those cities are nice places to live.

You should not have to pay any duties to bring your bot into Aus however if you have 110v tools etc save the money and leave them in Canada, they will be useless here and to convert them will cost more than buying new tools.

You will enjoy Aus it is much more laid back than Canada just remember that of the top 20 most venomous snakes in the world 18 of them are in Austraila not to mention spiders and insects. If it bites it is usually poisonous. That also includes mothers in law and politicians. (same as everywhere I guess)

I know of around 10 botters in Australia so you will not be totally lonely.

Good luck and if you need any help give me a call.

David
Sydney

[WoodMarvels.com]

I'm having the volts changed on the shopbot desktop machine before sending it out so it will be all OK but all the other power tools are staying put here in Canada. I can't wait!

Jon

[gerryv]

Hey Jon,

Why go to all the trouble of changing the voltage, building a crate, etc. when you could offer it to me at a reasonable price and have it's replacement shipped direct... Oh that's right my better half may not think quite along those lines, chuckle :eek:

Safe journey, sad to see you leaving Canada but from all I've heard you're going to just as good a place.


Best,
Gerry V
(another Ontarian)

[WoodMarvels.com]

I've sadly grown rather attached to my ShopBot Desktop... we had lots of good times together in the frozen North... I think it's as anxious as I am to move onto warmer pastures!

It's a one way trip for all three of us (I've included my wife along for the ride after consulting the ShopBot). I'm sure it will make good friends with the 3D ZPrinter I plan on getting and the laser cutter too so it won't be lonely for long! I did buy a bunch of extra bits though from Amazon.com - doubt I'll get them for 10$ in Oz!

Jon

[Ajcoholic]

You are moving away from the cold... her in the North, it has already hit the 30 C mark for a few days and I am longing for the snow... :)

I am a cold climate person, that's for sure.

Where in Canada are/were you living?

AJC

[WoodMarvels.com]

Right now I live in St. Catharines... been here for the past few months, before that, Hearst, Ontario and before that - a few years across various parts of the Philippines, South Korea, China, Australia and Japan.

I'll be in Adelaide SA in a little over two weeks and 6-9 months later, moving PERMANENTLY either in Queensland or Northern Territory ... still lots of details to sort out.

Jon

[gerryv]

Heh, heh, heh. Let's see now Canada, the Philippines, South Korea, China, Australia, Japan, Canada. PERMANENTLY eh! Hey Jon, maybe we'll end up as neighbors in an old folks home in Hawaii and you can teach me some tricks on my Shopbot of the day. Then again, Oz may just be good enough to hold onto you. Keep posting - we all like to get the latest news a day before it happens.

[WoodMarvels.com]

I'm working slowly on a CNC book so any tips and tricks will be well known - I'm always using same board thickness and bits so my knowledge is still rather limited - which is why it will have very experienced guest authors in it too to supplement my lack of knowledge.

By the way, when you live on the other side of the world, you have to sign a paper that prohibits you from telling the future to those on the other side... so living one day ahead is quite a challenge!

Jon

[Ajcoholic]

Right now I live in St. Catharines... been here for the past few months, before that, Hearst, Ontario and before that - a few years across various parts of the Philippines, South Korea, China, Australia and Japan.

I'll be in Adelaide SA in a little over two weeks and 6-9 months later, moving PERMANENTLY either in Queensland or Northern Territory ... still lots of details to sort out.

Jon

Wow, Hearst is pretty close to me here in Timmins (just a few hours down highway 11...)

Best of luck in your move. WHen my son gets older I was hoping to buy some of your patterns/files for toys. Will you still have the online store?

AJC

[WoodMarvels.com]

Yep, the store isn't going anywhere... it will greatly expand as I'm getting a new workstation... my backlog of 3D product animations is just silly and I need a computer that can plow through them even faster!

I'm also going to be doing videos for all the laser projects (ShopBot Desktop will have laser attachment one day btw) and 3D printer projects too (not FDM initially so won't be useful for 3D printer attachment for ShopBot Desktop).

Jon

[Bob Eustace]

On cutters Jon, suggest you bring a couple of years suppy as CNC cutters are very very thin on the ground here. At least 90% of our cutters come from the USA. Even boys toyshops like Rockler dont exist here. Freight from the US averages $100 for a small package thru Fedex etc. but USPS do a great job. Half a dozen cutters from Tools Today only costs $15 and tkes only 10 to 15 days. It is a lovely free and easy laid back lifestyle here.

Bob
Melbourne

[WoodMarvels.com]

Another idea is doing a group-buys David - to bring the total cost of shipping down, I have a US postal address. So, instead of each of us ordering 10 at a time, we order 100 and split is accordingly. I do know shipping and taxes are far higher in Oz than the USA where I get most of my stuff but I'm already 180 pounds worth or baggage as it is and that's excluding the ShopBot Desktop or my engineering books! The airlines will be making another seats worth of money off my one way plane ticket just in checked luggage!

