International Shipping

[GodWentPUNK]

I'm working with another JCF member regarding a purchase and the question of import tax was raised. How do I determine if the seller(or me) has to pay additional charges other that shipping to the US.

thanks.

joe...

[fullshred]

Re: International Shipping

How ironic. I just posted this on another thread:

Good morning everyone. I have a problem. I sold a guitar on Ebay and the high bidder is from Australia. USPS.com gave me a quote for $135.00 to ship there and that's what I quoted the buyer. I go to the post office and the "non-documentation" fee boosts the shipping to $250.00! Now I have to bite the bullet and I don't want to swallow anymore. The guy already got a great deal. The high bidder sent me an email and this is part of it: " I was talking about the purchase I made sometime last year. This US seller only charged me about $135 and it took 2 weeks to get here." Question: Does anyone know what service he's talking about that gave a US seller such a low rate? I've been to Fed Ex ($260) and UPS ($400+)!

[markD]

Re: International Shipping

i don't know how it worked out (i can't remember) but i sent a guitar to a forum member last year to france for about 150 through UPS.

[Koz]

Re: International Shipping

When I've sent guitars and gear international, I always check the "gift" box so that there aren't any import duties. It's worked so far, I last shipped a Hwy. 1 Tele to Finland that way. It does take a long long time though. Make sure you keep every shred of paperwork, receipts and customs forms.

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: International Shipping

I will be receiving the shipment. Will we have to pay any duty taxes on the guitar? This is a non EBAY transaction.

joe...

[markD]

Re: International Shipping

not sure about that, sorry.

[MountainDog]

Re: International Shipping

Joe, what country is it coming from and via what carrier? I recently bought an acoustic guitar from Canada and split the shipping costs with the dealer (he said $70, so I paid $35 of that). Guitar arrives no problem, but about 10 days later I get a bill in the mail from UPS Customs House Broker for $21 for UPS fees for filling out customs forms and pushing thru customs. The dealer never told me about that.

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: International Shipping

The guitar would be comming from Finland. Not sure on the carrier yet.

I did buy a guitar from a person in Canada and I never got any UPS bill afterwards. Maybe the seller took care of that, or since it was an individual and not a store, he didn't have to.

joe...

[j2379]

Re: International Shipping

i just shipped a guitar to japan it was around $100 USPS. to get around the tax/tariff say the guitar was originally his & set to you for repair. they cant charge customs on something that was his to begin with.

[RR0849]

Re: International Shipping

USPS is basically the same thing as our postal service here in Finland and they have easily the lowest prices. I've bought a lot of guitars from US and shipping has varied from 50 to 250 USD. We have VAT and customs fees so those have to be taken care of when the guitar hits the country. But I think most
states in US don't have such taxes?

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: International Shipping

MountainDog - I had the same experience with a dealer in Canda (in my case it was Songbird Music) who promised via email that I'd incur no additional fees and that if there were any they'd take care of 'em. When I got the $40 bill from UPS for customs brokerage services I printed a copy of Songbird's email, traced my extended middle finger on the front of the UPS invoice, returned both to UPS and wished them luck in their future attempts to collect from the seller.

[labelscott]

Re: International Shipping

I'm pretty sure that you'll be billed by US customs. I got a bill for 60 bucks after importing an axe from Japan.

[GodWentPUNK]

Re: International Shipping

$60 from Japan... What did you claim as the value of the guitar.

joe...

[skarhead]

Re: International Shipping

afaik when shipping to Poland there was a trick as somebody said : mark gift AND select about 50$ of items value (if the buyer agrees/suggests it - no taxes then afaik (you have to check it)

and , if anything goes wrong with the package and you've selected the above option the buyer is screwed - so that's a little bit risky.

[David Dineen]

Re: International Shipping

the shipper pays the shipping; the receiver pays the import tax. i sent a guitar to someone on the UK for $90 (includes insurance). he had to pay the customs fee later.