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woops, they caught me / customs..
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=29724		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  tonycrd [ Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:30 pm ]
Post subject:  woops, they caught me / customs..
I bought a Renegade lightbar in the US, it's in Spain now, stored about 500 meters away from my place of work, at the airport of Barcelona.

Got a letter from the post office today that Customs is very interested in my import actions and would like to talk to me about how much import tax I'll have to pay to get it...if I do not comply they'll send it back to the US. :shock:

Bummer.

Went to the customs office right away, they told me I had to talk to the post office first. Which ofcourse is closed in the afternoon. So I'll go there tomorrow morning, to be continued....if I'm lucky they just want the 16% sales tax.

(And... this was bound to happen, I bought like 5 million things in the US and the rest of the world over the last 4 or 5 years and they all slipt through. Maybe it's the size of the box...maybe my luck just ran out....)
Author:  03kjsport [ Thu Feb 21, 2008 2:36 pm ]
Post subject: 
suckulation!!! sorry dude!
Author:  FinKj [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: woops, they caught me / customs..
tonycrd wrote:
I bought a Renegade lightbar in the US, it's in Spain now, stored about 500 meters away from my place of work, at the airport of Barcelona.

Got a letter from the post office today that Customs is very interested in my import actions and would like to talk to me about how much import tax I'll have to pay to get it...if I do not comply they'll send it back to the US. :shock:

Bummer.

Went to the customs office right away, they told me I had to talk to the post office first. Which ofcourse is closed in the afternoon. So I'll go there tomorrow morning, to be continued....if I'm lucky they just want the 16% sales tax.

(And... this was bound to happen, I bought like 5 million things in the US and the rest of the world over the last 4 or 5 years and they all slipt through. Maybe it's the size of the box...maybe my luck just ran out....)


Well - consider you´re lucky :)

Finland - the paradise of mods - totally prevents these kind of mods.

The Renny light bar is only excepted as an original Renny attachment ie. if you buy a Renny, you can have the light bar, but it´s illegal to fit the same light bar as post installation :evil:

It is not that I would be a bit jealous of your soon-to-be-installed light bar :mrgreen:
Author:  tonycrd [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:36 am ]
Post subject: 
Wow that sucks mega! In a country as Finland you could have good use for these extra lamps! Redicoulus, so they accepted the same thing on the same car with just a different sticker on the back? But it's illigal to add to a sport or a limited? Something definately wrong with that.

I need to have the car looked at by an 'ingineer' and than the'll add them to my mod list on the cars papers.

Anyway:

Got it! Pfeew...:wink:

They didn't open the box (it's the original mopar box), all save and sound. Why did they catch me?

'We think you are importing lamps for a bar or a discothec at a profesional level' I'm what? (think Spanish accent) 'Yes, lookie ghere, Light bar. So light for bar?'

Yep MOPAR makes lights for a bar.....IDIOT. Anyway they made me pay import and sales tax 48€ / $71, they calculated it over the total price so I also paid import+sales tax over the shipping costs.....2X IDIOT. ( fortunately on my paypal receipt it only states $25 for US shipping, I paid shipping to Spain with a second paypal transfer :D )
Author:  FinKj [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:49 am ]
Post subject: 
tonycrd wrote:

'We think you are importing lamps for a bar or a discothec at a profesional level' I'm what? (think Spanish accent) 'Yes, lookie ghere, Light bar. So light for bar?'



Okay!

I can guess the expression on your face - darn I didn´t see it :shock:

Now there´s only one thing for you to do...

You should inform us when your B A R will be open, so we can all come and drink our heads off :-)r

And don´t forget turn the lights on haha :D

BTW - is there still only 5 seats in your rolling bar?

Well - it´s friday...I guess I´m a bit tired now...

Shipping cost turned out to be quite reasonable, anyway.
Author:  tonycrd [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 6:52 am ]
Post subject: 
Hahaha, BAR IS OPEN.

What if I import an ARB, they'll probably think it's misspelled and ask if I bought a metal ironing board for my BAR...



