For future reference - in case you want to order something over $1000: I recently bought a PC directly from a small manufacturer’s website (not your usual Amazon etc) which was over $1000 NZD, and I didn’t get charged any duties for it. I’m not a 100% sure why, but it could be that didn’t declare the full value on the waybill. And it also got shipped by DHL, who’d normally take care of clearing the customs duties etc and would contact you if you had to pay anything.

But on the other hand, if I’d ordered it via Amazon or eBay, I would’ve definitely had to pay duties. For instance, a couple of years ago, I had ordered another PC - this was from eBay - and they shipped it via DHL. Normally if the seller used the eBay Global Shipping option, eBay would’ve calculated and charged me the duties during checkout itself. In this case however, DHL handled it. I also had to apply for a client number with customs beforehand, since I was importing something over $1000 (this was basically just filing out a form and providing identification). But this can take a couple of weeks, so best to get registered well in advance, so as to not hold up the delivery.

So maybe what Dave implied was true (as in they keep any eye out only for the big name exporters).