So, what is the deal with Customs taxes anyway? Do many of you have to pay these charges often? I am always sending out international packages, but I don't know if the buyers ever get stuck paying customs charges on top of it.



I am under the impression that books are usually "exempt" (at least up to a certain amount?). mbassoc just noted that he had to pay a customs fee because the seller wrote "Game Books" instead of books. I've done that before . . . though, lately I have decided to try and just keep it to "Books" or "Used Books" -- I am still not quite sure what to write for boxed sets . . . sometimes I must write "Game Books".



What about other items? Do you have to pay customs on everything else no matter the price or are certain amounts exempt? I have had buyers tell me that it is "hit & miss" and you never know if your package will be the one the customs officials decide to collect taxes on . . .



I know that different countries must have different regulations . . . though it seems from the little I have heard that the rates are exceptionally high if your are required to pay them to get your item.

beyondthebreach wrote:So, what is the deal with Customs taxes anyway? Do many of you have to pay these charges often? I am always sending out international packages, but I don't know if the buyers ever get stuck paying customs charges on top of it.



I am under the impression that books are usually "exempt" (at least up to a certain amount?). mbassoc just noted that he had to pay a customs fee because the seller wrote "Game Books" instead of books. I've done that before . . . though, lately I have decided to try and just keep it to "Books" or "Used Books" -- I am still not quite sure what to write for boxed sets . . . sometimes I must write "Game Books".



What about other items? Do you have to pay customs on everything else no matter the price or are certain amounts exempt? I have had buyers tell me that it is "hit & miss" and you never know if your package will be the one the customs officials decide to collect taxes on . . .



I know that different countries must have different regulations . . . though it seems from the little I have heard that the rates are exceptionally high if your are required to pay them to get your item.

Books are exempt from customs tax, as are packages with a stated value of under about £80. Over £80 and they start to take an interest depending on time of year and how busy they are. Over £120 an they alwats take an interest.



But 'Games Books' if that is how they are discribed, are considered to be games and taxed at 17.5%. 'Educational Books' are exempted.



On large lots, and expensive single items, I ask sellers to ship to me with Global Express. That way I get a tracking number and in my experience they always arrive. I can then ask the seller to declare the value at $100 and say that provided they ship and forward me the tracking information I will assume responsibility for the insurance (or lack thereof).



I think it all depends on how busy the guys are in Coventry.

Switzerland



Gift items are free of customs charges for a value up to 100 Swiss Francs (CHF) Law explicitly states that items bought in an auction are not gifts (suckers)



Switzerland calculates customs charges by weight. It's about 1 CHF per kilogram or so. VAT is 7.6% for luxury items like CDs, computers or clothes. Books, magazines (non-addvertising) are 2.6%.



If the declaration is not clear enough I am charged CHF 10.00



As soon as the package is grabbed by customs the Swiss Post charges me 10.00 for the handling, 6.00 for reviewing the item and an additional 8.00 if the declaration is not good enough and it has to reviewed another time.....makes CHF 24.00 in the worst case.



For packages from the US we have special rules and restrictions:



everything with a value less than CHF 66.00 is VAT-free. Problem is that those 66.00 include everything like transport costs, customs handling, customs value (the weight stuff from above) and the value of the item per  "customs declaration".



Oh, and USPS has a special page for us



The page cannot be found

beyondthebreach wrote:So, what is the deal with Customs taxes anyway? Do many of you have to pay these charges often? I am always sending out international packages, but I don't know if the buyers ever get stuck paying customs charges on top of it.

In Italy, packages of any size and value coming from within the European Union are tax free. There is nothing to pay for receiving them and if they ask you for money, they are deadly wrong. For packages outside the European Union, books and magazines are VAT exempt and so, in theory, they are subject to no taxes. Boxed games, instead, are not VAT exempt and so you have to pay 20% of the declared value of VAT plus 4% for customs fees. For example, my big package from ISoldIt came with a 22 € bill for a 110 $ of declared value. I suppose that the two 'best' ways to attract Customs attention are big packages and great declared value. A high declared value virtually ensures you pay all the fees above listed (for non books and non magazines items). A big package is almost always inspected, but if your purchases have a sad look (used magazines, battered games) there is a good chance they will let them go away with no fees to pay.



There was once a 'mistake' because Customs asked me to pay 180 € of duties for importing twenty different issues of Space Gamer! After paying the amount asked for and listening to my accountant, I sent them a nasy letter (but in a very, very polite language) stating everything I wrote before. They apologized and promised me a refund which of course never came. However, no package of mine moving trough Genoa port (it seems that all the packages for a big chunk of Italy coming from the US via surface mail arrive to Genoa) and customs inspected ever paid any customs fees anymore



A final note for buyers and sellers regarding Italy: please NEVER EVER attempt to sneak or simply to import any weapons. Not only firearms, but such things as LotR sword replicas and so on. This is a real guarantee to give you real trouble, much more than paying VAT and customs fees. Customs personnel could be lenient for a box of Magic boosters or some funny looking books, but not for weapon replicas. I have heard about some guy who bought a sword replica (in metal) from the Conan store in the US and had it sent in Italy with "description: metal sword" and being literaoly drowned in problems with Customs and police. I have an importer of virtually anything produced in the US in the entertainment field whom absolutely refuses to order anything resembling weapons, including miniature replicas of LotR swords, because he (wisely) doesn't want to have any problems. It seems that sex is fine, weapons are not (I agree with this position ).

For full details on US customs, consult the following 3471 page reference manual...



