New Zealand Customs doing payment forms wrong

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jarledb

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Topic # 230432 23-Feb-2018 15:06

Have a package worth $500 coming from overseas. Which means there is customs to be paid.

First problem is that they use a week to get around to creating the invoice to be paid.

Second problem is that they don't share the calculation online of how the customs/GST have been calculated. For the $500 NZD package they are charging almost $150 NZD. Which means the charges for dealing with the package is as much as the GST on it.

Third and the most serious problem. The online form that New Zealand Customs have for paying the customs is UNSECURED. They have managed to set up a SSL page for the payment, but the payment form posts to an UNSECURED url (http).

I never pay to unsecured forms, EVER. so now I guess I get to wait another week for the letter to show up, and then another week for the payment via online banking to clear.

Not impressed by New Zealand Customs or however set this system up.

UPDATE: I checked out the payment forms again, and while there are unsecured posts from a form to an http (unsecured) page, this does not seem to include the payment information. So its not the security risk it looked like to begin with, but they really should make sure that everything that goes on in the payment pages are secured.

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Reply # 1963032 23-Feb-2018 15:15

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How much was the shipping? That is included when they calculate customs fees

wellygary

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Reply # 1963037 23-Feb-2018 15:27

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https://www.customs.govt.nz/personal/duty-and-gst/whats-my-duty-estimator/

if you toss in 500 NZD and 50 bucks for freight on a non dutiable product it comes back with $~130 in charges, - so $150 sounds about right

jarledb

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Reply # 1963054 23-Feb-2018 15:59

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The fees are crazy. But my main point is that their online form for paying is UNSECURED!

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keewee01

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Reply # 1963105 23-Feb-2018 17:45

jarledb:
The fees are crazy. But my main point is that their online form for paying is UNSECURED!

Your original post did not make that clear so of course people are going to comment on every you did state/discuss in it :)

cadman

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Reply # 1963112 23-Feb-2018 18:02

Just sounds like typical Government Department incompetence I've come to expect. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Benjip

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Reply # 1963133 23-Feb-2018 18:33

jarledb:
The fees are crazy. But my main point is that their online form for paying is UNSECURED!

Does that really matter if the payment is secure? What kind of insecure information will you be transmitting?

jarledb

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Reply # 1963151 23-Feb-2018 18:53

Benjip:
jarledb:

The fees are crazy. But my main point is that their online form for paying is UNSECURED!

Does that really matter if the payment is secure? What kind of insecure information will you be transmitting?

The page the form is on is on SSL. The form URL (so the place the information is sent to) is not. So it will not be encrypted.

They are asking for credit card information. Pretty bad, if you ask me.

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matisyahu

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Reply # 1963230 23-Feb-2018 23:45

jarledb:

Have a package worth $500 coming from overseas. Which means there is customs to be paid.

First problem is that they use a week to get around to creating the invoice to be paid.

Second problem is that they don't share the calculation online of how the customs/GST have been calculated. For the $500 NZD package they are charging almost $150 NZD. Which means the charges for dealing with the package is as much as the GST on it.

Third and the most serious problem. The online form that New Zealand Customs have for paying the customs is UNSECURED. They have managed to set up a SSL page for the payment, but the payment form posts to an UNSECURED url (http).

I never pay to unsecured forms, EVER. so now I guess I get to wait another week for the letter to show up, and then another week for the payment via online banking to clear.

Not impressed by New Zealand Customs or however set this system up.

It makes me wonder why we even bother having RealMe in the first place when so few government departments can be even bothered using it in the first place. Apply for WINZ and you have to provide proof that your account that you give them is actually your account - so why not link up your bank account to RealMe so then WINZ via RealMe can verify ownership? why not have a 'customs declaration number' that can be put on ones delivery details which is linked to ones RealMe where an email alert is sent through which uses a unified system that brings together all the various departments in terms of invoices and paying of those invoices through that unified system that utilises RealMe?

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jarledb

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Reply # 1963241 24-Feb-2018 00:01

matisyahu:

It makes me wonder why we even bother having RealMe in the first place when so few government departments can be even bothered using it in the first place. Apply for WINZ and you have to provide proof that your account that you give them is actually your account - so why not link up your bank account to RealMe so then WINZ via RealMe can verify ownership? why not have a 'customs declaration number' that can be put on ones delivery details which is linked to ones RealMe where an email alert is sent through which uses a unified system that brings together all the various departments in terms of invoices and paying of those invoices through that unified system that utilises RealMe?

Lots of things they could/should do. I managed to Google myself the solution to the customs payment (why make it easy, right). And turns out I could use the reference number that NZ post was providing as a reference for the payment when paying by online banking.

How do you expect them to make better systems though, when they can't even make a simple payment form secure?

Worst part of it is that most people will never know they are sending their credit card information unsecured. If they know about SSL, they will see the https in the browser window and expect everything from there to be secured.

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jjnz1

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Reply # 1963285 24-Feb-2018 08:28

@jarledb how did you find this out? What do we have to look for?

surfisup1000

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Reply # 1963289 24-Feb-2018 08:37

That duty seems like it could be about right. I think once you do pass the $400 threshold they add all sorts of things other than GST.

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Reply # 1963291 24-Feb-2018 08:38

So rather than publise the alledged insecure form, did you think it would have been a better idea to perhaps notify customs via a letter and also include the minister?

Then after such response then publish the result here?

The world will change when you will help it.

surfisup1000

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Reply # 1963293 24-Feb-2018 08:45

Goosey:

So rather than publise the alledged insecure form, did you think it would have been a better idea to perhaps notify customs via a letter and also include the minister?

Then after such response then publish the result here?

The world will change when you will help it.

I wouldn't have thought so.

Openness is best.

Sending a letter to organisations, often gets nowhere.

Benjip

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Reply # 1963308 24-Feb-2018 09:32

jarledb:

Benjip:
jarledb:

The fees are crazy. But my main point is that their online form for paying is UNSECURED!

Does that really matter if the payment is secure? What kind of insecure information will you be transmitting?

The page the form is on is on SSL. The form URL (so the place the information is sent to) is not. So it will not be encrypted.

They are asking for credit card information. Pretty bad, if you ask me.

Oh wow, yep that's not a good look!

I had wrongly assumed you meant that the payment gateway was secure, but the part where you type in basic info such as a reference number, was insecure.

richms

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Reply # 1963361 24-Feb-2018 11:59

I thought browsers would refuse to sumbit to a http url when on a https page without some warning?

Richard rich.ms

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