Thread: Stupid customs

Just got a letter today describing that they are jacking me for 1880DKR =( ~396 USD, for a razor package . Thats almost a third of the package price, do they usually have such high rates on citizen rape where *you* live?

Did a quick check on post.dk, and it seems your customs rules a pretty much like the ones we have in Norway. Sometimes things do sneak under the radar, and sometimes it doesn't.

I always check up on the fees before I order something from abroad, just to be sure I don't get any unpleasant surprises.

But $ 400 is a lot Where was the it coming from?

I can imagine how you feel, I technically had the same thing when I ordered my strop from Tony Miller.
That also was almost 1/3 of the package price ('percentage of the package price' + 'a fine for not declaring it' = approx. total of 1/3 of the package price???)

What I know is that customs, at least in The Netherlands, authorizes some people at the postal & packaging services (like TNT, UPS etc.) to do random checks.
What criteria they use for a check is still a mystery to me. I've done quite some orderings from all over the world, but I've never got a additional fee for a package
under $100. Maybe this is coincidence, but I think the "random checks" could be price related.

Originally Posted by Chady

Thats almost a third of the package price, do they usually have such high rates on citizen rape where *you* live?

Yes.
In my country the taxes are ridiculously high too. One year ago I ordered a TM strop for 70 USD that at that time cost me 50 EUR. It was held in customs and to free it I had to pay 19% customs tax plus 21% VAT = 40%. They increased the strop price from 50 Eur to 70 Eur. How sad is that?
Other stuff Ive been buying from the far East (Hong Kong, Japan) never been held by customs. And most stuff that come from the US is. Go figure...

having sent a few things abroad from scotland and the USA, to various places around the globe, Ive tried to be careful so as not to incur fees on the delivery side......apparently my uncle wants an exhaust system for his harley...hahaha...if the price of it is over $86 (as far as I have been led to believe) he will get nailed for import tax on the UK side, i had to pay 25 pounds for the hone from Norton cos they got it to me in 3 days.....it sucks..


Basically as they say in the movies...

I feel you dog!!!!!

simon

OMG! First, congrats on getting a razor box where $400 is a third of the value.

Second, what on earth does your government do with that money?

I'm trying to imagine what a 1200$ razor looks like.
We want pics!!

Yikes, that's brutal.. Here in Canada, we pay about 20% on importing goods, but if people ship stuff via UPS, we also get nailed with some serious brokerage fees.
While our duties are not as bad as yours, our income taxes are the highest in the industrialized world.

yeah, the US isn't great about that either, although not quite as bad as your situation. a year or two ago I ordered a nice custom kilt from Scotland (costs the better part of a grand) and the customs ran to about 18% of the kilt's cost definitely wasn't planning on that.

Over here, if a package gets caught by the customs and the value is above a certain limit (don't really know, perhaps 30 euros or something?) then you have to pay 19% of the value of the package + shipping cost, and then a small administrative fee of a few euros.

Oh, and it's only for things from outside the EU AFAIK.