Jon

[Stagecraft]

Congratulations! Before you leave, pick up a copy of Bill Bryson's book " In a Sunburned Country"...great read as are all of Bryson's works.

[WoodMarvels.com]

I've already got 180 pounds of stuff coming with me ON the plane and there is no room for anything else. The ShopBot is enjoying an epic adventure through the high seas for some much needed R&R along with 80 pounds of clamps. I'll have to pick the book up in Oz when I get there. I will miss my engineering books though (teaching myself some mechanical concepts for future models).

Jon
ps: your website has some amazing CNC work in there Boyd!

[WoodMarvels.com]

It's been about a month now since my last post here - arrived in Adelaide, had the joy of finding an apartment within a few days that would allow me to rent it for 6 months and internet etc... done this half a dozen times before but always a rush. Moving again in half a year!

I'm expecting a phone call anytime now for me to head to the port to pick-up my Shopbot Desktop. Had time to check local hardware stores - pricing for lumber is about the same as it was back in Canada/USA and now I have ready access to a Trotec Speedy 500 laser cutter so will be busy cutting and taping things for a good long time with both machines.

Will let you guys know of any import duties etc... surprised I didn't get searched at customs, had 3 external hard drives/computer, electronic equipment filling an entire carry-on with camera etc and 4 other huge bags full to the brim of stuff.

Jon

[myxpykalix]

Not to mention with that beard you already look "suspicious".:eek:.lol

Jon, I need some info. A guy wants to buy my Legacy ornamental mill who lives in australia so i'm thinking of having to ship it. How much paperwork for customs, ect is there?
Where would i go to find out the info i need?:confused:

[WoodMarvels.com]

As for paperwork, I had on it that it was a personal used machine with a value that was 1/3 true value... will let you know if it worked. It was just one form... shipping was about 1200$US roughly but had about 80 pounds of clamps and other supplies thrown into the crate at the same time.

Yeah, the beard is off now - sad that something so natural has such a "bad" feeling associated with it - I was fine with it though but I wasn't out looking for a job or going to many social events where it probably wouldn't have gone so well.

[bill.young]

Hey Jon,

Glad you made it safely and great job on the Shelter 2.0 videos...they're fantastic!

[WoodMarvels.com]

Thanks Bill - today I got a phone call that the ShopBot Desktop has arrived... of course, a few more hands have appeared wanting some money as well. Here is a rough outline of where things that others might deal with when it comes to shipping stuff abroad like a ShopBot Desktop! Pricing is in AUD money and I'm surprised they didn't add to their list the cost to get a cup of coffee during the whole process for the dock workers.

I asked the customs official what they estimate the total fee will be (this is only the beginning) and they figure I have another 700$AUD in various fees before the shipment can be released. Nuts man!

-----------------

Please note any Duty, GST, additional Quarantine fees, or storage are not included in the below quote but will be billed to your account at cost.

Sea Freight Document Fee*
75.00

Import Security Levy *
5.00

Wharfage Charge*
80.00

Handling & Document Fee *
20.00

Delivery Order Fee *
75.00

Customs Clearance - Per Entry, Per Tariff Line Per Entry *
125.00

Additional Entry
4.50

AQIS Assessment Fee *
25.00

Customs Processing Fee
70.00

Sea Cargo Automation *
25.00

Cargo Management Re Engineering *
25.00

Professional Indemnity Fee *
5.00

Cartage via Standard Vehicle Only (Metro Area) *
75.00

Cartage Fuel Surcharge *
15.00 % of Cartage

[myxpykalix]

Jon,
I'm getting ready to send a 200 lb box to Australia and the fees on my end are around $800.00, not sure about these others fees you show. I didn't see this fee in your list:

Sucker Fee: This is instituted on those who have no choice in the matter..:eek:

It seems that all these shipping and other fees are adding at least 25-30% to the cost. Where is all these Free Trade Agreements? I'll bet you don't have to pay all these fees to import into USA:mad:

[WoodMarvels.com]

Hi Jack, these are fees in addition to shipping which was about 1200$US... so total came to about 2K to ship a ShopBot from USA to Australia. It's not over yet, I'm sure they'll ding me for something on the way out like a forklift charging rate or something like that or opening the door on the way out.

Jon

[Chrissy]

Here's our list to import Heime when purchased direct from Shopbot

Sea cargo automation $25
Delivery order fee $75
Destination terminal handling charge $100.98
DESTINATION CHANNEL DEEPENING $20.20
Import security levy $5
Cargo management re engineering $20
Destination wharfage charge $403.92
Customs clearance $125
AQIS assessment fee $25
Cartage fuel surcharge $13.88
Customs disbursement charge $1376.73
Made up of AQIS prcessing charge $14, GST $1306.73, declaration processing charge $50, AQIS container charge $6
Cartage $126.22
Cartage movement from port to agent to avoid storage charges $126.22
Cartage fuel surcharge $13.88

Total $2457.03 plus GST on some of above items $108.03
Grand total $2565.06

Then we got hit with another $220 because they had charged for metropolitan delivery instead of country - Kinglake is about 80 kms from the port - metropolitan stops at 50 kms.

