Buying from the US store against buying from an Australian reseller

The comparison everyone wants is a price against a price, and it cannot honestly be done that way, for two separate reasons. The first is that the two prices are attached to different machines: the US storefront sells a 110 volt unit and an Australian reseller sells a 240 volt one. The second is that the landed cost of the US machine cannot be completed at all, because nobody publishes what it costs to ship one here. This page shows the parts that are known and leaves the missing one visibly missing.

Prices, policies and warranty terms checked 10 September 2026

They are not the same machine

Harvest Right publishes two complete specification tables for every home size, one at 110 volts and one at 220 volts, with the same tray count and capacity. Only the 110 volt variants can be bought. The 220 volt variants sit in the catalogue attached to Shopify variant IDs that the US storefront rejects: adding one to the cart returned an HTTP 422 "Cannot find variant" error on the day we checked.

The 240 volt machine is what the Australian distributor supplies, and it runs on a standard Australian outlet with a 10 amp plug. So the choice is not "same machine, two prices". It is a 110 volt import that needs a transformer against a 240 volt unit that plugs into the wall. Harvest Right publishes no amp draw, wattage or circuit requirement for the 220 volt machines at all, and nobody publishes whether they are 50Hz or 60Hz, so the two specs are not even documented to the same depth.

What the US prices convert to

The gap looks enormous and it is why this question gets asked at all. It is also not a saving. The converted column is a machine in a US warehouse on the wrong voltage; the Australian column is a machine on a pallet here with a 10 amp plug on it. Between them sit freight, tax, a transformer and the question of who is legally on the hook when it fails. Only some of that can be priced.

The landed cost cannot be completed

Here is every element of a landed cost, with what is actually published against each.

One further published fact settles the tax question in principle even though it does not settle the amount: a freeze dryer sits far above the A$1,000 low value imported goods threshold, so an import is squarely in the territory where GST and possibly duty apply. Harvest Right's own words are that international orders are "subject to additional duties, taxes, and brokerage fees" under the buyer's own customs law, and it offers no delivered-duty-paid option. Nowhere on its store is GST, the Australian threshold or an Australian customs charge mentioned at all.

Warranty is the same length either way, and not the same thing

This is the part most comparisons get backwards. Importing does not cost you the warranty and buying locally does not buy you a longer one. Harvest Right's Limited International Warranty applies to machines "originally purchased and delivered in countries other than the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union/European Economic Area", which is Australia in both cases. One year from the original ship date, telephone and email support only, parts at Harvest Right's option, with the owner paying local service costs and the freight on parts. The three year figure advertised beside the US price is the continental United States position and it does not travel.

What does differ is who you can hold responsible. A purchase from an Australian seller is a contract with an Australian supplier, so Australian Consumer Law guarantees apply on top of the manufacturer's voluntary warranty. A machine you import yourself from a US company gives you the manufacturer document and nothing else. Neither Australian reseller mentions those rights on its warranty page, which does not remove them.

Delivery time

The Australian distributor is the only party in this comparison that publishes a dispatch time at all. OzFarmer states that 99% of orders are despatched the next day its warehouse is open, with an outer bound of three to five business days, and disclaims transit time after dispatch, especially for regional addresses. Delivery is kerbside: unloaded at the front yard or driveway, and getting it inside is the buyer's job.

Harvest Right publishes no international lead time. Freezedryers.com.au publishes none either and adds constraints that catch people out: no PO boxes, no deliveries to residential apartments or units, someone must be present, and a forklift on site at a business address. CryoDry checks out in AUD but states no dispatch time. Flo-Max has no cart at all.

Who services the pump

This is the question that should decide the whole thing, because the vacuum pump is the part that fails and the part an overseas manufacturer can help with least. Harvest Right nominates nobody in Australia. Its obligation under the international warranty is telephone and email support plus parts at its option, and every hour of local labour is the owner's.

Beyond that there is a general Australian industrial vacuum trade that rebuilds the pump types used here, since the Premier is an oil-sealed rotary vane unit and the oil-free is a dry scroll pump. What none of them publishes is a repair price, a turnaround time or a service exchange programme for a home freeze dryer pump. Whole replacement pumps and consumables are stocked in Australia at published AUD prices, which in practice is the route most owners take. The detail is in the pump register.

What we would actually do

• Buy from Australian stock. Not because the local price is low, but because it is a complete number: a 240 volt machine, a freight quote available on the phone, GST already in the price, an Australian supplier carrying Australian Consumer Law obligations, and parts on a shelf here. The import route offers a lower sticker and an unknown total.
• Compare the two Australian sellers before you compare countries. The same Harvest Right models are listed by both at different prices, and the gap is larger than most people expect. That comparison is on the reseller page.
• Only consider importing if you get a written freight quote first. Ask Harvest Right for a delivered price to your postcode, in writing, including who clears customs, before you convert anything. Without that number the comparison is not a comparison.

The brand-level detail behind all of this, including what the Australian warranty document actually says, is on the Harvest Right Australia page.

Common questions

Can I work out what a Harvest Right costs landed in Australia?

Not completely, and anyone who publishes a total is guessing at the missing part. The machine price is published in USD and can be converted at a stated exchange rate. Freight to Australia is published by nobody: Harvest Right gives US freight facts only and says international pricing may vary, and its shipping rate calculator returns an empty rate array. GST on an imported good is charged on a base that includes freight, so an unknown freight makes the tax unknown too. Duty and brokerage are not quantified by anyone either.

Is the US machine the same machine an Australian reseller sells?

No. The machines purchasable on the US storefront are 110 volt. The Australian distributor supplies a 220 to 240 volt machine that runs on a standard Australian outlet with a 10 amp plug. Harvest Right catalogues the 220 volt variants but does not sell them from the US store: adding their variant IDs to the cart returned an HTTP 422 "Cannot find variant" error when checked. Comparing the two prices as though they were the same product is the most common mistake made in this decision.

Does buying direct from the US give me the three year warranty?

No. Harvest Right's three year limited warranty applies to machines purchased and delivered in the continental United States. A machine delivered to Australia falls under the Limited International Warranty at one year from ship date, with telephone and email support only and parts at Harvest Right's option, whether you imported it yourself or bought it from an Australian seller. The difference is that an Australian purchase also carries Australian Consumer Law guarantees, which an import from a US company does not.

Who services the vacuum pump in Australia?

One reseller publishes a vacuum pump service operation: Flo-Max Pumps, which runs an on-site and workshop pump service out of Seven Hills in New South Wales. It pays this site nothing, and we would say the same if it did. Beyond that there is a general industrial vacuum trade that rebuilds the pump types used here, but no Australian business publishes a repair price or a turnaround time for a home freeze dryer pump, and no Australian business is nominated by Harvest Right to perform a warranty repair.