Shipping From The States

Theres a big thread on CN at the moment about a guy who shipped an eyepiece to Italy or France and it arrived damaged and in pieces. Customs didn't like the look of it on x-ray and dismantled it, couldn't put it back together and forwarded on a box of lenses and metal parts on to the recipient.

Although probably only an isolated incident its scared a lot of people and more are putting 'CONUS ONLY' in their Classifieds. Some people are trying to talk sense in the thread but....

Although it's a pain having to pay the taxes
You really can't blame the 'customs' here.
They are only doing their job.
Same category me thinks as traffic warden.
(although we all don't like it - that's the law)

Look at it this way,
What's the difference between buying in a big scope worth a few thousand quid
and a big container of fags worth a few thousand quid?
Nothing,
they are both just products,
one gets more attention than the other because it's more
popular that's all.

For small value items it should be abolished.
I think the limit is a value of 22 Dollars or something stupid like that.

I can see why the US sellers don't bother selling to the EU
or outside the lower 48...
they don't have to bother!

It's gut wrenching to look at Astromart and see the
good value stuff pop up for sale there every now and again...
that's the main reason why I don't look at it anymore!!
:silly:

Frank - I've no problem paying taxes as I said in my post. However, what doesn't seem fair to me is:

- If I bring in goods less than the specified value (€125 or thereabouts) there is no tax to be paid. But if an item has been repaired/serviced etc., you pay 13.5% VAT *irrespective* of the value. So if the repair was €1.00, you have to pay €0.135 to the Revenue. Seems inequitable to me. Fair play is good sport and all that... If I bought a €125 MP3 player, I'd not pay a penny. But if I got it repaired abroad, kerchingggg - that'll be €16.87 in tax please....

And sure, the Customs folks are no way responsible for this charge (like the example of the traffic wardens). However, the main point of my post was that my stuff has been sat with customs in Dublin for 12.5 days as of this post. If I held up a job in my workplace for that amount of time, I'd have my sorry ass fired for incompetency.

In the case of the Traffic Wardens, imagine you got clamped or towed - no problem paying the money but say they told you you had to wait a week before they could remove the clamp or you could get your car?...

But the knock-on effect of this lengthy delay in customs release is that I'll be heading of to Galway until next week. So even it it clears customs tomorrow, it can't be delivered until next week. So I will have been deprived of my stuff for more than 18 days *since* it arrived in Dublin. *That's* what really gets my goat...

On a wider level, its hardly surprising we're in the mess we're in at the moment. We need to cop on, and quick.

Not sure what you mean about the cigarette analogy there but believe me, a container of ciggies would be waaaaayyyy more valuable that a container of telescopes (by volume) - unless they were telescopes from OGS or the Hubble

dmcdona wrote:

Frank - I've no problem paying taxes as I said in my post.

Your honourable compliance with 'D Man' is noted.
:silly:

dmcdona wrote:

But if an item has been repaired/serviced etc., you pay 13.5% VAT *irrespective* of the value. So if the repair was €1.00, you have to pay €0.135 to the Revenue. Seems inequitable to me. Fair play is good sport and all that... If I bought a €125 MP3 player, I'd not pay a penny. But if I got it repaired abroad, kerchingggg - that'll be €16.87 in tax please....

Ya It's a dumb law but what can you do?
I can see why they charge it though.

dmcdona wrote:

the main point of my post was that my stuff has been sat with customs in Dublin for 12.5 days as of this post. If I held up a job in my workplace for that amount of time, I'd have my sorry ass fired for incompetency.

True. Maybe there is an unwritten rule amongst customs from on high to deliberately hold
stuff up so as to deter us from sending our cash out of the country.


dmcdona wrote:

say they told you you had to wait a week before they could remove the clamp or you could get your car?...

I guess I wouldn't get clamped again in a hurry. :silly:



dmcdona wrote:

So I will have been deprived of my stuff for more than 18 days *since* it arrived in Dublin. *That's* what really gets my goat...

Nasty. Very frustrating.

dmcdona wrote:

On a wider level, its hardly surprising we're in the mess we're in at the moment. We need to cop on, and quick.

