Shipping overseas. Don't want to be scammed

here's a good read for you and just really happened to me.

i shipped a knife to england, usps priority express insured mail.

i got an email this morning and the buyer is very upset, customs told him he would have to pay £105.29 to release his knife... vat tax i guess.

he wants ME to pay that tax for him!!!!! i am so fricking shocked that i haven't answered his email yet.

so what do you think of that, what should my "business" response be instead of the "skunk" response which would certainly cure his hemorrhoids?


ps: just what is a " £105.29 " and how would anybody expect for me to do conversions for many countries everyday and adjust to the daily currency conversions, and even if it were legal for me to collect another countries taxes who would i send the money too, the queen, prince charles, alice in wonderland?



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idahoskunk said:
here's a good read for you and just really happened to me.

i shipped a knife to england, usps priority express insured mail.

i got an email this morning and the buyer is very upset, customs told him he would have to pay £105.29 to release his knive... vat tax i guess.

he want ME to pay that tax for him!!!!! i am so fricking shocked that i haven't answered his email yet.

so what do you think of that, what should my "business" response be instead of the "skunk" response?




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I would tell him he has two choices since the "Tax" was added by his government after your deal was made:

1) Pay the tax as he owes it if he wants the knife.

2) He can refuse to pay the tax and have it returned to you, refund his money less the shipping you paid.


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And people want to know what the big deal is, selling outside the country. If the buyer didn't know to expect that charge, how can we? Dishonesty-by-ignorance.

randucci is right. Tell him to pay the tax or send it back.
 
The guy asking you to pay tax is a moron. It's a risk we all run and just makes it sweeter when a blade comes through which is untaxed.

I would stick to your gut instinct answer :)

ug

p.s £105 is about 1850 dollars. honestly.. i'll send you £105 if you send me a custom Gladius :)
 
automated ugug said:
The guy asking you to pay tax is a moron. It's a risk we all run and just makes it sweeter when a blade comes through which is untaxed.

I would stick to your gut instinct answer :)

ug

p.s £105 is about 1850 dollars. honestly.. i'll send you £105 if you send me a custom Gladius :)
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I think 105.29 English pounds is really about $167.00 US dollars, according to the currency converter. That still is a lot of money for a tax!!! :eek:

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Wow Skunk,

something wrong with that individual, for sure.:eek::thumbdn:

I have made numerous overseas transactions-purchases and selling, not just knives but in all of my passions as fishing, and playing drums...most of those transactions were made through different forums, where I am present quite a long time...Never had a problem. (actually once- I bought a few cymbals from a member of a drum forum, and I never got those - but that was "my fault" - dealing with a "mushy" person...lesson learned)

here's my 2 cents for anyone who want to buy anything from people who share the same passion on message boards and forums. Forums are not for business primarily. Here's It's for sharing our passion towards knives. Do not step in the house with yer boots on, yellin': "hey, I want to buy this and that! NOW!" BUILD a reputation for yourself. Do not except from members have an immediate and absolute confidence in you.Be honest, and accept the seller's terms. If not, just move on. It never hurts asking somebody to do a favor for you, but no one should think that it should be evident. here's everything is based on trust, and that trust must be earned. because it's much more, than just "buyin' and sellin'".

I would be very happy to meet some of the forum members in person. This or "that" side of the pond. And it happened with some members from other forums, and some became real friendships. That's gold, I tell ya :).
most probably I am not so active as I should be, but it's part of my everyday routine to check the board here.

The only thing what bothers me, if people are generalizing others...

...sorry for my long winded and pathetic response...:o
 
idahoskunk said:
so what do you think of that, what should my "business" response be instead of the "skunk" response which would certainly cure his hemorrhoids.
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Tell him you'll send the tax money "refund" to him and you'll also be sending a letter to UK Customs explaining his tax evasion. See if he wants the "refund" then.
 
I normally ask for the item to be declared as a 'camping tool' or 'custom cutlery' or 'hand tool'. It just doesn't scream out for attention. Truth be told, customs does scan items so they will know whether it's a dagger, sword, spear, knife, auto etc. I just don't want someone to steal my package or make it more doubtful for customs. There was once when customs detained my package which only contained the knife handle (folder) with no blade. I rolled my eyes when I went to collect it and the lady laughed and apologised. I joked with them that they were detaining all my packages, haha.
 
Originally posted by Robert.B:
Australia doesn't exactly play by the rules though, last time I came through customs they tried to seize my snody BM 210...even asked me which "gang" I was affiliated with, just because somethings the law doesn't mean customs will follow it. I always have my knives declared as camping tools or carving equipment.
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I have lost 3 Folding knives to Customs as they think they are "flick knives" but never a fixed blade.
That sounds rough..... hope you got your knife....

