Importing cigars to Australia

[Legion]

I would talk to a lawyer when you get home about taking them to small claims court. That was your property. They have a right to search it, not destroy it. They MUST have to reimburse you for that, surely!

Imagine if you had imported an antique clock from overseas. Some clown at customs decides he wants to look inside for drugs, so he smashes the thing open with a hammer. He finds nothing so he puts all the parts back in the box and posts them on to you. He would never get away with that, but because these are cigars it's fine? No way, man. Same deal.

 

[Waistcoat]

I would talk to a lawyer when you get home about taking them to small claims court. That was your property. They have a right to search it, not destroy it. They MUST have to reimburse you for that, surely!

Imagine if you had imported an antique clock from overseas. Some clown at customs decides he wants to look inside for drugs, so he smashes the thing open with a hammer. He finds nothing so he puts all the parts back in the box and posts them on to you. He would never get away with that, but because these are cigars it's fine? No way, man. Same deal.

Totally agree, don't let them screw you. Clearly some *** at customs was having a crappy day and decided to take it out on you, don't let them get away with it

 

[CptBlueBear]

Hi folks,

I'm a complete amateur when it comes to cigars, but just a couple of things:

1) the Australian import duty on tobacco is about $423 per kilo. Extortionate if you ask me, but put in place to encourage consumers to by their products of licensed, Australian, suppliers (incidentally at over the odds prices);

Local tobacco is taxed at the same rate. Nothing to do with protecting local industry. Partly it's a sop to the anti smoking industry and partly a blatant tax grab from a section of society that all right thinking people are meant to despise anyway. Think Henry VIII and the Jews...

but I digress...

and

2) I recently posted home some cigars I bought (legally) in Cuba (I'm still in the region and not yet back in Australia). Anyway, the person that I posted them to, has told me that customs opened the box (cutting the Cuban tobacco duty seal), snapped one of the cigars in half, and cut the remaining 9 lengthways with a very sharp knife, to (I presume) inspect the contents of them. They were then all packed back into the package, and sent on their way to the address that I posted them to.

So here is my question: Can I do anything to "reseal" them? If not, do you think I have a case to at least get Customs to reimburse me for the cost of the cigars (I've still got my receipts), as none of these can now be consumed?d

OUCH! If they've been cut up, there is no way back. Probably the best you can do break them up for rollies.

Here is a link to the Customs policy document about making claims for damage. I'd be contacting them with a claim if it were me, along with bending the ear of my local member. If you submit a claim, please let us know how you get on.

Now, on the subject of cost: even paying the duty and shipping you are still often better off buying from overseas. If anyone needed evidence of just how broken retail is in this country, just do those numbers.

 

[law123]

Hi folks,

Just an update on my situation...apologies for the delay for those that are interested.

Customs claim that the cigars arrived in Australia in the condition that I found them in (i.e. all cut vertically with a stanley knife from top to tail), and that they have proof that this was the case.

As an aside, they also said that for tobacco that comes into the country in that amount (very small amounts) generally don't get charged duty...it's only the larger amounts that they bother to charge the receiver any duty. Having said that, this was only said to me verbally, so don't take it as gospel.

Anyway, after speaking with Customs, I then turned to the courier company (a very large, reputable company...who I will no longer use) who shipped them from Central America to Australia for me. They virtually said that it was their fault (although this was not confirmed in writing) and said that they would put through a claim on our behalf. This was basically the beginning of a very long drama...I'll spare you all the details and only give you what happened in a nutshell.

Initially they said that they could only compensate in financial form rather than actually replace any products.

They then immediately disputed the amount that I could claim back due to the value of the package that was declared for Customs being less than the Australian market value of the cigars. The basis of their dispute was that it was going through on their insurance and I could only claim up to the Customs value.

They then got back to me and said that as there were other items in the package, I wasn't able to claim the full amount that was declared to Customs; and so asked for a breakdown of what was in the package and their respective values.

At this point I said that I wasn't interested in an insurance claim, and that I wanted them to compensate me as they destroyed my property (as opposed to the cigars being destroyed accidentally while in transit). They said that if I wanted to go down this route, their policy is that they only compensate $25/kilo of damaged goods (as I should have known from page 3, paragraph 25, section a.2 of the terms and conditions that I agreed to (which incidentally were in Spanish when I sent them...)). They then went on and said that as the cigars probably weigh 0.5 kilo's, that they would give me $12.50 compensation.

