Jon Harbour

I got an almost immediate response from Hattons last night pointing out that although one ATO web page says under $1000 no GST, another one says that retailers have to pay the ATO the GST anyway up to $1000 and if the shipment is over $1000 then the GST is collected upon entering Australia. Hattons said they have been paying the GST since 2018 when the Australian government introduced this rule but 'subsidising the customer' is no longer sustainable. I'm taking that to mean that the ATO has caught up with them, but I may be wrong. I followed up my initial enquiry to clarify the situation regarding the trunk (which I use extensively) and the over / under $1,000 question. Hattons response was that GST will be charged at the time of payment (so anything you order immediately will be charged GST but anything you pre-order won't be hit with GST until it arrives and you are charged). Then if you ship over $1,000 they refund the GST charged and leave it for the shipper to organise upon arrival in the destination country. My own take on this is that if you keep the shipment to under $1,000, you pay the GST at Hattons but no additional fees with couriers. It means that my shipping costs will possibly increase, as I may need to send more individual shipments (depending upon what I order from Hattons) but I think that approach minimises my costs. I had to chuckle when the original e-mail said that Hattons are "constantly trying to enhance your shopping experience"! No matter how hard you try Hattons - you can't polish that particular Richard III!

Evening everyone, Tonight I received the following e-mail from Hattons: Dear Jonathan At Hattons, we strive to continuously enhance your shopping experience, and we have an important update to share regarding changes to our shopping cart and taxation system. Within the next couple of weeks, we will implement adjustments to our system to ensure that you are charged the correct tax at the time of purchase. This change is part of our commitment to transparency and compliance with local tax regulations in your region. As a valued international customer, we want to bring this to your attention to ensure a smooth transition. The good news is that if you despatch the items in your trunk within the next week, you will be exempt from any additional tax costs associated with these changes. Please note that local customs duties and courier fees may still be charged, we are working on expanding this system to correctly cover landed fees in the future. We understand the importance of budgeting for your hobby, and we want to make sure you have the opportunity to make the most of this window. We appreciate your understanding and continued support as we work to improve our services. If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes, please don't hesitate to reach out to our customer experience team. Thank you for being a valued member of the Hattons community. We look forward to serving you and providing the best model railway products for your enjoyment. Now no matter how one tries to polish this particular small brown Richard III, this is not an enhancement to my shopping experience! I'm based in Australia, but like most people I am not really 100% across the entire taxation system of the place I call home, but in the back of my mind, I was fairly certain that overseas purchases up to a certain value did not attract the 10% Goods and Sales Tax (GST) charged here. So, after a cursory Google search, I came across this web page: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/in-detail/rules-for-specific-transactions/international-transactions/gst-and-imported-goods Item 26 on this page made particularly interesting reading: item 26 – goods, other than tobacco, alcohol and bulk orders, with a value less than an amount prescribed by by-law (currently at or below $1,000) This pretty covers me - provided I keep any shipment I send from my wonderful Hattons trunk to a value of less than roughly £490. The taxable amount includes the cost of shipping and the exchange rate is roughly £1.00 = A$1.91. However, One can't assume - I have visions of Hattons implementing a simple "the GST rate in Australia is 10%, so we'll charge that on everything to Australia and we shall be safe". So, to check withHattons themselves,I have sent them this e-mail: Good Evening, Today I received an e-mail concerning the fact that Hattons are to commence charging the local tax amount on overseas sales. Since I am based in Australia, I take this to mean that you will be charging 10% GST on all purchases. Naturally, I am less than thrilled about this development. No matter how you try to dress this up, it isn't good news. As has been said many times in the past, "You can't polish a turd". However, I do have a question concerning this. Are you going to charge this GST on ALL sales, or simply those that qualify? According to the Australian Tax Office web site (https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/gst-excise-and-indirect-taxes/gst/in-detail/rules-for-specific-transactions/international-transactions/gst-and-imported-goods) item 26 – GST is not charged by the ATO on goods, other than tobacco, alcohol and bulk orders, with a value less than an amount prescribed by by-law (currently at or below $1,000) . That $1,000 includes the cost of shipping said goods according to that web page I have quoted. So, at what point will you charge the GST? Is it at the time of sale, or, in the case of items in my trunk, at the time of shipping? And if I limit the contents of a shipment from my trunk to less than a value of $1,000, is this GST exempt in your eyes? It should be. By my calculations, allowing for the cost of shipping, provided I keep the value of what I ship out of my trunk to less than £490, I should ensure that whatever is shipped to me remains exempt from GST. The current exchange rate is roughly £1.00 = A$1.91, the cost of DHL shipping is £28.50, which equates to roughly $55. Obviously this will fluctuate with exchanges rates, but it is a reasonable rule of thumb. Whilst I may incur additional shipping costs, I actually work for DHL so I'd rather give my money to my employer than to the Australian Tax Office. Would you kindly confirm that Hattons will indeed observe this threshold when it comes to GST-free purchases please? Thanks and regards, Jon Harbour It will be very interesting to see how this develops? Up until now I have never been charged GST on an order from Hattons - I hope that Hattons implement a system that caters for this properly and they don't do a half-hearted attempt to protect themselves from any liability. I'll keep everyone posted on this!

