Might be a silly question, but I want to bring back some alcohol from the US because it is CHEAP AS s*** here given the state of the aussie dollar - way, way, way cheaper than buying duty free in Australia (1.75L bottle of Jose Cuervo for like $25).

Is there something magical about buying duty free from duty free shops? Or can I just like, buy any alcohol here and take it home without any problems? The customs site seems to imply its any alcohol, so I think I'm fine to do it.

2.25 litres per passenger is the only thing you need to worry about i think.

you could try and beat the 2.25 limit by not declaring but if you get busted they'll hit you with duty which will negate the saving.
just make sure it's sealed and in baggage not hand luggage or they may tip it out.

you could try and beat the 2.25 limit by not declaring but if you get busted they'll hit you with duty which will negate the saving.

I dunno, it almost might not, its so cheap!@# What's the duty on alcohol? The customs site doens't make it clear what you'll get hit with.

So so jealous :(

Yeah watch the 2.25L limit, other than that, bring back wahetever you want. I keep up with the JOhnny Blue's whenever i go OS ;)

Just be careful if you have a flight/plane transfer in Sydney.
You have to recheck in through Security and the whole "More then 100ml" comes into play.

And yes, they will make you surrender it even if it is in a Duty Free bag.

I found it was cheaper to buy booze in a booze warehouse type place over there than it was duty free here. I always try to buy up on the expensive stuff as that's where you make the savings. Last time I came back from the states my 2.25L cost me about $400, but would have been $700+ buying locally.

Just be careful if you have a flight/plane transfer in Sydney.
You have to recheck in through Security and the whole "More then 100ml" comes into play.

And yes, they will make you surrender it even if it is in a Duty Free bag.

Yeah chuck it in your luggage, don't carry on.

2.25 litres per passenger is the only thing you need to worry about i think.

Yeah, but if you're traveling with someone else, lets say one other person that had no interest in buying alcohol, you are automatically entitled to buying 4.5litres. I wish had known that when I was in New York a few weeks ago because they had a 3 litre bottle of Jim Beam Black, I'd never seen a bottle that big of it before but didn't realise the 2 person rule existed at that point. Unfortunately couldn't even find it in L.A. either on the way back to Aus.

edit: Oh, and that 3 litre bottle was $70... bargain.

last edited by Nailbomb at 15:07:45 26/Jul/08

Just be careful if you have a flight/plane transfer in Sydney.
You have to recheck in through Security and the whole "More then 100ml" comes into play.

Holy s***! I forgot about that and was planning on taking it carry on, which would have really PISSED ME OFF when that bulls*** security rule kicked in. Do we actually enforce that in Australia, f*** that's lame.

couldn't you just open it and take a swig and shut them down that way?

Do we actually enforce that in Australia, f*** that's lame

Yeah they do, Mum wasnt allowed to bring any liquids over into Australia, might be better to buy it when you get over to sydney or what ever.

When I got back from thighland the other month we were at bangkok duty free they said we couldn't buy anything because Australia wouldn't let us take it in anyway.

couldn't you just open it and take a swig and shut them down that way?

I am sure those suicidal terrorists would balk at drinking something toxic when going to blow themselves up on a plane.

Besides there was a story about a guy with a $10000 bottle of wine which security confiscated from him at check in, he offered to take a drink to show it was wine, they wouldn't let him, he ended up smashing it in a bin rather than let security take it.

I dunno, it almost might not, its so cheap!@# What's the duty on alcohol? The customs site doens't make it clear what you'll get hit with.

"Any goods imported into Australia may be subject to Customs duty and/or GST and other taxes.

The duty is calculated on the Customs value (basically the price paid for the goods converted to Australian dollars at the date of export). The GST is calculated on the Customs value plus the cost of international transport and insurance plus the duty plus, where applicable, Wine Equalisation Tax. Add these amounts together and the GST payable would be 10% of total."

I didn't see anyone say this or say it clearly but if you bring back extra booze or smokes you will be slugged duty on all of it. so if you bring back 3lt of booze for yourself you won't just pay duty on the extra .75lt you'll pay duty on the entire 3lts.

Same goes for smokes and it would also pay to mention that you can't just dump the extra once you have hit the customs line. You either pay for it all or surrender it all.

My ex is a customs officer and spent alot of time at the airport here in Brisbane. She had to deal with a lot of very irrate people that didn't know the rules prior to re-entering au. Of course the odd person gets lucky and gets through without a hassle when not declaring stuff but do you really want to risk it?

On a personal note I have flow back into Brisbane International 7 seperate times now and never once been searched when not declaring anything.

I flew to sweden a few months ago, brissie/sydney/bangkok/london/denmark, then a train. We couldnt buy anything, becuase it was comming into the EU, apparantly we couldnt even buy in London (althought it wasnt exactly cheap there). We did buy some stuff in denmark, but buy then it wasnt duty free anyway. Atleast the civas was still very nice regardless!

Now we are here its probably about the same price for alcomohol, maybe a little more. Unless you go out to drink in which case its almost double the price of home! But hey, cant live without beer......

you can buy and take it home. i put 4 bottles in my suit case from andorra to the uk.

last edited by mooby at 18:35:38 29/Jul/08

althought it wasnt exactly cheap there

2 x 1L bottles of smirnoff blue for £15 is pretty cheap.

Make sure you shave and dont wear a bandana.
I didnt shave last time I went to NZ
I got swabbed and bags searched in the lil room as I left via Brisbane airport.
Got strip searched and bags checked as I entered NZ via Dunedin
On the return trip to Aus got swabbed and bags checked again in Brisbane.

Hopefully this time will be better heh

what the hell

And we all know Fn the only reason the dogs sniffed you is because they know your keen for some animal lovin ...

Hopefully this time will be better heh

dude, you don't have to go to the trouble of going to NZ to get better than a swabbing - just organise another camping trip

also, 2.25 litres?! what a f***ing crock what's the point of even bothering?