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Asking doll companies to mark the value of your package down..?

Feb 22, 2008

    1. I hope you can still laugh if you ever become a seller and have to deal with the situation from that perspective.

      And just so you know, I've lived all over the world, including countries with extremely corrupt customs systems, very high import taxes and very little recourse for citizens. Guess what? Lying, cheating and stealing is still wrong. It's not only your risk, by the way - it's a crime you're asking someone else to participate in.

      If you hate the system where you live, work to change it... or work to move someplace else. But using it as an excuse for your own ethical flexibility? Doesn't work for me. YMMV.
       
    2. I live in the Netherlands and the custom system does NOT work at all. There are rules for it but strange enough I always had to pay more than the rules say. So yes,I do ask a company to mark down but I always thank them and tell them how happy I am. If they will not mark down I will search a doll second hand because I can't afford so much money for customs. And I can't handle the 'suprise' of a big amount bill. In the past I had to send a package back because I couldn't pay the custom fees. I feel very very sorry for a company to buy a doll second hand but well,I'm too stingy to pay so much íf I can.
       
    3. I live in the UK, and to be honest, I like it when sellers mark packages down. Yes it means that I'm 'breaking the law' and could lose out... but it also means that we don't have to wait for the lottery of how much customs is going to charge us this time. I recently recieved two parcels, both marked at the same price- one got through customs with no charges (a big box with a whole MSD in it) and the other got charged £10 plus and £8 handling fee (which is over half the cost of the entire parcel...) I think definately for me, that if customs charged the same every time- i.e actually had a formula which we could refer to and which worked- and if parcelforce (the UK's parcel handler for EMS) didn't charge us £15 for the privaledge of delivering a parcel we've already paid shipping on, then yes... I'd be happy to pay. (There is of course the issue with being charged fee's based on repaying the UK economy due to us not buying goods here, when we can't get the goods in the country, but that's a whole other issue...)
       
    4. I agree, for us in the UK the system is very strange, the costums are supposed to be 15% of the value, sometimes they get it right, sometimes they dont. I am in panic mode now, as i am waiting for a doll to arrive. Unfortunately they couldnt mark the price down because of the risk of loosing the doll or damage, so will i get a ridiculous costum price? You bet :P
       
    5. I live in Germany and the system here is pretty unpredictable too! It always depends on the people at the office, I feel like most of them hate their job and are pretty rude to people who buy dolls!

      They don't know anything about the hobby and the prices of the dolls and as soon as you say that the doll is a collector's item they assume that the price is marked down, no matter how high it is. It happend to me with a blythe recently - I didn't have the chance to pick her up myself (as i said before, the opening hours of custom offices suck!) and my parents were so kind to do it. I gave them all the emails from Junie Moon and the online bill I received but the guy at the custom office was very suspicious. He even wanted to keep the doll at the office and insisted my parenty needed more documents to confirm the price.

      In the end - that's the funny thing - he found a sticker on the package with the retail price (without shipping) and used it to calculate the fees. In Germany, custom fees also apply to shipping prices (which is totally ridiculous imho). However, he didn't read the emails I printed out carefully enough to find out the total price and ended up charging 12 euro instead of 20. :lol:
       
    6. I have. And do. I've never experienced a problem but I always get tracking. People who request lower value amounts agree to accept the risk so for lower valued items (under $100) I'm willing to take that risk.

      Out of curiousity how does the system work in the US? I once heard that US citizens had to report purchases of foreign goods on their tax returns and the government levied taxes on those items that way (if applicable), but I'm not sure how true that is. Is that true?
       
    7. This is a painfully simplistic view on the topic at hand! If you seriously believe that the entirely corrupt and theiving customs services that are rife in Europe can be changed by anything we do, then sadly, I have to shatter your illusions.

      The import system in the UK hasn't altered one iota in the last three governments, that covers two different political parties and who knows how many local and general elections. Why should I have to emigrate to the States simply to be sure I'm going to pay a fair and reasonable tax on an imported parcel?!

