Confused re: MAF charges!

[NAP]

Hi there

I know there have been posts before on this. I did do a search - but got even more confused!

Before we left Ireland we told the shipping company that we did not want to pay them the MAF/Customs charges (they were going to charge us €300 odd euros) and that we would pay customs on arrival. They said fine.

We then got an email from our NZ movers (Allied Movers) with an invoice stating we would have to pay:
Customs import transaction fee and MAF biosecurity system entry levy - $50
Quarantine inspection fees & associated handling and admin charges - $360
Plus GST.

When talking to them they insisted this was the way it was done and there was a "standard" charge per cubic feet of personal belongings you had (whether they were all for inspection or not). So basically done on 20ft/40ft container sizes.

Confusion:

1) surely MAF should only charge for the boxes they have to inspect (the ones we have outlined for inspection) and any others they may deem necessary to look at?

2) if this was the case (as the movers have outlined, where you pay a set charge) surely I could have packed my herbs/wicker baskets etc etc as it wouldn't have mounted up the cost of the time it took for MAF to inspect if it was one set charge. I was advised not to take these as it would take up more of MAF's time and hence more charges?????

3) why do some people pay MAF directly and seem to have lower charges?

Are we being ripped off????

We have to have our items inspected in the bonded warehouse of the movers. MAF dont come up to us.

Anyone recently arrived - who did you pay and how much?

[DejaVoo]

I am expecting my container from the US next week. I will be interested in what charges I will be asked to pay for. I will try to remember to post my experience on here.

[Janey]

TBH these sound like standard import fees when we moved the first time we ended up paying in excess of $600 for a 20ft container.
MAF and Customs have to process you container regardless of inspection some some of these fees are standard and usually included in the cost of your move, (you asked they they weren't is that right?)

What people tend to negoiate is the inspection fee only this end which some removal companies have been known to inflate hence the negoiation.

We also imported an animal and had to pay MAF handling fees and custom charges this obviously pays for there services of inspection etc For our one dog this was just short of $100 in total!

[Anneke7]

Waiting for arrival of my stuff too so will post the costs here.

[alldone]

I can't remember what we paid 18 months ago exactly but remember it being about $300ish above the agreed shipping fee for 40 something items to be inspected at Pickford's warehouse (they had to unload our container and put our stuff in smaller vans to get to our house).

The MAF schedule of charges is available through this link

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regul...est/whole.html or below

There may be other processing charges imposed by your shipper to deal with the processing of customs paperwork and MAF paperwork etc. So the "standard charge" is nothing to do with MAF's direct charges which are a "per box" rate and a travel fee (and I suspect they will then charge you for as extra once they know how many boxes MAF are going to inspect). There is a customs and biosecurity levy normally charged when you bring stuff into NZ on which customs charges are payable that is just less than $50.

See item 6 of the schedule at the very bottom that lists charges per item inspected

Inspection of unaccompanied goods imported for personal use as copied below.
6 Inspection of unaccompanied goods imported for personal use of the importer for the purpose of ascertaining whether those goods should be cleared

$25 for 1 item
$50 for 2 to 4 items
$100 for 5 to 12 items
$130 for 13 to 20 items
$155 for 21 to 28 items
$180 for 29 to 36 items
$25 for each block or part block of 8 items exceeding 36 items


You will also have to pay extra for travel if you are not at a main port as follows

Travel costs
(1) Travel costs are payable for an activity that requires an inspector or a biosecurity adviser to leave his or her base or, in the case of a call-out under regulation 10, any other place.
(2) Travel costs are—
(a) $72 for an activity at a site that is 10 km radius or less from the base (or an equal share of that cost if more than 1 activity is carried out at the same site):
(b) $100 for an activity at a site that is more than 10 km radius, but not more than 25 km radius, from the base (or an equal share of that cost if more than 1 activity is carried out at the same site):
(c) $163 for an activity at a site that is more than 25 km radius, but not more than 50 km radius, from the base (or an equal share of that cost if more than 1 activity is carried out at the same site):
(d) to be calculated in accordance with subclause (3) for an activity at a site that is more than 50 km radius from the base.
(3) Travel costs for an activity at a site that is more than 50 km radius from the inspector's or the biosecurity adviser's base must be calculated by adding together—
(a) costs calculated at the applicable hourly rate for the time that the inspector or biosecurity adviser has spent away from his or her base (or an equal share of that time if the activity is carried out at more than 1 site); and
(b) costs at the rate of 69 cents per kilometre for the distance travelled by the inspector or biosecurity adviser (or an equal share of that distance if the activity is carried out at more than 1 site); and
(c) any actual and reasonable costs associated with the activity, including accommodation, airfares, and meals (or an equal share of those associated costs if the activity is carried out at more than 1 site).
(4) The hourly rate for travel costs for an inspector or a biosecurity adviser is $100.
(5) Travel costs are payable—
(a) by the person, specified in the fourth column of the Schedule, responsible for paying the costs of the activity; and
(b) in addition to any other costs required to be paid under these regulations.

[Mamee & Co]

I can't remember the amount but it was over $300 for 46 packages. It was in line with what we had been quoted in UK, was done at the removers bonded warehouse as there were so many and would have been in line with your scale above. I just figured that it was substantially less then I would have lost if I had had to replace all the items. There are also standard import fees and additional inspection and WOF fees for cars.

[James 1077]

Our inspection charges for 2 boxes done at our house at the time of unpacking were $80 payable direct to MAF.

That was all that we had to pay on top of the price that we paid Pickfords.

[Kanga]

The removal companies often charge you for administration, paperwork etc but this is a rip-off because this has to be done regardless of whether MAF decide to inspect ... there is no extra work for the removal company! Here's a MAF factsheet about shipping


and it says:

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files...ed-to-know.pdf

Full container loads of effects may be eligible for delivery to a private residence if being shipped with an agent or moving company approved to the MAFBNZ equivalent system.

When you opt to have the inspection done at your home you usually just have to put the boxes they've asked for aside, so there's less work for the removal ppl! If this isn't all thrashed out before your stuff arrives in NZ the removal company will doubtless just hold your stuff to ransom until you pay and charge 'storage' every day until you do, so most of us just pay it and be done with and that's what they rely on.

[Kanga]

There may be other processing charges imposed by your shipper to deal with the processing of customs paperwork and MAF paperwork etc.

But if you pay for an all-inclusive deal like with Crown and most the big guns shipping out of the UK are doing so on all-inclusive contracts, this should be included because the shippers part HAS to be done regardless of what MAF decide. Charging for extra off-loading seems fair enough (but can often be avoided if you arrange home inspection) but this "MAF admin fee" lark, grrrrrr!

[NAP]

Its seems to me to be all very up in the air!
And as you say, if you don't pay upfront charges - you are held to ransom with even more charges looming!