I am appalled to see that this crap is still going on. I would volunteer to contact Corporate Affairs Victoria to see what can be done, but Little Bird is in NSW - perhaps someone there could contact the NSW counterpart authority?
There is another technicality which we have all missed, including me. Under the GST legislation, there is no compulsion for a GST-registered supplier to provide a Tax Invoice for any purchase under A$50, so technically it could be argued that if you only by a basic Arduino board you couldn't demand a Tax Invoice.
My larger concern is that Marcus is trading using an ABN, which obligates him to do the paperwork properly, and yet there appears to be none for most customers on this forum.
I will put my hand up to investigate this with the ATO and let you know what I find out. Hopefully one of you will be able to get some info from the NSW statutory bodies.
If we're really lucky, Marcus may even be reading this and have an epiphany ..............
I dealt with them once, but their complete inability to reply to my messages, means I won't deal with them again.
I did get my goods after a long delay, but they NEVER returned my calls.
I had a good experience with Ocean Controls.
I strongly advise you to deal with businesses that answer their phone, or return calls.
I've dealt with Ocean Controls on two occasions, for other items, and have found their service to be exactly what you would expect. It's a pity that they don't stock the various project shields, but they could probably get them if asked. It's also a pity that the Arduino stuff they do sell is buried in an inobvious place in their catalogue - I would not have known had you and others mentioned Ocean Controls.
Maybe I'll give them a ring too, and see if they would like to put in a word to Italy ............
For those of you who are interested, I have spoken with Greg at Ocean Controls this morning. He is also aware of the frustrations that LittleBird customers are experiencing. If you go to the controllers section of their on-line catalogue at http://www.oceancontrols.com.au/controllers/arduino.htm you will get a good start on what they have.
Greg, who can be contacted at greg@oceancontrols.com.au tells me that they are Australian agents for SparkFun, so it you want something they don't have in Australia, find out the SparkFun number to speed things up, and they will bring it in to Oz and stock some spares.
I contacted the Tax Office about the missing Tax Invoices, and can tell you all the following:
The minimum amount for a compulsory Tax Invoice is now $82.50, not $50 as I previously thought.
If you cannot get satisfaction from LittleBird, ABN holders can apply for a Tax Credit through GST Interpretive Advice and Assistance through the ATO, and non-registered punters can call the Tax Evasion Referral Centre on 1800 060 062 if you believe that Tax Avoidance is going on.
I sent a stern e-mail "to whom it may concern" at LittleBird this morning, outlining my intended action, and received an almost instantaneous reply, with an e-invoice.
It seems that results are possible, given sufficient motivation. Go for it! >:(
http://www.mindkits.co.nz/ Sells arduino products (and other sparkfun shiz). I posted a thread on the forum only to find that at this stage they don't ship to Australia.
sigh We need an Australian sparkfun. Heck I can't even find female headers on the jaycar website!
Sparkfun sells them. But they'll be used for (hopefully) a custom PCB which is to be made by Futurlec. So I may as well get it from them! I really hate being in Australia for this sort of stuff... If only we were in America, also known as the United States of Sparkfunland.
i thought the same about thailand at the beginning. but then i found out how cheap parts and processors are over here and now i'm quite happy about my local suppliers.
sparkfun is nice, but i can get all the important parts here for down to 25% of what i would pay in europe or usa.
i end up with more prototyping boards and less shiny pcb, but that's okay for me.
Hi All, Tim from Mindkits.co.nz here. I saw the posts about the troubles you're having with getting Sparkfun parts locally so I thought I'd try and help out.
I've registered MindKits with paypal so we're now able to sell into Aussie. The best news is that with the NZ dollar being so weak its likely that you get a very decent price.
If you decide to order, I'll see that the order is international and get in touch with shipping costs and how to go about getting the funds to us.
All in all it should be pretty pain free and we work hard to get the kit out the door asap - oh, and Im also giving away an 'essentials bag' containing an assortment of components we've found indispensable that every Arduino developer needs.
I really wish i read this post before buying from LittleBird Electronics.
It's now been 2 weeks and 1 email and still no correspondence.
I can completely understand stock issues, delivery delays, even time constraints..... heck it's not a perfect world, but to keep your PAYING customers guessing as to the status of their orders, that's disgusting.
A simple email is all it takes!!
I've since purchased another Arduino from Mind Kits (NZ) So far Tim and his team have been great, speedy emails, Great customer service.....fantastic!
I would strongly advise anyone to steer clear of LBE, It's not worth the weeks of mystery.
I'll keep you all updated on when or IF my goods turn up.
also, I agree that LBE be taken off the list of Aus suppliers.