      You call it ethical flexibility, but this is simply not true. This isn't flexibility, it's a people fighting back in the only way they have and to assume otherwise is not only intensely rude, but also shows a total lack of understanding of the situation.

      You have to understand that it's really NOT the fact that we have to pay tax that 99% of us object to, it's the fact that there is no standardised system to work out the amounts. In the UK for instance, Customs are notorious for making up the numbers they apply, they often will read $ amounts as £'s and charge you wrongly that way, sometimes they will simply charge you the nearest round number, and then they charge you a fee, for charging you the TAX. How is this fair or right? If there was a system in place where the fees were transparent and correctly worked out, then I sincerely doubt the UK people in this thread would have had a word to say about it!

      For the record, I both buy and sell all over the world and will happily mark down a parcel for someone if they request it provided they take on the risk should the parcel go missing. When I buy, I request the same terms, and most of the people I know across Europe work on this system too, so claiming the buyer always loses out is just not accurate either I'm afraid.

      It's not an issue that's going to simply go away for those of us in Europe, and really, telling us to put up or shut up isn't helpful!
       
    8. I'm currently saving up for my first doll, and living in the UK, I am well aware that I am going to have to save significantly more than he is worth to account for possible customs fees. It will be irritating, but there it is. I wouldn't ask a seller to mark something down. It frustrates me how random UK customs fees are and I wish there was a consistent and transparent system for it, but I'm not up for just not paying import tax.
      This country has a good education system, and a good healthcare system that all come out of our taxes. I use those services, so I would feel incredibly bad not paying my bit towards them.
      On the other hand, I can completely understand the other side of the arguement. Our customs fees here are wonderfully arbitrary and if you catch them on a bad day, that can be crippling if you're ordering a doll worth hundreds of pounds. I'm not going to blame someone for wanting to avoid getting charged more than the parcel is worth in customs fees (I've seen this scenario before!). It's a alot of money, and not what we should be being charged. I forget exactly what percentage our import tax is supposed to be, but it's a hell of alot less that 100%!
      Personally? I will suck it down and pay the import tax. It'll take longer to save for him, but my conscience would never leave me be if I didn't and I'd be too worried about getting in trouble over it. I want my doll-buying experiences to go as smoothly as possible.
       
    9. Exactly! Why do we still worry about psychopaths and serial killers? There are evil doll collectors on the loose! :o

      Don't know if it was your intention, but to me your answer gave the impression that people who mark their packages down are the lowest of us all. It annoyed me, not 'cause I feel judged - I pay my taxes and have a Williams-head stuck in customs as we speak - but because phrased like this it shows a complete lack of perspective and compassion.
       
    10. I've been quoted a $185 delivery price for a shipment of several Stargate Atlantis costumes from the US to Ireland, since I'm going over to North America in a month anyway I'm going to ask if they can ship to my holiday address as I'll be there for a month anyway. It'll cut down on shipping costs and I'll avoid import fees.

      That's the only legal way I can see to get around paying import taxes
       
    11. I really detest when packages are marked with less value than I paid.

      I think if the seller is going to do such a thing they should refund the difference between what you paid for the item and what they marked as value. Mark gift on my package and it had better be an actual gift not something I paid for.

      I would never request a lowered value and would never put a lowered value on a form. It is dishonest and disrespectful as well as illegal.
       
    12. I generally haven't had any problems with customs offices charging me for my dolls, so I would definitely not ask the doll company to mark the package value down...but now that I've read the horror stories of dolls getting abused at customs, I really worried O.O
       
    13. yes, for the doganal fee.i hate the doganal taxes!!!!
       
    14. Because I live in the US, there are no customs charge on "toy" items. So I wouldn't be able to empathize the charges that people get in the E.U. For me as a person in the US, I would feel uncomfortable for sellers to mark the item low since I don't get hit with anything. If I send something, I would want to mark the exact value because I don't want to risk the possibility of the item getting lost internationally.
       
