Members henk Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by atrainlp Just another thought.....Putting a $1000 value on something seems like a red flag saying "STEAL ME!!!!!" One of the items I shipped that was "lost" was a guitar sent to Italy. The USPS wouldn't pay the insurance claim because under the "restricted items" list for Italy is "Bells and other musical parts." Another discussion I think but you're right. And your last remark just shows what a bureaucratic nightmare it can become. I had to send something back for repair once and it turned out that in my country you need an "export permit for passive improvement" otherwise there would be no guarantee that I wouldn't have to pay duties and taxes again. WTF? It's a pedal we're talking about, not diamonds! I was lucky that the pedalbuilder was kind enough to send me the parts instead so I could replace them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by skr3ddy What; is the Netherlands {censored}ing customs office gonna come after me???{censored} them. {censored} the government. {censored} taxes. {censored} customs. Cheat those thieving bastards any way you can. {censored} them; they didn't earn that money! The customer already paid me for it, and the postal services already got paid to deliver it. Customs can suck my ass. Especially after they've already been ripped off buying your crappy pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jack Luminous Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 You can check whatever box you want, it is not mail fraud. However, I think your clients may be a bit naive in their reasoning. In my country, the customs only look at the insured or declared value. For example, whatever it is under $250 or so, you pay no tax. If if it more that, be it a gift or not, you pay taxes anyway. Originally posted by Devi Ever Can someone clear me up on the USPS postal regulations for shipping internationally?I have made it the policy to ship my direct sales internationally via Express mail, and fully insured (which means declaring their full value), because I hate dealing with lost mail and no way to track it.Anyhow... I've gotten in the habit of checking "Commercial Sample" on the customs form... because... well frankly, it's the only description that makes sense to me.Recently a customer suggested that I send them as "Gift" to avoid them having to pay taxes or duties or what-nots.The only problem I have with doing that is I ship a LOT of products internationally, and the last thing I want is to get in bad with the Feds for any kind of mail fraud or what-nots, ya know?I've tried googling information on the subject before, but I've never been able to find a good, simple, answer to the question... so I thought I might pick at the collective consiousness of the forum. :')devi- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members palthegiraffe Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by atrainlp One of the items I shipped that was "lost" was a guitar sent to Italy. The USPS wouldn't pay the insurance claim because under the "restricted items" list for Italy is "Bells and other musical parts." Why on earth is Italy worried about foreign bells? Is there some kind of handbell underground or organized-crime alarm-clock trafficking that I've never heard about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skr3ddy Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by RoboPimp Especially after they've already been ripped off buying your crappy pedals. Not now, Kato! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fernmeister Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by Jack Luminous In my country, the customs only look at the insured or declared value. Actually the same is true here. Well sort of; if they suspect the package might be worth soemthing they open it to look for invoices (or stuff they just want to steal or extract a bribe for). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fernmeister Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by Speeddemon that 'bit' was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Speeddemon Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CustomGR Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by skr3ddy What; is the Netherlands fucking customs office gonna come after me??? Fuck them. Fuck the government. Fuck taxes. Fuck customs. Cheat those thieving bastards any way you can. Fuck them; they didn't earn that money! The customer already paid me for it, and the postal services already got paid to deliver it. Customs can suck my ass. I paid about $400 to get an amp into Australia a few years ago- so I figure if I don't pay any more tax on stuff I buy from OS- then I will slowly get my money back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Muscated Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 I got stung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members henk Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 WTF is that! Handling charge. That's what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dot-dot-dot Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by henk WTF is that! Handling charge. That's what I mean. It's because the carrier has to pay all your fees for you in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Teahead Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Marking it as a "Gift" does