Values on customs forms?

[Noddy]

Had a secondhand BM come in through Canadian customs a while back. They just looked up the current price of it new and applied duty accordingly. Could have put given value as 4¢, wouldn't have made a scrap of difference.

 

[ooitzoo]

Well, the thread was not really started in an attempt to address the other concerns. I thought mentioning that insurance was not available would help limit things. I wanted to know the official guidelines or consensus from whatever nations could be represented on the specific point of how to determine the value for customs fees. I didn't see anything spelled out on the paperwork, and I figure it may vary by country.

In other instances where my local government is looking to collect on the value of goods/property, I know it is not dependent on individual transactions - such as registering a vehicle or paying property taxes. Those are set by general value/fee structures, not by individual instances where the items cost more or less than average due to condition or specific buyer/seller agreement. Just wondering if the same could be for the fee levied by customs. Do the governments agree with the prices of individual sales, or will they follow the manufacturer's suggestion, or do they follow the primary retail market in determining fees for knives?

Between January and February, Kershaw Tilts were picked up on ebay for $243 or $450. Does the government of the importing buyer get to charge two different custom fee amounts for the exact same product bought only two weeks apart? Doubling the customs charge without consideration for insurance means the buyer pays more money to the government without helping to secure delivery. It just signals the government that $450 worth of product is being imported from another country. But then again, it was also $243 worth of product. And also $350 and a couple other price points fairly well spread apart when considering the very high customs percentages in some countries.

But I may have been too specific in looking for that one piece of info, as long as some people are helped in getting advice on international shipping the participants in this thread are doing a service.

If insurance is simply not available then I'd insist on PP gift or simply not do the transaction. I am not sure if the relevant govt would goto Ebay for a price (after all if its listed as a gift then it doesn't matter what the price is, right?)

Customs could levy a fine of its own (I've heard anecdotely of Germany doing this on items listed as gifts) at its discretion. This can happen with good reason or without it. At the end of the day, you are, as a seller, better off just posting a fair and honest value but most don't in order to appease the buyer. If you're going to do this then the seller should work to protect himself by insisting on PP gift and sale at buyers risk after the package leaves the US.

To be honest though, I don't think I've ever seen something where insurance wasn't an option.

 

[hardheart]

I once shipped a knife to Russia and I couldn't get insurance, but I don't know if I missed something on another shipping option. I also ended up overcharging on shipping by mistake because the online estimate was off, and there was no way to send him money back through paypal. We worked it out, but the whole dealing with Russia thing was a bit off.