I care and make a conscious decision to buy Australian when possible.

I agree and try to shop local where possible to support my local community. But then again, that is simply not possible when it comes to pinball in this country. If we here in Australia want a fully featured, quality NIB machine that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (Sub 9-10k AUD), then China makes complete sense to me.

Homepin, are you also making drop targets that the ball can rollover like the early 80's Bally flat wedge tops when they started making in-lines?

Yes looks great, but is it tested on inpact steel balls?.
I remember that my new targets in bally centaur bent so the target didn't come down.
Data east targets broke alot because they were to hard.

That's exactly what we are testing for now. We are experimenting with different types and mixes of plastic to hopefully find the best one for this job.

I agree with you 100% but it ain't gonna happen with pinball.

me to .. but with the good things like pinball, tech products, V8 utes .. it isnt any more possible :\

The only way Hankin would have managed to do it back in the day would have been from tariff protections. But that causes it's own issues.

yep to this day we pay 5% duty on pins .. all container pins . all new sterns..

I'm guessing it would have been a lot more back in the early 80's

Well you are buying American now, and not supporting Australia so how is it any different??

No we don't pinball are duty free

Nylon and glass mix

I know that back in the day, if the item was made in Australia, there was a higher tariff on the equivalent imported item. A local racer here imported an engine and had it painted silver and declared it as an aluminium block because they only made steel block V8's at Holden and the import duty was less.

Well its not made in Australia, and if it was they would have to be commercial qty, then the manufacturer can apply for duty to be charged on imports, same reason why car duty will be dropped in 2017. As we will no longer make cars here.

They should use all the car duty and inject back into the car industry but stopped doing that.

Also Hankins lost money making pinballs even with mostly imported parts they used

ahh righto .. .. and what classification/tariff do you suggest cos 95043000 incurs 5%

Pinball coin operated is duty free, Tarrif concession

No that Tarrif is duty free

Also free trade agreement USA-Australia still no duty

TC 8802725

9504.30.00
- Other games, operated by coins, banknotes, bank
cards, tokens or by any other means of payment,
other than automatic bowling alley equipment

5%

<edited cos it was wrong>

https://www.border.gov.au/Tariffclassificationofgoods/Documents/tco_95.pdf

i would love to be wrong .. but show me with a link to https://www.border.gov.au/Busi/Tari/Curr please? cos i doubt i am

I buy millions a year, I do know what I am talking about

if you are paying duty get a new customs broker

which leads to 9504.30.00 .. which leads back to 5%

cool .. i buy 6 containers a year and im an idiot ... and i still think youre wrong.

i could get my broker to lie.. no problem.. but i still dont believe you can legally lift a container in europe and bring it in without paying duty.

Type in 8802725 then Page 30 on your link

Yep your wrong

Try and claim back all the duty paid, you bring in, you mean marc? Unless you now own marks business

Argue Monday after you call your broker

no i have more than enough of my own businesses without buying his as well thanks.

the classification is the same one you said anyway .. only thing i can see helping is declaring country of origin as usa not de.. that might help hmm..'

good idea ill ring up and annoy them .. "i dont care if you're UTI and you're global.... .. WAYNE SAID YOU'RE WRONG... lol ill make ya famous

All good if your broker can suck 5% out of you they will

Boys..pinball...back to homepin. Great progress by the way. I'm enjoying seeing the progress. I'm looking forward to seeing one in 2017!

Wayne is right - no import duty on pinballs. There is also some break on arcade but I'm not so certain about exactly what it is. There is a difference between machines fitted with coin mechs and those without?

Actually, they might both be exempt now that I think about it? I have the files here but I couldn't be bothered to look them up. I do know that arcade has to be specified separately "coin or token operated and NOT coin or token operated".

Wayne is also correct that Hankin lost money making pinballs. David told me that they lost over 1MAUD and that was when that actually was serious money! He told me it took them many years to pay it back and also said I was completely mad (I already knew that bit).

9504.30 is the customs reference linked to the tariff rate for the category of pinball machines.

TC 8802725 is the tariff concession which nullifies (or minimises depending on the goods category itself) any tariff applicable to that category.