US Harmonized Tariff Schedule



But in general, US customs don't kick in on individuals until the item climbs up to $200-$300.



That response in Italy sounds like the kind of numbskull stupidity that only government bureaucracy is capable of. Did they really think the guy was going to order a metal sword from the US so he could commit some crime with it in Italy? Or are they trying to protect Italian sword manufacturers?

I don't know how it was in other countries, but here in the US back in '93-'94 all we could hear about was that signing NAFTA and GATT was going to open up free trade. Free trade this, free trade that.  Clinton and the Republicans in Congress couldn't stop crowing about it.



All these posts show it was just another lie.

Welcome to Canada and please bring your wallet!!

dave wrote:That response in Italy sounds like the kind of numbskull stupidity that only government bureaucracy is capable of. Did they really think the guy was going to order a metal sword from the US so he could commit some crime with it in Italy? Or are they trying to protect Italian sword manufacturers?

Well, albeit a bit offensive (just a bit  :wink: ) this is a good question. I suppose this should be put in prospective. Historically, the Italian state has frown upon to people owning weapons of any kind, with partial exceptions for hunting. You may be a high risk person (for example, a jewelry retailer or salesman) but you still have to apply for a permit to own one weapon and you must do regular checks and interviews with the police. More, you are 'encouraged' not to use it, even in self defense. A retailer went under trial because he shoot two criminals robbing his jewels store. He was acquitted (rightly so!), but he went under trial anyway. This is, in my eyes, idiotic, but the far bigger part of my people thinks that the best gun policy is not having any guns around. I agree with this.



You must understand that Italy (perhaps this reasoning should apply to Germany too) had a brutal dictatorship with a private army used to reach power and eliminate opponents (not to mention World War II). After the war, one of the first priority was to stop anybody to ever attempting to do this again - no weapons around, no private armies. More, perhaps being on the losing side if WW II and being transformed in a battlefield from Sicily to the Alps didn't endear weapons to Italians. History textbooks tell pupils about the long periods of time when Italy was divided in city states or worse and people took law in their hands or were terrorized by bandits, barbarians, invading hordes and so on - all of them having dangerous weapons to their disposal. The message is: weapons are very dangerous for you and the others, better leave them to professionals (police, military and such); good citizens don't own weapons. So, having and showing weapons is highly, very highly frown upon. I suppose that too much violence resulted in ultra rigid regulations. Sword, bows, crossbows and such are considered as weapons by law so they are subject to regulations. They can be sold, but they have to be blunted. More, you must have a license as a weapons retailer to carry them. Miniature replicas are exempt  I suppose (they are too small), but police has discretionary powers to seize anything considered dangerous (it must defend such decisions with judges, so they do this carefully - Italy is not China!  :D ).



There is an Italian maker of LotR replicas (weapons and jewels) under license, but I dont think he is so powerful to have the state protecting him. He has booths during major game conventions showing all his products and, as far as I know, he never had any clashes with police authorities. Well, almost... During Lucca Games, by far the greatest game and comic event in Italy, in 2005 with over 70,000 visitors in three days, police briefly seized replica weapons (swords in metal) from a booth so the seller, of course enraged, said he was going to ask for a seizure of all weapon replicas in the entire convention (there weren't so many and most of them were latex, so exempt). After long discussions between police, a couple of lawyers and convention organizers, the replicas were returned.



I suppose this must seem madness to many Americans, but I hope you consider that Italy is one of the safest countries in the world, with a very low percentage of violent crimes. One of the biggest fears of Italians is seeing a rise of armed crimes, with unfavourable comparisons with the US (regularly blasted for its 'gun happy' policies from politicians of all stripes) being made very regularly.

Sotterraneo wrote:Well, albeit a bit offensive (just a bit ) this is a good question. I suppose this should be put in prospective. Historically, the Italian state has frown upon to people owning weapons of any kind, with partial exceptions for hunting. You may be a high risk person (for example, a jewelry retailer or salesman) but you still have to apply for a permit to own one weapon and you must do regular checks and interviews with the police. More, you are 'encouraged' not to use it, even in self defense. A retailer went under trial because he shoot two criminals robbing his jewels store. He was acquitted (rightly so!), but he went under trial anyway. This is, in my eyes, idiotic, but the far bigger part of my people thinks that the best gun policy is not having any guns around. I agree with this.



.

"In Italy, 80.7 percent of all crimes go unpunished and the culprit is not found — 96.8 percent of the thefts, 58.2 percent of the homicides, 84.6 percent of the robberies, and 64.3 percent of the kidnappings. Moreover, Mr. De Masi might have addressed the fact that the Swiss are much more heavily armed than Italians are, yet are also less violent. The 1994 Swiss homicide rate was of 1.32 per 100,000 people (among which only 0.58 were perpetrated with a firearm), while the Italian rate was 2.25 (of which 1.66 were perpetrated with a firearm)." (From National Reveiw, 5/7/2002)



"Italy -- There are limits on the number of firearms and the quantity of ammunition a person may own. To be issued a permit to carry a firearm, a person must prove an established need, such as a dangerous occupation. Firearms which use the same ammunition as firearms used by the military -- which in America would include countless millions of rifles, shotguns, and handguns -- and ammunition for them are prohibited. Yet, "Italy`s gun law, `the most restrictive in Europe,` had left her southern provinces alone with a thousand firearm murders a year, thirty times Switzerland`s total." (Richard A. I. Munday, Most Armed & Most Free?, Brightlingsea, Essex: Piedmont Publishing, 1996.)



Maybe someone forgot to tell the Mafia to turn in their firearms.....



Mike B.