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Sadly I don't think you have any rights - at least not in Australia - where I come from, and which has very similar customs laws to those of New Zealand.

It would appear that they can take any and all of your electronic devices and storage equipment - including laptops, smartphones, usb keys - and they don't have to explain why or state what "reasonable suspicion" they have that you might have something illegal. On the whim of the customs officer, they can keep it for 14 days, or longer if they feel they have cause to.

At most all you can do is lodge a complaint...

When you import, you still pay the GST. Not a factor.

Strictly speaking GST and import duties are owed on all imports. However, when an individual imports an item the GST/duty is not collected unless the customs value of the item exceeds $1000 (or is alcohol/tobacco, http://customs.gov.au/site/page5549.asp). This limit makes the sure tax is not consumed by the costs of collecting the tax. The Customs and Tax departments do look for repeat deliveries and do get wise to commercial entities importing this way. Once you are on their radar you are taxed on everything and have more paperwork to do.

The oft-quoted assertion by "white" importers that their prices must be at least 10% higher to cover the GST is a convenient distortion. The total GST remitted on the item once sold by the importer is the 1/11 of the difference between the import value and the sale value (i.e. sale value/11 - import value/11). True, they cover the total import GST until the item is sold, but ultimately the GST is a levy on the value added by the transaction. If they do not sell the imported item on then they are the end user and pay the full import GST; most commercial importers do not consume their own imports though. I am fairly sure that import duties cannot be similarly offset, so these could be legitimate costs that are be passed on.

It's not just the tariffs or the taxes. How do you explain that even cars made locally in Australia cost more than the same model in New Zealand? They have shipping costs, taxes, and tariffs too, yet a locally made car somehow costs more here!

I just found an informative page for importing a car into Australia. It has a worked example for importing a car worth $56K into Australia. The total payable tax plus tariffs is $11.5K. Doesn't exactly account for a BMW going from $60K to over $130K, does it? Where the hell did the other $60K increase in the price come from?

I once worked as an IT contractor for a car importer that had an exclusive deal with a manufacturer to import cars into Australia. I asked one of their senior staffers why cars were more expensive in Australia. He basically admitted that all of the importers jack up the price because they have an effective monopoly position (for their brands), and can get away with it. There's a sort of gentleman's agreement between them to maintain this status quo and not compete on price. This works because importers often import several brands, so there's only a few of them catering for the entire market. It's not the taxes, the shipping, the retailers, or the manufacturer. Nameless middle-men obtain exclusive rights to import, and then milk the market for everything that they can.

It's blatantly obvious if you know what to look for. For example, I wanted to get a nice sporty car, like the Nissan GT-R. Here in Australia, it's over double the cost of what it is in Japan or in the US. I worked out all the taxes, and it still didn't explain most of the difference. I looked into importing one direct from Japan -- I'd still have to pay all of the Australian taxes and tariffs and pay an additinal overhead for organising the whole thing, but the end result would still about 30-40% cheaper. However, it turns out that I wouldn't be be able to get my imported car serviced! The "official" importer also controls all of the parts and servicing, and they'll refuse to do business with you if you own a "grey" import. You can have it serviced elsewhere, but with a small-volume model like the GT-R, it's a risk. Compare that to, say, buying an iPad in America. Apple will repair it for you in Australia happily.

There's no way to do the equivalent in America because the market is too big, there's too many importers, and hence there's enough competition to prevent a successful collusion from forming.

This is why I don't buy anything except food and clothes from local retailers any more. I get all my gadgets and software online. Lots of other Australians shop online from overseas too. It's probably harming our local businesses, but fuck them and their greedy price gouging.

It's about time the ACCC started investigating this. First software, then I hope they look into cars next...

While I disagree with Australia's ban on "high power lasers" (i.e., lasers strong enough to be seen at distance), I do see their point.

--
BMO

Here is where you're heading:
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/LaserPointers.pdf

$110,000 for a private citizen buying a 10mW laser pointer on Ebay without a permit.
2 different pieces of paperwork and several weeks to get permission to buy one legally.

Do you think this will deter the sort of idiot that would point a laser at a plane for kicks? The sort of inbred cretin that has nothing to lose! No just honest people with legitimate uses for the things.

I'm an astro club member and I'll stick to 1mW. I've got young kids anyway so why have something at home that can blind them. But I'd be seriously irritated if I had a legitimate use and had to jump through these hoops.

Don't be so sure. I don't know about the USA but I sure know about Australia:

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=10673

During the baggage search Customs officers allegedly found a memory card containing video files depicting females under the age of 18-years engaged in sexual acts and poses.

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=10428

During a frisk search Customs officers allegedly located a memory card that contained videos depicting persons who appeared to be under 18 years of age engaged in sexual activity.

They know all about memory cards. Encrypt *everything*.

And note I am not trying to encourage people to smuggle encrypted child porn around, they're just the results that came up when I searched for "memory card" .. ;)

Don't be so sure. I don't know about the USA but I sure know about Australia:

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=10673

During the baggage search Customs officers allegedly found a memory card containing video files depicting females under the age of 18-years engaged in sexual acts and poses.

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=10428

During a frisk search Customs officers allegedly located a memory card that contained videos depicting persons who appeared to be under 18 years of age engaged in sexual activity.

They know all about memory cards. Encrypt *everything*.

And note I am not trying to encourage people to smuggle encrypted child porn around, they're just the results that came up when I searched for "memory card" .. ;)

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=6361

Partial quote...

"Customs is doing everything possible to resolve technical and business issues arising from the introduction of the new Integrated Cargo System (ICS) for imports.

"Contrary to some media reports, the new IT system for imports has not failed, nor is its performance solely responsible for the problems that have occurred.

"The problems experienced in part, flow from inaccurate and incomplete information being submitted by some users, which the new system is designed not to accept for security reasons," the spokesman said.