# OZ - US exchange rate, I'm excited!



## tmuir (Nov 4, 2010)

The Australian dollar has just bcome worth more than the US dollar.
This is a massive improvement from a year or two ago when the OZ dollar only got $0.65 US.

Look out ebay US and US tool shops as I know where a lot of my Christmas presents will be coming from this year. :big:


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## HS93 (Nov 4, 2010)

I take it it's the $ that has droped because it's ausie $ is still the same as it was in May when I visited your fair country.

I see they have just grounded all Quantas planes..  bits are Falling of the 380s

peter


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## Maryak (Nov 4, 2010)

Hot Damn

Currency Rates


 	Live rates at 2010.11.04 07:23:00 UTC 		 
1.00 USD 	= 	0.994411 AUD 	view USD/AUD chart
United States Dollars 	 	Australia Dollars
1 USD = 0.994411 AUD 	 	1 AUD = 1.00562 USD

That's a hell of a jump from 2000 when during the Sydney Olympics the Oz was worth 50 cents US



			
				HS93  said:
			
		

> I see they have just grounded all Quantas planes..  bits are Falling of the 380s
> 
> peter



Perhaps now we can afford for Airbus to glue em back on again. :

Best Regards
Bob


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## tel (Nov 4, 2010)

The exchange (purchasing) rate is good, but the outrageous postal charges from the US have not.


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## HS93 (Nov 4, 2010)

we in the UK have the same problem from the states if it is posted by your national Carrier, it gets vat added and in January it Will be up to 20%, I get loads of stuff from outside the UK (eBay) and no Vat charged but from the US I get hammerd if it is sent by United States Postal Service (USPS) it cost me an extra 250 ish dollars this year, so anyone in the UK ask if it can be ant other way but this. so for rant.

peter


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## swilliams (Nov 4, 2010)

You've convinced me. I'm buying more tooling tomorrow


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## bearcar1 (Nov 4, 2010)

It is a shame that all world currencies cannot be more equally valued, within a dime or so of each other. I've drooled over items from the UK and found the same situations of VAT and/or just the exchange rates themselves to be prohibitive enough that my purchases remained just a dream.  The situation exists concerning the Chinese currency being allegedly held well below its actual value on the world market. That will likely never change and the rest of the world suffers for it. I am however glad to see that our friends in OZ will be able to finally have some buying power of US goods.

BC1
Jim


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## Ned Ludd (Nov 4, 2010)

Hi Jim,
If items are sent to you by shops over here (in the UK) you should not be charged any VAT at all. If you buy things here and take them home with you should be able to claim back the VAT when you leave, although it might take some time to be reimbursed.
Well at least that was the situation when we sent loads of bike bits across the pond and I am not aware that things have changed recently.
Ned


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## bearcar1 (Nov 4, 2010)

Aha, thanks for that Ned, I was always under the assumption that the VAT was added to the purchase price of the item period. I did not realize that if it goes out of the country the VAT is recoverable. 

BC1
Jim


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## Stan (Nov 4, 2010)

People outside the US buying goods from the US is the intent of the policy (bit of a currency war with China). They announced yesterday that they are going to print another $600bn over a period of several months. This has the effect of devaluing the US dollar or increasing the purchasing power of other currencies.

The unfortunate piece of this policy is that the tools you buy from the US probably came from China so it worsens the US balance of trade.


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## Deanofid (Nov 4, 2010)

HS93  said:
			
		

> we in the UK have the same problem from the states if it is posted by your national Carrier, it gets vat added and in January it Will be up to 20%, I get loads of stuff from outside the UK (eBay) and no Vat charged but from the US I get hammerd if it is sent by United States Postal Service (USPS) it cost me an extra 250 ish dollars this year, so anyone in the UK ask if it can be ant other way but this. so for rant.
> 
> peter



Well, it isn't the U.S. Post Office doing that to you. It's your own gubment. We don't have a VAT system 
in the States. We have sales tax, but that only gets charged if the seller is in your state of residence. 
IOW, if you live in Idaho, and buy from a seller that sells in Idaho, etc.