    15. Quite frankly - it depends on the item. I don't mind paying the custom charges for what I have bought from outside of EU, especially when the purchases are made from companies, not individuals. Our customs service does all the "dirty" work for you, simply filling in all information on the forms and stuff based on the bills you provide. It saves time if companies actually do state the right amount on the forms and include an invoice inside the package - but the problem is, they usually don't -__-" So it takes time to get everything settled down, and instead of getting the doll, say, in three-four days, it takes a week and a half. Which bugs me a bit.
      However, when it comes to items that arrive from individuals, and if the value is just slightly above the "it's OK to get it through the customs without fees", I see if the seller is willing to write a slightly lower price as I don't have anything but a payment receipt to prove that i have actually paid anything - and in most cases, this is not enough.

      In any case, problems with customs are solely my problems, and not those of the company or the seller who agreed to send me the item stating a lower price. I would definitely never go and blame the other person.
      I would never say that tricking customs is a good thing, but as I sometimes happen to do this - or the company does this for me without asking in the first place, I cannot blame those who mark the value down of their own accord. I think it'd be a bit hypocritical from my side.
       
    16. I agree with ShadowTruth and Mishita, the UK customs tax system is a complete mystery. The most I have paid is on a parcel from the USA, and SD doll and I had to pay the ransom of £75 (that's roughly $110 USD) and a part of that was "charges for collecting Customs Tax on behalf of HM Revenue"!!! Parcel farce gets to charge us again for delivering the parcel we already paid delivery on and usually I have to go to the depot to collect!

      I once paid a whopping 50% CT on a parcel from Hong Kong (a head only) and appealed but just got tangled in red tape and never got any refund. Parcels from the USA almost always get stopped, those from the Far East, less so even if they are marked full price. That's been my experience. The parcels from the Far East are usually delivered by my usual Postman and as Royal Mail themselves can't charge a fee for collecting tax, they don't seem as keen to do so and just let parcels come through.

      It's such a mad "system". But having said all that, I got a full price doll from Korea last week and they had marked it as "Toy, £10" which kind of freaked me out a bit, what if it had gotten lost in the post? I hadn't asked for it to be marked down... would the company refund me for the loss, or would it be tough luck? Eeek
       
    17. This! So much this.

      Personally, I don't ask companies to mark things down - but I don't object when they do mark things down, either. I would prefer not to break the law by receiving marked-down packages, but then I would also prefer - when I have paid for a 24-hour express service - not to have my package sit in customs for a week, then have the customs people pluck a fee out of thin air, add a £13.50 handling fee for sending me a letter, then charge me another £12 if I want Saturday delivery. I can't take my business elsewhere though, and complaints bring no change. I just have to suck it up. I do wonder if the attitude of some of the US-members who've posted on this thread would be quite so unsympathetic if they had to routinely pay, customs fee aside, almost $40 to receive a package they've already paid shipping on, and to receive such poor service to boot.
       
    18. I pay a fortune in customs fees, but would never want someone to mark something down, its quite simply illegal!
       
    19. Unfortunately I must say I do ask sellers to mark price. My country's taxes anything that arrives here marked with a price from $50 to $500. And we're talking about a 78% tax. If the price is marked more than $500, the tax is WAY more than 78%.

      Oh yeah and in Brazil we also have to go to post station to pick the package and pay the tax in CASH.

      Obvsouly I take the responsability on all cases. I never had a package lost or got something broke, but I really don't agree to pay taxes thanks to shipping service of my country says they are not responsable if something gets damaged. (Yes, you didn't red wrong.)
       
    20. In the UK, all parcels above £8 ($11.80) are liable for Customs Tax, Gifts are liable if the value is over £18!!!!!!! So pretty much anything you buy from outside the EU is liable for Customs Tax. Fab