After more and more complaints they then gave me a final offer of an $88 'gesture of goodwill'. The $88 isn't a figure they pulled out of thin air - I know how they got it - but it's too long to go into here (I've already gone on long enough!).

And that's where it's ended. The courier company who maliciously destroyed my property compensated me about 1/3 of the cost of my goods.

DHL are an organisation that I will never use again.

Apologies once again for the long post, but I just thought some of you may have been interested.

Cheers

 

[CptBlueBear]

Thanks for the update, mate. That restores my faith in Aussie customs. I've always found them reasonable and (shudder) even helpful in the past. The thought that they'd taken up destroying stuff like that had me worried.

I doubt it was DHL who actually did it, it was probably some overzealous, minimum wage, customs functionary between Cuba and here. Systematic destruction like that doesn't sound like their style: if the package had been stomped on and the entire contents flattened, now THAT would be DHL's style*. Fedex would just lose the package completely. EMS would lose it, deny they ever had it, stall, find it had been sent to Vladivostok by mistake, forward it via Moscow, Frankfurt and Reykjavik and finally deliver it, travel stained but intact, six months later as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

International freight! Grrrr. And it only get's worse as you scale up.

*At a previous employer we used to receive regular special delivery packages from major IT vendors. The packing being several times the size and weight of the component was not uncommon. A workmate built furniture from used Fedex packaging during downtime. You realised why they did that when the "damaged in transit" ones came in. No prizes for guessing who the biggest culprit for that was. I now wonder how much of what we sent back to HP as DOA had been opened and destroyed like your cigars...

 

[Legion]

I still dont understand why the cigars would be each sliced down the middle, whether it was by customs or the courier company. What is the point?

 

[CptBlueBear]

Looking for drugs would be the reason given. I doubt we'll ever know the actual reason although I'll make a wild guess that stupidity is the root cause. The point, for the person who did it, is because he can. What grinds my gears is the "tough ****" attitude of freight companies to property getting damaged or lost while in their possession.

 

[johnmrson]

As I get quite a few parcels from overseas, a few of them get opened by Customs. They always reseal the package pretty well and leave a pamphlet inside. They aren't allowed to damage or destroy anything. They are entitled to take stuff out though if it is an illegal import like a taser or animal product.
I can't understand any reason for slicing cigars down the middle. That makes no sense to me at all. As far as I'm aware, you can't do that, even if you claim to be looking for drugs because it is destruction of the item. I'd be kicking up the biggest stink I could. I'd be e-mailing US newspapers, radio stations, anyone.

 

[CptBlueBear]

Ditto, I get quite a few from the US and Asia and have never even had one inspected. But it wasn't Aussie Customs who did it - they can apparently prove that's how the package arrived.

I doubt we'll ever know where it was done or by whom. I agree, it makes no sense other than someone being a dick.

As I get quite a few parcels from overseas, a few of them get opened by Customs. They always reseal the package pretty well and leave a pamphlet inside. They aren't allowed to damage or destroy anything. They are entitled to take stuff out though if it is an illegal import like a taser or animal product.
I can't understand any reason for slicing cigars down the middle. That makes no sense to me at all. As far as I'm aware, you can't do that, even if you claim to be looking for drugs because it is destruction of the item. I'd be kicking up the biggest stink I could. I'd be e-mailing US newspapers, radio stations, anyone.

 

[darksmoke]

hi everybody , im here as a result of my google search for importing non cubans aswell . i wanted to buy some nub cigars online from america but cant find any place that ships to australia ? if anyone knows can you please tell me .
on another note i have imported pipe tobacco 100grams and the seller labelled the package as TEA . i got it no problems at all

personally i think its cheaper buying them online even with the import duty taxes , a box of good cigars here is usually around $650 the same box of 25 cost around $100 maybe so even with the cost of tax later your still in front .

as for the NOB who is slicing the cigars apart , the word is that they are looking for SEEDS like marijuana seeds.

 

[CptBlueBear]

personally i think its cheaper buying them online even with the import duty taxes , a box of good cigars here is usually around $650 the same box of 25 cost around $100 maybe so even with the cost of tax later your still in front .

Don't get me started on the price difference between Cohibas locally vs OS. I lost all sympathy for local tobacconists as a result.

as for the NOB who is slicing the cigars apart , the word is that they are looking for SEEDS like marijuana seeds.