Personally I prefer "Camping tool" - never a problem with that description....
 
spyken said:
I normally ask for the item to be declared as a 'camping tool' or 'custom cutlery' or 'hand tool'. It just doesn't scream out for attention. Truth be told, customs does scan items so they will know whether it's a dagger, sword, spear, knife, auto etc. I just don't want someone to steal my package or make it more doubtful for customs. There was once when customs detained my package which only contained the knife handle (folder) with no blade. I rolled my eyes when I went to collect it and the lady laughed and apologised. I joked with them that they were detaining all my packages, haha.
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That Galyean i got from you came through as a camping tool, with no taxes or suchlike. The system does work..
 
magoo48 said:
Originally posted by Robert.B:


I have lost 3 Folding knives to Customs as they think they are "flick knives" but never a fixed blade.
That sounds rough..... hope you got your knife....

Personally I prefer "Camping tool" - never a problem with that description....
Click to expand...

I was going through Sydney customs and I'd been flying for over 24 hours so I got very hot headed stating the law and got it back after a short but heated debate...I caused a big stink the second they mentioned seizure (was a first run model and my wife got it for me), I demanded the senior ACS officer and doing this got 2 armed AFP officers standing behind me (i'm not a small guy, probably got intimidated). The only thing they ended up confiscating was a small piece of deer antler that was the stand for an alaskan Ulu (was flying back from Alaska).

Never had a problem with Brisbane customs, Sydney is ALWAYS a nightmare and you're guilty from the get go.
 
idahoskunk said:
here's a good read for you and just really happened to me.

i shipped a knife to england, usps priority express insured mail.

i got an email this morning and the buyer is very upset, customs told him he would have to pay £105.29 to release his knife... vat tax i guess.

he wants ME to pay that tax for him!!!!! i am so fricking shocked that i haven't answered his email yet.

so what do you think of that, what should my "business" response be instead of the "skunk" response which would certainly cure his hemorrhoids?


ps: just what is a " £105.29 " and how would anybody expect for me to do conversions for many countries everyday and adjust to the daily currency conversions, and even if it were legal for me to collect another countries taxes who would i send the money too, the queen, prince charles, alice in wonderland?



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Click to expand...

Now it's idiocy like that, that risks giving the rest of us a bad name! What a moron!

Here's a funny fact though: It's actually Parcel Farce (couriers who take the package over in the UK) or our post office that collects the fees in the case of USPS deliveries. They also charge a ridiculous amount themselves on top of that, and then extort it out of the customer by refusing to hand over the parcel until it's paid.

This is a criminal offence in the UK! It is unlawful to withhold mail from its rightful recipient for whatever reason. The correct method is to deliver, and follow that with an invoice. Try telling the big greedy companies that though. In fact, try telling the police...

Typically in rip-off Britain, the only laws that get enforced are the ones that keep the rich rich and the rest of us in our place.

Anyone up for a revolution?

/soapbox

 
It's really up to the seller, if they don't want to wrongfully declare the value of a knife or be creative with the contents label then the buyer must either walk away or pay the fees. I can understand and respect both camps.

What's wrong is that in this age of a global community the robbing government still wants to tax on these types of hobbyist transactions. The income, vat, vehicle, fuel, inheritance and all the other taxes not enough for them ?

INFI is born in America, help you brothers on the other side of the pond if you can, just reduce the risks by using paypal that offers you some protection.
 
Skunk , this is the biggest stupidity I have heard in a long time . I would suggest something you should tell to that guy but I might get banned or something . Your part of the deal is to send the object that the other part payed for , dealing with the post office and customs in his country is his problem .
 
Don't declare different to what you send and give actual sell price as to value, as said many a times in this thread, don't lie as it will come back at you.

I always ask blades sent to me from the US to be declared as Cutlery and do the same sending anywhere I am asked to send to.

Folks that live in countries where custom is asking for import duty know that and it is certainly not up to the seller in the US or anywhere else to cover that extra tax, what a joke and a bad one at that.

Make a point of saying in your for sale thread that associated cost as applied via the buyers country customs is to be covered by the buyer.

Middle Europe is bad as import taxes apply all over the place.

But all in all, doing International is a good thing. Keep it up fella's!
 
