Custom taxes

[Nyasagi 259]

I heard about people paying the tax mostly for DVDs here as well, so maybe they tax these more often o_o

[Mei 276]

in argentina u have to pay a half-of-what-u've-ordered tax if you order via ems (just sometimes, not always, it depends on a machine that turns a red light when it feels like taxing u -weird-). but if u order via standard airmail u dont pay taxes if they r books or cd's, but u do have to pay if u order stuff like clothes, jewelery or whatever else.

[*りりこ* 14]

To be honest, I think all these taxes are robbery. If someone buys an item that can't be bought inside the EU and buys it for themselves, not to earn money on it, they shouldn't pay any taxes and customs, because the idea of these is to protect the local business... but no one loses money on it if you wouldn't buy anything like this, because it isn't available here! It's just a way to take more money from people -____-

I totally agree with you...

[Kawaii_Minpha 194]

This is an old topic, but i will use this one instead of creating a new one.

 

Customs are thief. When i ordered the 2 versions of the last Souiumono album from brand-x, it's only 2 cd, and i had to pay 26,79. Usually i pay for customs only with cdjapan because i purchase a lot of cds. It was the first time i had to pay customs fee with brand-x. The problem is that they didn't write lower value. It was declare a "gift", but it was declare with it's true value of 3885yen + 3150yen for a total of 7035yen, and so it is 76,96.

 

In Canada, packages can have customs fee to these condition:

Merchandise over a value of 10$

Gift over a value of 60$

 

So i had to pay that 26,79 because a small difference of 16,96$ over the 60$.

 

Brand-x are ok to write gift, but why they do not write lower value too?

And why most (all?) Japanese webshop do not write lower value and gift to be sure we don't pay for customs fee, is there any reason to not care about their customers to pay some taxes ? I mean, why they refuse ?

 

 

I just ordered a cd from closetchild at the price of 3800yen, and in the past, they used to always declare a lower value and to write "gift".

So, after my customs fee with brand-x, i just wanted to be sure, and i told them::: """Please, i would appreciate if you can do as usual;;; declare the package as gift, and lower the value, so i can avoid customs fee.""" And they answered::: """[NOTICE] 【About Customs Tax】 We are unable to declare a lower value and mark the item as "personal effects" or "gift". We declare items' value as the actual items' price and mark them as "merchandise"."""

 

So, this is a new thing from them ? closetchild no longer help their oversea customer about customs fee ? It's like they was saying::: """No, we want you to pay the taxes, and we'll ship the item with EMS to be sure you get customs fee too""".

 

So now, the only webshop i can buy and be sure i won't get customs fee, they are shopping services. I wonder what is the best option, buying ALL my cd with shopping service (paying SS fee, but be sure to have no customs fee) or buying on webshop and play the russian roulette to see if i will get high customs. Which option is the less expensive?

 

I mainly had the desire to write this message because of the message i got from closetchild, and so everyone can know that this website seem to no longer support the "lower value" and "gift" options. I guess they begin to hate having oversea customers (i can't see any other reason). I mean, buying 1 used cd of 1 song at the price of 3800yen without shipping isn't enough, they want me to pay for customs fee too. I was sure they was going to do like they always done before, so i think it's upsetting me because i hate customs, especially when this is expensive customs fee for only 1 or 2 cds, they abuse. They should at least declare it as a gift, so this way i would be safe for this order.

[Biopanda 2675]

As far as I know, wrongfully declaring customs is illegal, so they might have gotten a notice about that(or stopped because they don't want to get in trouble).

 

I got my first American customs fee, but avoided it like a boss :v I guess if you order things with FedEx, then they'll charge you a customs fee. For some reason they sent the fee payment notice to Santa Fe Tobacco Company instead of me, so I had some guy calling me from there a few times wondering who the hell I was, but I just didn't answer the phone and he gave up eventually.

 

This is how 'murricans handle customs fees. DON'T TREAD ON ME.

[Champ213 1858]

As far as I know, wrongfully declaring customs is illegal, so they might have gotten a notice about that(or stopped because they don't want to get in trouble).

