GPS Import

If you live in Cali, buy 10 and send them here as Gifts. then there is no duty on gifts.. Then sell them and CLEAN UP....

Trust me I did it few months ago saved $400 on a Magellan Platinum!

if you have one and its unpacked I dont see how they can charge you, say you already had it when you went overseas....

Theres a yahoogroup for magellan meridians ... you can get basemaps from there to update your USA one for free....

Depends entirely what brand and model you are looking at importing.

Which brand and model are you looking at?

As per the Customs website:

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/index.cfm?nav_id=670&area_id=5

Basically, if the item costs LESS than $1000.00 when sent by post, or $250.00 when sent by Sea or Airfreight and the duty is less than $50.00 then you are OK,

If the item is as above but the duty value is greater than $50.00 then you could be charged the duty. Sales tax must not be payable though..

So, read the website and take into consideration that during the next month, the Customs officers will be tight-asses.

Bruce
My info is that if you already own it in the US of A the GPS is yours, similar to anything else ie your watch etc.
For those of us in Oz buying one in its 5% duty on top of cost price, then 10% GST on top of that figure. (info from the magellan yeeha group Truckster mentioned)
I ordered a meridian platinum 31st Oct from mall24-7 as per Trucksters thread back in October , and only today got confirmation it was on its way. The excuse - after waiting the week I was told it would take to get here, then over 2 weeks of me bombarding them with emails - was "training new staff and having to get the right customs forms and being busy and blah blah blah...."

Their website says they accept credit cards but I checked that with them by email and they only accept US credit cards, not international. Paypal or money orders is the payment method. try paypal.com, It didnt take much to get it happening, they just take the money from a credit card and pass it on to the vendor - mall24-7. so once set up with paypal, go shopping on the mall24-7 site and when you get to payment panel it automatically flicks you into the paypal site and gives you a confirmation of payment. Pretty easy really seeing I'd never done shopping like that before.

Now I'll wait for the toy and a swag of accessories to arrive (I hope)
This is what I bought - came to $817 Australian. Havent got it yet so dont know if I'll be hit with duty and GST etc yet but estimating $125.

980598-03 Magellan Meridian PLATINUM GPS plus $50 Back with CD purchase! $273.00 1 $273.00
730345 Magellan PC Data Cable w/Cigarette Lighter Adapter – SporTrak/Meridian $31.50 1 $31.50
701241 Magellan Vehicle Mounting Bracket – Meridian $31.50 1 $31.50
980614-05 Magellan 64 MB SD Memory Card – Meridian $64.00 1 $64.00
701245 Magellan Canvas Case for MERIDIAN series $9.99 1 $9.99
Subtotal: $409.99
Shipping Via OVERNIGHT AIR: $35.00
Total: $444.99

Hope this info is helpful

Macca