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## tel (Nov 4, 2010)

USPS rates, especially via Ebay, are unrealistically high, examples abound of postage costing 4 or 5 times the purchase price of the article. Postage of similar items from almost anywhere else in the world cost only a fraction of the US rates.


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## Tin Falcon (Nov 4, 2010)

IMHO many e-bay sellers severely pad the postage fates to insure a profit and drive there selling price up. Se la vi
Tin


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## ksouers (Nov 4, 2010)

Just to put some numbers on my experience shipping to OZ.

I don't know what the exact postal rate is, but I sent a 4 pound package to Sidney a couple years ago and postage was $45 USD, or about 30% the value of the goods, private residence to private residence, no insurance. I think it spent about a week to 10 days in impound to clear customs. The bloke I sent it to made no mention of any additional fees or VAT that he may have had to pay to retrieve it, only that it arrived in good condition. I did have to declare it's value. I put it at $100 USD, well below it's actual value.

No telling what sneaky things our government may have done to those rates since then.

Hope that helps someone...


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## kvom (Nov 4, 2010)

A Priority Mail small fixed rate box (limit 4 pounds) costs $13.45 to any country except Canada or Mexico from the US. Of course, the item(s) need to fit the box.

The intentional weakening of the $ is a bid by the government to stimulate exports. The prices of import items from China are unlikely to change given China's mercantilistic policies and their wanting to keep the yuan value low vs. the dollar.


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## tmuir (Nov 6, 2010)

tel  said:
			
		

> The exchange (purchasing) rate is good, but the outrageous postal charges from the US have not.



You need to speak nicely to someone in the US.
They have flat rate parcels in the US.
the biggest which is around 13 x 13 x 5 1/2 inches costs $50, but gets to your front door in 6 workinf days and can hold a whooping 9Kg.

I recently bought a number of things off ebay and had them sent to a friend in the US who repackaged them in a flat rate box and saved myself a fortune in postage.

Go look at the price of a Sherline lathe in Australia (4410 $1895.50), then the same lathe in the US (4410 $675).
It costs about $250 to get one posted over.

If you get the basic 4400 this including postage will now cost less than $1000, so no GST or import duty.
This works out about $1000 cheaper than buying one here even paying the $250 postage. 

Shows you just how much the local companies screw us over


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## Deanofid (Nov 6, 2010)

Wow Tony! No wonder other people can't afford our stuff. I just couldn't understand why almost every 
modeler or toy steamer didn't have a Taig lathe until now. That lathe, well equipped here sells for $300. 
I can't imagine what they go for in your neck of the woods. 
Too bad we can't have a "Modelers Cartel" and work between ourselves. We could cut out a lot of the
middle man scalpers. 

Dean


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## Maryak (Nov 6, 2010)

tmuir  said:
			
		

> Shows you just how much the local companies screw us over



Yes,

Last weeks interest rate hike combined with the current strength of the $AU has our retail sector running scared. More and more people here are looking to offset the increase in their mortgage by buying overseas using the internet. The government is non too happy either as all they can see is falling taxation revenue, especially from our exporters.

Best Regards
Bob


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## Stan (Nov 7, 2010)

As we all know, government policies on imports/exports, taxes, interest rates and currency valuation have a major influence on what we pay for identical goods in different countries

When each country operated like a little fifedom where your hours of labor related to your cost of goods there was little problem. The introduction of the global economy has created problems for every country, except possibly China, who are now the world pariah for artificially holding down the value of the Yuan. We see it every day in the market place where Made in China goods sell for 10% or even less than a nationally made item. In most cases you can no longer buy a nationally made item as they have been forced out of business. 

This situation is coming to a head with currency wars starting and China is being put in a tight position. Since they hold a large amount of the world debt, any devaluation of world currencies means they get repaid in currency that buys fewer Yuan. China is in a Catch-22 position until they can create a home market to absorb their enormous production capability. In the 1960s, Japan was in the similar position (mass production with low selling price) until their standard of living and domestic market caught up to production. It is just on a bigger scale in China because of their large population.


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