Help wanted on getting parts from the US

[bigparsnip]

oh.

[Duck-Twacy]

In the Netherlands you have to pay custom tax (invoerrechten) and VAT (btw 19.5%) on the price of the goods and on the shipping costs. And there are a zillion different rates for the import, form 0 - 30 %. Its really crazy.

I have recently bought a pair of 12" woofers (24 kilo package) from Florida. Shipping was $150. It was send airport to airport, which means I had to pay a lot of additional costs to get them from Schiphol (about 160 euro). However somehow the shipper had succeeded in getting a very low import tax rate (below 7 euro, which then you do not have to pay). All the money went to the shipper for handling, storage, declarings, administartion and so on.

[Keld]

Originally posted by Duck-Twacy
In the Netherlands you have to pay custom tax (invoerrechten) and VAT (btw 19.5%) on the price of the goods and on the shipping costs. And there are a zillion different rates for the import, form 0 - 30 %. Its really crazy.

Almost the same rules as in Sweden, if you are ordering from outside the EEC, but if you are ordering from inside the EEC there is no custom, no tax execpt the tax in the sender country. so its always best to try to find the goodies inside our big happy comunity

One way is to find someone "over there" that can ship the goods as a private person, as "a gift" (soon it's X-mas) that way there will be no custom or tax ( there is a max limit, check with custom).

DVC Keld

[cocolino]

One way is to find someone "over there" that can ship the goods as a private person, as "a gift" (soon it's X-mas) that way there will be no custom or tax ( there is a max limit, check with custom).

You could avoid the limit when the sender does not specify or does not declare value over this limit but then You`ve to live with it that in case of damage or lost of Your (insured) item there is no refund of the actual value.

OTOH... ever tried to get refund from a shipper in case of damage?... a friend of mine did....what a trouble!!!..... and after months he still did not get anything.....just forget it!

IMO damage in shipping mostly is due to insufficient packing and that something gets lost is very, very rare.

Anyway, no risk no fun

[tiroth]

I have heard USPS basically never pays out on insurance claims, which is why a lot of shippers refuse to use them.

If you want a scary story a recent package I received (shipped via DHL) was taken out of its double cardboard boxes, shrinkwrap, and protective pressboard panels. The panels were then taped back to it and it was sent on, sans wrapping or cardboard. There is really no protection against this kind of abuse.

Apparantly this was the work of U.S. customs...John Ashcroft protecting me from my new sub.

[dhaen]

The UK post office is no better.
I sold a scrap laptop on ebay. The buyer insisted on just plain postal insurance.
Sure enough it dissappeared.
I submitted the claim form for reimbursement, and was told that I had to attach the "certificate of posting".
As I handed it over, I joked "can I have a reciept for this, it's the only proof I've got now". "No" was the reply, "we don't and can't".
I had to reimburse the buyer.
1 year later, I sometimes wonder what ever happened to the laptop, claim form and certiicate of posting.
They just shook their heads in the post office last time I asked.

[jackinnj]

at the beginning of September you could fly yourself from New York to Amsterdam, Paris or Madrid on AIR INDIA ROUND TRIP for $280. Thus, your seller could have packed th speakers in his suitcase (you are allowed 2), even declared them and paid the duty and had you buy dinner. No, you didn't have to go further on to Delhi or Mumbai either.

I was thinking of loading up the suitcase with Analog Devices and Linear Tech stuff and taking a trip to Amsterdam -- have a one-man tent show outside Schipol. Or if anyone wants to meet me in Toulouse in October ...