Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

Rip-off britian is alive and kicking!
we have a big problem with anyone or anything comming into this country, its not as easy for the good and innocent to come in as it is for the bad and ugly and customs prove this point perfectly.
because stuff is cheaper in other coutrys insted of charging us less, when we bring this stuff back or import it our selves the price gets bumped up and i've just been a victim of this.

Modeling is great, like said somewhere else in a previous post, what other hobby would be as generous person to person, we share loads, i've had plans and things sent to me with no money asked for or expected, i've done the same, and as long as no one abuses this its fine.
Now we find the problem.....
When we share these things by mail you have to have a little sticker on it that says how much whats inside is worth and what it is. most of us over price it so if it got broke, we can claim back a bit.
I've just had 2 videos sent over, not off the shelf ones, just home vid type stuff recorded onto 2 blank tapes. i also got offered one of these moose can muff things, but i couldnt accept that as well! very generous. Damn glad i didnt have that too
Unfortunally some natzi at customs spyed this and saw the price was $40 (£27) and he rubbed his little hands with glee and charged me £9 handling, VAT, and customs duty!! and i cant get the package till i pay it.
a label on here says:
Please note that on all consignmeants entering the European Community via the postal system with a value exceeding £18 are generally subject to customs charges.

SO TAKE NOTE!
when your sending things to friends overseas try to keep under this limit, i dont mean the contents, the value WINK WINK!
All packages are from Aunt Milly and are home vids of the wedding RIGHT? value, £2 maybe...


If you know the Customs rate for your country or state, then post them here so we can all cheat these money grabbing BAR STEWARDS!

GrnBrt

My Feedback: (5)

When I get stuff from down under the value is always less then $100, no matter what it is and when I send there the same thing. All you can do is pray real hard that nothing ever happens to what you are sending. All the big brothers of the world want their share of the blood!!!!

Steve Lewin

I may be missing something here but it sounds like you are saying that you were hoping to cheat Customs and also cheat on the insurance if your package got lost but it backfired on you and you got caught for import duty. You really do want it both ways don't you ? Shame.

BTW did it ever occur to you that stuff is dearer over here because the honest people importing it have to pay the duty ?

Steve

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

no, i wasnt hoping to cheat it, i didnt even expect to pay anything, it was a prezzi from a friend, i didnt think they got hit by this stupid tax.
i didnt say the tapes were worth 40$ i wasnt even sure what was going to be in there, and they aint worth 40$
it did occour to me they have to pay the duty, thats the point, we pay really stupidly high rates here.
i watched TV prog a while ago, a guy came back from africa with antique wodden statue, one off, worth a fortune ect. well, they X-rayed it, nothing showing inside ( its solid ) they cat scanned it, showed nothing, so they got a drill and turned it to dust, gave hi back this pile of dust and swiss cheese and said, ok, it's clear. no word of sorry or compensation.
have you ever come to the UK, gone though customs, ( nothing to declare ) and just feel the hairs on your neck go as you wonder if anything you have could be wrong.
cars, we pay 8% 10% more than europe, we can import cheaper, but its not tooooo easy, why? coz our gov is money grabbing and wont spend it on anything for us, other than bloody ballet or opra.
maybe customs when itwas first invented kept us buying UK goods and Brit industry going, but the stuff we build now is crap, and we have to get non-UK stuff and we get stung.

ANYWAY! back to the point.
post your countrys rates and things here so we can keep sending each other stuff without that poor friend getting a shock when the posty turns up

otisflies

We have the same problem in Canada phillybaby!

I ordered a charger last week from the US and got a $60 bill before I could pick it up though normal mail. They charged me Canadian tax on an American product, a handling fee, and a brokerage fee. This is a non-insured shipment. It would have been even more for that.

Makes it pretty hard for me to purchase anything from the US and really hurts the Canadian economy in the long run.

can773

My Feedback: (1)

Terry

Read the following thread, lots of good tips, if done right getting stuff from the US into Canada is very painless

http://www.rcuniverse.com/showthread...32&forumid=143]

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/forms/notices/143.htm#P41_1716
that seams to say about what i had.....
still seams like an easy way to make money

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

From US to Canada is OK via the Postal Service, but don't even try with UPS as stated in the other thread. If it's not too expensive call it a gift under $20 and save some tax for us poor Canadians and it will also then normally sail through Customs. I have found though that it now takes an average of 2 weeks to clear Canadian Customs.

Ragz

haha..wait till i tell u how much we pay in India. For a RC accessory, be it a kit or a servo...its 40% on frieght and value...now that hurts!!!! ouch!!!

I wanted to import a $250 kit to india. The shipping was $400 and the duty would be 40% of 250+400=650...So I would end up paying $650 plus $260 (duty)= 910 for a 250 dollar plane...

Now i can tell u RC in india is prohibitive and painful...thats why the hobby is so small here...

