Australian Members

[nidal105]

Hey everyone,
I had a question for all of the Aussie chatters on this board who have ordered Tobacco from an overseas company, through the Internet. Did you have any problems regarding the Tobacco, with customs? Has your tobacco ever been seized, are there any restrictions that you've faced? How hard is itto get tobacco through? Also, are there any recommended merchants who ship at good rates and who can 'disguise' the contents of the package? I am wanting to order but am not sure about all the details, so any help at all will be appreciated.
Thanks

[damo2010]

Well I've successfully received my order here in Victoria. As you know, the customs and quarantine laws vary from state to state. Quarantine did open the box for inspection but nothing was confiscated. The strong smell of the tobacco is a dead giveaway so I think no amount of discreet packing will mask the contents of the package. The only issue where customs might be concerned is the amount of tobacco brought in i.e. we are only allowed to import 250g of regular tobacco (eg. ciggys, pipe tobacco, cigars etc.) So, technically you can have 5 x 50g boxes or 1 x 250g tub/box of shisha tobacco. However, whether they enforce this with shisha tobacco is questionable as shisha tobacco is molasses after all I'm sure any online company that offers international shipping will be able to accommodate your request.

[nidal105]

Thanks Damo for your reply, I guess if the import restriction is only 250gm then it wouldn't be worth paying the shipping cost for some tobacco. Will have to stick to the brands I can get a hold of here.

[damo2010]

Thanks Damo for your reply, I guess if the import restriction is only 250gm then it wouldn't be worth paying the shipping cost for some tobacco. Will have to stick to the brands I can get a hold of here.

I managed to order more than 250g If you're planning to order 250g tubs then its definitely not worth it seeing as most shipping from the US starts at US$20 anyway. But, if you go for the 50g sample packs, and you ordered about 7, you'd be paying about $A7-$8 per pack (shipping cost and exchange rate included), which is about A$3 over what you get at your local shop. By the way, where are you located? Like you I wish my local stores stocked a better variety of molasses

[evlspcmk]

i havnt ordered from the net yet because the only method i have of paying is paypal and you cant buy tobacco products with paypal so that sucks! but i usually but my sisha from the local tobaconist and if your in the sydney area go to a place called Titanics its a hookah bar at bankstown its like a hour drive for me but its worth it ive never seen so many different flavours in the one place thats where i got my coconut shisha from that was amazing and there was so many others there too.. trust me if your able to go there do it coz exotic flavours in australia are as rare as rocking horse shit to find.

[nidal105]

I managed to order more than 250g If you're planning to order 250g tubs then its definitely not worth it seeing as most shipping from the US starts at US$20 anyway. But, if you go for the 50g sample packs, and you ordered about 7, you'd be paying about $A7-$8 per pack (shipping cost and exchange rate included), which is about A$3 over what you get at your local shop. By the way, where are you located? Like you I wish my local stores stocked a better variety of molasses

Yeah the shipping is definitely an issue, but I wouldn't mind paying extra for something different. I live in Canberra, so there is only one place that sells anything decent. The stock is small, but they sometimes get some nice stuff, but after smoking the same shit for two years you get pretty sick of it. Other than that, there is nothing really to be found in this area, and it would be nice to try something new. Been down to Sydney a couple of times as they have a bigger range, but its far from here. The worst thing is that there is not one online Australian site for hookah products. Oh well, what can you do

[joshstar]

There isn't an Australian site because it just wouldn't be viable. The tax on tobacco products here is roughly $300 dollars per kilogram of tobacco content. I'll use Starbuzz for example. A can of Starbuzz has roughly 13% tobacco content so the tax works out to roughly $9.75 tax per tin. On top of that you have to pay for GST which is 10% of the overall price+freight+insurance. There are also various lisences that you have to obtain and various legal procedures that you have to follow which cost quite a lot of money. Basically the cheapest you would be able to sell Starbuzz is about $47.50 dollars a can to make a small profit.

The reason why Al Faker and Nalkah go for $20 dollars or so is because these tobaccos are purchased from the Arabic countries for as little as $1 Australian. Plus they have a lower tobacco content than Starbuzz roughly 8-10%

If you are making a personal order hope that customs don't decide to charge you tax for it as you will have to pay about $13 dollars per can.

I am prepared to import some premium brands of tobacco such as Starbuzz and Tangiers to Australia, set up an extensive online site and supply all flavours if there is interest.

Let me know Edited March 11, 2007 by joshstar

[nidal105]

There isn't an Australian site because it just wouldn't be viable. The tax on tobacco products here is roughly $300 dollars per kilogram of tobacco content. I'll use Starbuzz for example. A can of Starbuzz has roughly 13% tobacco content so the tax works out to roughly $9.75 tax per tin. On top of that you have to pay for GST which is 10% of the overall price+freight+insurance. There are also various lisences that you have to obtain and various legal procedures that you have to follow which cost quite a lot of money. Basically the cheapest you would be able to sell Starbuzz is about $47.50 dollars a can to make a small profit.

The reason why Al Faker and Nalkah go for $20 dollars or so is because these tobaccos are purchased from the Arabic countries for as little as $1 Australian. Plus they have a lower tobacco content than Starbuzz roughly 8-10%

If you are making a personal order hope that customs don't decide to charge you tax for it as you will have to pay about $13 dollars per can.

I am prepared to import some premium brands of tobacco such as Starbuzz and Tangiers to Australia, set up an extensive online site and supply all flavours if there is interest.

