kixs wrote on 2021-12-15, 07:28:

Everything is checked with X-rays and usually only opened if it's no other way - I had it opened only one time when they weren't happy with my documents. You have to take screenshots of paid items - eBay invoice, bank statement... PayPal usually isn't good enough and at least number of items have to match the declaration. Also if some item is suspiciously cheap, they will find equivalent/similar item on eBay.

Very similar to India, with the exception that a package beyond a specific set of dimensions (~20x20x5 cm) and over 500 g is always opened.

What about this nonsense... I've sold one item on eBay to someone outside of EU. He wasn't happy about it and decided to return it as not as described. Item arrived back to our Customs and they charged me 22% of VAT for importing it and it was declared as "returned item". I've also attached eBay return request - wasn't good enough. I would have to pay it anyway and after that file a complaint and this procedure costs more then what the VAT was. So you can't win the system 🙁

Hopefully you get your motherboards mate, if they go to a customs guy he’s likely to hand them over for scrap value - seen a few precious metal extraction vids on YouTube, mostly Indian. That second hand dealer nonsense is plainly an excuse - and my family knows about Indian bureaucracy too, my mother is from Chennai 😉

Australia has a more dependable system and Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian items arrived safely. As to duty, it used to be we had a $1000 item value threshold but since 2018 or 2019 all of our imports, from $0.50 and up and whether new or second hand, now get charged a flat 10% duty, because our stupid retail goods “king” *cough*Gerry Harvey*cough* got upset about overseas internet retailing reducing his gigantic profits and he has enough political clout to make it happen. So there is corruption everywhere you look.

JidaiGeki wrote on 2021-12-15, 13:16:

Hopefully you get your motherboards mate, if they go to a customs guy he’s likely to hand them over for scrap value - seen a few precious metal extraction vids on YouTube, mostly Indian. That second hand dealer nonsense is plainly an excuse - and my family knows about Indian bureaucracy too, my mother is from Chennai 😉

Nice to hear that 😀. Must be having nice south Indian food regularly. I actually live in Chennai and here since I was a kid. The second hand import ban is plain bull despite being a clause which even many customs officers are not aware of.

JidaiGeki wrote on 2021-12-15, 13:16:

Australia has a more dependable system and Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian items arrived safely. As to duty, it used to be we had a $1000 item value threshold but since 2018 or 2019 all of our imports, from $0.50 and up and whether new or second hand, now get charged a flat 10% duty, because our stupid retail goods “king” *cough*Gerry Harvey*cough* got upset about overseas internet retailing reducing his gigantic profits and he has enough political clout to make it happen. So there is corruption everywhere you look.

After reading through some of the posts in this thread, it seems like a similar situation exists elsewhere especially in parts of Eastern Europe, Canada, ANZ, etc. The flat 10% duty in Aus, 15% in NZ and 20% (?)in UK seem to be a real bummer which is also evident while ordering from Aliexpress. Looks like many commonwealth countries share a similar stupidity.

TheMobRules wrote on 2021-12-15, 05:30:

Here in South America customs officers are disgustingly corrupt and will assign an arbitrarily high price to items to either make you pay a ridiculous sum or just keep your stuff. Politicians adore protectionism over here and they apply it over and over again despite it always being a failure, I guess that lobbying and bribing by crummy local "businessmen" is too hard to resist (Argentina and Brazil are the worst examples).

I guess I'm lucky that my country allows full tax exemption on a few packages per year up to USD 200 each, but still had a few run-ins with customs officers regarding the price of some packages... once I imported a box with a few Roland MIDI modules from Japan, took me a while to get that one out of there but luckily the customs assholes were unable to understand what these things were, and the freight forwarder in Japan had marked a low price on the package.

Harsh realities of living in developing economies. India and South America are so similar. Bribes, Red tapism, Crony capitalism, etc. are the norms here. Got to know that duty reassessment in India can take upto 2 months to complete. A new stone age era indeed!!

