Acceptable Theft and Supposed Hypocrisy

Unless things have changed it wasn't Delaware. I have had several dolls delivered since moving here and no import tax. We don't even have sales tax here. Sounds like whoever it was got scammed.

 

I'm in the US and one of the fortunate in the hobby because like others have said toys are exempt. I have noticed on occasion without asking; companies I've ordered from marked down my packages. I was surprised because I never asked and the items were definitely worth more than the $20.00 or whatever they had put on the box. What recourse would I have if my $500.00 doll got damaged and the package is marked as $50.00 value. I suppose the company would make good on it since it was their initiative. But so far I've had no issues.

But over all I don't agree with marking things of lower value (even though it doesn't apply to me). I always ship my items insured for full value & tracking and would ask any sender to do the same. I've just read too many horror stories of things getting lost, damaged and who gets stuck paying, or with the damaged item. It's just not worth it to risk it. I would rather have peace of mind.

For the customs paying folks, is it true though that if an owner sends a doll outside of their country for customization that when the doll comes back it can get dinged in customs or taxs even if you were the original owner?

 

Recasts harm people and the hobby, everywhere.
Excessive customs (especially on second-hand items) are a corruption of bureaucracy, an unfortunate geographic circumstance.

Personally, I don't buy or support recasts and have no problem marking a BJD as a gift.

 

I very much agree with that.

That's cool about toy exemption in the US. I've had people post things as "parts" (parts of what? if I were customs agent, I'd want to know ), "plastic goods" or other designations. I never ask for adjustments to value declaration either but they almost always do. anyway, good info to have for situations I can control.

 

Yes, the latter is unfortunately true. It's why I have yet to take the effort to send a head outside the EU after I already have it in my possession.

As to the companies marking down: now of course I don't know how shipping internationally works in every country, but I do know that in some countries the value insured doesn't have to be the same as the value declared on the box. For instance, in The Netherlands you can pay for insurance up to a certain amount, regardless of what the actual value is and what it says on the box. When the package goes missing, they ask for a proof of purchase, Paypal receipt or whatever you have on you. If you paid for let's say insurance up to $500 and the package goes missing, they'll need proof that the item was actually worth that. You could have put just anything on the box, the packing slip is in itself no proof whatsoever. Of course this may not be the case anywhere else, although from experience I'm pretty sure our country isn't the only example. But if the company marks down without you asking for it then yes, they are responsible, regardless of how their shipping insurance works.

 

I can VERY emphatically state this is true for Canada. Unfortunately for me, the face-up artists I like best and the modders I trust most are US-based. Just a few months ago I sent 2 of my OD boys out for mods and a face-up to the incredibly talented Buff (OMG! the work she did was amazing and even better than I hoped). Despite the return Customs form clearing stating "repaired dolls returned", I got nailed hard by Canada Customs. Because I don't trust the postal service of ANY country to always take care with my package, I require full insurance for any dolls or parts I send out. Because there were 2 dolls in the package, the insurance I requested was $500 ($20 more than the value of both dolls, blank from Leeke). Customs in Ontario is 15% of the value of the package so I had to pay $75CAN to get my boys back.

I filled out the form to request the fees back and included all the paperwork I had to prove that they were mine and that I'd sent them out for repairs (which was 100% true as Buff fixed their wonky knees and fixed one of them that wouldn't stand at all due to ankle issues). Customs responded after a month or so that only warantee repairs were exempt from Customs fees and that I'd have to provide proof of warantee, an invoice from the place that did the warantee work and that they may still deny my claim for fees anyway if they felt the repairs could've been performed in Canada. WTH? Since when does Customs get to decide that sort of thing? It's government gone power mad is what it is.

With things like that, I honestly really do understand why people under declare dolls, especially in countries like mine where there is no limit that needs to be reached first for Customs to kick in or there's no exemption like in the US for toys. Sure, I do make the decision to request full insurance on my package, but again, I'd rather have that bit of safety than hope for the best. Here in Canada if you request insurance, it has to match the declared amount of the package.

 

For what it's worth, OP... I don't lie on Customs forms, either. I never have, never will and have said so VERY plainly in every sales thread I've posted. No one's ever gotten snarky with me about it, and the dolls have always sold.

So, yeah... Your potential buyer was full of manure.

