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Hi everyone does anyone know where is Don of WLT?

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Davidoff

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But I definitely believe that to import WLT to NZ is totally by luck. Seems like everybody in NZ try to get WLT from Don but not everyone can 100% get their stuff. As I concluded it is not becos of the amount we order. It is just becos the customs in NZ has a random checking process. If you are lucky around 10-14 days you can get your parcel. If not they will ask you to go for QTC which is the heat treatment. After that the NZ customs will gonna assess your parcel. And in my experience, the parcel was keep by them and ask me to pay the duty or send back to sender for free as.

I hope anybody in NZ can share their experience after the QTC heat treatment and still can get their WLT.

Thanks everyone

Davidoff
 

FmGrowit

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I have over 100 regular customers in Kiwiland, some for more than 5 years with monthly orders, and yours was the first to ever have been returned.

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Davidoff

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Hi Don, Yup I have seen your terms and conditions I accept that, but I just wanna know are they all in big order like me last time 7 kg? And also after the QTC process can they get the parcel? I just wanna know which part of the process goes wrong. I am not saying it is not possible for everyone. If somebody like me have a big order will they gonna have the same situation?
 

FmGrowit

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My longest continual customer from NZ orders 10 lbs twice a month. I have never heard of any difficulties with receiving his orders for the past 3 - 4 years.
 

Orson Carte

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Don -

As a recent first-time buyer from you (who has been held up and paying for 'heat treatment') it is most interesting (and heartening) to learn that this returned parcel in question is a rarity.
As a matter of interest, three of my good friends also placed almost identical orders in the weeks after I had placed mine and all three received their deliveries, without any holdups whatsoever, seven to twelve days later.
It certainly does appear that parcels are randomly opened and inspected at the Mail Centre and if you are one of the unlucky few you have no real choice to go through with the cost of testing. They indicated that mine was held up because it showed 'some signs of disease'. (Which I think is just bureaucratic bulldust. However, what else can one do but play their game?)
What I'm still trying to figure out is just what made Customs jump on Davidoffs and demand duty. Don, do you have an theory on this? The only real difference between all the orders I know of and this returned one is that it's weight is more than double.
 

Davidoff

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By the way Orson, did you rececived your parcel after the heat treatment? That is what I am concerning about...
 

FmGrowit

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I have heard of people being charged for heat treating, but they just pay the fee and get their tobacco. I recently heard one pound was heat treated at a cost of $50 or so, so I'd suggest making a worthwhile purchase of 6 to 10 pounds so the cost per pound for heat treating is divided for a lower cost per pound.
 

Orson Carte

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To answer your question David, I am still waiting for the 'treatment' to be completed and the parcel returned back to the Mail Centre.
My package (of 6 lbs) was shipped from the US on 28 December, so it has been in the system now for just over four weeks.
By the way of general information, the heat treatment is carried out for the Customs Department by an independent contractor (called 'QTC'). They merely treat it and then send it back to the Mail Centre.
Don - the cost of treating one pound is exactly the same as treating any quantity, up to at least sixty pounds - $45.
- I also find it interesting to hear you say that you have someone placing two separate orders of ten pounds every month. I wonder if that person 'knows' something more than we do about how the system works.
Perhaps anything above ten pounds draws attention. Otherwise, why would he not simply order one package of twenty pounds per month?
I really do feel that this is where David ran into trouble - his 15 pounds exceeded a threshold. Even if there was no Duty liable, GST (sales tax, at 15%) would be automatically payable on that amount. On amounts up to 10lbs it's not.
As I've already said, this is my first order so my experience is somewhat limited. However, I am reasonably confident that I will receive the tested package eventually.
I say this because an acquaintance of mine (and member of this forum) had to pay for the same testing procedure with his first order last year and eventually received the delivery (at no extra cost) six weeks after it left the States. His second order, made fairly recently, sailed through without any interruption.
I mentioned previously, three other friends of mine (who placed their orders well after I did) recently had their orders delivered lightning-quick, without any costs or holdup.
It's pretty obvious that the Mail Centre (or Customs, or whatever) is opening some (and definitely not all) of the packages.
As long as we eventually receive the packages, without having to pay a huge amount of tax, I don't think anyone's going to complain. (On 'manufactured tobacco' products the duty is well over $1000 per kg).
What I'm struggling with understanding is just what happened in your case. I guess we're all trying to figure out just how your order was different from the hundreds of others that apparently get through unscathed.
Another thing I'd really like to know is -
1. Who told them to send it back, and 2. just who paid the return freight on your returned package?
No-one wants to return a package, of course, even if it costs nothing to do so - the freight to NZ costs more than the tobacco so you're always going to get less than half of your money back on a returned item.
Finally, I'd like to say Don that I'm most impressed with your operation. If there any hiccups at all they are due to the red tape here in NZ.
 

riverstone

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That NZ Post letter states that it considered a 'commercial' shipment, so I'm picking it is the size of the shipment that dictates how it is viewed by customs.
2 shipments of 10lb every month? Only one comment for that. "Chop Chop"
 

