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

I will not mark down the price of a package I'm sending internationally, even if the buyer asks for it. I inform buyers that it is illegal and a danger to their investment.

I think it's ridiculous for a buyer to blame a seller for anything that they asked for in the first place. I would compare that to a person buying drugs. I just got caught with a kilo of cocaine, hey drug dealer you should bail me out of jail, pay my fines and reimburse me for the coke that the cops took away. *rolls eyes*

 

speaking as someone who's paid a LOT of customs charges on doll items, I'm not going to knock any company for attempting to help us out. Yes, it's illegal, no, I have never asked a company to mark something down, but am I going to stop them if they do? Hell no!

In the UK, we pay through the nose for an at best shoddy mail service that is barely capable of delivering intact parcels. I object to having to pay parcelfarce's "handling fee" on top of the VAT and import duties! If I've already paid for shipping, why am I paying for it again simply because it's passed through the golden hands of someone with a big stamp marked "CUSTOM FEES: IMPOUND"?

I realise taxes are part of life, and I really don't mind paying the VAT on items, but I, like most people in the UK, are rather sick and tired of paying for a service they never asked for as soon as a parcel hits our soil! The worst of it is that usually, the fees are worked out wrongly because most parcelfarce depots read the $ as a £ and convert incorrectly, resulting in astronomic fees on things for no reason.

Recently, I had a small box of doll clothes arrive, they were marked at their full value of $140. Customs impounded them, and I then had to pay a charge of £22.80 (that's $45!!!) to get the box released! WHERE is the reasoning in that?! VAT on that parcel should've been around £12, so in effect, I paid almost the same again for parcelfarce to delay my parcel by 3 days for reasons best known to themselves.

So in answer to the questions set out in the OP, no, of course it isn't right to ask companies to knowingly break the law, but I can see why some people do! My own experience has taught me that there is little to no reasoning behind the custom charges here, so I fully understand peoples attempts to escape them.

Of course the people blaming companies for their customs misfortune are acting like idiots, we all know the risks when we import boxes, you just have to suck it up, but that doesn't mean you have to be happy about it!

 

I wonder how much customs would charge on a $330 doll.... *ahem* I see why people would ask for their doll to be marked down. It's risky, risky, risky though.

 

customs is BRUTAL in canada (as most know), so if a doll company is going to mark something down, i dont mind... as long as it gets to me! i haven't had a problem thus-far *knocks wood*.


when thomas was shipping, iplehouse emailed me asking how low to mark down the parcel -- i was unsure about this, so i said "70$" (a little over 11.6% of the original value).

i didnt have to pay any customs fees and it got here safely... so i really didnt mind. im thankful and appreciative that the company would like to save me some trouble and money...

im not sure what i'll do for my next doll, but i will not bother a company to mark it down for me. if they do it, i'll be a appreciative; and if they dont, i wont be mad at the company.

 

OT but I bought something dolly related (can't remember) for (way) less than $100 and it was $14 on customs. Now I'm scared XP

 

to be honest- I always ask companies to low value of packages for me since customs in Poland are band of idiots looking for money everywhere ><

Besides my first doll, all of my babies came with lovered value on the box, I still had to pay some money *customs in poland count tax from 50$ and up, dosn't matter if that's a gift or not* but at least it wasn't half of my month's payment!

 

I don't have to pay money for asking about lower price, and it doesn't hurt, so I ask. If yes - wonderful, if not - i can deal with that.

 

Sweden wins. Our limit is around $30 for importing without customs fees. The "gift" ticky box does nothing if the seller is a company. I consistenly ask the companies (that are known to be willing) to mark things down for me because paying close to 30% extra on every purchase is no fun. Now, if a package got smashed up during shipping, I wouldn't expect to get anything but the declared value back for it, naturally. Haven't happened so far during the 15 years I've bought things on the net, mind you. I'm willing to take the risk.

 

I was actually totally expecting to pay this when I sent out my Dollmore Noir Asha head to have a face up. But the wonderful artist sent it back as a "return item".
But in return customs opened up the package and someone with black greasy fingers left fingerprints all over the brand new face up.
When I opened up the package I was almost in tears seeing the most beautiful face up ever being ruined by these black smears. Luckily with enough TLC and some warmed water with soap these marks came off. But it was really upsetting at first.

In this instance she was insured both ways by my shipping company since she was a return item, (I asked them). But I would have been more then willing to pay for the customs in return for her safe homecoming. Like I said, when dolls are concerned I do not mark down prices nore want any independant seller / artist to. I had put enough money away for her home coming and was surprised when there was a knock on the door and he handed me back the package I had sent a couple of weeks before to the artist.

 

I'm grateful to companies who mark my packages down by themselves without me needing to tell them to. These items are usually replaceable like doll clothes etc.
I won't ask a company to mark down their price on my dolls though. Sometimes I'm tempted to since I've been charged up to $300 for a doll because of the messed up customs system in my country. It's probably around the same price for me to fly to Korea, pick the doll up personally and fly back D:
Companies marking down packages should know the risk. It isn't proffesional and customers should be gracious enough to know this.

Now if you had told a company to insure your package and they ignore that and it goes missing, that's a completely different story...

People just like to have someone to blame when something goes wrong, especially involving so much money º_º); It's human nature...
Personally I just want my doll at the end of the day, and I know I can't do a damn thing about the custom taxes, unfortunetly...