Not every seller does it. Not only is it against the law, with the potential to get both the buyer AND the seller into hot water with the Customs office, but it also invalidates your shipping insurance if anything goes wrong. That makes it *stupid* as well as illegal. <_<

 

I'm against recasts, and yet I always ask sellers to under-declare and mark as gift. However I would like to make it clear that I do not force those beliefs on others. So I will not go around hassling recast buyers about their choices, and neither will I ever demand that a seller under declares for me - it is a kindness I gratefully accept if they are willing to give it, but I will never exert pressure for it because that is not my right to do so.

I do not actually believe asking sellers to under declare and mark as gift is 'theft' What is theft, you ask? The fact that we pay 20% import VAT in this country on any purchases over £15. 15 freaking pounds - postage included!! Not to mention the smug little 'handling/admin fee' that Royal Mail will slap on anything that incurs the VAT. You're 2p above the threshold? Well sorry, cough up £8 plus VAT! THAT is theft. Half the time I wouldn't even mind the 20% VAT so much (although I note that many other countries get by with a few hundred dollar threshold before import taxes are levied and their economies are getting along fine!) but that admin fee is obnoxious - especially as you have to no choice to pay the VAT yourself to circumvent it. They are literally demanding you pay them for something you did not ask them to do and would rather they didn't do at all. And sorry, but no freaking way is it costing them £8 per parcel to pay HMRC and...do exactly what they were supposed to do in the first place and deliver your parcel. Not unless it's staying at the friggin Hilton overnight. And don't get me started on how shite Royal Mail are - if Fedex charged a handling fee I might make an allowance, but at the moment it's like handing over a box of precious china to the three stooges and paying them for the privilege.

So yes, I believe asking sellers to under-declare and mark as gift is a way of bypassing a law which should not be in place at all, because it's a total rip-off and like many things in this country, needs to be re-examined because it makes us look backwards and absurd compared to other countries :/ Buying recasts? That's supporting plagiarism and is crippling small companies and hardworking artists who created something and are now not seeing a penny when you buy their creation. So I don't really think the two are comparable.

 

The buyer was wrong to push the issue when you clearly said you'd rather lose the sale. However I don't find it hypocritical thatt hey are anti recast but mark parcels down.

I'm also vehemently anti recast but I will mark packages down.

In my country dolls coming from the US are charged at a total of 22.5% tax plus whatever the mail service chooses to charge as 'payment handling' (generally between $15 and $20)
For example a $300 doll could cost an additional $87.5 in charges. The thing is, the super rich pay no tax at all by simply giving a foreign address. We pay very high taxes on absolutely everything whilst the super rich pay nothing. Evading small amounts of tax then becomes a matter of principle, and even Lawful Good types like me start requesting mark downs on dolls.

And if the seller refuses, I just suck it up and pay the additional $90 on top of the $300 plus shipping I already paid, but I'm resenting the system that lets mail carriers charge customers $20 handling for the joy of having to pay 22.5% on their stuff.

 

It is also very country specific I think, here we have someone from the EU talking about a small percentage and the money going to healthcare and unfortunate people... I am also from the EU but I can assure you that the import fees can run up to 30% here... Not so small. The money made from these fees will absolutely NOT go to healthcare nor charity. Import fees will also not attribute to a safe exchange... In fact, when your package is held at customs you are lucky they don't damage anything, or that they don't keep it for weeks...

 

Oh that's a common one actually in recast circles. Some people like to paint Fairyland in particular as some kind of evil corporation to justify stealing from them.

Given my country has a nuclear weapons programme and invades other countries for oil, I can safely say I am not happy where my money from taxes is going. In fact I'm ethically opposed. I understand what you're saying, paying taxes is the law and not paying them could be consisted stealing, but I just don't see it as being in any way comparable to stealing from doll companies. I'm shorting a government I voted against am amount that is practically small change. I've actually saved my government thousands upon thousands by having private health insurance and not claiming welfare even when I was entitled to it. So even as a person who couldn't even download an mp3 without feeling guilt, I feel no guilt on skipping the occasional customs charge.

that's not to say that I don't agree with you that stealing is wrong In general! But skipping the odd customs charge doesn't bother me.