Yep, shipping was $115 (although on the stamp it says $85...let's say seller lives far from a post office and needed to take a $30 dollar taxi to drop the box of...:? ) in the end, and it arrived within 2 days in Spain. Then customs ofcourse got hold of it....
Author:  FinKj [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:55 am ]
Post subject: 
tonycrd wrote:
Hahaha, BAR IS OPEN.

What if I import an ARB, they'll probably think it's misspelled and ask if I bought a metal ironing board for my BAR...



Yep, shipping was $115 (although on the stamp it says $85...let's say seller lives far from a post office and needed to take a $30 dollar taxi to drop the box of...:? ) in the end, and it arrived within 2 days in Spain. Then customs ofcourse got hold of it....


Wasn´t too bad altogether, the shipping costs...

As you can see in my signature, I long for a set of MOABs...
Well - those crome soft 8s aren´t too bad either - and a fraction of price...
How much did this BAR LIGHTS weight?
4 pcs of 16x8 soft 8 wheels...40kg?...50kg?

to continue this bar theme - what if customs in Finland think that there´s 4 x 8packs of soft drinks in the shipment - shall I have to open a bar too :D
Author:  tonycrd [ Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:59 am ]
Post subject: 
Yeah, Light Bar misred for Light Beer...:D

The light bar weight a 8,5 Kg....including wrapping and the box.

I'll next time advise my sellers to put 'Car parts' on customs declaration, maybe they do understand that.


Back on the MOABS, ooow I want those too. You can buy them at $100 a piece at times from other lost members...

But shipping....Let's see, probably like 10 Kg so around $100.

So for 5 of them you are looking at $1000/675€. So 135€ a piece. I think you can buy them at the dealer in Finland for that.

Or find a crashed wrangler rubicon...
Author:  red_lion [ Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:52 am ]
Post subject: 
Just wanted to add my 2Cents on this.

I'm currently rebuilding my CJ-7 and so have to order lots of parts in the US, it's WAY cheaper. There are different ways to get them over here. All this is what I experienced here, backed up by a fellow from the customs office who told me details over a pint of beer. Some details may vary between countries but the general tendency should be good (or rather bad).

USPS
US Postal Service is the cheapest one but takes its time. They have a rate for a box up to 20lbs in a normal size for 35$, air. And you get a tracking number. Not that it shows much. Will get taxed regardless of value. www.usps.gov

UPS
Faster, way more expensive on small parcels. Something BIG as a pallet exceeding 500kg gets you over 1000$
Fed-Ex
Priced similar to UPS but small boxes get through the customs without being taxed. Seems to be too much work. So they are about a week faster than others.

Mail forwarder
There are several companies who group different boxes into a large package. This is THE solution if it says "US adresses only", "lower 48 only", "no PO boxes". It's also cheaper to regroup.

Customs
This is regulated for Europe in a common way. First they add custom duties. Those vary widely depending on parts. Some pieces may be charged 0%, or 3%, others 10 or more, depending on what it's labelled and where it came from. Have a look at your local customs, they have surely an online list of taxes. The value of the part is taken PLUS the shipping cost. A box under 200€ should not be taxed but this depends apparently on the carrier. They get a fee for doing the docs, so some do every box, others just large parcels.

Sales tax
or whatever they call it in your corner of the woods is added on top of this all. Varies from 16% to awww-my-god depending on the greediness of your gouvernement. Calculated on parts price, shipping and customs.

Ebay
Problem is that you often have no real bill included. So they accept any prove of the value, like a printout of the completed auction or a Paypal printout. If the value looks too low they check this. And they may even charge you a guesstimate of its real value in case you bought it for 1$. So if you buy a set of fuel injectors for 1$ they call the official stealer and ask how much he charges and take this as base for taxation. Oh, sure, you can try the legal way but does mean the box stays at the customs for 2-3 years until it misteriously disappears.

