Best way to ship to Europe?

[automated ugug]

damn you painted bird.. that post makes me want to buy your criswell wakiz\ashi

 

[thepaintedbird]

damn you painted bird.. that post makes me want to buy your criswell wakiz\ashi

I told you I could work out a deal on the shipping and I meant a good deal.

If anyone has any questions about international shipping you can drop me a line and I'll do what I can to help. It's what I do to pay the bills and there is no reason why I shouldn't offer the same assistance to the folks here that I do to my customers (because odds are I'll like you more than I like my customers)

 

[automated ugug]

I told you I could work out a deal on the shipping and I meant a good deal.

:thumbup: thinking thinking thinking

 

[Kevin Wilkins]

yep . i tried to be nonpolitical and let Kevin's comment slide.. .but since you started.. . we pay taxes on our income .. then we have to pay taxes to import something .. then we have to pay sales tax, in the country of destination despite the product being sold elsewhere, and then we have to pay a clearance/admin fee...

:jerkit: this is the sort of system we have let them impose on us

Well, remember the Boston Tea party? When a certain group of Colonists had enough of British taxes they staged a little revolution and said "No taxation without representation." The result is the United States of America!

Food for thought.

 

[huugh]

We (Czechs) had nice habit of defenestration in medieval ages. Sometimes I think it would be nice to keep the tradition

However as it usually ended with wars all over Europe, it may not be such a good idea?

 

[automated ugug]

Well, remember the Boston Tea party? When a certain group of Colonists had enough of British taxes they staged a little revolution and said "No taxation without representation." The result is the United States of America!

Food for thought.

i know .. but when i tried it was just me... and one bloke chucking tea bags into the river thames isn't really a protest.. more like an invitation to b taken away in a straight jacket

 

[David1967]

What this does is to allow you to declare the full value for insurance purposes (you can actually insure 10% above the declared value to cover shipping), but may help the recipient to avoid duties and taxes (though nothing is guaranteed).

Unfortunately it does not work that way . You could declare the value for "Custom purpose only" only if it was for example warranty replacement = something you paid for already (when you bought it new). Otherwise - if you declare VALUE (= if you want to insure the shipment) - you pay TAX and duty (at least here). There is no way around.

David

PS: I spent about 30 mil. USD a year buying equipment and spares for our company and would love to find a way how to save us some money

 

[Kevin Wilkins]

i know .. but when i tried it was just me... and one bloke chucking tea bags into the river thames isn't really a protest.. more like an invitation to b taken away in a straight jacket

I hear ya... today you get an orange jumpsuit and a secret plane ride to Guantanemo! Some how I don't think the Founding Fathers of the USA would like that. Perhaps their Spirit will reemerge.

Exporting to the USA is also a lot of fun... from 1001 Euro merchandise value you are suppossed to fill out an export declaration form... one page... the German Customs where I picked up the form told me it was "impossible" to fill out! Custom told me that! The instructions for filling out the form are – I $hit you not – over 150 pages as PDF!! Now I see why TNT charges 30 Euro for the service. If you ship via the Post Office... they don't care about these rules... us a common carrier, they HAVE to do it.

Running a small business can be fun.

 

[english mark]

I need advice on the best way to ship an expensive knife to Europe. I know that some folks don't want the hassles, so I am trying to educate myself here, to decide if I want to do this. I just read a thread where someone says they use FedEx, and declare the full value. Others use USPS Global and call the knife a 'camping tool' to avoid customs fees for the buyer. If you do that, then obviously you cannot insure for the full value. Seems like quite a risk, no?

In the U.K. the recipient is responsible for any extra charges made by undervalueing. I believe if the value is above $2oo dollars then customs charges will apply, deliberately undervalueing can lead to a lot of aggro. Most of my knives have come from the U.S.A. labeled as either "camping eqpt" or "collectable". I've never had a package go adrift, private carriers are faster, I've had a fedex package in hand, in three days from the U.S.A.. regular postage can take three weeks.
Also bear in mind that some countries in Europe the postal service is rife with thievery........my opinion, send by private carrier ,fully insured and trackable and declare the full value.

 

[huugh]

In the U.K. the recipient is responsible for any extra charges made by undervalueing. I believe if the value is above $2oo dollars then customs charges will apply

If I'm not mistaken, the value over customs duty is applied is 22EUR - as stated by Council regulation 918/83, article 27:

TITLE VI
CONSIGNMENTS OF NEGLIGIBLE VALUE

Article 27
Subject to Article 28, any consignments made up pf goods of negligible
value dispatched direct from a third country to a consignee in
the Community shall be admitted free of import duties.
‘Goods of negligible value’ means goods the intrinsic value of which
does not exceed a total of ECU 22 per consignment.