 

I'm not advocating for recast, lest anyone misunderstood my rhetorical musings above. however, don't many of the EU countries have wonderful social programs like unlimited unemployment benefits, public healthcare, decent public education, safe public housing? I've been told by more than one person that the French govt would send monthly stipends to working artists to support them. One of my friend's brother was living in nice government subsidized housing first in Germany, then is now settled in Sweden as a musician/conservatory instructor. even if money collected by customs isn't specifically earmarked for social programs for the creative /culture makers or the disadvantaged, it would still eventually offset other spending? it all goes in and come out of the same pot doesn't it?

 

Yes and no... I think most people would not mind paying custom fees (at least not too much) if the customs didn't try so often to make them pay more than they should with doing weird conversions and charging the shipping fees. Basically this stuff is not really legal but you have to pay it anyway, hoping that you won't receive a damaged package in the end, by the way, or that you have enough money on your account this months to pay for it (because you only have a general idea of what will be charged, since it can be much higher than it's supposed to be). Overcharging custom fees is basic theft too. Plus, I don't mind paying money as long as I know what I pay for. I don't mind paying customs fees for an item that I could buy in France and that was made in France (I mean it's fair : by bying the cheap version outside of the country, I don't give money to french workers who do the same thing). I try going through dealers and go to BJD stores, buy in conventions, that sort of things the most I can, but sometimes I don't have the choice. And even so, all those dealers pay taxes too, for an object that they can't have made in France anyway.
Best example custom fees on objects that cannot be made in your own country shouldn't even exist ? Iplehouse. They tried to do something about that, by saying customs their product were only available from them, in Korea. Well, customs made them a proposition of not charging custom fees, only VAT. I don't think the customers agreed to it, or maybe just not yet, I don't know... But it still shows that no, we should not be charged any custom fees, only VAT (which is quite high yes, but was already included in custom fees, so it's still a bit less).
It feels like there's no sense paying custom fees, we don't why we pay for them or what it will change (because it is definitely not to protect french economy), and while yes it's law, it still feels like a senseless law...
As I said, I don't think underdeclaring is a good idea, because they are more risks than possible benefits to my opinion. And yes, anyway, you should always be honest, even if that mean giving money to I don't know who to make I don't why.
About your example, the artist is TOTALLY "corrupted", and I don't think the doll community would accept it either... On the contrary.

 

The fundamental difference between recasts and mailing practices from DoA's standpoint is that one is directly related to BJDs, the other is incidental to the international nature of the hobby. We can firmly state that recasts have a negative impact on the BJD hobby and universally ban them. We cannot say this is so of laws and terms of service that vary from country to country. DoA does not enforce the policies of corporations like Paypal or government agencies, but we expect sellers to fully inform their buyers. This is why the sales forms are very explicit; not because DoA condones these practices.

 

Haha interesting analogy but I do understand.

My analogy is a person that might pocket a pen from the bank given the chance, but would hand in dropped cash. Taking the pen is still technically 'wrong', but it's pretty different from pocketing a fifty, due to the level of victim impact.

 

Just an FYI for those of you who insist upon insuring. Just because you insure a doll for a certain amount doesn't mean you will get it if something goes wrong. An e-buddy of mine sent me a couple of lenses and a camera to try out last year. I was thinking of buying one and he let me try out his. The camera and one lens arrived okay but the second lens didn't. He had that package insured for over $2500, the general cost of that camera body used and the two lenses used. The lens that they damaged was worth a cool grand, a bit more even used, and his insurance statement clearly stated that value and he even had his original receipt for the lens too at retail brand new that was a $1500 lens. After a few months and a mountain of paperwork filed on both sides they cut him a check for $100. That was about 10 cents on the dollar of what it would cost him to replace that lens and no, he could not just have it repaired for that. They wanted $500 to do that and he even sent in an official estimate to that fact. The rest of the money he was insured for? He was SOL. Since then I don't really trust the post office insurance program. I think it's a bit of a scam really to charge for a certain amount of insurance then to totally renege upon the agreement and that amount when something goes wrong...

 

It was Connecticut. The state required the person to cough up sales tax on a $2000 doll purchase. If you live in a state that collects sales tax, you're supposed to "voluntarily declare" tax on any purchase you make online. Of course, most people don't do it. A similar situation to underdeclaring customs amounts.