Thread: CUSTOMS JACKED MY RAZORS

I used to do a lot of business online, and I never appreciated the good Ol US of A more. Many other countries BS isolationist customs practices and taxes are unbelievable. Only so many people can tell you to declare it's value as $49 and mark it as a gift before you start to wonder why you should even bother shipping to those countries.

I'd probably be a die hard republican, burning tax and spend liberals in effigy if I lived in one of those countries. :P

I feel your pain man, customs can be a pain in the ass. Each country's does indeed differ, and sometimes they can take quite some time in "clearing" or "inspecting" packages. They may add tax depending on the items, for instance, tobacco has a hefty tax depending on weight.

Usually it depends on what the sender marked the value as when packages leave the US. That's been my experience. A lot of guys ask that you mark value at a much lower number than what it's worth to avoid customs. The only problem in that case is that if something happens, you're screwed. Lots of guys take the chance though, sorry to hear regardless.

Actually APO AP address is still subject to all customs regulations of the respective country and I've always had to fill custom declarations for these. Occasionally they can miss, but in principle everything that enters a country should be subject to inspection and charged any appropriate dues. That's what a properly working administration should be, and as usually it rarely happens.

Oh yea... that's why I love USPS/Canada Post so much! Flat 5$ brokerage fee... and I rarely have to pay taxes... last time I bought 700$USD in bicycle parts and was charged about 50$... not bad!

UPS/FedEx on the other hand... straight off steal you. I was once charged 200$ on a 600$ synthesizer... the "seller" decided to "upgrade" me free of charge to UPS without telling me... more like a downgrade to me!

I used to work for Customs here in the U.S.

Everything imported into the U.S is dutieable per the customs reg which you can access online. Where the differences come to play are when you ship say fedex or UPS they do their own in-house clearance and they make money off it so its to their advantage to charge you for every little thing and pick up the brokerage fee. With the mail system there is way too much being imported to check each package. If they did it would be like Canada where you can wait weeks to get your item. Attention is paid to items from certain countries and periodically they will do a thorough check on a rolling basis and of course if you import say a razor with elephant ivory scales your guaranteed a very long wait while its referred to fish and wildlife and all the paperwork is checked.

Other countries have their own regs and often times in addition to customs fees you have to pay VAT and sales taxes depending on the country. Many countries earn a substantial income off customs duty so some really look for everything like Canada, and England does this too.

The U.S is really very lax but remember the very early wars in our history were financed through customs duty.

If it was an APO adress it shouldn't have been a problem as the military ran the mail system, or used to. If it went thru the hands of the ROK, you may be screwed, you will have to grease palms , at least that was the way it worked when I was there back in the '70's.

i thik some how when they shipped it out they put ROK and not US because AP means korea and 96264 is a US zip code but its just in korea

like you said i have one of the locals here trying to get it sorted out but its looking like its gonna cost me an extra 20%
and we still run our own mail here on base which base were you at im down here at Kunsan

Originally Posted by BAMARACING8

i thik some how when they shipped it out they put ROK and not US because AP means korea and 96264 is a US zip code but its just in korea

like you said i have one of the locals here trying to get it sorted out but its looking like its gonna cost me an extra 20%
and we still run our own mail here on base which base were you at im down here at Kunsan

Ben, You should contact either O.S.I or the S.P.I. on your base. Or whatever investigative unit would have juristiction on this matter. I was over in the Azores for 3 years and I'm pretty sure if mail is sent through APO, the Local Nationals should not be handling the US Mail. Hope this helps. Let me know how things turn out. If you can't get them back, let me know, I'll send you one free of charge. You don't deserve to have this happen to you! Let me know, okay? Take care and God Bless! Ramon

thanks Ramon.....well one of the local national i work with is sorting it out and if he can sort it out thats all fine and dandy but if it turns into a hassle i will get OSI and the ADC involved..and thanks so much for the support and the offer!
but i got a feeling it will all get worked out fairly smoothly and quickly.. the guys that work here are really nice and dont mind going out of the way to help with something