Just ordered some stuff from www.jakewilson.com for a mate

A couple of lessons learnt for new players

tried to pay using my 28 degrees mastercard as this card gives a very close to advertised exchange rate

Now because it was a Non US card the order was stopped and they wanted me to fax a copy of the statement , this wasnt possible for me as it hasnt been used yet and has an online statement

I ended up adding the card to paypal and paid through paypal changing the option in paypal to pay exact cost to CC rather than going through paypals US-AUD exchange rate shafting

which is a shame they do it this way as its now cost them paypal fees and stuffing around for both of us to complete the order

I was going to just resubmit the order but as some items were last one for 3 weeks i had to email back and forth to get a paypal request to complete the payment


short story is dont try paying with an aussie credit card direct on their website , i have heard same story on other websites in the past


2nd lesson for new players

complete order must be under $1000 AUD to avoid import and gst

check out their shipping costs

http://www.jakewilson.com/International/AU

Order TotalTotal shipping rate â€" To your door:

$0.01 to $99.00$50.00
$99.01 to $199.00$55.00
$199.01 to $299.00$65.00
$299.01 to $399.00$75.00
$399.01 to $499.00$85.00
$499.01 to $599.00$95.00
$599.01 to $699.00$105.00
$699.01 to $799.00$280.00
$799.01 to $899.00$290.00
$899.01 to $999.00$300.00
$30.00 for each $100.00 beyond $999...


so as per the chart best value is to spend up to $699 and you pay $105 shipping , after that you get shafted on the freight and will exceed the $1K limit

big saving to be had as most will know

boots $200 instead of $350
chain $130 instead of $250
kwaka dirtbike oil filters $2.99 instead of $10
K&N monster oil filters $12.99
plenty of people have been buying tyres through there as well despite their website saying they wont ship tyres Overseas

Quote from: J5 on January 28, 2012, 03:15:32 PM

tried to pay using my 28 degrees mastercard as this card gives a very close to advertised exchange rate
......
short story is dont try paying with an aussie credit card direct on their website , i have heard same story on other websites in the past

28degrees = great card, highly recommend it, especially for travellers... You can put the card in to a positive balance and then withdrawal cash from ATMs overseas without any fees.. BRILLIANT!
Never had any major issues with it, but have once been asked to provide proof of card via a statement... only ever with smaller retailers though.
I often find that online retailers are often using some sort of third party payment gateway(a la Paypal, etc) so very few worries there.

Quote from: J5 on January 28, 2012, 03:15:32 PM
plenty of people have been buying tyres through there as well despite their website saying they wont ship tyres Overseas

I've found motosport.com to be just about your best bet for any of that stuff. Especially tyres.

Big fan of supporting local economy though, so remember kids... use the interweb to bargain if you need, but keep your dollars here!

Hi all,

I wholeheartedly agree with Wells about keeping money in Oz where we can.  The local dealer is always my first port of call.
Having said that I recently purchased a brake master cylinder for an old wing I've got and the store that is in the US won't ship outside the States.  I had to get it shipped through an international shipping agent and it cost $95 to get it here. 
Does anyone have any better ideas for getting stuff out of the States?

Cheers.

Quote from: ducmeister on February 02, 2012, 12:57:09 AM
Does anyone have any better ideas for getting stuff out of the States?

Places like "myUSaddress" are normally okay.
Though you probably used someone like that?

email shipped monday

arrived wednesday

i'm all for supporting the local guys but most dont carry stock and cant delivery in a timely fashion

i use comgateway.com for US shipping. they are very transparent with rates, which are extremely cheap with insurance, and they are fast! they also have a repacking system where they will open and combine all your items in one package. USPS wanted $140 for the parts i ordered, comgateway did it for $39 express courier. take away the $10 discount for first use and it totaled $29 and here in 4 days..

cant fault them thus far.

Quote from: Roaduser on February 07, 2012, 12:41:13 AM
i use comgateway.com for US shipping. they are very transparent with rates, which are extremely cheap with insurance, and they are fast! they also have a repacking system where they will open and combine all your items in one package. USPS wanted $140 for the parts i ordered, comgateway did it for $39 express courier. take away the $10 discount for first use and it totaled $29 and here in 4 days..

cant fault them thus far.

Think I'll have to look into them.  Sounds a lot better than Bongo US who I've been using.  Is there a regular account charge?

nup. no account holding charges, no start up cost. the rates are given by industry std of weight or cubic mass (whichever is higher).

express to aus is $28.80 first 0.5kg, $4.80 each 0.5kg after that
standard is $24.00 first 0.5kg, $4.00 each 0.5kg after that.
fuel surcharge is %15 shipping
insurance is 0.65% of your nominated item value.

http://www.comgateway.com/RED/common/RedShippingCalculator.do
helps you determine if it will be cubic mass or weight.

<NOT AFFILIATED, JUST A HAPPY CUSTOMER>

quick check against bongo for 1kg item of $150 value

bongo $49 + monthly/sign up fee (insurance?)
comgateway $39 insured.

Quote from: Roaduser on February 07, 2012, 05:56:25 PM
quick check against bongo for 1kg item of $150 value

bongo $49 + monthly/sign up fee (insurance?)
comgateway $39 insured.

Yup.  I assume that was the cheap (advantage) rate which incurs a $15 a month membership fee.

Think I'll be using someone else next time.

I use MyUS.com - the longest it's ever taken to ship stuff to me is 4 days. WOW They also have a service to repack and combine parcels from different suppliers which is what I do. THat way you usually get free shipping within US to MyUS.com and they send you an email when stuff arives. You get the option to wait or send it on. Fees are reasonable and not that different to getting shipped stuff direct form US sites but gives you the option to shop at sites that dont like shipping OS.

Quote from: Roaduser on February 07, 2012, 05:56:25 PM
quick check against bongo for 1kg item of $150 value

bongo $49 + monthly/sign up fee (insurance?)
comgateway $39 insured.

tried myus.com same package. they have a lot of fees!
std membership $15 sign up, no repacking allowed: $59+$2 insurance+$2 scan merchant invoice fee (free with other two) + $1day storage after 3 days.
premium membership $20 sign up+$7 monthly, repacking free: $49+$2 insurance+$2 scan merchant invoice fee (free with other two) + $1 storage after 30days.

I usually use viaddress 3 times.
Had no problems, have never been able to access their concierge service though, nor have I used their parcel consolidation service.
My experience with bevel stuff is that there is usually someone in the country of choice prepared to forward a package when asked although I haven't asked anyone to do this for me.

Quote from: Roaduser on February 09, 2012, 11:48:29 PM
tried myus.com same package. they have a lot of fees!

Yeh there are a few - I just signed up to the annual service - I looked at a couple of sites and they were similar.  Really depends if your purchasing occasionally or not. I like the monthly consolidation option thats included. They dont have a lot of shipping options but like I said it is amazing when stuff turns up on your desk three days after you order it.

Up until recently I've always been able to get stuff sent by various sites (it often takes 2 weeks to turn up and I end up getting worried its gone missing before it arrives). I've found ducati community is really good and happy to ship to AUD. Its just if you go chasing other things (gifts and general stuff) that this option makes any sense. Most sites charge about $30-40 to ship to AUS. They often ship for free Stateside so if your buying form various sites you end up saving some of the postage cost. With the AUD so high at the moment I'm not quibbling over a couple of bucks here or there. The saving is Just So Good anyway.

Example, I just spent $900 USD for a dozen or so parts for my KTM. Locally they were going to charge me over $2K - its just rediculas