Let me know

Thanks for clarifying that. I actually took a visit to the Customs website and had a read through the tariffs and stuff, it just didn't seem to be worth it. Some people have ordered succesfully, but that just depends whether the officials in Customs are willing to be a little bit more relaxed or not.
As for the idea of the site, there are heaps of people who have been introduced to it in the last few years and from my own experience, there is a pretty good market for it here. I think a website would be a great step and I would be a regular customer, but obviously you would have to determine how much the whole importation cost is going to be, and whether it would be worth it or not. Alternatively, you could start an Australian site, getting a good range of traditional (Al Fakher, Nakhla) tobacco flavours directly from the suppliers in the Middle East at a very low price, and then charge domestic customers between 18 - 20 dollars fo a tub. The only difference between you and the sellers in the shops is that you would have your store online. So the customer base would not be restricted to a particular geographical area.
Thats my opinion anyway, let us know what you think.

[nidal105]

^^^

[joshstar]

If there are others like Nidal on this forum that live in Australia and are interested in an online retail site please post on this thread! The margins will be very low because of Australia's high tax fees so hopefully there is enough interest for it to be worth it.

I have wanted to import tobacco here for a long time and have looked into it quite a lot. Especially premium tobacco brands like Starbuzz and Tangiers. What other brands would everyone be interested in? I intend to give a very extensive range and supply all hookah forum members with a discount. What companies would you guys suggest concerning importing Tangiers? I've emailed 4 but i am yet to receive a reply. Unfortuantely the place that I intend to import Starbuzz through doesnt sell Tangiers.

I will contact Al Fahker and Nalkah though to see if i can import their tobacco as well to try and provide it cheaper online than it is in the stores. Although at this stage I just want to concentrate on making premium tobacco available to Australians.

Any help or advice would much be appreciated. Edited March 12, 2007 by joshstar

[joshstar]

*bump* I need more interest expressed on this forum for this to go ahead. Please post if your interested.

Thanks

[McDarragh]

I'm still waiting on my order so i'll let you know how it goes with customs

[majoru]

Firstly, I'd definately support an online Australian Ma'assel store.

Secondly, I've emailed Customs before, and yeah, ma'assel might only contain a small percentag of tobacco, but it's irrellevant: the taxes apply to *tobacco products*, not just the tobacco content of the product. Hence, the tax of roughly 284$/kg of tobacco product would apply if they decide to tax you.

I've had several orders of varying sizes come through successfully from America and Israel. The two from America have been inspected by quarantine, and then resealed and came to me completely intact. Quarantine is quite seperate from customs, and customs are more busy with bombs and knives, etc, than tobacco. The parcels I've purchased from Israel have been without quarantine stickers...

The smell of tobacco isn't that much of an issue... noone goes around sniffing international packages, believe me: I used to work for Post, and while I knew by smell when a package of tobacco came through, customs wouldn't necessarily.

[joshstar]

The advantages of ordering from an Australian site is you wont have to worry about customs seizing your order and then charging you tax on it. You could also possibly get in trouble for not declaring it and incur large fines. The shipping times would be greatly reduced, all orders would be posted that working day. I would also strive to provide the best customer service.

ok! so far thats two people.. unfortunatley im going to need a lot more expressing their interest before I know that I would be able to cover expenses.

[evlspcmk]

you got my support mate. may i ask what part of australia are you from?

[damo2010]

Im in

[D_I_F]

Id be interested depending on price and products..

[evlspcmk]

Id be interested depending on price and products..

yea thats what i ment to say if you can get them as cheap as i get them from titanics than thats good i pay $15 per 250g tub. and they stock just about every al fahker flavour

[joshstar]

I'm in Adelaide. I would be supplying Starbuzz, Al Fakher and Nalkah and possibly Tangiers at this stage. I will do whatever I possibly can to provide Al Fakher and Nalkah cheaper than what it is available at in the stores. Starbuzz and Tangiers will be expensive because of the tax that is incurred but I hope to supply a very wide range of flavours in all of the brands. I would also be looking to have MYA acrylic and QT hookahs in stock and various accessories. I would also offer a discount to members of this forum.

Thanks for your support guys keep it up the more people that show it the better!

[evlspcmk]

man tangiers and starbuz id love to try, i see every one in the forum on about how good they are.. that would be so kick ass

[joshstar]

*bump*

[evlspcmk]

also ive got mates that would be interested aswell they just dont bother with forums

[McDarragh]

+1 to starbuzz, i'd support ya

[nidal105]

Hello again
While I think the feedback from the forum members has been pretty good, the bottom line is that there are only at most about 10-15 Australian members on this board. In terms of your research joshstar you will need to expand further than this message board. Talk to friends, family, people in the community who might be interested - and i'm sure the members who have posted in this thread will be more than happy to spread word of mouth in the areas they live in. I know I am. This is especially since most people on this board live in different areas (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra etc..), so you can use this to your advantage. Having a solid advertising plan is essential. This is just a suggestion, my two cents, good luck to you whatever you decide anyway
Nidal105

[damo2010]

I agree with Nidal mate Word-of-Mouth Promotions will get you a long way. Of course the issues of profitability, time and opportunity costs in the long run will always be there. Perhaps if or when you get started, you can supply your local middle-eastern grocery store or the handful of middle-eastern restaurants that serve shisha/argileh (there are about 2 - 3 in Melbourne and 1 in Perth). I'm sure StarBuzz or Tangiers would be a hit .