Customs Broker and Importing

Very early in my business, I decided I had to find out about importing and what I needed to know. There is lots of information from the Customs website but it still takes a bit of digging and checking. Checking is really important. I would probably talk to a customs broker before I had ordered from the Chinese supplier.

I found that any clothing has a 17.5% import duty. GST is 10% but this is refundable on BAS statement. Labels are really important on clothing. The company name, size and country of origin needs to be included on the label as well as washing instructions on clothing.

I live 4 hours from Brisbane so I decided to check out a few customs brokers when I was there on a trip. I found 3 names and rang them first to make an appointment. To me, a phone call tells a lot about the company. All 3 seemed good.

Then I organised to visit them. Some were a long way from the docks so that influenced my decision to an extent. Prices were similar although one company was twice the price of the others!!

I only had one question and that was what do I need to do to import my products. One company seemed disorganised and the other expensive. Customs and Forwarding Services really impresses me. They were very professional and I left with information about their business. They answered the questions easily and I went away feeling like I had found the company that I needed.

This company - CFS - has been fantastic. Everything goes without a hitch. They organise my shipment to get to a transport company and delivered to Bundaberg. They are totally in control of each shipment and I never have to worry about anything! I have full confidence in them and couldn't recommend them highly enough!

I cannot emphaisis enough how important a good customs broker is. They do this each and every day - I assume - so know exactly what to do. They give great advice and this makes the process easier. It is worth doing some homework on this though. Get a good one and stick with them.