Hi from Hong Kong

[Bladestorm]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm Lisa (yeah - I'm a chick yo!), originally a kiwi, but consider Sydney home (lived there for over 15 years and still have a house waiting for me back there).
Due to husband's work we are currently living in Hong Kong which is the reason I started collecting. Always loved Transformers as a kid but parents would never let me have them. Then re-discovered them here in HK when my darling hubby brought me Year of the Horse Optimus a year or so back... loved the figure so much I needed to collect MORE!
I find it hard to walk past all the cool Transformers stuff I find here!
Because I could spend thousands of dollars in one day/store I do try to only collect Optimus (but admit I also have a real weakness for Ironhide and Jetfire as well).

I've been on TFW for a while so a few of you might know me from there...

Curious if anyone has ever relocated back/moved to to Oz and taken their MIB/unopened collections with them. Would like to know what I might be in for with customs/etc when the time comes...

Look forward to joining in!

[Dinkydarth]

Welcome! Man, a chick TF collector! A rarity! HK must be paradise for you! Last time I was there, I returned with 2 suitcases of TFs and gundams... mostly deluxe TFs, and didn't have any issues with customs. Not sure about the higher end stuff but I can't imagine it being an issue...

[drifand]

Well if it's megatron, it's going to be opened.

I am not worried about misb status, I only worry for my toy. I have brought most of my tf collection from Singapore to Perth .

[liegeprime]

Welcome to Ozformers!!

Other than gunformers (MP Megatron) most Transformers won't get stopped or detained by customs. You just have to declare properly when sending thru parcel boxes what's in it - e.g. Plastic transforming toys. otherwise they might open to check if you just put plain - toys. coz it could be wooden toys and that is a no no.

[kaiden]

hi and welcome to the forums - thats such a cute story :P

[griffin]

Most of the people I've known who have moved in or out of Australia, have ended up leaving behind their collection with relatives for when they can afford to ship it, or if they ever come back... as it would be an expensive process (and risky if you have rare and fragile items, that could get broken or lost).

As for Customs, only things you have to worry about is the gun-formers (like Megatron and Browning) and the declared value on your boxes.
If you insure them, you may need to keep the declared value on each box to below AU$1000, or else you may get taxed as if you were importing a purchase. So either declare less and insure it at that lower amount, or, don't pack too many expensive items together and declare/insure the full amount.
As for the Sealed items, there shouldn't be any need for Customs to open them unless they set off a drug detector or looks like replica weapons on the xray (like Megatron).