New import system from 1st of July this year is imposed to all EU member countries - VAT has to be paid for all imports. Also VAT is different in every country (17 - 27%).

stealthjoe wrote on 2021-12-15, 16:25:

Nice to hear that :). Must be having nice south Indian food regularly. I actually live in Chennai and here since I was a kid. T […]
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JidaiGeki wrote on 2021-12-15, 13:16:

Hopefully you get your motherboards mate, if they go to a customs guy he’s likely to hand them over for scrap value - seen a few precious metal extraction vids on YouTube, mostly Indian. That second hand dealer nonsense is plainly an excuse - and my family knows about Indian bureaucracy too, my mother is from Chennai 😉

Nice to hear that 😀. Must be having nice south Indian food regularly. I actually live in Chennai and here since I was a kid. The second hand import ban is plain bull despite being a clause which even many customs officers are not aware of.

JidaiGeki wrote on 2021-12-15, 13:16:

Australia has a more dependable system and Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian items arrived safely. As to duty, it used to be we had a $1000 item value threshold but since 2018 or 2019 all of our imports, from $0.50 and up and whether new or second hand, now get charged a flat 10% duty, because our stupid retail goods “king” *cough*Gerry Harvey*cough* got upset about overseas internet retailing reducing his gigantic profits and he has enough political clout to make it happen. So there is corruption everywhere you look.

After reading through some of the posts in this thread, it seems like a similar situation exists elsewhere especially in parts of Eastern Europe, Canada, ANZ, etc. The flat 10% duty in Aus, 15% in NZ and 20% (?)in UK seem to be a real bummer which is also evident while ordering from Aliexpress. Looks like many commonwealth countries share a similar stupidity.

10% flat rate is certainly better than the US .. where its what ever each state decides and could be any arbitrary number. GST or whatever you call it is something no one likes but "and I hate saying this" its needed when income and business tax simply isn't enough to support the services the government provides. Like free healthcare and social welfare here in Australia, both of which are multi billion dollar systems, I feel like a shill saying this but even I understand its and evil I have to live with.

TrashPanda wrote on 2021-12-16, 01:00:

10% flat rate is certainly better than the US .. where its what ever each state decides and could be any arbitrary number. GST or whatever you call it is something no one likes but "and I hate saying this" its needed when income and business tax simply isn't enough to support the services the government provides. Like free healthcare and social welfare here in Australia, both of which are multi billion dollar systems, I feel like a shill saying this but even I understand its and evil I have to live with.

The thing that mainly differentiates India from Aus, US, Can, UK, etc. is that tax payers money are being put into proper use for the public welfare. Universal healthcare in Canada, Aus, UK and Germany is something to be lauded. US has a lower income tax rate compared to Canada mainly because there is no universal health care. I remember paying an effective tax rate of ~ 18% (Fed+State. I lived in Omaha) post my refunds. Yet, the quality of life there is far better than my country. In India I pay 30% tax and what do we get here in return? Shoddy roads, filthy streets, frequent power cuts, hefty highway tolls (despite paying road tax), poor water quality, animals dancing on busy roads (yes it still exists) etc. etc. Most importantly no universal healthcare or free education. The list is too long to describe.

stealthjoe wrote on 2021-12-16, 03:09:

TrashPanda wrote on 2021-12-16, 01:00:

10% flat rate is certainly better than the US .. where its what ever each state decides and could be any arbitrary number. GST or whatever you call it is something no one likes but "and I hate saying this" its needed when income and business tax simply isn't enough to support the services the government provides. Like free healthcare and social welfare here in Australia, both of which are multi billion dollar systems, I feel like a shill saying this but even I understand its and evil I have to live with.

The thing that mainly differentiates India from Aus, US, Can, UK, etc. is that tax payers money are being put into proper use for the public welfare. Universal healthcare in Canada, Aus, UK and Germany is something to be lauded. US has a lower income tax rate compared to Canada mainly because there is no universal health care. I remember paying an effective tax rate of ~ 18% (Fed+State. I lived in Omaha) post my refunds. In India I pay 30% tax and what do we get here in return? Shoddy roads, filthy streets, frequent power cuts, hefty highway tolls (despite paying road tax), poor water quality, animals dancing on busy roads (yes it still exists) etc. etc. Most importantly no universal healthcare or free education. The list is too long to describe.

Corruption at governmental levels leads to stupid tax rates like this and its a hard thing to get rid of.