Guide — the real landed cost
GST and customs on hardware wallet imports
Every hardware wallet sold in New Zealand is an import, so the sticker price is not the price. Here is exactly what gets added, what changed on 1 April 2026, and when buying locally works out cheaper anyway.
- 15% GST, usually collected at checkout
- NZ$2.21 New Customs LVG levy, air freight
- NZ$1,000 Low-value goods threshold
- 1 Apr 2026 Date the new levy took effect
On this page
How the rules actually work
New Zealand's approach to imported goods changed substantially in December 2019 and again on 1 April 2026, and the net effect for someone buying a hardware wallet is simpler than it sounds: the tax is usually already in the price, and the additional Customs charge is a couple of dollars.
Since December 2019, overseas suppliers with more than NZ$60,000 of annual sales to New Zealand have been required to register for GST and charge 15% at checkout on low-value goods. A low-value good is a physical good with a customs value of NZ$1,000 or less, excluding GST — and that is based on the value of the goods themselves rather than the total including shipping.
Every hardware wallet is comfortably a low-value good. Every major manufacturer — Ledger, Trezor, BitBox, Keystone, Coldcard, Blockstream — sells enough into New Zealand to meet the registration threshold. So in practice the GST is collected by the seller at the point of sale, appears in your checkout total, and Customs does not chase you for it afterwards.
This is why the "cheap overseas price" is often less cheap than people expect. A US$169 Trezor Safe 5 is not a NZ$280 wallet plus nothing — it is that plus 15% GST plus international shipping, which is how you arrive at roughly NZ$330 landed.
The new Low-Value Goods levy
This is the 2026 change and it is worth knowing about even though the amount is small.
From 1 April 2026, New Zealand Customs applies a Low-Value Goods levy to imported consignments valued at NZ$1,000 or less: NZ$2.21 for air freight or NZ$2.09 for sea freight, plus 15% GST on the levy itself. It replaced the previous per-report fee model, which ended on 31 March 2026, moving to a consignment-based charging approach.
Practically: add about NZ$2.54 to an air-freighted hardware wallet, including GST on the levy. It applies per consignment, which is the one detail worth acting on — if you are buying a device plus a steel backup plate plus a case, ordering them together in one shipment incurs one levy rather than three.
The NZ$1,000 threshold
Above NZ$1,000 in customs value per consignment, the mechanics change: duty and GST are assessed at the border rather than collected by the seller, and you will typically hear from Customs or the courier before delivery.
For hardware wallet buyers this is almost always irrelevant. The most expensive mainstream device is a Ledger Stax at around US$399, well under the threshold. You would need to be buying two premium devices plus accessories in a single shipment to cross it — which is worth knowing if you are assembling a multisig setup with three devices at once. In that case, ordering from three different manufacturers separately keeps each consignment comfortably under the threshold, and you were going to use three different makers anyway.
On duty specifically: it depends on tariff classification and country of origin, and consumer electronics of this kind generally attract none coming into New Zealand. We would not budget for it, and the official reference is customs.govt.nz.
Worked landed-cost examples
Indicative figures as at September 2026, using the makers' own published RRP. These are estimates rather than quotes — exchange rates move and shipping varies by carrier.
| Device | Maker RRP | Imported, landed | Available in NZ? | Better route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ledger Nano S Plus | US$59 | ≈NZ$130+ | Yes — NZ$99 at GROOV | Buy locally |
| Trezor Safe 3 | US$79 | ≈NZ$160 | Intermittent | Check local, then import |
| Trezor Safe 5 | US$169 | ≈NZ$330 | Intermittent | Check local, then import |
| Keystone 3 Pro | US$129 | ≈NZ$255 | No | Import |
| Coldcard Q | US$239 | ≈NZ$465 | Yes — The Bitcoin Shop | Buy locally |
| Blockstream Jade Plus | US$149 | ≈NZ$290 | Yes — The Bitcoin Shop | Buy locally |
| BitBox02 | CHF 149 | ≈NZ$330 | No | Import |
| Tangem (3-card) | US$70 | ≈NZ$145 | No | See our review first |
When buying locally is cheaper
The table makes the pattern clear, and it is not really about tax at all — it is about who bothers to stock things here.
Ledger is clearly cheaper locally. GROOV in Christchurch, an authorised reseller importing directly from Ledger France, lists the Nano S Plus at NZ$99 delivered with nothing further to pay. That beats importing a US$59 device by a comfortable margin once GST and international shipping are counted. PB Tech and Mighty Ape also stock Ledger entry models in the NZ$95 to NZ$120 range. There is no scenario in which importing a Ledger to New Zealand makes sense.
