Ordering from the States...

thesteve

Not sure where to put this question but figured anyone browsing the Technology section might know an answer.....

Anyone know how to figure out how much customs you're going to get charged when ordering from the USA?

I know that it's not just on electronics, etc before anyone jumps on me, and I know that you only get charged after a certin limit, but does anyone have exact figures/percentages?

And if you're ordering through a business, can you get away without paying the customs, etc? I've tried google for the solution to these questions and came up with nothing...

thanks in advance

Spocker

Hi Steve,

AFAIK not every parcel/packet is checked when it arrives in this country - the customs guys are only human after all. You take your chances on that - no guarentee that you packet will get through unnnoticed.

I heard/read somewhere a long time ago that items less than €18 ($..?) were allowed through - no duty payable. Anything over that (I think) got checked.

I ordered some stuff from Thinkgeek before for about $220 and got stiffed for an extra €49 by UPS when the stuff arrived - UPS (collecting on behalf of the customs people) send you an invoice after they have delivered the items. Beware, some carriers hold onto you box until you pay the customs.

I think you always have to pay the customs, regardless if you're a company or not.


Hope this is of some help..

rymus

last time I checked (which would have been just before christmas) the limit was $50 afaik. I've never put this to test however as all I've ever ordered from the US are motorbike parts and theres no duty on them.. or mobile phones for that matter...

Steve, if you can't find the info on http://oasis.gov.ie ring the Customs people. Their number should be somewhere around gov.ie and/or in the phone book.

thesteve

cheers lads, one more quick (possibly stupid) question... wouldn't it be the yank customs i'd have to ring and not the irish?

Spocker

No such luck! It's Irish customs you are charging you for the pleasure of bringing the products into the country. The yanks (or any other country) charge nothing to let it leave...

thesteve

you're joking, i never knew that... ok, again one more question, is there customs charged for delivery from the US to the UK? (i've got family up north)

cheers

joePC

its 22% of the total value, The best way to get them sent over is if you have a family member willing to send items maked as gift this way they never get checked.
The is also a company that do it + a small charge.

No more customs charges

Thanks JoePC

Big Chief

Originally posted by joePC
its 22% of the total value, The best way to get them sent over is if you have a family member willing to send items maked as gift this way they never get checked.
The is also a company that do it + a small charge.

No more customs charges

Thanks JoePC

can you confirm that this company is reliable?

quarryman

quote from their faq.

How does it work with import taxes?
Import fees are usually based on the declared value used on the customs form. To help you we can declare the wholesale value (the fair production value, 40-50% less than the retail price) on your items and mark the shipment a gift. However we can not guarantee that you will not have to pay import taxes in your country. .

if it was a reliable site it would be a good alternative for picking up an ipod.

voxpop

its 22% of the total value, The best way to get them sent over is if you have a family member willing to send items maked as gift this way they never get checked.

This is totally wrong, you have to pay duty and vat on gifts over €45

" Customs duty and VAT is not payable on consignments of a value not exceeding €45 which are sent as gifts by private individuals from third countries for the personal or family use of private individuals in the State."

http://www.revenue.ie/faqs/custbref.htm

CivilServant

Americangoodies, charge you a fee and 8% of whatever you buy. So your money is going to them and not to the government.

StickyMcGinty

whats the ratio like?

how many packages in 100 get checked....

surely they dont all get checked... this IS ireland of course.

surely there is some monkey stamping most of em...

John R

The courier companies do their own checking on behalf of Customs, most charge a clearing fee so it is in their own interest to add it on. Regular post often gets through as An Post don't seem too bothered, but beware parcels sent by US Post, here they are handled by GLS who are slow, unreliable, expensive and have no apparent customer service department.

blobert

I ordered a €400 soundcard from the states about a year or two ago and got charged no duty or tax. I seem to recall the price appeared on the outside of the parcel as well and nothing happened. Perhaps I was just lucky, though I have a feeling they are quite lax on these things. A friend of mine got "caught" bringing back home expensive electrical stuff and managed to sweet talk his way out of it witout paying anything.