It's there on the customs document that Ballypinball linked to.

Any decent broker or freight forwarder should be handling any relevant documentation pertaining to that and I have never seen import duty listed as an itemised charge on any of my pinball container imports when I get the invoice from my broker.

Only just spotted this thread again, currently on vacation with very poor cellphone reception and wifi to match. Do you have a list of planned features homepin you could link for me to have a look at? It's currently taking me 5 minutes to load a single page here. Thanks in advance.

Our aim has never changed. We are not intending to re-invent the wheel and have made that clear from day one.

We are building a standard size Thunderbirds pinball machine with all of the standard features you would expect.

That's it.

Once we have that finalised and working we can look at other things.

good! yes I checked today and wayne is right indeed. I just had a good look now and found my real problem, They're coming in as parts not as complete machines so they're being treated as ' gaming parts'

I can sort that out.. Wayne is right. thanks for the help Wayne.

Yes, bring them in as complete pinball machines. It matters not if they are working or otherwise as long as they resemble a complete machine.

I looked quickly and it seems like the video game machines we ship to Australia are exempt from import duty due to the free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Australia? I could stand corrected on this but that's what it looks like on the documents.

As a note on this FTA I have to laugh. I remember paying several hundred dollars duty per shipment a few years back, before the FTA came into effect. This duty went to the Australian Government. Now I pay no duty BUT in order for the shipment to qualify under the FTA I have to pay the CHINESE GOVERNMENT for a certificate of origin - you guessed it - around AU$300 per shipment!!

Shows just how stupid we are and how conniving the Chinese are.

If you listen to my partner, I am always wrong. So I Can frame this

There is something about arcade game interactive duty free and juke boxes coin operated are duty free, non coin operated are 5%

Wait let me get this straight. This pin is 7500 dollars with a standard dmd and an old style proprietary asic board? The same type of game spooky released for 5500? Why would I ever buy this when I can spend 500 more and get a fully loaded JJP game?

Am I wrong on the price? This seems in line with a stern pro, feature set wise. Why is it priced higher than an LE?

It would be 7500 AUD, which compares to $8150 that Ghostbusters Pro cost here, or the $10,650 premium. I can't seem to find a list price for a JJP game.

did you get the price from his old article that depends some questionable exchange rate calculations? http://pavlovpinball.com/five-chinese-pinball-machines-are-go/
8k aud less tax is usd 5500 roughly

LOL. So typical. Our idiot bureaucrats get taken every time.

Not sure where you got your pricing from but our calculations stand close to our original estimates at this stage. The final price will not be known precisely until I have machines boxed and ready to ship but pre-order buyers will get theirs for the original "buy-in" price of AU$5432.10 (plus delivery and GST where applicable). We are very likely to have some good news for those buyers when shipping time comes but we are still juggling things so no announcements for now that I might have to retract later. Let's wait and see what pans out.

It is our aim to release SOME new machines next year for an RRP of AU$4999 (today's exchange in USD is $3804.00)

Remember, Homepin doesn't work in USD. We use AUD, HKD and RMB so I rarely even look at what a USD is, I have no need to.

We are striving for that price goal but we still have to see how things work out.

As for your comment on "old style asic board" - I'm not completely sure what you mean BUT if you mean we will have proprietary electronics (just like Spooky) rather than use a $20 PC motherboard (like JJP) then yes, that's what we are doing, if that isn't to your liking go ahead and buy your "fully loaded" $20 PC (Made in China).

I brought in at $5432.10 Aud, pumped that's it's getting close.

Paid $6000 Usd for AMH, ended up costing just under $10,000 Aud. Spooky pins are dearer here in Aust. by a couple of K.

Homepin's pricing is a good thing for pinball, it will allow a lot more people to buy nib.

Do you think you can work this toy in there?

The_Mole (resized).jpg

You wouldn't want to see one of those in your bedroom .... ouch!

rd

Thunderbirds has a lot of toy potential! I'd love to see a vanishing/rising magnet like totan themed after thunderbird 1 pool opening launch. And a return to replicate the thunderbird 2 launch with trees dropping to the side I would be sold!