Importing knives as a gift?

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Ad58

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Hello guys,

I live in The Netherlands and I collect knives. In The Netherlands there is, sadly enough, no knife culture at all. If there are any shops, they are very overpriced compared with the US. Therefore I want to import my knives. Here and there I see sellers who can ship your knife as "a gift" so that you don't need to pay import taxes. This looks very tempting, but.....
Anybody knows how this is done? I mean, the package needs to be insured, and the customervalue must equall the insured value I believe. You can't state a customer value of $25,- , send it as gift and then insure it for $500,- I think? Do they simply under-assure it?

Anybody can help me this one? I don't want to have unpleasant surprises.... thinking I bought cheap and then getting a fat bill from the customers dept. Or worse, package lost and a far to low insurance....

Anybody?
 
First step is to look up your national customs website and look at Dutch import laws and regulations. If you don't find any information on value of goods that may be legally imported without incurring duty/taxes, then pick up the phone and ring the customs department and explain your situation.

No offence, but it may be of little value to ask on an American site about dutch customs and trade regulations. Find out the legal realities of the situation.
 
SteelIsReal said:
First step is to look up your national customs website and look at Dutch import laws and regulations. If you don't find any information on value of goods that may be legally imported without incurring duty/taxes, then pick up the phone and ring the customs department and explain your situation.

No offence, but it may be of little value to ask on an American site about dutch customs and trade regulations. Find out the legal realities of the situation.
Click to expand...


It's not really a question about Dutch custom laws (which no-one seems to understand or can explain) as well as how the shipping in the States is done... Question is, if the seller sends it as a gift, how it is done? Believe me. I called the customer service of of the Dutch Customs several times, but you no-one can give you answers there so it seems. Looks like their employees are selected at knowing nothing.
 
I ship various items to the Netherlands and Germany on a regular basis.

The commercial invoice must contain the words " unsolicited gift" It's not fool proof and an overzealous customs agent might still charge the duty on the items. It does seem to work better in the Netherlands, but you have to check the rules for preparing the proper commercial invoice.

The FedEx site has some good information regarding this ( that's the shipper I use).
 
Let’s see if we can find the right forum …
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