So you might me fine...

StickyMcGinty

Originally posted by John R
The courier companies do their own checking on behalf of Customs, most charge a clearing fee so it is in their own interest to add it on. Regular post often gets through as An Post don't seem too bothered, but beware parcels sent by US Post, here they are handled by GLS who are slow, unreliable, expensive and have no apparent customer service department.

tell me about it, i ordered an ipod mini off ebay for a lorra lolly, and after forking out $40 on delivery i still havnt got it, and the tracking says it arrived in GREECE on friday?? USPS global express my arse!

it left the US on sunday morning, 11th!

any guesses as to when it will arrive?? will i be stung for tax too??

ejmaztec

It's guaranteed that you will be stung for Vat if GLS has anything to do with it. they'll also charge an admin fee on top of €9.50, or thereabouts. I had a delivery from USPS before they linked up with GLS a couple of years ago and paid no Vat at all.

John R

Originally posted by VinnyL
tell me about it, i ordered an ipod mini off ebay for a lorra lolly, and after forking out $40 on delivery i still havnt got it, and the tracking says it arrived in GREECE on friday?? USPS global express my arse!

it left the US on sunday morning, 11th!

any guesses as to when it will arrive?? will i be stung for tax too??

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is May before you get it, they really are the worst of the worst, sorry mate.

StickyMcGinty

Originally posted by John R
I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is May before you get it, they really are the worst of the worst, sorry mate.

feck, feck it anyway!!

SURELY there is a phone number for these cowboys!!!

StickyMcGinty

I have finally got throught to GLS ireland, and they told me it'll be here on friday, after i pay €36 import tax! b*stards!

Anyway, to show you how incompetant they are, look at the conflicting tracking information i got:

Tracking Information from USPS.com:

Track & Confirm

Shipment Details

You entered EC10 **** **1 US

Your item is being processed by customs in GREECE. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

Here is what happened earlier:
ARRIVED ABROAD, IRELAND, April 16, 2004, 4:45 pm
ARRIVED ABROAD, GREECE, April 16, 2004, 12:48 am
INTERNATIONAL DISPATCH, KENNEDY AMC, April 11, 2004, 10:22 am
ENROUTE, April 11, 2004, 4:35 am, JAMAICA, NY 11499





Tracking information from gls-ireland.com:

Parcel Nr Status Date Time Comments Status
****** 63 2004-04-21 9:47 Clearance Delay, Importer Ireland

---

66 2004-04-21 9:45 Clearance Delay, Importer Ireland

---

63 2004-04-20 10:37 Clearance Delay, Importer Ireland

---

63 2004-04-19 11:18 Clearance Delay, Importer Ireland

---

61 2004-04-16 17:05 In Clearance Process Ireland

---

04 2004-04-16 16:45 Arrival At Destination Ireland

---

02 2004-04-16 :48 Parcel Sorted In HUB United Kingdom

---

03 2004-04-16 :48 Parcel Sorted in HUB United Kingdom

---

01 2004-04-15 4:53 Parcel Left Origin Cntry. USP

---

03 2004-04-14 19:49 Parcel Sorted in HUB Germany

---

22 2004-04-14 19:48 Parcel In Warehouse Germany

---

03 2004-04-14 19:46 Parcel Sorted in HUB Germany

And these companies are in partnership??

btw I HAD TO CONTACT GLS to find out how much it was going to cost me, i never heard a word from them until i asked them, so my parcel was just sitting there!!

they were very nice on the phone though, but i shouldn't have to go throught this craic just to get my parcel from A to B.

Genghis

Vinny,

sorry to drag up the old post, but I am going through similar agony having elected to save $25to use USPS (3-5 day service) versus FedEx (2-3 day service). It is now day 10, and the last I heard was that my item arrived last Friday in Germany.