Gift
Not good. A gift without value which contains "valuable" items will be treated in a special way. Don't try this.
Important
If you get a box that contains other parts then those stated on the bill that comes with it you are in deep doo doo. Even if it's only some shirts and a cap. If you are good and they are friendly you can talk your way out of this. But more likely they will keep the box until the matter is settled or simply send it back to sender.
Also make SURE a bill is specific for each shipment. If they drop off a shipment of 2 boxes and each one has a copy of the bill for all the parts and they get separated on the way than you will get taxed TWICE until you can prove it to a customs officer. Which isn't easy. Ever tryed to turn a mule on top of a narrow staircase? That's easier than convincing an official.

Hope this helps anyone.
Regards
Alain
Luxembourg
Author:  tonycrd [ Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:36 am ]
Post subject: 
Wow great post!

Although I do not understand the 'mail forwarder' bit....does USPS group the packages?
Author:  red_lion [ Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:00 am ]
Post subject: 
Hello and thanks for the warm welcome.

I use http://www.mymailboxusa.com/ though I can not tell much as my box is still pending.
Basically it's someone who has a physical adress in the US and sends your orders to you. You can decide if you want boxes combined into one or by which way they shell be sent. Makes sense as many companies only sell to the lower 48s, some use only UPS which is expensive etc.
Drawback is of course you have to trust someone you don't know. So a 100% satisfaction rate on Ebay is a must. There you should also find more companies.
Greetings to Spain.
Alain
Author:  tonycrd [ Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:16 am ]
Post subject: 
Now there's a good one! Now I can forget about begging sellers to ship to Europe.

Beware: US sellers are very paranoia and may not accept a different adress then the one that comes with you e-bay or paypal ID. Inform them before bying.
Author:  red_lion [ Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
This is not as difficult as it sounds. Look on your Paypal account. You should see your adress with a mention "confirmed" behind it (if you did already some transactions).
Here you can add more adresses and they will automatically be "confirmed" too.
All the seller wants is a confirmed adress as Paypal guarantees those shippings up to several hundred dollars. After discovering this I didn't bother anymore to tell everybody "Hey, I'm a bloody foreigner." Nobody ever complained.
Author:  kelticknight [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:47 am ]
Post subject: 
try paying 21% plus 9 % for anything from usa to ireland :shock:
Author:  red_lion [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:06 am ]
Post subject: 
At an exchange rate of 1.52$ for 1 Euro it's better than it ever was. Beside import taxes can be as low as 0% depending on the part. I think "Auto parts" without further description is among the most expensive.
Alain
Author:  kelticknight [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:09 am ]
Post subject: 
last kj item i got hit for was lift kit from states which cost me 154 euros and fedex charged me 52 euros with 42 for customs and 10 euros for fedex paper work :o
Author:  red_lion [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:14 am ]
Post subject: 
FedEx and UPS are very expensive on small packages. Try USPS (US Post) next time. 35$ for up to 20lbs.
Yes, some parts are ridicoulosly expensive through this system. But I was quoted 1200$ for air freight of a complete new CJ body, size 100x80x50" and 200 kilos.
Alain
Author:  tonycrd [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:01 pm ]
Post subject: 
red_lion wrote:
This is not as difficult as it sounds. Look on your Paypal account. You should see your adress with a mention "confirmed" behind it (if you did already some transactions).
Here you can add more adresses and they will automatically be "confirmed" too.
All the seller wants is a confirmed adress as Paypal guarantees those shippings up to several hundred dollars. After discovering this I didn't bother anymore to tell everybody "Hey, I'm a bloody foreigner." Nobody ever complained.


Aha? I did know I am a verified user but my address? Aha here's my problem:

'Note: Not all credit card companies are able to confirm addresses.'
Author:  red_lion [ Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
Hm, did you check your Paypal account? Maybe it's already confirmed without your knowledge?

Else you can still use the mail forwarder for buying. Or simply do not tell them and play big dummy.
I can understand the dealers who want to be sure to be paid. With all those scum from Nigeria and other countries it's hard to see who is a real customer. I even found some who will not sell to Italy.
Alain
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