 

 

 

I would think so too. Of course paying customs is annoying and I had to do it often enough myself, but you can hardly blame Closetchild for following due procedure and claim that they do it because they "hate overseas costumers". That's just ridicolous. If they hated overseas costumers, they would just stop shipping overseas. It's not like they have to. Most other vk indies shops do not offer overseas shipping, so I'm guessing it's more trouble than it's worth for them.

 

Personally I find it much more annoying that in 80% of the time my package gets stuck in customs, I have to go and collect it myself to show the invoice and open the package and stuff. The customs office is at the outskirts of the city and with the wait time I usually spend 2-3 hours just to get my damn package. Not the ones from Closetchild though, they usually get delivered to my door and I can pay the customs here, which is much more convenient. Not sure why that it, but I assume the packages are thoroughly labeled, with all necessary papers attached at the outside of the package, so I don't have to show up myself to hand in the invoice and I appreaciate that.

 

 

So yeah, paying the taxes bothers me not nearly as much as all the hours wasted sitting in trains and waiting halls to collect my stuff.

[Guest Magatsu]

As far as I know, wrongfully declaring customs is illegal, so they might have gotten a notice about that(or stopped because they don't want to get in trouble).

 

 

Yes it's illigal.

CDJapan also doesn't do this.

The only shop who put's not the real price on it is YESASIA.

 

You cannot avoid custom tax.

The only way you can is.. befriend someone from Japan who is willing to buy stuff for ya

and volla you can avoid custom tax with no problem (^.-)

[Bear 1817]

I don't pay custom taxes. Never did, never will. I don't order anything from people/places who doesn't send as gift or doesn't lies about the price of what I bought. Custom taxes may be the wost thing ever.

[Kawaii_Minpha 194]

 

As far as I know, wrongfully declaring customs is illegal, so they might have gotten a notice about that(or stopped because they don't want to get in trouble).

I understand what you say, but::: From all the experiences i have (since i bought many items on the internet, since years), it never happen that a shop receive a notice about wrongfully declaring to customs (that doesn't mean it never happen, but it never happen to my knowledge). This may be illegal to wrongfully declare, but anyway, nobody i know had trouble related to this, and why customs would bother with closetchild, i mean they would try to notice the bigger shop first i think.

 

And even cdjapan and brand-x, if they don't accept to lower the value, they always accept to write "Gift" (because yeah, the cds we buy can be a gift for someone else), and if closetchild would accept to just write gift, it would already be helpful for small packages that contain only 1 or 2 cd. And also, how the customs could prove that the item is not 1000yen but 3800yen? this is a used item which is a live distributed for free, which mean it doesn't really have any value, and it also doesn't contain any price on it (it's not like buying a new cd on cdjapan with a price on the obi). So i consider that even if closetchild are supposedly afraid of customs (which is still not sure), if they want to declare the "real value" of 3800yen (for a free LD) i think they should declare it a gift, and that would be safe for them. So i consider they make no effort related to this.

 

 

Personally I find it much more annoying that in 80% of the time my package gets stuck in customs, I have to go and collect it myself to show the invoice and open the package and stuff.

It's very strange O_o i never had any issue like this before. And customs are in another city, so i hope it will never happen too.

[Guest Magatsu]

to write GIFT on a thing doesn't also not always work if it's from a shop like CDjapan.

One time I did do that.. AND yup I needed to pay the FULL TAX.

but that's for the netherlands xD

 

 

so just find a nice proxy ^^

[fitear1590 2414]

^Magatsu is right.

Something marked "gift" in a commercial-looking box is a red flag.  

While in Germany, my uncle sent me a care package marked gift.  Because he sent it in a box with a Nut-Thins design for some reason (lol), the customs people snatched it up.  I had to go to the local customs office to open it in front of them so they could inspect the contents.  I think only because it was under 45 euros in value (or whatever the limit is), I avoided paying a fee.

[sai 868]

I don't pay custom taxes. Never did, never will. I don't order anything from people/places who doesn't send as gift or doesn't lies about the price of what I bought. Custom taxes may be the wost thing ever.