So, three questions:

1. Did it arrive on the Friday?
2. How do you convert the USPS tracking number to the GLS tracking number - USPS is EC#########US, GLS are looking for 11 digits, no letters?
3. How did you pay for customs - cash, credit card, invoice and pay later, etc?

Cheers.

Sir Random

I'll be ordering an X800XT in a few weeks (on release) from the U.S. so I'll let y'all know how it goes.
I've never had any probs with parcels from the U.S., my G/F gets about 2 per month from her mini-club friends (they exchange stuff regularly) and we've never been asked to pay duty/vat (cornflake box size).

I always thought that PC/IT components were exempt from import duty in Ireland? (PS2/XBOX/Mobile phones not incl.)

StickyMcGinty

Originally posted by Genghis
Vinny,

sorry to drag up the old post, but I am going through similar agony having elected to save $25to use USPS (3-5 day service) versus FedEx (2-3 day service). It is now day 10, and the last I heard was that my item arrived last Friday in Germany.

So, three questions:

1. Did it arrive on the Friday?
2. How do you convert the USPS tracking number to the GLS tracking number - USPS is EC#########US, GLS are looking for 11 digits, no letters?
3. How did you pay for customs - cash, credit card, invoice and pay later, etc?

Cheers.

genghis,no bother, i'd love to hear from anyone with similar experience...

i e-mailed a fella called Ronan Peyton, after trawling the GLS website looking for irish import manager, who works for GLS on ronan.peyton@gls-ireland.com

send him your tracking number, and he'll send you a tracking number back. you should also try ringing them, if you want.

i did get it on the friday, GLS seem to deliver on time, but i had to pay €40 duty, which is ONLY payable by cash.

i was chattin to the courier who said they dont take cheque cause most people were cancelling them afterwards, and the courier must then foot the bill!!

if you can though, stay away from the express USPS service.

the airmail seems grand though.

let me know how ye get on genghis!!

StickyMcGinty

Originally posted by Sir Random


I always thought that PC/IT components were exempt from import duty in Ireland? (PS2/XBOX/Mobile phones not incl.)

ha ha, no chance!

the good aul boys in Customs arn't that friendly...

if its less than €40 worth your alright, but if its over €40 and marked gift, the tax is 12%

if its ovr €40 and marked merchandise, then its a lovely big fat 24%

Genghis

Cheers Vinny, I have sent your man a mail, asking for the tracking number and anything else he can tell me. Best case scenario now is that he tells me it is in Dublin, but not ready to deliver - I'd go out and pick it up. Worst case, it is still in Germany (where it arrived last Friday), and there is no further information as to when it will clear for shipment to Ireland.

I'll post back details as they arrive in my mailbox.

decob

USPS have some info on the charges on their site for GLS...
http://www.usps.com/global/intlratesfaq.htm

http://www.usps.com/global/duties.htm

wild_eyed

what if the package is marked 'sample'?

Tenshot

For what it's worth, I ordered some stuff from the US recently for delivery to the company. The courier was UPS (_not_ USPS).

UPS rang up the day before the item was due in to get the company VAT number; when I asked what the VAT/customs charge would be, they said there would be none - since the company was registered for VAT, they had done some kind of arrangement with Revenue whereby the VAT simply isn't charged in the first place. I presume this is to to save all the administration overhead of charging VAT in one place only to have it reclaimed immediately afterwards. And there was no administration charge either (no doubt because UPS had little or no administration to deal with).

As for GLS... don't get me started. Allegedly, surface mail from the US is now faster (and a LOT cheaper) than airmail. Unfortunately, Amazon US don't seem to offer surface mail any more :-(

Tenshot

they had done some kind of arrangement with Revenue

Hmm, re-reading this, I was slightly unclear. I meant that UPS had done the arrangement with revenue to deduct VAT at source, not the receiving company (who weren't even aware this was possible).