Buying new items to bring - questions re duty/taxes

[VAndrews]

I'll be moving to NZ with my family in a few weeks and we're on the fence about buying anything new ahead of time because of the potential import tax we'd be subject to. It would be great if anyone could share their experiences (good or bad), especially with larger items (i.e. bikes, furniture, etc). Are they just looking for things that have clearly never been taken out of their packaging and assembled or just anything showing little-to-no signs of wear? I've been finding conflicting information on this, so it would be great to hear first-hand from anyone who has been through it already. Thanks in advance!

[Dave in NZ]

I enclose an old thread here regarding this very question.It is from 2007 so the tax etc is different now. If you are using a shipping company then they like to pack everything in their own boxes and build crates for larger items. All houses will have large items like washing machines, bikes TV's etc as long as they are not obviously brand new(ie in original sealed packaging,not put together etc) they will be ok even then I did declare a keyboard on advice of the company for warranty/insurance purposes and provided the removal company an invoice and I was never charged any tax on it. That was a long time ago and may have been luck. What their main concern is that you are not intending to sell for profit, ie if you have several washing machines etc but std stuff for a typical house should be no problem

https://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13003

[VAndrews]

I appreciate the quick reply, this is very helpful!