CUSTOMS JACKED MY RAZORS

mods: feel free to move this if it is in the wrong place....

yea the title say it all has this ever happened to any one....
i have orded stuff from the great people here. vintage blades and evrything comes right on to my mail box
but i ordered 2 from straight razor designs
and all i got in the mail was a ltter i had to sign for in all korean language
and took it it to a guy i work with and hes working the issue but now its going to cost me an extra 60$......
so i dont know how they shipped it over or what was put on the customs form..but i am def kinda bummed about that, really wasnt planing on dropping an extra $60 to the korean government for nothing :(

i have no idea if they shipped it insured or not but with it being sent to an APO AP address it should have never been collected by local authorities to start with i would think?? long as i get my blades soon ill be a happy camper just a hard lesson learned i guess

I had a J-Str come from ZethLent insured for 60,000 yen without having to pay anything. Customs are odd at best. In this case, they are just trying to get revenue. I know thats what they are supposed to do, but 60 dollars for a couple razors seems out of line.

I feel your pain. Sometimes I have to pay customs fees, and sometimes I don't (still haven't figured out why). On some packages sent over here I've had to pay something like 25% if the items were valued at >30 Euros. That could easily hit 60 bucks on two nice razors.

they hit me up for 20%

I had to go pay for a package yesterday that turned out to be a Genco Easy Aces I'd had restored by gssixgun. I was charged £8.95 + £8 " handling fee " so nearly £20 for a razor that was mine to begin with. :boohoo:

I'd have been more irked if I wasn't so pleased with the job Glen had done on the razor, it took a lot of the sting out of the situation. :)

i feel your pain! having to pay again on something you already own people we should all just start marking things as a "gift" on customs forms

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Originally Posted by BAMARACING8

i feel your pain! having to pay again on something you already own people we should all just start marking things as a "gift" on customs forms

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I think taxes are applicable on goods AND services, so I can't really kick up a fuss. I can come and here and have a moan about it though! :mace:

It's the £8 handling fee that bothers me most I think ...

Here in the USA you are duty free up to $200.00 USD in a commercial transaction IIRC. What I have noticed in items I've purchased that were higher priced is that with some carriers I didn't always get hit by customs. For instance UPS or FedEx always nail you but in my experience USPS only some of the time. Royal Mail, DHS seems to be some of the time and not others. Too bad about the extra $. I know the feeling.

maybe thats what got me..the over 200$ mark but i have ordered things before over 200 and been fine...who knows really maybe it was just my unlucky day

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... :rant: 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

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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

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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

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Originally Posted by Philadelph

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.

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It's also mail fraud, and the IRS can come down hard on people caught doing it. That's why some pro sellers flat out refuse to put anything other than the sale value on the package.

i was stationed in Germany for 4 years and while the customs may be different from Korea, i can tell you APO mail DOES go through host nation customs. I discovered this when i mail ordered a bunch of brand new paintball equipment while stationed there. I got my package in 2 or 3 weeks with everything inside, except the $850 marker. Needless to say i was really PO'd and started checking into where it probably went missing. Checked with the local APO officers and was told about customs regs.

Luckily the company i ordered from were extremely nice about sending me a replacement marker in a separate package, free of charge.

wow i cant belive they straight stole your mail like that!!! i can see them saying ok you have to pay importing duty but to just outright open it up and keep it thats crazy man...glad the company was cool enough to send you another one i would of asked them to send it in 5 different peices that way they would be less prone to take something because they dont know what it is

well, it was thievery by any standard. I called the german customs office and they admitted that should not have happened but also said they had no way of knowing who did it and getting it back. And the company did not offer insured shipping. But yeah it all worked out ok.

As far as in different parts, i doubt i could get anyone to do that. I just learned my lesson and the next custom marker i ordered i made a stop by the custom shop on my leave and picked it up there. Wasn't a big deal since i was in MS to visit family anyway.

i got good news everything got sorted out both dovo spike point in ebony scales and the case came in the other day! they LOOK & SHAVE GREAT
you really have to watch the spike point more closely but i really like the way they look and the barbers notch im not a big fan of round point
on the downside i was a little disapointed with the case it should be overall slightly larger maybe 1/2 inch wider and have more depth to it so there are no small open spaces when its closed. but in the ned im just happy i got my stuff!!!