International shipping taxes and duty

[3Cube]

Originally Posted by risingstar

I may be wrong but I believe most US bound product valued over 2k gets taxed. In Canada, anything valued over $20 is deemed worth the trouble of drawing up all sorts of paperwork.

Yup, I've had a package worth $30 come in with a $10 service charge for collecting the tax, which is $3.90. Ridiculous.

[built2shred]

It's kind of weird, I got hit with FedEx import fee on XM Capt. America and Magneto but I didn't get hit with it on XM Hulk or XM Iron Man 42.... so go figure... It was never a lot like $20-$30....

[PureInvasion]

What a weird topic...

[Silas Loki]

Perhaps the OP isn't talking about VAT / TAX as such, but the additional "handling" fees some logistics services charge. That's the part I find scandalous..... it's a stealth charge that isn't in anyway justified.

[mistermark]

Originally Posted by nbr3bagshotrow

Dont think the US does. I have had things sent to me from overseas and never had to pay. I think is is that most other countries have a VAT .

You guys are lucky.

[Atheris]

Originally Posted by EpochFanatics

Whenever I get a parcel sent by Sideshow with FedEX I still have to pay taxes. And no taxes to $ 15 or $ 20 but taxes $ 120 $ 150 with a nice threat "no money no packages."
An object that I paid with my money which I have also paid the postage, I have in any case the right to recover it without paying !!! Why should I still pay something when I already pay all? Why?
FedEx are scammer and live with that but why Sideshow uses FedEx knowing this? Should they not ensure that the customer is king that he continues to spend at home? Or collectors are idiots.
I'll have 4 parcels from sideshow that will ship at the same time next month. Should I be concerned and get ready to pay taxes in the amount of a "Darkseid Premium Format"?
Sideshow must to do something about it as this will lasts for too long time, it is not normal that this same customer still makes taxing again and especially not the right to choose his own shipping company . Sideshow should also include the amount of customs fees in the listing item price because it's purely a scammed.
May be this thread already exist but I had to tell it.

New to collecting?

Or shipping in general?

Chris

[The Mule]

Originally Posted by Silas Loki

Perhaps the OP isn't talking about VAT / TAX as such, but the additional "handling" fees some logistics services charge. That's the part I find scandalous..... it's a stealth charge that isn't in anyway justified.

Fact is that FedEx/DHL/UPS/whoever else gives the VATs money to the customs before delivering the package to you, then they collect the money from you.
For this kind of service (that makes the import release much much quicker), they charge you a handling fee, it's around 10-12€ for FedEx and 15€ for UPS.
Sure, I'd wish there wasn't this handling fee, but I think it's more justified the handling fee than the retarded VATs amounts we have to bear.
I had a small statue arriving from Asia via postal service a few days ago, customs held it for around 10 days.
I'd never want customs to hold 500$+ statues for 10 days, from that standpoint the handling fee is perfectly reasonable.

[Haruffin]

To the OP: like others have said, don't blame Sideshow. Blame the customs and tax authorities in your country.

First of all, it is practically impossible for Sideshow to know and manage the literally hundreds of ways different countries do customs, duties and taxes at the border. Importing process and rates vary by country, and it is entirely infeasible for Sideshow to get involved in such a nightmare - they make statues, and they're not a logistics company!

Secondly, Fedex charges include customs, duties and tax, and on top of that they charge you a handling, shipping AND logistics fee. The former two are usually quite reasonable given the bulky statue packages, but I've found the logistics fee of managing the importation to be outrageous with every courier (UPS, TNT, etc.). Some charges are known beforehand, so Sideshow should be able to quote them at checkout, but I'm not sure if the logistics fee is fixed, and if they could inform Sideshow of it to be included in the quote, or at least FYI.

I don't recall what shipping options Sideshow offers, but if they offer normal mail, you could do the importation payments and paperwork yourself, which would save you that cost. It's not that much of a big deal, in Netherlands you essentially sign a paper, and I use that option whenever I can.

What Sideshow could do is hire a logistics company to do everything for them, so they could show and sell at EUR or whatever prices, with all duties etc. shown and paid at checkout. B&H (US camera store) does that on their website. Problem with that is that it shows people how much the statue would REALLY cost, and would certainly scare away some people who are not used to importing higher-value goods :P

[Marcel54]

The best solution for this would be for Sideshow to open a logistic center within the Eurozone and distribute from there. That way we don’t have to pay for taxes and duties. Heck, they even could charge us more for the statue given the high taxes and duties (up to upwards of 30%) and we would still be happy.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by risingstar

If I understand you correctly... you are blaming Sideshow for having to pay cross border taxes?

Yep, that about sums that up. I think that's what you call misdirected anger.