MetalSlab
Inspired
pretty sure as long as it is marked 'made in the US' you are fine...they obviously break this down sometimes if half the gear is from china etc....so its not straight forward
Guys just thought I would clarify this process for you (as I have bought a shitload of gear from US before)...
You will get stung for:
- 10% of the total of the declared value + shipping costs of the item if the total of both is above $1000 in AUD.
- there is an additional 5% Duty for most imported stuff; however, due to our free trade agreement with the US, anything manufactured there is exempt (i.e. this is where you DON'T HAVE TO PAY the duty on Fractal gear as it is made in US - normally an extra 5% ON TOP OF THE 10% mentioned above!)
- the $40 odd is 'costs' for Customs to process and file your paperwork (mandatory fee - what a rip)
- the broker fee (if you choose to use one). This means all the paperwork is done for you to get the item cleared through customs and it is usually processed much quicker than if you choose to handle the process yourself (sometimes takes weeks and can mean you pay extra 'storage' costs to customs during that period - especially if you muff the forms up). I recommend www.auspostcustoms.com.au and usually use their 24hr service which costs an extra $77.
...so in the end you have to weigh up the costs. Most often it is better importing so long as you are confident that your gear won't break down. Most O/S manufacturers won't honour their warranty unless you have purchased locally through their Aussie distributor. Pretty standard practice and not unreasonable I suppose.
To give you an idea, I recently bought TWO new QSC KW122 FRFR speakers direct from a New York dealer for a grand total of about 2.4K (inlcuding shipping and all the above fees). The cheapest deal I could get in Australia was 1.8K EACH - not inlcluding freight. That was when our dollar was about even with the USD as well.
As mentioned above, if you decide you are better off importing the AxeII, I would consider something like bongo. Look it up.