I wont think twice before cheating those customs fools...there is no logic to the tariffs.

anurag

Mayur

Anurag,
You forgot to include the agony one goes thru dealing with those custom guys! hehe
Mayur

Ragz

I wouldnt mind entertaining their whims and fancies if they dont levy such ridiculous tariffs...atleast i can enjoy flying large planes this way...else i am relegated to flying 40-60 sized planes for life...unless ofcourse I am willing to pay what they say...

gsoav8r

My Feedback: (6)

Thanks for reminding me how good I have it here (USA).
Cheers.
James

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

ooops, this was meant to be added to my weird planes thread

pepito9

down here in venezuela it´s:
anywhere from 40 to 80%.... add it to the total
then 16.5% vat.... add it to the total
and then.... 5% more.......

so you pay vat on the price + import tariffs
and then 5 % of this

so we are paying taxes on taxes on taxes.....

great system don´t you think?

at least you guys in the US canada and britain get something for those taxes you pay.... we get nothing. NOTHING!!

no hospitals
no decent roads
no decent education
no legal system at all
AND a shrinking economy....
and an 8% deficit on our GDP
do you guys know what our credit cards are charging yearly for interest? 64%.....
how much for a car loan? 61% per YEAR
what will a savings account give you?...... 14%
inflation? 25% projected for 2002

so where does the money go? swiss banks anyone?
boy am i happy to order something......

and yes, i will cheat on customs given the slightest chance.... i WILL NOT help corrupt SOB´s get richer.
diego

GelCell

shouldnt you be at the queens party? lol

KidVermin

My Feedback: (3)

Phillybaby:

Let's make a deal. I'll send your order over for a declared value
of $25.00 or less if you will send me one of the Pico Twin Jets. I've
been trying to get one since last November.

Randy

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

what order lol this a gift from a friend i had to pay on, i dont have enough mula to get these irvine engines thats suddenly got cheap here let alone anything else lol
you should have asked about 3 months ago, i used to be able to get those dead cheap, cheaper than trade, but that club member with the contacts died recently.
i hear the Graunper lecy twin is a better flyer anyway, dun tuck under at high speed and better glide. dun look as good tho, your right, id go for the looks to

Queens arnt my thing ducky i have my own Angel
Lizzy could have smiled a bit more during the fireworks & speaches tho.
I made good of that long weekend with the best weather all year, YAY!!!!!! i got sunburnt

Taildrager-inactive

My Feedback: (11)

Sounds like you need to buy a airline Capt. a nice steak dinner, & let him bring in that big new kit for ya past customs, as they rarely go through customs. They seem to get tons of drugs in each year past everthing, seems a little o'l plane or engine wouldn't be that hard.

AR196

Remember the guy who said this: "it sounds like you are saying that you were hoping to cheat Customs"?

Well, let's ask him, what gave these guys and some morons sitting in a committeee somewhere who decided for you that you should pay a divine right to charge you payola?

And perhaps by saying "cheat", he feels there is something morally wrong going on here by Phillybaby.

Could it not be that from some people's perspective these taxes are simply cheating you out of what is rightfully yours? And the taxers are the ones who are morally corupt.

GrnBrt

My Feedback: (5)

I sent my friend in Oz a BTE Delta vortex for his birthday and made the mistake of saying the value was $150, wanted to make sure I could make a claim if anything happened, well they held onto for taxes even though I had put on the custom forum that it was b'day present. It took him 6 weeks to convince them that it was indeed a b'day present and finally they gave it to him. small stuff and single stuff shouldn't have to be worried about, go after the the big shipments. Just big brother in all the countries getting their pint of blood from us!!!

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

When you get charged 9 quid for two home videos that have 30 mns flying on ( i've only watched them once ) then you feel extreamly cheated.
The only reason i see for this tax is to stop you buying abroad, our prices are so high they make the tax higher so IF you do buy abroad the goverment still get their money from you, that is of course after they take tax out of your wages in the first place.
Theres alot of great American products out there i'd like to get hold of, but unless im willing to cheat and risk loosing something i have to pay through the nose.

Steve Lewin

I'm not sure how it works in your country but over here we have a really neat idea which we call "democracy". We elect a government, they make laws about things like taxes and duties and we (usually) obey them.

Have you ever noticed that people complain a lot about paying taxes and duties but it's much rarer to find people complaining bitterly when someone is spending money on them ? E.g. When some rotten so-on-so came round and carted their garbage away or someone is sneakily keeping the roads in good condition or on a larger scale someone is paying for an Army/Navy etc.

I don't like having to pay Customs duties or VAT or for that matter Income Tax but I generally do like living where I live so I reckon it's a fair enough compromise. There doesn't seem to be much point whining about it. We're all entitled to avoid taxes by making what we can of any loopholes but evading duty by lying about contents and value seems over the top to me.

I guess I was just bought up with old-fashioned ideas about honesty. Sorry .

Steve

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

admit it Steve, we pay more than most and have worse returns.
car tax and fuel tax pays for the poor excuse we have for roads, council tax pays for the bin men, income tax should do the rest, what does import duty pay for?
our armed ( i use that term loosely right now ) forces are hardly well equipped, some of them flying over to Iraq don't even have full kit yet!

Customs has just been slated by the government for stopping Innocent travels and impounding cars for no reason. i understand they charge for cheap imports to try and keep us buying British, but they charged me 9 pounds for something marked $40 thats almost 1/3rd on top!
they will even charge you for things that already belong to you. say if you left a coat in the hotel on Holiday and they sent it back, unless its obviously really old they will charge you to "import" your own stuff!

lennyk

My Feedback: (12)

I am happy where I live but

it does hurt to pay 50-75% in addition to the cost price
especially when you take into account VAT is calculated on top
of shipping charges etc.

It makes shopping around for the best prices which differ by dollars at best almost worthless since you know you are going to get screwed anyways.

Most of us don't have money trees in the backyard.

NitroWoman

I believe when the Beatles wrote "Taxman" they were writing about England, but it applies everywhere..