Article 28
The relief shall not apply to the following:
(a) alcoholic products;
(b) perfumes and toilet waters;
(c) tobacco or tobacco products.

(note that since 1.1.1999 ECU was replaced with EUR - with 1:1 ratio; however as ECU is based on basket of currencies of EU, even countries not using Euro as currency can determine the exchange rate to ECU/EUR)

 

[english mark]

Yeah sorry I think you're correct I think I was thinking of vat and not import duty. anyway disregard that part of my post.

 

[DaleW]

Erased/deleted

 

[deovolens]

In the EU import duties are up to 20% and VAT in my country is 21%.They calculate the VAT on the invoice +shippingcosts+import duties.If the good is a gift then it's free if the total amount does not exceed 100€= 125$.
Some knives are prohibited : push daggers, bali songs and so on.Mostly the seller describes it: cutting tool, sport goods.Insurance has for me no real interest because if you use tracking the chance of loosing it is very low. USPS was for me the fastest way.

 

[thepaintedbird]

Unfortunately it does not work that way . You could declare the value for "Custom purpose only" only if it was for example warranty replacement = something you paid for already (when you bought it new). Otherwise - if you declare VALUE (= if you want to insure the shipment) - you pay TAX and duty (at least here). There is no way around.

David

PS: I spent about 30 mil. USD a year buying equipment and spares for our company and would love to find a way how to save us some money

The example you provided for "value for customs purposes only" is a good one, but I have to disagree with you that the statement is limited to only items of that nature: that is why the modifying statement appears as well. Though the applicability of such statements can vary from country to country (some countries specifically prohibit the use of such statements), I have had some success using this terminology.

I've moved mostly charitable material and personal effects, but there have been a couple of sold items in there as well. And the countries have included the U.K., Australia, Bolivia, Canada or any other place that my friends may end up, and I would say that it's worked a little over half the time (probably around 60%). But this is also why I threw in some "potential", "may", and "no guarantee" caviots.

As to saving your company money, that is a whole different animal than the occassional one off personal shipment that I was refering to. And duties and taxes aren't something to be played with when you're running a business unless you want the government poking around more than they already do.

David, also just wanted to throw out that I was in the Czech Republic some years back (I think it's been about 11 years now). Prague is without a doubt THE most beautiful city I've ever seen (and I've travelled quite a bit) and the people were always so friendly. Great beer there too!

 

[thepaintedbird]

To throw my bit in for some consensus, I have to agree with the dangers being too obvious with under evaluating the value of a shipment: if your going to do it be reasonable. If you're moving something that is worth $100 don't put $1 it's too obvoius and likely to raise suspicion. If you put $25 then it's less likely to be noticed. Will it potentially cost a bit more, yea, but it's also less likely to incur penalties or worse yet, to be siezed.

 

[automated ugug]

r
David, also just wanted to throw out that I was in the Czech Republic some years back (I think it's been about 11 years now). Prague is without a doubt THE most beautiful city I've ever seen (and I've travelled quite a bit) and the people were always so friendly. Great beer there too!

and the women ..wowee..

 

[zpaulg]

Please don't be put off selling to the UK and Europe as a whole.

In the UK anything upto £18 or $36(US) will not attract any extra charges, many knives that I have bought from the US have been described as "pocket knives" and I've had no problems.

Speaking personally I am happy to pay charges if they're incurred, it's at my own risk when I order! The savings to be made are worth the risk to me.

I do appreciate that this may not be the case for everyone.

However, state clearly in your ads that customs charges etc are at the buyers own risk and I can't see you having a problem!

I for one, greatly appreciate those abroad happy to deal with the oppressed, ripped off and generally crapped on from a great height poverty stricken souls living in Europe!!! ( Gas averages $10 US a gallon over here).

Keep on sellin', many thanks............

 

[kevtan]

I think that most of the non USA buyers understand that there are potential risks of loss due to theft or mishandling of packages from the USA. The only way to minimize the risks is to use trackable shipping methods. Posters above have described that they do not mind paying taxes but even KW have stated he thinks its a ripoff when the courier charges for clearing the package thru customs. KW, they even charge interest on the monies paid on your behalf to customs.

Global Express Mail is trackable until the package leaves the USA, its also trackable if the destination country have the same type of express post service.

For most countries GEM is equivalent to EMS.

And my appreciations to all those seller that WILL underdeclare to prevent pilferage and facilitate customs clearance to overseas customers. Thank you all.

 

[huugh]

What always makes me wonder is how customs catch your package worth $100 while you hear that 60 trains full of oil somehow slipped through borders without taxation