not avoid customs charges. In my experience, anything over $50 get's hit for tax, regardless of which box you check. I can't pretend that the builders/dealers morals about declarations wouldn't influence my decision to buy. A very kind and popular dealer opened my eyes to the $50 limit and saved me about $150 in taxes when I ordered two zvex pedals from him. Since then, I ask for the same to be done on all my stuff and it's been 100% successful in avoiding charges. Very few have refused and never have I been unable to find the same deal elsewhere. Which is the problem for you, Devi. If you refuse to try and dodge the customs fees for your customers, some other delaler, who will mark it down, is going to get the sale. It might not be quite so important, seeing as you sell custom stuff, but I'd imagine it's a huge deciding factor if the buyer has other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 4Kenoath Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 The rules vary from country to country. In Oz we don't pay taxes until the amount goes over about $300US, although strictly speaking it should be lower than that. Guitarists here are also descriminated against. We pay 15% tax on guitar related equipment while all other types of instrument are only 10% taxed. The other thing to remember is that pedal sized packages are easily the most common size packages and there's no way the customs can sift through most of it, so they rarely bother. I think you're more likely to have the gear stolen with a full value on it even though your insurance cover is then compromised...I call it the 'Pain in the Arse Padel Paradox'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Macdaddy Music Posted October 25, 2005 Members Share Posted October 25, 2005 Just an update to this thread....... The new customs forms (the larger white ones - not sure about the smaller green ones) actually have a "Merchandise" box you can check. Problem solved..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Originally posted by Teahead Which is the problem for you, Devi. If you refuse to try and dodge the customs fees for your customers, some other delaler, who will mark it down, is going to get the sale. It might not be quite so important, seeing as you sell custom stuff, but I'd imagine it's a huge deciding factor if the buyer has other options. Actually no... not a problem at all. I've sold 10 pedals via eBay in the past two week that have gone internationally (Singapore, UK, Mexico, Japan, Canada), and no one asked to mark down the value, and I'm still selling almost as many custom orders internationally as I am domestically. :') Not to mention the value is only around $50-$100 on my eBay custom sales... devi- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phishmarisol Posted October 25, 2005 Members Share Posted October 25, 2005 If I was a legitimate business, I would try to stay legit all the way. However, when I ship internationally I put the value at $50, mark gift, and throw in a ridiculous birthday note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 25, 2005 Share Posted October 25, 2005 Originally posted by phishmarisol If I was a legitimate business, I would try to stay legit all the way. However, when I ship internationally I put the value at $50, mark gift, and throw in a ridiculous birthday note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members proudmore Posted October 25, 2005 Members Share Posted October 25, 2005 Originally posted by Devi Ever The only problem I have with doing that is I ship a LOT of products internationally, and the last thing I want is to get in bad with the Feds for any kind of mail fraud or what-nots, ya know? You shouldn't worry about that. The only ones interested on this would be the customs people on the country where you sent the pedals (since they're losing tax money). And you're not shipping them all to the same country. Also, I think they have bigger stuff to go after. Honestly, I wouldn't mind paying import taxes if they were resonable... say 10% or 15%, but 60% is outrageous. Plus, getting caught by customs is another postponement on reaching tonal bliss. Also you have a week to go to the post office to pay the taxes and get the damn thing, instead of receiving it comfortably at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Speeddemon Posted October 25, 2005 Members Share Posted October 25, 2005 Originally posted by proudmore reaching tonal bliss. Also you have a week to go to the post office to pay the taxes and get the damn thing, instead of receiving it comfortably at home. VERY GOOD POINT! You pay some American $15-20 to have something delivered to you in 4-10 days (Air Mail Parcel), yet the fuckin' Customs let it do a sleep-over for another week, and finally you can go pick it up yourself AND pay extra! Why the fuck did I pay $15 in the first place then? Because of this, my Burny LP Custom spent a whole fuckin' MONTH at the Dutch customs because they wanted a company receipt from the seller! A used guitar, sold by an individual! If they wouldn't be such greaady bastards, I'd have my guitar within 5 days from paying for it (shipped from Japan). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skr3ddy Posted October 25, 2005 Members Share Posted October 25, 2005 Burny... Sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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