Idahoskunk, that guy in the UK is a moron expecting you to pay his import taxes.
I got two knifes from you recently (SAR3SE and SAR6 black/red G10) which you've sent to me to Dubai. Importing something, regardless of what it is I know that I have to pay import taxes on it here in Dubai, thinking that anyone else should pay this for me is just plain stupid. It is my responsibility to also know the local law in what is allowed to import and what not. No one can expect that from a seller overseas.
Here in Dubai I anyways have to go to the customs to pay the duties and to release my packages regardless whether it is written camping tools or knife or so. As long as it is not written weapon on it I am fine.
I once received two Busses which I bought here on the exchange which was labelled camping equipment and value USD 50, I did NOT ask for that, but it was convenient for me, mainly as I had not to explain to the customs guys that I don't inted to harm anyone with it. But I was thinking, what if the package would have been lost? The value of the two Busse was around USD 1,400.. so only USD 50 would have been insured.. So I was not sure myself if I really liked it or not.
To be honest.. sounds a bit crazy I know.. but what bothers me most when importing a nice knife is not to pay import taxes or to every time explain that I use the knifes for camping/hiking, no, what bothers me most is receiving a nice blade and seeing it the first time when the customs guy is opening the package and inspecting the knife in front of me. I don't know, maybe I am still a kid somehow, but the joy of opening a long awaited package myself and slowly depacking the goods is part of the joy for me.
So in short, I never ask for a wrong declaration and always expect to pay taxes.. if a package somehow still comes through without, fine. Anyhow, I would never even think of complaining to a seller in the US about the local laws and taxes here. I still can't believe that some people do.

To the OP, don't know how it is to ship to Russia, but I think there are lots of newer people on this forum which are outside of the states and are buying Busse and other knifes, like me. Having no feedback (like me) is not necessarily that they guy is bad, it just means that he has no feedback here on this forum. And maybe it is his very first Busse he buys now here from the exchange, like I did last year (and still don't have any feedback at all). To the buyers outside of the US, yes, it can be disappointing to be treated like a scamer or if sometimes some national issues come up. Like once I offered on the exchange to buy a Busse and it was NOT stated in the sale that it is CONUS only and the response came in capital and bold letters: I do NOT sell to the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES!! Well sorry for asking dude, I thought. I am Swiss and working in the UAE, doesn't make me a bad person.. But maybe I am just too sensitive. However, I thought that is not very professional from a seller to respond in such a way. Now,after being here more regularly I realised, that yes, it cannot be professional as most sellers are private individuals. Even if the lovely Busse is knew and it comes from a collector etc it is still a private person I am dealing here with and not a shop. So if a private guy dosen't want to sell it to me for whatever reason.. so be it. I also have the right to not buy from anyone. I think we all have to relax a bit.. me especially.. :)
 
Well this is my first post on the board, but I've been reading it from time to time. Just wanted to add some perspective on this.
IMO is not that simple as "right" or "wrong"... I'll give you an example: I'm from Argentina and the custom duties here are 50% of the value of the item+shipping. So if I spend, let's say $650 on a FBM and $50 on USPS Express then I'd have to pay an additional of $350 on custom duties. And that is absolutely insane, the cost of that knife is about what I make on a full month of work. As you can see the custom duties here are incredibly high, and they charge you 50% of anything you buy, it doesn't matter if there's any local production of that kind of item or not (which means that your only choice is to import it and pay the customs). That, in my opinion, is just plain wrong. So if you think that by declaring a lower value on a knife is doing the right thing, IMO you're mistaken, regardless of what they've trained you to believe. Sometimes is about to choose between wrong and wrong, and that choice should be made on each situation, because each situation is different. Choosing beforehand (always my opinion of course) is not very wise.
If you choose not to declare a lower value because you can have troubles with the law, I can understand and respect that. But if you do because you think is the right thing to do, then you're not seeing the full picture here. Declaring a lower value won't hurt your country's economy as your country doesn't charge you a dime for shipping out a knife. So it should be up to your mind and understanding to decide, and not up to what your 1st grade teacher told you to do :) (not trying to be a smartass here, just making a point, please don't take it personally)
 
Hi y'all! I'm from europe and I order blades from the US on a regular basis. I have purchased several Busses on this forum as well! (you can check my ratings)

I have almost always asked the seller to "fake" the import statement. it is actually a very common thing to do, or to ask for :-) Of course if he was not ok with that, I accepted it! and I would NEVER ask the seller to pay the taxes like idahoskunk mentioned in this thread...this is just ridiculous!!! I mean, no US citizen is responsible for tax laws overseas...however it makes a difference when I order a Busse for 400$ and I have to pay 80$ taxes or 20$...I MEAN COMON, EVERY OTHER TIME I CAN BUY ANOTHER BLADE WITH THE SAVINGS :-)
 
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