Agreed we need to cop on but I can't see them loosening the customs laws anytime soon,
not when the country is hemorrhaging cash as it is.
My next door neighbour works in Shannon airport as ground crew and
himself and his wife got hit with a bill coming back from the US recently.
They had bought clothes and some cameras etc (not crazy money mind)
and they pulled them aside and went through all their bags.
Totting up the (Irish) value of what they 'thought' was new.
They were handed a bill and told pay this or we are keeping your stuff.
Lousy eh!?



dmcdona wrote:
Not sure what you mean about the cigarette analogy there but believe me, a container of ciggies would be waaaaayyyy more valuable that a container of telescopes (by volume)

Ya, I was saying if they were both worth a grand each not vol.
What I mean is, form what I've read here and on other sites the sentiment is to
try and trick or beat the customs and it seems people are ok with it
of it's telescopes or cameras but what about if it was fags or booze?
More of a stigma attached to these no?

Either way,
the law is an ass.

Calibos wrote:

Theres a big thread on CN at the moment about a guy who shipped an eyepiece to Italy or France

Interesting that you mentioned Italy, alot of people are happy to ship to Europe but not Italy, is this the reason?, mad customs teams ????
I havent seen that cloudynights thread, I must look it up.

Barberskum wrote:

dmcdona wrote:

But if an item has been repaired/serviced etc., you pay 13.5% VAT *irrespective* of the value. So if the repair was €1.00, you have to pay €0.135 to the Revenue. Seems inequitable to me. Fair play is good sport and all that... If I bought a €125 MP3 player, I'd not pay a penny. But if I got it repaired abroad, kerchingggg - that'll be €16.87 in tax please....

Ya It's a dumb law but what can you do? I can see why they charge it though.

I actually can't... Why do the Government charge tax on a service but not on goods (that are below the tax-free import value)? They should charge tax on both or neither. I get the VAT difference alright (21.5% on goods, 13.5% on services) but the principle is inequitable, as far as I can see...


Barberskum wrote:

Maybe there is an unwritten rule amongst customs from on high to deliberately hold stuff up so as to deter us from sending our cash out of the country.

But if ye are buying goods below the threshold, there's no tax to pay. So your hard earned dosh will be leaving the country entirely with no come-back at all...


dmcdona wrote:

On a wider level, its hardly surprising we're in the mess we're in at the moment. We need to cop on, and quick.

Barberskum wrote:

Agreed we need to cop on but I can't see them loosening the customs laws anytime soon, not when the country is hemorrhaging cash as it is. My next door neighbour works in Shannon airport as ground crew and himself and his wife got hit with a bill coming back from the US recently. They had bought clothes and some cameras etc (not crazy money mind) and they pulled them aside and went through all their bags. Totting up the (Irish) value of what they 'thought' was new. They were handed a bill and told pay this or we are keeping your stuff. Lousy eh!?

I've actually no problem with them sticking to the law - I just wish they'd do it quickly! I mean 12 days sat in a warehouse in Dublin? Oh yes, and who is paying them, errr, we are! And again, its not really the money that annoys me. I've no problem handing the Govt. ten quid tax, especially as I can guarantee you it will be spent wisely, probably on another lawyer working for a tribunal :dry: . I *do* have a problem with a public servant or servants not giving me the service I pay for - through my taxes!.

I heard a while back that the UK Customs and Excise folks were targeting celebs coming back from New York with thousands of pound of clothes/bags etc. I think Wayne Rooney's other half got nabbed and ended up paying a fortune - rightly. But I guess its hard to justify them targetting only one section of society - we all need to comply. Still, a bummer.

One tip though - and I've done this once. If you are unsure if you are bringing in more than the allowable limit, just go through red channel. When I did it, I waited a few minutes before a bloke came out from behind the one-way mirror. I told him that I wasn't sure if I had too many ciggies. He looked at my trolley whilst staying on the other side of the counter (I had two suitcases and a couple of duty free bags) and uttered two words - "move on". Didn't rummage, didn't ask any questions. I reckon it was five minutes before the next tea break...

Barberskum wrote:
dmcdona wrote:

Not sure what you mean about the cigarette analogy there but believe me, a container of ciggies would be waaaaayyyy more valuable that a container of telescopes (by volume)

Ya, I was saying if they were both worth a grand each not vol. What I mean is, form what I've read here and on other sites the sentiment is to try and trick or beat the customs and it seems people are ok with it of it's telescopes or cameras but what about if it was fags or booze? More of a stigma attached to these no?

Either way, the law is an ass.

Oh yeh, I see your point. But the number trying to beat the system with excess fags/booze is probably way more than telescopes/cameras. Besides, fags/booze are unhealthy - I'm off for a smoke and a glass of wine... :laugh: