Sourcing Bottles Online

[Deleted]

Hi Hamish,

I would highly recommend looking at theperfumeshoppe.com site for splits. They are based in Canada, have better prices than Luckyscent, and the exchange rate seems to be better as well. I've used them three or four times in the past (some of my SL's are from them) for full bottles and samples. They don't have Heeley, but plenty of other niche and hard to find brands.

I feel we need a separate thread for bottle sourcing. Feel free to move my post to a separate thread.

List of sites:

www.theperfumeshoppe.com
www.luckyscent.com
www.strawberrynet.com
www.ausliebezumduft.de/index.php?language=en

[hamish]

Thanks for that. I'll add them to my source list for niche perfumes.
I think that Luckyscent has really hiked their prices lately, so I always compare.
I've not tried First in Fragrance, but they seem to have a good reputation and with the Euro low, their prices seem good. They also don't charge VAT if shipped to NZ, so divide their listed prices by 1.19 before converting to NZD. I've noticed some European sites like escentual.com refuse to take off the VAT and probably pocket it as profit.

My only concern now is that with customs handing off GST collection to NZPost, more parcels will be hit with perfume duty and GST.

[Deleted]

I am yet to pay any Customs or GST on arrival, and I've been ordering perfumes on-line for around 7years. Last time I had a look on NZ Customs website, the duty is not collected on anything under $200 NZ. Most on-line retailers mark their parcels as "cosmetic samples", so there is no duty/GST business involved. Have I missed some recent changes in this area?

By the way, Strawberrynet has some niche - L'Artisan, Aqua di Parma, SL, Amouage - just to name a few. I have the maximum 10% discount based on the number of purchases made, plus if ordering more that one item, further discount can be given.

I am concerned about how to post perfumes within NZ with all these restrictions on liquids and aerosols.

[Deleted]

what's wrong with the thread name?

[hamish]

Here is the link for news about NZ Post.

Strawberrynet recently sent me notice that they will no longer pay duty if it is assessed and the per day limit (including freight) before duty and GST is added is NZ$333. I'm not sure where that limit comes from. There is a 5% duty on perfume, so with the 15% gst, that is a little over 20% that could be potentially added. Luckily most resellers, as you say, write "samples" on the customs declaration and a low value. I'll just make it clear if I host a split, that if duty is assessed, the price per ml will be higher. I'll usually try to keep the value below $400, but if we ever buy a large flacon (ie 250ml), it could be an issue.

To use the regular post shop to ship perfume within NZ, one must break the rules. I always pack the bottle the best I can and put in a zip-lock bag first as well. I need to research which carriers will ship as hazardous goods and how much it would cost. It is unfortunate that even small consumer quantities are prohibited.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the link, I have not seen it before. I try to stay on top of all import/GST changes, but missed this article.
I have not received any notifications from strawberrynet RE: duty and GST, but my orders usually do not exceed $200.

I had a fragrance shipped to me by flybuys. It was marked as hazardous goods and posted using courier services, but unfortunately I cannot tell what courier company it was, as I reused the box for posting something else to a friend.

[Deleted]

Strawberrynet's sent this message today:

Dear Customer,

Re: Amendment of the duty free import amount to New Zealand

Last week, we sent a notice regarding imports over NZ$333 to our New Zealand customers. We mistakenly quoted an import threshold of NZ$333 per day.

The correct threshold amount at which duty and GST may be payable is NZ$291. We apologize for any confusion caused.