Others Experience with International Sellers and Customs Charges

[MULTIPLEX]

I hear a lot of people mention the following sites on this board and TFW2005. These seem to be the go to sites for early bird preorders direct from Asia.

If you have any experience with buying from these sites below and other international sellers not on the list, positive or negative, lets hear about it.

Also what is your experience with getting hit with customs charges and marking orders as Gift and/or Low Value so we don't get charged customs?

Anime Export
Hobby Link Japan
AmiAmi
Robot Kingdom
Captured Prey
Nippon-Yasan
EhobbyBaseShop

I managed to get early bird pricing on Nippon-Yasan the other day for MP Bluestreak so thought I'd test out the waters. I realize it's a bit of a crap shoot with customs but wondering if some of these sites or any others not mentioned are "Canada Customs-friendly" I've yet to be nabbed through my regular route but some of the things I need to order are not available there.

[elburrito]

Robot Kingdom has never resulted in $0.01 beyond their shipping which is reasonable. I've ordered there more times than I care to admit.

You might look at chimungmung too. Same story.

don't know about the others.

[CanBot]

I can't say I have any experience TF-wise but I've made plenty of purchases that have included brokerage fees. Those are the worst, lol. But sometimes, what I 'thought' was brokerage was in fact just GST...but sometimes, you just get a package and customs don't charge you with anything, which is kinda fun.

I am not a fan of marking things 'gift', and most businesses I deal with don't allow the option. But even when I have, sometimes I get nailed with brokerage instead of taxes, lol. It's really just a crapshoot.

I'm about to make my first BBTS purchase, and I'm concerned with how much I'll have to tack onto the price for fees...as well as how fast I can get my stuff. I'm on a bit of a time crunch, so less than four weeks. That's usually sufficient, as long as nothing gets held up at the border.

That would truly stuck, though, having a border agent OPEN a sealed TF...shudder!

[Bruticus]

Originally Posted by CanBot

I'm about to make my first BBTS purchase, and I'm concerned with how much I'll have to tack onto the price for fees...as well as how fast I can get my stuff. I'm on a bit of a time crunch, so less than four weeks. That's usually sufficient, as long as nothing gets held up at the border.

With BBTS, you can pretty much guarantee that you will dinged with the taxes and handling. If you use UPS, you'll get it, plus brokerage fees when you first ship it. BBTS always puts full value on declarations... even if you want it marked as a gift.

Originally Posted by CanBot

That would truly stuck, though, having a border agent OPEN a sealed TF...shudder!

The border won't open the physical item, unless there is something to suspect, like if the doggies sniff something that sets them off. At the most, they will open the shipping carton to inspect. Usually, they don't bother opening the cartons at all and go by the declarations on the packages by the shipper.

[Pascal]

Anime Export -> no customs
Hobby Link Japan -> no customs
AmiAmi -> customs
Robot Kingdom -> no customs
Captured Prey -> no customs
Nippon-Yasan -> no customs
EhobbyBaseShop -> no customs

[STI 2NV]

I got hit with customs once from Robot kingdom, I had ordered Planet X Genesis and they had properly noted its value for insurance reasons and I did not mind paying extra to make sure that mammoth made it to me safe and sound.

[QuadESL63]

If you ship by courier (UPS, FedEx, etc.) and you will always be charged the sales tax on the declared value no matter it is $10 or $1000 (if your non-toy item(s) deem a duty you will also be charged accordingly in addition to the sales tax) because the brokerage firm(s) that handles the custom filing automatically do that according to the law. If you ship the cheapest courier option such as UPS Ground (or whatever it is now called) you will get a heavy brokeage fees because it is not being included in the shipping cost.

If you ship by postal services (e.g. USPS Priority, EMS, etc.) and the declared value is less than or even around $100 you will most probably won't get taxed. I have heard the reason is that the cost for Border Service to process your case is way more than $100 per package. Don't know if it is a fact. If the declared value is over you will most probably be charged with a $10 brokeage fees by CanadaPost and the sales tax by the government on the declared value. There were expensive shipments where they didn't charge me anything (e.g. a $600 turntable tonearm or one of my $800+ BBTS pile of loot for instance). But generally speaking they are pretty good at taxing you with anything >$100 these days. Also, marking the declared value down may not be the optimal solution: I guess this may work with toys and figures where they don't care that much but on other items such as electronics, etc. the Border Service may charge you sales tax on the a fair market value price instead of the declared value (even if you did bought the item in question at the lower price point in which case you have a way to prove your case and get the over-charged sales tax back).

Marking it as gift doesn't work. They only look at the item and the declared value. Don't even bother. And not all sellers and stores will mark the declared value down for you based on various reasons like insurance claim. Filling in the declaration form with fuzzy and unrealistic information may result in Border Service taking their time to examine your shipment which means delay.

[protoform_ironhide]

Originally Posted by Pascal

Anime Export -> no customs
Hobby Link Japan -> no customs
AmiAmi -> customs
Robot Kingdom -> no customs
Captured Prey -> no customs
Nippon-Yasan -> no customs
EhobbyBaseShop -> no customs

What is the amount of your purchase when your order is lucky enough to have no custom fees?

[Pascal]

My orders with these retailers are usually well over $100.

[CanBot]

The worst is when customs is holding your stuff at the border, but won't let it move until the fees (taxes, brokerage) are paid. HOWEVER, they don't have your CONTACT information for whatever reason (even if you included it with the company you bought from) and the thing just sits there until YOU track it down. This happened to me twice and resulted in three week delays, per item. And since I usually use USPS, there's not a 'tracking number' per se, so you don't even know where it is, or which border agency to contact.

And speaking of items marked 'gift', or whatever, if the item truly is a gift (and you're not doing it to save the fees, which I think is fraudulent anyway...but not sure if it's a 'crime' specifically) and the border charges fees, all you have to do is send in some paperwork and they will waive the taxes. This also happened to me once, but the company who sent me the return package actually reimbursed me the tax fees, so rather than tempt karma I let it go. And this item was a warranty return and I should not have paid one extra penny on it, it was CLEARLY marked, and yet it still happened.

My advice is that if that does happen, just send in the paperwork to get your fees returned.

And therein lies the 'problem'...what I thought were brokerage fees in some cases were just GST charges...which they have every right to collect, as you're not paying any taxes to the USA for the item. If you get whammed with brokerage AND taxes, then you have to calculate that into your purchase prior to buying.

Back about 8 years ago, the brokerage and taxes were still a LOT cheaper than buying from dealers here in Canada, so I didn't complain...and saved 50% from doing so. The best times were right when our dollar when to parity with the States (sometime in 07), before the online dealers realized what was happening and marked up (or simply stopped shipping to) items being sold to Canada. Today, lots of stores just match the online prices in order to sway you from buying from the States. But we still pay more on average that Americans for lots of items.