[PS3] Importing Games - Avoid UPS Delivery

Uthred

Well I decided I'd preorder Gundam Musou, I ordered it online form Gamestop as it worked out the cheapest. And this morning when I got a phone call from the courier I was pretty pleased. When the courier arrived and told me there was a COD charge I was less pleased, when it turned out to be 35 quid I was ****ing livid.

The vat (~18) was fair enough, but there was a mysterious charge on the invoice for 14+VAT listed under "Other Charges", when I rang the UPS helpdesk to query this I was cheerfully told it was an "Administration Charge". So instead of the game costing around ~70 it ended up costing around ~90. So for anyone else planning on importing games I strongly suggest you avoid anywhere that ships them via UPS.

whiterebel

Anyone can charge you once they have to clear it coming into the EU. An Post, DHL etc all have departments to do clearances. To be honest, @14+VAT isn't too bad. I've seen clearance charges alone at €40........

AnCapaillMor

If ever ordering outside the EU, ordered standard post(there's a slight chance you'll get charged, but so much goes through very little gets checked). DHL, UPS will screw you, blame customs and excise. Ordered t-shirts once, cost 100, cost 230 altogether with shippiung and the customs charge.

stay away from UPS FED X amd DHL .

mathias

stay away from UPS FED X amd DHL .

What you guys have to understand is that its nothing to do with the shipping companys , imported stuff is all liable for VAT , and if you havnt paid the VAT there is most likely a fine in the form of administation charges , this goes for everything ordered outside the EU where no VAT has been charged.

The fact that sometimes you dont get caught is a bonus , and also tax evasion , but nothing to do with the shipping company. Those charges are added by customs and excise , and must be recovered from the buyer , you dont expect the shipping company to pay your taxes for you do you ?

Roar

it happened to me when i bought a san fran 49ers top from nfl.com, had to pay 60 euro duty on a 90 dollar top..

although once when i ordered a ds extreme, the company put down on the invoice that it was a "blank circuit board sample" with a $2 value so it avoided customs

Creamy Goodness

these other charges are UPS charge for actually paying the vat and customs charges for you so your item gets into the country (everything has to be paid for before it enters ireland).

mathias

the company put down on the invoice that it was a "blank circuit board sample" with a $2 value so it avoided customs

If caught doing the likes of this , (also marking stuff up as a gift , etc ), it results in an even bigger fine for the buyer as this is blatant tax evasion , the company that marked up the item like this can receive a huge fine and may have their shipping processes audited. ( and could then be hit with an absolutely massive retrospective tax bill that could put them out of business )
As part of my job I have to ship stuff internationally , lately , customs have been cracking down hard on this type of practice , and all the stuff I ship or receive must have the correct quoted value and a certified proof of where that quote came from.

cashman

Oh crap I bought a Final Fantasy VII figure from an American website I payed the VAT on this item but I chose UPS as the courier. Will I get a big fee from customs

Placebo

im gonna be ordering arcade stick, from japan, dhl or fedex, i think? :S

Creamy Goodness

dhl.

GothPunk

Crap. I have 2 Japanese FFVII PSPs being sent over on the 13th - thats €630's worth of stuff. I don't think I can afford to pay whatever the duty would be on that. I bought 5 copies of Pokemon for the DS from the same store before and didn't get charged at customs, I guess I was just lucky. Then again I just chose US-PS Priority Express Mail so I guess that would go through An Post - and therefore maybe escaped customs (as AnCapaillMor mentioned above.)

Dammit, I really hope I don't get charged, probably should have thought of that before!

Importing games really makes sense though, it's generally cheaper (even including shipping) and you get the games earlier. Although some EU games get extra content, that only happens with the odd game. So I guess gambling with customs is worth it in some cases.

I highly recommend NCSX.com for imports, they even accept 3V cards, which I've had trouble using on other US games websites. And they ship using US-PS, so maybe then you have a chance of avoiding customs.