 

Same. Considering that there's only one company in my country that delivers international parcels and their service and delivery speed are pisspoor I refuse to contribute to them in any way or form. I'd rather wait 4 weeks by ordering from a shop that lies about the value of the package (and even have free shipping) than to pay 14 euros for Air Mail, having to wait 2,5 weeks anyway (because customs has a sincere lack of staff) and then have to pay custom tax + administrative fees (which are ridiculously high).

[Guest Magatsu]

if there was no administrative fees.. and only tax... I wouldn't even mind to pay tax. =.= 12 or 14 euro administive fees.. kiss my ass man.

sometimes you only need to pay 5 euro or something for tax.. and then 12 euro extra.. yeah then you raither to wait way longer.

[sai 868]

^ Pretty much. The tax percentage on CDs is 21% (it used to be 12% or something but they included it in the 21% group lately) so on a package of 25 euros you pay like 5 euros of tax which isn't that bad at all. I mean for 5 euros I wouldn't mind ordering at CDJapan but having to pay 18 euros extra to the company, lmao, go eat a dick.

[Champ213 1858]

It's very strange O_o i never had any issue like this before. And customs are in another city, so i hope it will never happen too.

 

Maybe it's a german thing. It's being sent to your nearest custom office, where you have to show the invoice and open it for the officials to see, just like you would in a normal customs inspection when entering a country.

 

And, as has been pointed out, writing "gift" on the package will not always work either. My last package from Brand X was labeled "gift" (I didn't even ask them to, they did it on their own). Rest assured, it still got stuck in customs, I had to go collect it, and pay. Even declaring lower value doesn't always help. Because it's not unlikely that the customs officials simply won't believe it, especially if it doesn't have very detailed papers attached outside of the package (usually in a small plastic bag that can be seperately opened) and looks like a commercial package. When I get a notice from customs to collect something, that's the usual explanation: "Missing documentation on the package" - even when the value is clearly declared on the outside. They simply don't take it at face value. That's why you have to bring in the invoice/paypal recipe - to prove how much you actually paid for it.

 

 

So I stopped asking shops to declare lower value - doesn't work, never has for me at least, if the package looks remotely commercial the local customs will most likely stop it and either cite you in, or have you pay the taxes on delivery. And the if the package was to get lost, it's only insured by the declared value, so I may as well have it as the actual value.

 

But yeah, I don't mind paying the taxes as such. If I already paid so much to have it shipped to me, I may as well pay a few more Euro and be done with it. But my time is more valuable. I'd pay all the custom taxes they want, if they would just always deliver it to my damn house, lol.

[Guest Magatsu]

^ but do you only need to pay TAX? or also those stupid administrative fees?

 

But yes it's a Germany thing + a few other countries like Estonia.

[Champ213 1858]

Only the taxes, the rate is 19%, no administrative fees. So if I buy a couple of CDs and it costs an overall of 50 Euro, I pay around 10 Euro import taxes.

[Guest Magatsu]

=.= lucky... lucky lucky. lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sai 868]

Brb moving to Germany. Here if you buy a 25 euros CD the total you have to pay is about...I'd say with the new taxes, 24 euros, so almost as much as the CD itself. 5 euros in taxes, 19 in administrative fees.

 

how isn't this illegal lmao. i should probably go check this soon bc having a total of as much (or more) than the actual product seems very...fishy to me.

[Guest Magatsu]

19 in administrative fees.  oO what really?? is it way more expensive?

