To my knowledge, parcels sent from Canada to the U.S.A. are not subject to
American Custom Fees. Therefore, an American buyer is not too concerned
with what I declare as the value of the contents. YET, I always undervalue
the contents of ALL the packages I send, lest some curious soul, somewhere,
decides to take a peak at what's inside that 'expensive package'.
Like Kirby and Vesna, I have a feeling its not a good idea to tempt
employees of companies processing and delivering parcels.
Zeev
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Kirby" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Under-Declaration of Value on International Shipments
I can't speak for another nations, but I don't know of a legal way to get
around it with movie posters sent to the UK. The fact that you will never
get in any trouble for doing so is, I suspect, not material for you.
I believe Alan, that you clearly state in your actions that you must
declare full value. In that case people shouldn't ask you not to do so.
Many sellers (I'm speaking of Ebay sellers in general, not just posters)
however, under-declare as a matter of course, as most of their customers
prefer this. It's an interesting side note that the only two packages
I've ever had lost in the post have both been declared to full value...
Tom
Alan Adler wrote:
You are correct, Zeev -
I don't sleep well if I think I am breaking some international customs
law!
Just feel bad when folks ask me to under-declare value - because it seems
like it is something that is often done.
But I don't want to do it.
Just wondered what others experience with this practice might be -
Thanks to all in advance.
Alan Adler
On Oct 14, 2008, at 12:41 PM, lobby card invasion wrote:
Ron, Wim, and others. You are missing the point. Alan Adler is not
asking you for "tricks" to outsmart various Customs. My understanding
is that he doesn't think its right, and doesn't want to do it.
Sometimes he looses some business.
What he wants to know is, is there a way to be completely honest and yet
not miss those "problematic" sales?
That's my understanding.
Zeev
----- Original Message ----- From: "MotionPictureArt.com"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Under-Declaration of Value on International
Shipments
Hi Alan, Wim and all others,
I'm also from the Netherlands and have noticed that usually rolled
posters in tubes slip by customs if mailed through the regular postal
service.
They probably figure that stuff inside tubes can not have a very high
value. Folded posters get picked out more often simply because the
package is larger.
Customs also (almost) always checks packages shipped via UPS/DHL or any
other express service.
Customs charges almost 30% of the total value of the package plus the
shipping. This can be very expensive.
You can ask sellers to mark the packages as a gift with a low value,
but if they don't want to do this it's fine too. I usually calculate in
the extra 30%.
Only with expensive orders I check with the seller first.
There are indeed a few ways that usually trick customs.
Marking the package as a gift with a low value or just any other
description with a low value (almost) always works.
One seller I know marks the packages as Commercial Samples (something
like this can be found on the shipping or customs forms) with the full
value.
Describing the items as "Used Posters", "Printed Matter", "Paper",
"Advertisement Material", "Second Hand Goods" or any other term not
implying a high value also often works.
Why is there this value added tax?
According to some sources (including customs) it's just a trick to keep
business and thus money in your own region.
In other words: stick to where you come from and keep that economy
alive. ;-)
Within Europe there is free trade, but when I get an order from the US,
Canada or Australia I'll have to pay 30% extra.
Ron
----- Original Message ----- From: "bqjansen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 6:43 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Under-Declaration of Value on International
Shipments
Hi Alan,
As an international buyer I like to say this. It is indeed a lot of
bother. The problem is that it is a VAlue Added Tax. This means that
the value you put on it is considered to be the value of the parcel.
That is not per se the market value of collectible. So this is your
first problem, what is the value of the poster? ISuppose I buy a Touch
Of Evil poster for a $100 (unfortunately that hasn't happen so far) is
it's value then $100?
Secondly in Holland they use this crazy system that books, paper etc
has a VAT of 6%, while most other stuff is 19%. You can't imagine how
much a hassle it is to get your point across as a buyer that this
paper, old paper at that and that the "value" is in the eye of the
collector. Customs services are alas a bastion of bureaucracy.
This is only money of course and is a thing you can/have to consider
as a buyer.
There's a third point. The moment a package has a value on it,
mysteriously this set customs in action. I haven't investigated this
scientifically, but I am convinced that High value packages are
tampered with, looked in etc, by customs (sometimes with devasting
effects on old paper) far more often than packages that don't have a
high value on. If something is damaged and I am pretty sure that has
happened to me twice, thyere;'s nothing you can do.
Wim
Mopo-Mailing-Mavins -
Just blew another sale because I would not under-declare value of
parcel for an international shipment.
Anybody care to speak to this issue?
International buyers continually ask me to not place true value on
contents of their shipments so they can avoid customs.
It is always a deal breaker for me.
Is this not against International Postal Law or something like that?
And for those in the know -
Why the heck is there an import duty on something like a movie
poster, anyway?
Also, there are evidently some trick words - like magic - that you
can write on the outside of certain Intl. packages or on their
customs forms -
and voila, they evidently slip through customs more readily.
Anybody got the answers on this end of the operation?
Alan
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