Those look superb. Lovely work.

Yes - Railcom support would be nice. I imagine it might be complex to implement though.

I think the DCC-EX option based on an Arduino with the new EX‑MotorShield8874 is well worth a look. 2 x 5A outputs - potentially one for the track bus and the other for the accessory bus. Link a PCA 9685 to the Arduino and you can control 16 servos to control points - you can daisy-chain further PCA 9685s to drive more servos as required. There's a lot more extensibility in this set-up as well. Check it out at https://dcc-ex.com/index.html#gsc.tab=0

Well, following the announcement last night, my self-control evaporated this morning! Two pre-WW2 models pre-ordered... Could have been more, but I tried to show at east a modicum of restraint. PS: Thought the announcement video was excellent - thought it might be a Hall class or the 8F right up until the 'reveal'!

This announcement is so very welcome! I've been waiting and waiting for some GWR 57xx panniers to come along. Will be getting my pre-orders in today! Congratulations Accurascale - exactly what I've been after for some time.

Thanks for the advice - I've tried that already without success, but will have another go over the next couple of days!

G'day Everyone, I bought a Dapol OO Gauge Railcar second hand from Hattons last year and overall I am very happy with it. It runs beautifully on DC and I have now acquired a Zimo Sound Chip from YouChoos (no connection bar being a satisfied customer) with speaker and stay-alive. Having acquired all the pieces I need (including crew and passengers) to ensure I hopefully only have to open the railcar once, I'm now ready to do the install. I've hit a stumbling block straight away though, in that although I have followed the manufacturers instructions by gently pulling the body apart at the indentations in the chassis, it has not dropped away from the body as described. Are there any other clips other than the two mentioned in said instructions? Any suggestions as to a smart but gentle way to winkle out the chassis and separate it from the body? What obvious step have i missed? Thanks in advance!

Having looked at the DCC-EX web site, the automation offered by EX-RAIL is very interesting. Have ordered one of the units from the Australian supplier and looking forward to trying it out!

Looks an impressive piece of kit. The Australian supplier offers a 5A DCC++EX controller with Wifi for A$140! Bargain.

I think I was also on the first public train to Heathrow Central. It was packed!

I have no real complaints about either model, except that you can't get them! Even a different running number would make me happy. 😄

Damn! Hadn't intended to...but another pre-order with Hattons made... Three LMS wagons ordered this afternoon.

A revamped 4F or 3F would be nice,

That's awesome. Now you need to motorise it! 😛 Good luck!

They never quite got one to manage the complete "barrel roll" though - the stunt men wrote off several minis trying though! I so wanted to post an image of that, but conscious of coypyright!

The engineering involved in this is just tremendous. Such a cool layout to see.

Just awesome. Thoroughly deserved Best Layout.

More and more I suspect....

Was looking through this thread again and surprise surprise ended up ordering a couple more for my Hattons Trunk!

Mine just went there! I got the "Order processed" e-mail a couple of minutes ago! 😁

I'm sure it's in the mix there somewhere.... I would love one to be honest! There - two sales! That means it must happen! ;)

Got the e-mail from Hattons saying mine was due in today...

I confess I own an Oxford Rail Dean Goods (sound fitted) - I must be an exception because it runs quite satisfactorily to be honest. I had it running just the week before last at my local club.... It was from Rails of Sheffield at a price that was very hard to resist... (particularly with the 20% VAT knocked off for being in Australia! A sound fitted loco for £133 plus shipping!)