Shipping Knife overseas, need advice

Gator97

Gator97

Joined
Apr 10, 2000
Messages
3,794
Hi All,

If I were to ship a knife to wester european country, to avoid hassle with customs I was advised to put price 0 and something like gift/gardening tool on the box. That's fine. But in this case how do I insure it? I mean if I pay insureance, then that is on the form?

Any help is highly appreciated.
 
Unfortunately, you're stuck.

Lowball the value and you'll probably avoid customs (which can be considerable in many European countries), but the you can't insure the package.

Insuring international shipments is tricky. You need to ask just exactly how far the package is insured. Going to some countries, insurance only covers the package up until it enters that country. In-country routing and local delivery is not covered.
 
You can't.

If I get a package with a $20 declared value and the insurance is for $500 guess which one is going to be used to calculate taxes? :(

What I do I have my packages sent EMS/Global Priority uninsured and take the chances.

A couple of months ago I lost a surefires package worth somewhere near $300 as the delivery truck was robbed when the postman was bringing the package to my place, and I had to suck it up. :mad:

In my opinion you are better declaring a low value (anf GIFT, of course) than Zero. Also, you might want to"mask the truth" instead of plan out lie about the content.

If they open the package and they found a folder, there's no way in Heaven that's gonna look like a Garden Tool.



NsB
 
i got my battle rat and howling rat with a declared value $50...and a description of 'hunt tools'....

why would you insure it for $500 if it was worth $20?? will the insurance company pay out $500 if it gets lost???

i thought the insurance they offered was an 'up to $500' sort of thing...

i think your best bet is to put it as 'tools' ...not 'gardening tools'...and value it not too high and not too low...if it was worth 100 bucks just value it at $50 dollars...that way you'll be compensated mid-way...you won't get all your money back but you won't lose all either...and the customs won't be too harsh on the receiver....
 
Originally posted by Point44
why would you insure it for $500 if it was worth $20?? will the insurance company pay out $500 if it gets lost???
Click to expand...

Well, because it isn't really worth $20, if you know what I mean... :D

I have to pay 50% of (declared value + shipping changes) so the lower I keep the declared value, the less I pay extra at a goverment that will hand out that money anyways.

NsB
 
what i meant was...if the item does get lost...that's what the insurance company will ask...why are we paying $500 for a $20 item????
 
Because the sender bought insurance for $500?

Dunno how it is done in the US, but I received packages that had a $60 declared value and $800 for insurance and I'm sure if the package got lost I'd get my $800 back, as the sender is a person I trust and he said it works that way.


The way the PO takes insurance on a package here in Argentina is on a separate channel from the declared value. There's no record of the declared value on the insurance slip, so if the package gets lost, no one will ever know what was the declared value, just the insurance one.

NsB
 
Thanks guys,
Mduh. I'll check how USPS works. If there is no declared value on the slip I am ok. But I suspect there is. Tough choice :)
Anybody else care to share experience?
 
There are both VALUE and INSURED AMMOUNT boxes on the USPS Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note that goes on EMS packages... :(

NsB
 
well...I live in Europe and everytime I order from USA I ask the compagnies to write a low amount on the custom declaration and mark it as a gift!
It's simply because when the customs in Denmark see a package with a declaration other 50$ they open the package and I have to pay monster taxes!
Recently I buy some stuff from knifecenter and they writed the real value on the package AND they included the billing in the package!
I buyed for 110$ and had to pay 75$ in taxes!!!:mad:
Use Global priority!
 
When I asked about sending knives to Canada, it was suggested to declare it as "Gift: Cutlery". It may also work on other continents.
 
As a "frequent buyer" from Europe, I will tell you what I think. For buying knives from USA, the best service I had so far (fast shipping & all) is USPS Global Priority and USPS express mail (or something like that, a tad more expencive that GP). Every time I payed higher shipping with UPS, the sevice sucked big time. They are actually slower, don't leave passage notices and send back the knife if they tried to deliver three times (even if they didn't leave a single passage notice). I had to drive to their deposit to get my packages, they won't leave it to the post office and can deliver monday to friday. You have to be home all day, they don't give you an hour. UPS :barf:
For the insurance, do you have hard proof about how much the knife costs? If not, you can insure it for $10.000, you won't see a dime if it gets lost.
I get my knives (even the expencive ones) sent uninsured by USPS with declared values between $25 and $75. At my own risk. The customs take almost 30% here (VAT + taxes), it's too much for my pocket.

Edited to add: the declared content of the packages I got was "knife" in most of the cases, unless the seller decided to mark otherwise. No problems so far.
 
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