 

*check*

 

EMS € 17,50 - Other: € 13,00. -> http://www.postnl.nl/voorthuis/klantenservice/onefield.aspx?ofq=douane+kosten

Ah to difficlult for me to translate

I hope Sai can do. -> this is why we need to pay those extra costs

 

• het opmaken van de vereiste douane-aangifte;
• het voorschieten van de verschuldigde douanerechten (voorheen invoerrechten), BTW en/of andere invoerheffingen aan de overheid;
• het openen en visiteren van de pakket(ten);
• het vaststellen van product en waarde;
• opslag- en bewaarkosten;
• incasso kosten;
• administratieve kosten

[sai 868]

Rough translation of the fee (last time I paid was with EMS, so 17,50):

• construction of the required customs form
• paying the calculated fees in advance
• opening and resealing of the package
• investigation of the product and said products value
• safekeeping costs (as they're being kept in their warehouse)
• general costs of informing customs of the package
• administrative costs (wages)

so yeah, that counts for 13,00 euros on Air Mail and SAL, and 17,50 for EMS

[Nyasagi 259]

I've never had to pay the taxes, but if I remember well, here in Poland you pay extra for some notices delivered to you by a mailman about having to go to the custom office, or for transferring the money, I don't even know exactly, just the costs of the mail company service (that's bullshit imo, why do you have to pay extra for having to pay bullshit taxes, it's them who want it, they should cover all the cost... and the mail company belongs to the country, so why do you even have to pay extra, lol). The tax is 23% :/.

[Kawaii_Minpha 194]

Today i received an order from cdjapan and i had to pay 55$ and there was only 10 cd in this package. Everytime i order through cdjapan, i have to pay customs fee, and all of this, just because they can't declare a lower value on the package. I never had to pay customs taxes with shopping service, even with my biggest order containing +10 cd. In my country, the rules are simple;;; Package declared as a gift can go up to 60$ and you'll not have to pay taxes, but over 60$ be sure you'll have something to pay, unless you're very lucky. While something declared as merchandise can go up only to 10$ if you don't want to pay customs. cdjapan declare my package as gift, but with the real value which is over 60$. While shopping services declare packages as gift and with a value below of 60$.

 

How to avoid custom taxes ? well, i thought about this today, and i was thinking the following::: if i buy ALL my cds with shopping service, i would never have to pay for customs fee, BUT i would need to pay a commission on each items to my shopping service, so it doesn't make a big difference, and i wonder which one is the most expensive; custom taxes or commission ? Well, i guess there isn't a really big difference. So, at first, it seems like there's no solution to this problem.

 

But i think that i finally found a solution to this problem, but i didn't tested it yet. Here's my solution::::: Buying myself all the items on cdjapan as usual, BUT to ship the order to my shopping service address in Japan (of course i would need to ask him if he accept to receive my orders). Then, i would pay him a commission just to forward to me the order with a new customs declaration. Yeah, i would need to pay a commission to my shopping service, but that would be a commission just because he need to forward the items to me, so it would be less expensive than if i asked him to buy all the items on the internet for me. As a result, i would need to pay just a small amount of commission, but it would makes my order free of customs taxes, and this is probably the less expensive method i found considering customs taxes are ridiculously high (55$ of taxes for 10cd..... wtf?). Also, as a bonus, shipping fee would be less expensive, because on cdjapan, the shipping fees are questionable, shipping for 10 cd was 4000yen, while my shopping service send many times +10 cd for around 1500yen using the same shipping method.

 

Let's say i purchase 10 cds on cdjapan with the address of my shopping service, shipping fee could be something like 1000yen because they ship in Japan + around 1500yen of shipping to forward the items to me = 2500yen of shipping instead of 4000yen. And also need to pay the shopping service a commission for fowarding the order. I'm sure this is less expensive than to pay 4000yen of shipping + 55$ of taxes (or more). I just need to ask to my shopping service if he accept to forward my cdjapan orders with a new custom declaration by explaining to him the situation. What do you guys think of my solution to avoid ridiculously high custom taxes ? If they was resonable, then i would not be trying to trick them, but come on, custom taxes::: they're thieves, and they're currently tricking people with their custom taxes.

[Owl 347]

^What shipping method do you use?

If you buy cds, that shipped directly to you, you don't have to pay jap taxes.

If you redirect your order to shopping service, you have to pay twice for delivery and tax too. (But I guees that's still less than your country tax).

In your place I would choose separate deleveries (so the cost of each package will be less than 60). But this depends on shipping method, you have to adjust weight for not to overpay (forgot the right word, sorry) for delivery.

[Kawaii_Minpha 194]

I use registered air mail