A super grand total $2785.06 on a shipping cost from Shopbot of US$1516.84

Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY!!!!! I dont know what Bob would do without Heime to challenge him every day!

[myxpykalix]

I went to take it to the drop off and they told me i had to take all the 2x4's off and only use wood that was designated HT (heat treated) basically furring strips so i had to take the box back, unpack everything and i'm going to put the wood on it and repack and try again tomorrow.

[Simops]

As an agent for a company in Switzerland I do a lot of importing from Europe and occasionally from the States and mostlyl by air transport. It costs me much less from Europe than from the States yet the distances are about the same.

When i purchased the Buddy the cost to ship from States to here was about $3000 all up by sea transport (including $500 crating fee from shopbot).....if my memory serves me well? Plus GST on arrival here from customs but this was refundable.

BTW Jon if you are setting business up here register for GST. Then the GST you pay on goods is refundable against the GST you charge for your products on sale.

[WoodMarvels.com]

I'll be keeping my Canadian corporation which I run everything through for the time being - maybe once I get my PR in two years then I'll move the corporation over to Australia but until then... this is all just a business expense.

I do miss the Shopbot, just don't like surprise charges especially when it's nickle and dimes with the gov.

Jon

[myxpykalix]

After dealing with this all i want to know is what ever happened to NAFTA?:eek: Do we impose all those crazy fees when we import stuff from other countries?
No wonder everything costs so much

[WoodMarvels.com]

North American Free Trade Agreement was for USA Canada and Mexico only... that being said, when I crossed the ShopBot from the USA to Canada originally - they wanted about 800$ in various fees and taxes - I got out of it but it means I had to return the machine back to ShopBot within a year - which was fine with me because I knew I was months away from moving to Australia anyhow.... those few months with Oz gov just happened over 9 months instead of 2-3 as I wanted.

Oh yeah, on the way back to the USA (shipping the ShopBot from their HQ from my home in Canada) - the american side this time wanted me to pay various fees and import duties - as far as I'm concerned - each gov is out there for their piece of the pie. I got out of that one by showing the customs agent after 2 hours of talking to them WoodMarvels.com on their computer and a car loaded with kids toys which I later dropped off at ShopBot HQ.

Jon

[myxpykalix]

I was being sarcastic re:NAFTA :D
Hope you are getting settled....

[WoodMarvels.com]

Apparently I wrote too soon last week - the ShopBot is still on the boat! They tell me it's about a week to unload the container and have it clear customs... of course, add some more fees to the nickle and dimming!

AQIS fee 179.00
AQIS lodgement/inspection fee 85.00
If cleaning is required then allow about 175.00 as a min

I asked the shipper when they think I will finally see the machine and this nickle and dimming ends - they told me first week or two of September. Yes, those fees are in addition to what they quoted me earlier. This is getting silly.

Now I know why things in Australia are so expensive - people are making a killing when ever anything is imported into this country! Once I finally do get the ShopBot Desktop - I'll post the list of fees that just keep on growing.

Jon

[Shane]

Here are my fees I had to pay once my shopbot PRSstandard docked in Brisbane a couple of days ago.

Cargo Management Re Engineering 25.00
Sea Cargo Automation 20.00
Professional Indemnity Fee 5.00
Wharfage Charge 139.05
Delivery Order Fee 65.00
Import Security Levy 9.27
Customs Clearance 130.00
AQIS Assessment Fee 25.00
Cartage 75.00
Cartage Fuel Surcharge 10.50
Customs Disbursement Charge Exempt Rated 1,367.92
GST Amount 1297.92
AQIS Processing Charge 14.00
Declaration Processing Charge 50.00
AQIS Container Charges 6.00

SUBTOTAL 1,871.74
ADD GST 50.39
TOTAL AUD $1,922.13

Phoned up to arrange delivery for this Tuesday and they said, "oh you don't have a forklift.. that's another $110 on top for a truck tailLift."

Bit annoyed that I ordered it on the 31st May and it is taken this long to get to me but hopefully it will all be worth it.

Does anyone know how many parts the PRSstandard ships in? If the gantry is attached to the bed or is that separate? They said the total weight is 400kg and I'm hoping some of the weight can be lightened as it will need to be carried by hand to it's final resting place.

[jerry_stanek]

It should be 1 crate and one box with the rails.

[WoodMarvels.com]

The ShopBot Desktop has been in a warehouse since I got here as I don't have room here in Adelaide to run it but that will soon change... I'm moving to Perth in a month and will have plenty of room to ShopBot away my weekends and nights. I'll be renting a truck in a few weeks and driving from here to there, it's a few days on the road straight but at least I can't get lost, drive with the ocean on your left till you see the ocean ahead of you and stop!

Any ShopBot guys out there in the middle of nowhere (Perth, Western Australia)?

Jon
ps: rebranded my company to diversify, now CNCKing.com instead of WoodMarvels.com.