Import Japanese Pokémon cards to Australia: GST and landed cost

How does the A$1,000 consignment threshold work?

The Australian Border Force uses the customs value of the combined consignment. A consignment above A$1,000 requires an Import Declaration and payment of applicable duties, taxes, and charges. Goods at or below that customs-value threshold generally have no duties, taxes, or charges to pay at the border.

That does not make every low-value purchase GST-free. GST may be collected at the point of sale for consumer imports of low-value goods. Check the current ABF guidance and keep the supplier invoice and payment record before you calculate landed cost.

• Customs-value threshold — check the combined customs value of the consignment, not only one invoice or parcel label.
• GST calculation base — for a taxable importation, the GST base can include customs value, duty, international transport and insurance, plus wine equalisation tax where applicable.
• Low-value GST — it may be collected at sale even when no border charges are due. Keep the invoice or receipt that shows what was collected.
• Tariff classification and concessions — verify the current classification and rate instead of assuming all trading cards receive identical treatment.
• Clearance charges — check current ABF charges and obtain the carrier or broker's written quote before paying.

Landed cost in AUD

Build it from four lines you can have in writing before you pay, then convert once.

The JPY price is the anchor and the line everyone remembers. The other three decide whether the order was worth placing, and all three can be known in advance: a freight quote for your actual address, the charges your consignment attracts, and what it costs you to move money in yen.

Then divide the total by the cards or boxes you will actually sell. That per-unit figure is the one to price from. Price off the goods line and the arithmetic flatters you right up until the month closes.

• Goods, in JPY — prices are quoted in JPY, tax included, so this line is fixed the moment your list is confirmed.
• Freight to your address — quoted per destination against the actual list rather than as a flat rate. Ask for it before you commit.
• Import duty, GST and clearance — the buyer's side of the deal. Look up the current treatment for your consignment value and carry it as a line, the same way you carry freight.
• Paying in yen — an AUD account sending JPY pays something on the transfer and something on the rate. Check what each method costs you, and what recourse it gives you if an order goes wrong, before you use it.

One shipment or separate orders

Work it out on freight per card and on the date you need the stock, then check the combined customs value of the consignment.

A parcel has a cost floor that does not halve when the order does. Two parcels mean two lots of handling, two clearance events and two arrival dates, and the later of those dates is the one that decides whether your table is stocked on Saturday. The charge you avoid can easily be smaller than the freight and the delay you buy.

Do not treat two invoices or two parcels as an automatic tax exemption. Ask the carrier or broker how the goods will be declared as a consignment, then compare the full freight and clearance cost.

• Freight per card, both ways — run the arithmetic for one parcel and for two before choosing. One parcel spreads its freight across more cards; two parcels each pay their own floor.
• The later arrival date — a split order is only as ready as its second parcel.
• Clearance effort — ask what each shape costs in paperwork and fees, not only in tax.
• The table date, not the order date — stocking a card show means counting backwards from the show: sourcing, verification in hand, dispatch, transit, clearance. Place the order against that date.

Supplier information

Ask the questions whose answers you can check before you pay, and treat photos of your actual cards as the floor.

The first thing you buy from a new supplier is confidence that the parcel will hold what was described. Akina confirms which requested items are already in hand and which would be sourced after the request. Photos sent for approval show the specific item for that quote; they do not mean every item shown on the site is held as current inventory. Payment follows approval of the quoted items.

The quote should identify availability, dispatch timing, and the final JPY price in writing.

• Photos of the actual cards, before payment — not a stock image, not last month's lot. Ours are taken from the cards in hand and sent before anything is paid.
• A lot built to your list — send the Pokémon, eras, rarities and budget your store sells, and ask whether the lot will be built to it. That list is what we build from.
• Carrier and tracking — ask who ships it and how it is tracked. Ours go by FedEx with tracking, on a shipping quote for your destination.
• How payment works, and what it gives you — prices are JPY, tax included, and payment is by Wise or PayPal. Check what recourse each method gives you before you use it.
• Who carries the import charges — on our side, import duty, GST and clearance costs sit with the buyer. Knowing that going in is what lets you price the order cleanly.

Sales and margin check

What is inside the parcel. The charges are identical whether the cards sell in a week or sit until next season.

Once a consignment clears, its freight and its import charges are sunk across every card in it. A lot padded with duplicates and cards nobody asks for carries exactly the same cost as a lot that clears your table, and only one of the two pays it back. Cheap bulk is cheap because nobody sorted it, and that sorting cost does not disappear. It reappears on your shelf as stock that will not move.

This is why our lots are picked rather than scooped: hand-selected against your list, so the cards crossing the border are the ones you can sell. The Velocity Bundle runs as one lot of 50 or 100 cards in three grades.

• Starter — 50 cards at ¥50,000 or 100 cards at ¥100,000.
• Standard — 50 cards at ¥75,000 or 100 cards at ¥150,000.
• Exclusive — quoted per request, built against the cards you name.

Next-order record

Settle the two Australian facts, then send a list instead of a price question.

That thread is the ordering system. Send the list and the date, approve the photos of your cards in hand, pay by Wise or PayPal, and it ships tracked by FedEx. By the time it moves, the only Australian arithmetic left is the part you already did.

• Confirm the line — current figure, what counts toward it, per parcel or per order. From the ABF or a customs broker.
• Get freight quoted — against the actual list, to your actual address.
• Build the AUD number — goods, freight, import charges, payment cost, divided by the units you will sell.
• Start with one lot — a single 50-card lot lets you measure your own sell-through and clearance experience for a known amount before you commit to a rhythm.
• Send the list, then check the photos — Pokémon, eras, rarities, budget, and the date you need it by.

Official references

Checked on 28 September 2026. Rules and service terms can change; verify the current source again on the order date.

• Australian Border Force — Buying online
• Australian Border Force — Import declarations
• Australian Border Force — GST and other taxes
• Australian Border Force — GST on low-value goods
• Australian Border Force — Other importing charges