I agree with 99.99 percent of what u have said. The only small exception, is that a good freight forwarder shld be able to get very specific costs to have the item shipped door to door. The vast majority of people dont have the ability to lift n transport heavy items, thus requiring the item to be dropped off at a work or private address. Most people who try to do self import, will ofcourse do the pick up n heavy lifting themselves, but most people who use a freight forwarder, will require door to door.

To give u an example, say a female customer buys a WOZ machine, she wouldnt want or have the ability to move a 150 kg widebody pinny, she would want it delivered, or even a older person, say someone 65 who has a bad back, they are all going to be door to door, with the help of a good freight forwarder and customs/clearance agent etc. These quotes are easily done, if the seller wants to spend the time with a good freight forwarder/customs agent getting detailed quotes.

I am betting, the vast majority of Aussie WOZ owners are going to ask for a tailgate lifter/truck to have their machine delivered, and they are going to want it all organised before the machine leaves the factory.

In any event, this will all work itself out soon enough. Bumper shld take care of most of Melbourne, but its the other states so far where the big question marks are. 

That's right. So after the transport price, there is a local delivery price that manufacturer's cannot possibly quote accurately. The local Freight Forwarder can organize, depending on your needs. You can also pick up yourself as LCL in your own truck / ute / etc.

What distributors do is to find the highest quote for local transport (after the container has been transported to port), but use the cheapest possible local transport and pocket the difference. The local distributor CAN provide the door to door price by combining the manufacturer's transport, the clearance fees at the Port, and the local Transport. That's how it works. The manufacturer does not know the landing / clearance fees, nor does the manufacturer know the local transport to your door.

So what I'm saying is that JJP or Stern cannot give you a "door to door" price WITHOUT finding out the landing / clearance costs AND the local transport. Ask either of them and you will get an estimate based on past imports, and they will undoubtedly send you to the local distributor for an accurate quote.

An example is the Fathom I bought from Germany as a single import. If cost me AUS$595 airfreight to my terminal in Tullamarine. But that was not to my door. I had to pay clearance / landing / admin costs - wait a couple of days then I picked it up in my Wagon. There is no way the German Supplier was going to give me a door to door quote as the landing fees are unknown and the local transport is unknown.