And this is coming from someone who just got a customs fine on her doll accessories right this morning x__o;

 

I have shopped the internet for many years now, and I am pretty much fed up with Norwegian customs and private carrier companies. I once had to pay 25% taxes plus handling on ONE pair of boots TWICE. With an order being shipped in separate packages, I was noobish enough to pay all customs in advance, thinking it would make things easier. As if... even when I contacted them and sent proof of payment, they did nothing, and I ended up having to pay the private carrier their fee plus taxes another time. Also, I think it is fair enough to pay 25% when Norwegian taxes are in fact 25%. However, I do not think it is ok to pay another 10% plus huge handling fees on top of that, those fees being very vague and inconsistent and different every time. I admit that I appreciate companies marking down value on their own initiative, and I do not feel too guilty for not telling customs. They have plenty of my money already.

BUT, I don't think it is okay to blaim a company for not marking down value. Customs fees are an inconvenience, but I would never FORCE anyone to break the law for me, or nag at them for not doing so. Or even worse, accusing the company for... doing exactly what you told them to, then getting in trouble?

 

For people who wants mark their packages down ... I would ask them.. what happen if the customs company need to call you because they want the paypal's fotocopy of the versament? They will know about the fact you mark the price of package down...!! I have too much fear to do that even for this reason .

 

As far as I'm concerned, if you ask someone to mark it down then you should only expect to get back the amount it's marked at, if it goes astray. You ask - you bear responsibility.

If the company does it without being asked then, as long as they are prepared to replace the doll if it's lost or damaged...

Maybe some people come across as wanting to flout the law, I suspect it's less about flouting a law and more about feeling that the law is not just a pain in the butt, but also that it's not applied well.

I've had customs charge me for the $ value in pounds, so I paid twice as much as I should have. (Actually it was more because the sender marked down the original retail price of the item that she paid for it, not the much lower amount I paid her.*facepalm*)

I did ask one of the Parcelfarce crew, they told me that the Customs guys pick parcels at random. I wonder if there's a list of companies they look for though, or a size they pounce on? I've had much more expensive things slip under their radar, even when they were insured properly.

 

When sending items EMS from Japan I can insure for full value and still mark the package down. Perhaps this is the same in China and Korea, but I'm not sure. Either way, the package is insured for full value and EMS is trackable and my buyers (when I sell, which is rarely) can avoid customs fees.

The way I look at it is very different from many of you since BJDs tend to be more replaceable. I purchased a rare doll with only about five created for production. Now, if that doll goes "missing" and an insurance claim is filed, I get my money back but no doll. If it is found, it is auctioned off by the postal service that locates it. Once an insurance claim is filed, you get money... but no doll. I don't want the money. I want the doll. Insurance is a last resort for me. Tracking, however, is vital when it comes to dolls.

If the doll does happen to get damaged in shipping I would pay to repair it. BUT more often than not when a doll is damaged in shipping it is done by overzealous customs officials looking for contraband. Imagine the strings cut, resin chipped, face-up scratched up and your BJD in pieces upon arrival because some customs official decided you were getting a suspicious amount of mail at suspiciously "high" values from China. I have heard of this happening with other dolls before. One was not the type that could be taken apart and the head was cut off (literally) and the stuffing removed. It took weeks of "processing" and the owner was horrified when it arrived.

I can understand someone wanting to be "honest", but we don't live in an honest world. Sometimes, the best way to protect your dolls from tampering is to lower the reported value, insure it for cost (if possible) and get tracking. In the end, I'd rather have my doll than the money so for me tracking is more important than insurance. Especially if the customs official who opens the package knows what a BJD is worth and nabs it to sell on Ebay then reports it as never received.

 

What you said is really terrible!! How could they do this? I wonder... is possible that these individuals can treat people and packages like this? I can't stand this situation! Why nobody can't do nothing? At the same time, I know also about people that very often mark their packages down ... and they pay more even if they declare less.. they discover their trick and add more money to pay--- and I know that many of them was called from customs company and they want the paypal's fotocopy of the versament--- the customs company now have understand this "trick" to mark packages down and when they saw a big package mark as 40 $ they become suspect and block the package.. if you dont fax to them the copy of the paypal versament they would resent the package back. So when you give them the copy, they discover the real price you pay!
So I really dont know what is better.... really... I really can't mark the price of my package down ... I dont want lost my money if the package would missed for dispect of customs.. they are not everybody honest, or you declare the right price or not, they will do something at your package... I don't know what to do ((

 

In my opinion there's no harm in asking a seller if they're willing to mark a package down. Then it's really on the buyer's head if their package goes astray. From a personal point of view I've never had a package get lost or be significantly damaged in the post. On the other hand I've had to shell out a small fortune on customs fees. For example I recently bought some cosmetics from the US and had to pay over £20 ($40) customs. It's lovely stuff but I'd never buy it again!

Yeah so I reckon it's got to be a personal choice, if both parties are willing I see no harm in it. The post service are always trying to scam more money from you anyway - I don't know if it's still in force but until recently at least here in the UK you had to pay extra to send a package if there was a letter in it! This isn't based on weight or anything just the fact you have a letter in it. *sigh*

xXx

 

And what disconcerted me is about the fact that postal's services take advance not only on one country... but I read here that is a problem in all the world!!
Why nobody can't do nothing? Why there's not a precise calculations of our payments? If custom fees are 30 or 40 or 20 %, they should applicate this percentual!! NOt invent what they want.... is absurd that nobody cant stop this big steal-bussiness of postal services... Im really sick and tired! >

 

When a doll comes from a company in Korea, I have never paid Customs or Duties. But when I get a doll from the US, I always have both to pay. We pay 13% tax, plus a fee (around $8.00/parcel) here in Ontario, not sure of the taxes in other provinces.

Yes, it gets expensive.

Hugs
Mary-Lee

 

I just got my boy from SoulDoll, I paid ~$705AU for him, he was marked at $20.

 

Well its wrong to do that plain and simple.Usually when we do something wrong /illiegal there is no recourse if there are negative repercussions so the person who wanted the company to mark down the package should only be angry at themselves..for not being more honest!