Importing kitchen appliances from Germany

Hi,

We're currently speaking with a company in Germany to import our Gaggenau appliances. The appliances are approximately 45% of the cost here. I've been trying to look at duty fees online and it appears that we have to pay 5% duty and 10% GST and approximately a $50 fee. Is there anything else we need to allow for?

Speaking with the supplier it all seems rather straight forward, they'll arrange the insurance and shipping to Port Botany and I have to pick it up from there. BUT is there anything I should do in advance to ensure I don't end up spending the whole day there at customs trying to work out what to do? Or is it pretty easy there with customs?

Also does anyone know if Germany have the same tap thread? Our order has grown so much we may as well through in the kitchen sink and taps

Thanks
Alex

Hi Alexf40,

Gaggenau is certainly a good high quality and reliable brand of appliances. When importing my only concern would be the warranty. What happens if one of the appliances arrives with a fault or damage? Who do you turn to if there is a problem?

Hi Alex

There's a great thread on Whirpool that talks about the ins and outs of importing appliances from Europe.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1614240
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2363202


It's an interesting read albeit a few pages long and the savings are amazing!

Good luck

Although they're the same products, they most likely don't have the Australian approvals and if something happens and it causes damage to your house, your insurance company might not cover it.

Thanks for the replies, now anyone know anything about taps?



You're right, if something goes wrong there is no local warranty. This doesn't concern me though as we're saving over $10k, that's a lot of repairs paid for. Also any parts I could still get under the EU warranty but would need to be sent via DHL. Few days' delay and expensive shipping.



This appears to be a common myth. As a home consumer you don't need to have Australian approval. All the appliances are fully CE tested which is valid in Australia for insurance reasons, it's only the resale which is an issue. It would be like an insurance company refusing to payout for your iPod which caught on fire you brought on a trip abroad. (I did also double check this with my insurance company, in fact they are also insuring the shipping)




Thanks for the links, I've read half of that now, I didn't realise so many other people have already done it with such success
It's incredible the markup the distributors are adding to appliances here.

I did buy some taps direct from Germany, some Grohe exposed thermostatic shower mixers that are so hard to find here in Australia, only saw them a couple of times here a decade ago while they're everywhere in Europe. I also bought some Hansa Stela basin mixers at the same time to save on shipping cost and the price was really good, RRP here is AU$599 and i ended up paying about AU$160 each with shipping (that was a couple of years ago when AU$ was high). Also no VAT for exporting to non-EU country and no GST here for under $1000 so it was quite a bit of savings and I'm happy with them. Just bear in mind plumbers may refuse to install them if they don't have WELS approval. Also it's recommended to install pressure limiting valves since water pressure can be quite high here and I can already notice some minor leaking from one of the Hansa basin mixers, most likely from the cartridge itself, but the same thing happened to my Franke kitchen mixer that I bought here anyway.

Hmm completely forgot about the water pressure difference. I really don't want to have taps blasting out water and soaking the kitchen, perhaps it's not worth the cost saving here.

Hi Alex,

If you're still on this forum, I was wondering if you could report on your experience of importing your Gaggenau products and the company that you dealt with? I'm looking at going down this road at the moment.

Regards,

Steve

Hi Steve, had a fantastic experience with the whole process and would highly recommend it if you're able to wait 4-6 weeks. Will message you directly.

Hi alexf40,

Could you PM me with the contact details too?
Really interested.

Thanks in advance

WBR,
Alex

Hi alexf40,

Could you please PM contact details ?
I have been looking at several suppliers but some do not ship to AU.
Thanks.

Hi Alex,

Can you please msg me the details too please.

Thanks a lot

Hi Alex,
Can you plz msg me the details plz

Hi,

We had a fantastic experience with importing our goods. The total cost of everything including taxes, custom duties, custom broker, insurance, shipping etc was almost exactly half the price.

Some of our appliances have international warranties but from reading from other people on forums they can be a pain to get things fixed. Worst case I don't mind paying to get something fixed, worst case I can replace the whole item(s) and would have still saved.

We used Matthias at http://www.hai-end.com/ details below, his English is great and was very helpful with our entire process.

I have some details for insurance, custom brokers etc will need to dig them out., Matthias arranged shipping.

What are you looking at bringing over?

Cheers
Alex

Matthias Pflugmacher
__________________________________________________
HAI-END GmbH
Zum Handelshof 1a
39108 Magdeburg
Tel. (01803) 424 363*
Fax (01803) 424 364*
www.hai-end.com

Thanks Alex - We are planning to bring in range hood, dishwasher and fridge.

It hasbeen a few years now, would you do it all again? Did you have any warranty issues?

Everything’s as good as new. No issues with anything, I’d 100% do it again without any worries. Buying good quality appliances is the key as they likely have a much lower chance of going wrong.

Thanks for sharing all your information and experience, it’s given me something to think about as in tossing between Neff & Gaggenau and it’s so much cheaper to buy overseas. There is a company now called Salbini which seems to import everything to Australia

Do you mind sharing the info your provided? Trying to import a range and don’t know where to start other than purchasing! Any help is appreciated!