Interesting, but why would anyone smuggle marijuana seeds into Oz? I guess it might make a twisted kind of sense if it happened at a transit port but they aren't supposed to touch what just passes through.

 

[Legion]

Don't get me started on the price difference between Cohibas locally vs OS. I lost all sympathy for local tobacconists as a result.

It's not the tobacconists. It is all tax. Aussie tobacconists (the ones that haven't been driven out of business) are probably making less profit than anywhere else in the world.

The tax man is the reason why this stuff costs so much. Nobody is profiteering.

 

[CptBlueBear]

It's not the tobacconists. It is all tax. Aussie tobacconists (the ones that haven't been driven out of business) are probably making less profit than anywhere else in the world.

The tax man is the reason why this stuff costs so much. Nobody is profiteering.

Now I don't want to upset Sheriff Bullock ("sometimes its useful for a lawman to have reputation for a short temper" love the avatar), but taxed and landed Cohiba Siglo IVs are around the $20 a stick mark by the box. The last time I bought them over the counter I got asked for $46 each. Nobody likes to see the tax office making more money than they do on a sale, but that's just taking the ****. That tobacconist carries a nice line of Stokkebye bulk too, which he doesn't mark up insanely, so its doubly annoying.

For some reason I read that back in the voice of Al Sweringen...

 

[Stevecan]

Hey,
I have only recently had my first cigar and I loved it! I am still well and truly a newbie, and have only smoked 2 cigars. I am from Australia however and our tobacco taxes are through the roof, and thus so is the price of cigars.

I was wondering if anybody from Australia has bought cigars from overseas and had them posted here. I'm only talking small quantities less than 10. Do they get through customs ok? Or did customs slug some fees and taxes on you?

Would love to hear from fellow Aussies

 

[Stevecan]

Hi. I brought a bundle on 20 cheap cigars for my birthday and fathers day . The cigars were $2. each so $40.00 usd,for the bundle, I sent $121.00 usd thinking that covered conversion and taxes but I was wrong. Customs sent me a invoice for $332.99. So to buy 20 cheap $2.00 cigars sold for $40.00 usd it would cost $453.00 by the time they arrive in your letter box. The government has bent us over and is constantly screwing us over and there's not a bloody thing we can do about it. Anything enjoyable is either banned or can only be afforded by the wealthy.

 

[Kentos]

Hi. I brought a bundle on 20 cheap cigars for my birthday and fathers day . The cigars were $2. each so $40.00 usd,for the bundle, I sent $121.00 usd thinking that covered conversion and taxes but I was wrong. Customs sent me a invoice for $332.99. So to buy 20 cheap $2.00 cigars sold for $40.00 usd it would cost $453.00 by the time they arrive in your letter box. The government has bent us over and is constantly screwing us over and there's not a bloody thing we can do about it. Anything enjoyable is either banned or can only be afforded by the wealthy.

Crikey!! That’s rooted!!

 

[Fairwind]

What are the Australian rules about growing tobacco? Do you have any companies in Australia making cigars, the climate there is probably great for growing tobacco.

 

[Robster]

Australian here. It was customs and don't believe a word of their bull****. Ask them for their proof. They won't be able to suply it. They may supply a photo of them cut, but that's not proof they didn't do it. Time and time again I hear of cigars coming into Australia, opened by customs, cut down the middle (to check for whatever) then a bill for duty. This story is NOT unique, they are trying to worm their way out of it. Stick to your guns for all of us who face this situation. If we all push against them they may finally stop cutting our cigars up.

 

[Anthony416]

Update from my original post in 2011 and others re tobacco product duty here in Australia, now at $916.72....plus a % of shipping cost .......plus GST. Good grief this is terrible!

They are picking on very small amounts now also, 1 x 50g tin of pipe tobacco got held hostage last month.

3 months back I had one crossed eyed customs "officer" try and charge me for 250g of tobacco even though it was only a single 100g tin....... (official printed shipping label also stated 100g) The nightmare never ends.

 

[okey]

Tobacco tax in Australia will soon be over a thousand dollars a kilo .
Less and less people are smoking regular cigarettes so I gather there is a top up from premium tobacco products .
Now a supplier has changed their shipping policy which makes my special Sunday arvo treat one I doubt many can afford . I for one can't justify $30 dollars for a quality cigar to enjoy on a regular basis and by regular I mean once a fortnight .