Customs Issues - Shipping daggers from the US to Europe?

[jancz3rt]

Hello guys,

I wanted to ask you seasoned collectors about customs when considering buying stuff from the US. What I am interested most is your personal experience regarding customs duties? Thanks. Any feedback would be welcome. I am considering buying an item of a value of USD 800 in the coming future and honestly cannot afford to have it confiscated. Yes USD 800 is a loot of money for me.

JAN

[Billy G]

Jan,

Although I'm not advocating lying on Customs forms, the easiest way to have something enter Europe with the fewest headaches Customs-wise is to declare the item of little or no commercial value. I've had plenty of duty headaches with declaring an item's value. I don't have any experience with Czech Customs but the Germans are ridiculous with their bureaucracy.

If the item is being sent from the US, I recommend using Registered Mail which is signed for & secured at each location. There's always the question of how to insure something with a declared value of $0 so you have to figure if you trust your local postal folks.

[steve h]

it depends how co-operative the dealer you are buying from will be. i know some dealers insist upon putting the full value of the items on the package. but others will declare a lower value if you ask them. i have to admit i`m considering a purchase from a us dealer around that value at the moment, but the only thing stopping me `pulling the trigger` is the thought of the b******s in the uk customs getting involved. on another forum i visit, a guy bought a specialist polar jacket from the states, for less than half of what it would cost in the uk, around two hundred dollars. customs intercepted the package, and he ended up paying an additional 140 pounds! around 285 dollars, in `duty` import tax etc.

if anyone has bought from a dealer , or knows of which dealers will `co-operate`, that advice would be very welcome.

[jancz3rt]

Hmm

Thanks guys, much appreciated. If I declare the goods prior to import, then would I pay a lot as well? In other words, how will the customs officials determine the fee and how will that fee compare to how much I would pay in case customs catch the item undeclared? I never really knew about these things and now that I know, I want to be sure I get it in order prior to buying.

JAN

[evilmike]

if it was the uk it would be another 22% on the declared price, 17% vat and a handling charge from the carrier, but its alway 22% here. but obviously different countrys different tax rates.

[Billy G]

Jan,

From what I remember, the German Custom's rate was somewhere around 20% of the decalred value. The item I got burned on was actually a return, it was clearly stated & a lot of documentary proof was submitted with the package in anticipation of the delay. What happened was they held it u for 6 weeks & finally determined I owed roughly $100 on a $550 item that I was only returning. Talk about red tape. As far as I'm concerned, those guys can suck it.

[jancz3rt]

Thanks

Thanks a lot. This makes it much clearer now. It amazes me just how much this "free trade" talk we hear about so much really shows in real life. In my opinion, nothing like that exists and this red tape is proof of it... sadly so. Germany and the Czech Republic have a lot in common so I would suspect it to be simmilar.

JAN