Bitcoin-focused devices are available locally too. The Bitcoin Shop dispatches Coldcard Q, Blockstream Jade, Trezor and TinySeed steel backups from Tauranga as an authorised Blockstream reseller, with tamper-evident seals and payment by Bitcoin, Lightning, card, Afterpay or bank transfer. Same-country delivery in one to three working days.
Everything else is an import. Keystone, BitBox and Tangem have no New Zealand supply chain, so you are waiting one to three weeks and paying shipping. The tax overhead on top of that is genuinely small — GST is in the price and the Customs levy is NZ$2.21 — so the real cost of importing is time rather than money.
Full detail on every route in our New Zealand buying guide.
Consumer rights, which only apply locally
This is the part of the import-versus-local calculation that does not appear in a price comparison and probably should.
Buy from a New Zealand retailer and the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 applies. The goods must be of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, and if they are not you have remedies against a New Zealand supplier — repair, replacement or refund, enforceable through the Disputes Tribunal if it comes to that. That covers a faulty device, a device that fails prematurely, and a device that was not as described.
Buy direct from an overseas manufacturer and you have their warranty policy, whatever consumer law applies in their jurisdiction, and your card issuer's chargeback process. For a NZ$99 device that is a modest difference. For a NZ$465 Coldcard or a NZ$780 Ledger Stax, having a local supplier obliged to deal with you is worth something real.
And there is a second, less obvious benefit to buying locally that we keep returning to: your street address stays in a New Zealand company's records rather than an overseas retailer's. Ledger's July 2020 breach exposed roughly 270,000 customers' names, phone numbers and physical addresses, some of whom subsequently received extortion letters and counterfeit devices in the post, and a further exposure through its payment processor Global-e was disclosed on 5 January 2026. That is a privacy and physical-security consideration that no certification level addresses, and buying from GROOV or The Bitcoin Shop removes it at no extra cost.
Our practical conclusion
The tax overhead on importing a hardware wallet into New Zealand is trivial — 15% GST that is already in the price, plus about NZ$2.54 for the Customs levy. What actually decides the route is stock, delivery time, consumer law and whether you want your home address in an offshore database. On all four of those, buying from a New Zealand reseller wins whenever one carries the device you want.
Frequently asked
Questions on this topic
Do I pay GST on a hardware wallet imported to New Zealand?
Yes, 15%, and it is usually already in the price you see. Since December 2019, overseas suppliers with more than NZ$60,000 of annual New Zealand sales have been required to register for GST and charge it at checkout on low-value goods — physical goods with a customs value of NZ$1,000 or less. Every hardware wallet is a low-value good and every major manufacturer meets the sales threshold, so the tax is collected at the point of sale and you will not be chased at the border.
What is the new Low-Value Goods levy?
From 1 April 2026, New Zealand Customs applies a Low-Value Goods levy on imported consignments valued at NZ$1,000 or less: NZ$2.21 for air freight or NZ$2.09 for sea freight, plus 15% GST on the levy. It replaced the previous per-report fee model, which ended on 31 March 2026. It is charged per consignment, so consolidating an order into one shipment saves a small amount.
Is there duty on a hardware wallet?
Almost never. Duty depends on tariff classification and country of origin, and consumer electronics of this kind generally attract no duty into New Zealand. Where duty and GST are assessed at the border rather than at checkout is on consignments over NZ$1,000 — relevant only if you are buying a top-end device plus accessories in one shipment. For a NZ$150 wallet the practical answer is GST plus the small Customs levy.
Is it cheaper to buy a hardware wallet in New Zealand or import one?
For Ledger, buying locally is both cheaper and faster — GROOV in Christchurch lists the Nano S Plus at NZ$99 delivered, against a US$59 RRP that becomes NZ$130 or more once GST and shipping are added. For Trezor, BitBox, Keystone and Coldcard, local stock is limited or non-existent, so importing is usually the only option and the tax overhead is small. The Bitcoin Shop in Tauranga is the exception for Bitcoin-focused devices.
Does the Consumer Guarantees Act apply to an imported wallet?
Not practically. The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 gives you rights against a New Zealand supplier — acceptable quality, fitness for purpose, and remedies if the goods fail. Buy direct from an overseas manufacturer and you are relying on their own warranty policy and whatever your card issuer will do. On a NZ$99 device the difference is modest; on a NZ$780 one it is a genuine consideration in favour of buying locally.
Next in this cluster