no purchases from the USA for me for a while (edit: issue solved to some extend)

It’s because IS was “honest”. They put the real value on the declaration form. Then with usps it’s just luck, it pass or not. With express carrier (ups, FedEx…) it’s automatic (you get caught 100%) when the value reach a certain amount (25$ by experience).
I looked on some yellow envelope from fasttech and for something that cost me 4$, they declared 0.56$. On another one with a total of 40$, they declared 6.86$. In fact I think all B2C Chinese website with free shipping does that, a package caught in custom is a reffunded order.
When I buy from us reseller, I always ask for reduced declared value, most of them refuse (I don’t know why, maybe too much control is the US) and I don’t buy.

For me its going to be the opposite. I am thinking of ordering only from US sellers.

Funny, that’s exactly what happens in Canada too. There are lots of things I’d like to buy from USA Sellers but the combination of the high USPS shipping fees and the fee the post office charges in Canada for me to pick it up makes using US based Suppliers painful. It’s too bad for US sellers that forces beyond their control have made them unable to be competative in the global economy.

The 22€ limit is here too(maybe it’s a EU thing…?) but above I only have to pay the standard sales tax of 19% no fees or so. Customs duty(is that the correct word for Zoll?) only above 150€…
You have to consider that the shipping costs count also to the 22€, so I always try to order below 30$ including shipping.
Sometimes I wondered what the land will earn if a customs guy has to check my parcel, put it on the shelve, notice me that I have a parcel, than I have to go there, they print some forms, fill the forms, stamp them, sign them, hand them to another customs worker which takes my money, stamps the bill, signs the bill and hand me out the catalog of documents….? I guess that is the point why you have to pay standard fees of some euros in other lands.

By the way why does IS don’t sell sell bare xml2u2 anymore?

We are lucky, Deutsche Post/DHL does not charge for customs handling. Since normal foreign mail (usps, hkpost etc) is handled through normal mail, no charges.
Other packet services will charge! UPS Germany for example will charge 30€ for customs handling, FedEX ~10€

I guess the Netherlands postal service is not so generous, 13€ fee sucks when you don’t expect it.

I can sympathize somewhat with the frustration our friends in Europe experience when buying from the states.

I’m a big fan of synthesizer/space/MOOG/Mellotron music.
One of the best shops in the world for that sort of music is in the Netherlands (http://www.grooveunlimited.nl/).
Between the poor value of the dollar vs the euro, and expensive postage across the Atlantic; a single CD costs at least $30 (sometimes close to $40).
As much as I’d like to buy more CDs from them, it’s just too expensive to do so very often (or at all).

OTOH…

If you’re a move buff (and live in the U.S.); Amazon.uk is known as a sort of bargain site to get box sets of movies that aren’t missing parts (thanks to obnoxious Hollywood editing), typically come in nicer packaging, and are often (much) cheaper than buying from Amazon.us.

If insured, the declared value is what they get reimbursed if it gets eaten in the mail or stolen by someone who claims it never arrived. The risk is simply greater than the reward for a sale lost.

The limit for EU is 22 EUR with shipping included. Every package with value above 22 EUR is taxed by 20(Czech Rep.) and orders above 150 EUR pay a duty (1 - 4), too. Handling fee for Czech Post is about 10 USD.

The limit is different for different countries in EU!!!!

for Denmark it is less than 11 EURO! (But without postage).

Not a package but you should be getting a small letter next week.

I have a 105C board ready for clearing

godverdomme Dutch customs are a bunch of klootzaks. :bigsmile:

you picked up some classy dutch words, farty! . (but plural of 'klootzak' is ' klootzakken' )

That’s me trying to apply English rules to Dutch |( I once worked for a company in Leeds where I was the only Englishman amongst about 7 or 8 Dutchman.

sorry, I missed the deeper layers there .

I worked in Leicester for a year, with lots of englishmen.

Well, I knew more scottish and irish people there than native people from Leicester

Maybe the klootzakken in question are Brits.
-Edit Is this something that shouldn’t be repeated in polite company?

I don’t know what it means but it sounds like it should apply to our “Border Force, er Farce er Arse”, yes that’s more like it. :slight_smile:

EDIT………I’ve just looked it up on Google translate and it appears that I was very close.

Are there no vendors in your own country that can meet your needs? Even if they are a little more expensive per item, it should still be cheaper than you ordering directly from here (U.S.). Let your local vendors deal with the hassle of shipping and all that import/export nonsense. Apparently, Amsterdam has some pretty extortionist import taxes!

This is a non issue for me. I have never once directly bought anything from a foreign country. Ever. I’ve heard and read far to many horror stories about it. The fact that we are talking about it now, proves my point. Shipping is usually expensive and worse yet, if ANYTHING goes wrong either with shipping or warranty issues, the whole thing becomes a tedious nightmare and immediately not worth the trouble. I place a value on my time and prefer to waste as little of it as possible. If I need something produced in a different country from mine, I find a U.S. vendor that sells it and handles all warranty/service/return issues. If no U.S. vendor sells that particular item (whatever it is) I change course and pick something else to buy.

It’s not that I don’t like stuff made in other places. My Sony TV was made in Japan but I sure as heck didn’t order it from there to try and save $10. Same for my washer and dryer or air conditioner. All three of them were made in Korea but bought locally. Flashlights? I admit that 95% of my lights are made here (U.S.) but I own a bunch of inexpensive (made somewhere else) lights that I purchased from U.S. vendors for all the reasons I have previously stated.

My best suggestion is to find dealers/vendors in Amsterdam that can accommodate your interests and save yourself a lot of headaches. Many will say they have had no issues with international shipping. Many will tell you the exact opposite. The choice is yours to make.

This is just my 2 cents on international shipping. :slight_smile:

The markets are very different in the US and in European countries, for a start every single EU country has a market significantly smaller than the potential US market, by the time we import these things to sell them (flashlight parts here) they are priced out of the market. The businesses simply don’t exist.

I buy and sell internationally and have experienced only a few problems, though they do generally take longer to work out - on the whole it has worked out in my favour.

If I buy locally, my 'budget' flashlighthobby would not exist, for there are no dutch or even EU dealers for cheap chinese stuff, at least not for the prices we pay overseas.

But the issue in the OP has lessened now I know the EU limits for taxing :-)