Orson Carte

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Davidoff -
Despite trying every enhancement I couldn't read the entire contents of that letter to you (shown above) from New Zealand Post.
If Riverstone is correct and it does state that your order was considered a 'commercial shipment', then this is undoubtedly the reason for your difficulties, pure and simple.
End of story!
 

deluxestogie

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The letter:
NZ_letter.jpg


Bob
 

COLIN

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You exceeded the GST limit's allowable for imported goods. Costoms combine the purchase price of products and shiping if this exceeds $400.00 dollars then GST is payable .The GST payable on $400.00 15%= $60.00 . If you do not organise to pay the GST with costoms they will destroy it or you can have it sent back. The best way to avoid problems is to keep your order under $400 including shipping. The other problem is if they decide to open your order and see that it has frogs eyes they believe this to be a diease and require this to be heat treated. The cost of this treatment $45.00 up to 5kg .
 

Orson Carte

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You are quite correct in saying that GST (sales tax) is payable on the quantity of whole-leaf under discussion. (17 pounds)
The cost of this shipment, including freight was US$364.95, which converts to NZ$513.29 (approx., depending upon the exchange rate on any particular day).
With GST added, the cost of the goods would stand at NZ$590.28. But then add to this the cost of heat treatment (which, by the way is $45 for any amount from 1kg up to 25kg) and the total cost is now NZ$635.28.
However the figure might surprise our American friends, there's much worse to come;
Because 17 pounds is considered a 'commercial shipment' excise duty is payable on the whole amount. And this adds NZ1051.83 per kilogram - that is, there is duty of NZ$8099.10 due for the shipment.
This brings the total cost of importing 17 pounds of whole-leaf to $NZ8734.37 (Or, approx. US$ 6200 .)
I hope this illustrates why (up until I saw the letter, above) I was very interested in trying to make sense of David's problem
 

webmost

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You are quite correct in saying that GST (sales tax) is payable on the quantity of whole-leaf under discussion. (17 pounds)
The cost of this shipment, including freight was US$364.95, which converts to NZ$513.29 (approx., depending upon the exchange rate on any particular day).
With GST added, the cost of the goods would stand at NZ$590.28. But then add to this the cost of heat treatment (which, by the way is $45 for any amount from 1kg up to 25kg) and the total cost is now NZ$635.28.
However the figure might surprise our American friends, there's much worse to come;
Because 17 pounds is considered a 'commercial shipment' excise duty is payable on the whole amount. And this adds NZ1051.83 per kilogram - that is, there is duty of NZ$8099.10 due for the shipment.
This brings the total cost of importing 17 pounds of whole-leaf to $NZ8734.37 (Or, approx. US$ 6200 .)
I hope this illustrates why (up until I saw the letter, above) I was very interested in trying to make sense of David's problem

Holy Scheiss!
 

SmokesAhoy

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17lbs of tobacco in nz costs more than my last truck. Your king really don't want you touching the stuff holy moly.
 

Orson Carte

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17lbs of tobacco in nz costs more than my last truck. Your king really don't want you touching the stuff holy moly.

Well, unlike you guys we don't actually have a King.
What we do have, however, is a Government which profits enormously from the tax it levies on all manufactured tobacco. Since 2010 the cost of tobacco has been steadily and regularly ramped-up. On a $20 (US$14.25) pack of twenty cigarettes, for example, (and some a much dearer) the Government reaps $13.33 in excise duty and $2.61 in GST(sales tax). In other words, 80% of the cost of each packet (or nearly $16) goes directly into government pot. Essentially, it's an extra tax on the poor - who comprise a large majority of the smokers- but I won't expand on that aspect.
All this is done under the guise of making smokers quit. Yeah, right!
The point implied, above, was that no-one here who imports whole leaf tobacco is likely to do that to do so if it is taxed (commercially) at NZ$1051 a kilogram (US$750). (US$341 per pound)
I know it sounds astronomical - and it is!
But, because a 50 gram (2oz) pack of ryo tobacco costs just over NZ$80 at a store we are actually paying far more this - namely, NZ$1600 per kilogram! And it's planned to keep making it dearer still.
However, if WLT can be landed at my doorstep, free of duty, for NZ$90 per kg (US$29 per lb) you can probably see why we'd really like to keep doing this.
ps. Just wait till your new King discovers the money to be made out of smokers.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Oh I can see why. It sounds like the guy Don mentioned has ordering down to a science, were I in your country I'd copy that or try growing, the scenes from lotr made it look like paradise there, good luck.
 

Orson Carte

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Oh I can see why. It sounds like the guy Don mentioned has ordering down to a science, were I in your country I'd copy that or try growing, the scenes from lotr made it look like paradise there, good luck.

It IS a paradise here - though most of us, most of the time, either don't realise it or simply take it for granted. Although I've been opining about our tax-grabbing government, they all do it, and we're regularly tied in first-place, with Denmark, as the least corrupt country of the world.
So, if you're interested, SA, you may also like to know that we also welcome immigrants. (Not even any lung-checks!)
And, yes -anyone watching this thread and thinking of importing whole leaf tobacco now knows exactly what and what not to do.
(Most tobacco grows very here. I for one certainly grow my own. Importing a little of the more exotic stuff as well is just part of the hobby).
 
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