Knife held in customs and requiring fee, what would you do?

D

Don Nguyen

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Oct 4, 2011
Messages
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I sent a knife to France recently, all paid for and insured through USPS. I got good advice from other people after the fact but right now I have a package being held and requiring the customer to pay a $150 customs duty fee to pick it up.

I'm at a loss - not sure what to do.
 
Bearing in mind I'm in Australia not France. I buy quite a lot of knives from makers on Bladeforums. My personal philosophy is that if the maker accurately and honestly described the knife to me and on the customs form (as I always ask them to) then any customs issues are my problem.
I would have thought that customs duties were the buyer's responsibility.
I can see how it is a tough position for you.
 
A buyer should always get information on custom regulations for his country, because it's the buyers country which collects the fees. If I choose to import something then I'll also have to bear the costs.
 
I also think that the customs is the responsibility of the buyer. The customs fee is something he was going to have to pay no matter who he bought a knife from. It should not go back on you. It's often a balancing act trying to keep customers happy. You can either bite the bullet and take the loss and consider it a learning experience, or you can tell him he needs to work it out on his end. Either way, it's a lesson learned. You may have a customer that bad mouths you, but sometimes it isn't avoidable.
 
Is the duty based on the value of the product? If so it should certainly be the customer's responsibility; if you were paying the duty you would have factored it into your pricing. If you pay the duty in these circumstances you are going over and above when it comes to service.
 
Customs fees are the responsibility of the Buyer since it's a Tax levied by the Buyers Country on them for purchases imported into the country.
 
It's most likely the VAT charge getting you. Duty was probably only $15-$20. The VAT charge can be outrageous. This is usually paid for by the buyer. I've had to pay Duty and VAT on things I've had shipped in from overseas. It's the buyers responsibility to know these charges. I got burned the first time I ordered a big shipment from Spain once. Made it not as much of a good deal!

An example.. A $2000 knife shipped to France from US would cost over $450 in Duty and VAT.

Total customs value (CIF):US$2087.00 This is the amount that customs values your import at
- Duty: US$35.48
- VAT: US$424.50
Total import duty & taxes due: US$459.98 This is the amount that needs to be paid to customs
Total landed cost: US$2546.98 This is the total cost of importing, including product, shipping, insurance and import duty & taxes


You can get an idea before you ship at http://www.dutycalculator.com.
 
Chris Larrikin said:
Bearing in mind I'm in Australia not France. I buy quite a lot of knives from makers on Bladeforums. My personal philosophy is that if the maker accurately and honestly described the knife to me and on the customs form (as I always ask them to) then any customs issues are my problem.
I would have thought that customs duties were the buyer's responsibility.
I can see how it is a tough position for you.
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Lucky for you Australia is a free trade country with the US. :D
 
Triought said:
It's most likely the VAT charge getting you. Duty was probably only $15-$20. The VAT charge can be outrageous. This is usually paid for by the buyer. I've had to pay Duty and VAT on things I've had shipped in from overseas. It's the buyers responsibility to know these charges. I got burned the first time I ordered a big shipment from Spain once. Made it not as much of a good deal!

An example.. A $2000 knife shipped to France from US would cost over $450 in Duty and VAT.

Total customs value (CIF):US$2087.00 This is the amount that customs values your import at
- Duty: US$35.48
- VAT: US$424.50
Total import duty & taxes due: US$459.98 This is the amount that needs to be paid to customs
Total landed cost: US$2546.98 This is the total cost of importing, including product, shipping, insurance and import duty & taxes


You can get an idea before you ship at http://www.dutycalculator.com.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! I will favorite it for the future.
 
I dont know how your customer could not know about customs and/or VAT. If I buy anything from the US like knifemaking materials or a rifle scope, the border customs will add theese fees and bill the end customer. Sometimes though, lesser valued items worth maybe 50-100 dollars, will slip through.

Anyways, this is your clients problem, not yours but I can see why it concerns you.

Brian
 
Gody said:
Anyways, this is your clients problem, not yours but I can see why it concerns you.
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I do realize that it is not up to the seller for these kinds of things, but it was a huge mistake on my part for not doing my research ahead of time and thus not giving a warning or expectation for the buyer. For me, that is unacceptable and this is a hard lesson learned I will be dealing with.

For all my future dealings, it will be up to the buyer but there will at least be a briefing on what options/etc can be done. I hate the idea of not discussing anything and then they're surprised at an extra 20% charge they didn't account for.
 
When I sell a knife to a client in another country, I ask how they want it shipped and how they want the customs forum filled out. I also let it be known that I'm not responsible after the package leaves the US. They take full responsibility.
 
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Don Hanson III said:
When I sell a knife to a client in another country, I ask how they want it shipped and how they want to customs forum filled out. I also let it be known that I'm not responsible after the package leaves the US. They take full responsibility.
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That is a good policy and I will be learning from you!
 
I'm in Canada and there are some things I'v learned



If you declare a low customs value, but insure it more than that, you will be taxed on that higher amount
If you would try and collect on the insurance, they would only pay a max of the lower amount.
Those two values have to match.


I like shipping from US to Canada by US mail USPS because the carriers add on $40-60 plus for a brokerage paperwork fee that costs $7.50 through the mail.
plus we get taxed on top of the value plus fees.


If the customer had any experience at all ordering things, they should be aware of that tax

It could be a ploy for you to pay their tax bill don't fall for it.




If they want, it they pay.
If they don't want it, they ship it back to you prepaid and fully insured as a "return to seller" so you don't get hit with taxes on your end.
 
I have always seen the extra fees when I receive something as my fees. That is the risk in cross border shipping. For a hobby maker, you can send the item as a gift or sample, but if you are running a business, this will catch up to you eventually. I pay the postage on my knives that I ship out. Anything added on the other end is the customer's responsibility.
 
Willie71 said:
I have always seen the extra fees when I receive something as my fees. That is the risk in cross border shipping. For a hobby maker, you can send the item as a gift or sample, but if you are running a business, this will catch up to you eventually. I pay the postage on my knives that I ship out. Anything added on the other end is the customer's responsibility.
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Gift only works on $60 or less value

Insure it for more, they tax on the highest value.
 
I had to pay a big fee a few times to get my knife coming from the States.
I wanted the knife, so I paid the fee.
 
12345678910 said:
Gift only works on $60 or less value

Insure it for more, they tax on the highest value.
Click to expand...


That's interesting. I sent a couple Kith knives as gifts, and the automatic insurance was $100.00 for XPresspost. There was no duty on the US side. Are you referring to going out, or coming in?
 
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