[Team Xtreem] Stupid customs!!

[K.I.T.T.]

Seems I got screwed over the Team Xtreem RAM I won



ing customs!!

[kiwi]

What amount was declared on the package? Was it declared as a gift?

[K.I.T.T.]

Don't know.....will have to ask OPB

No way though VAT can be £30....the rate is 17.5%....was the ram worth £170?

[thomas66]

as you know only the death is for free

[kiwi]

Sometimes they open package and calculate tax themselves taking average price on the web or similar. But I think they can open only in your presence unless they have suspicion of dangerous contents

[Mr. Popo]

"IM IN UT FRIDGE, EATIN UR F00DZ."

I got my G.Skill for free.

[nn_step]

Send Team Xtreem the bill.

[Mr. Popo]

Try asking from Team the commercial invoice, so they can see it's only a sample and it has no commercial value.

[K.I.T.T.]

Any recommendations? Should I PM Team?

[Shpoon]

PM OPB once he gets unbanned...

[NickS]

They should have marked it as gift, always do that when shipping international.

[ElMoIsEviL]

Seems I got screwed over the Team Xtreem RAM I won



ing customs!!

You shouldn't ahve to pay anything. It was a prize. You did not pay for the items therefore you do not owe any duties/taxes.

You will need to communicate with your customs and revenue agency and explain it to them. Also acquire an email from Team Extreme as evidence.

[Highland3r]

Doesn't seem to matter what stuff is marked as coming into the UK sometimes...
Had a package sent marked as gift and was charged VAT on the insured value of the item.
Another was sent warranty return and I paid VAT on the declared value of that too..

Then again had another package sent from Aus, didnt pay a penny on that! Gotta love UK customs

[Pyr0]

even if an item is marked as a gift, it's still only allowed a value up to £35 (if i remember correctly)
i've been screwed by customs before for import duty and handling fees because a friend shipped me some memory from the US marked as "gift"

most of the time now i get things shipped as "samples" with a low value declared

[J-Mag]

I just shipped some fans to Canada and declared them @ $25 and the end-user got a customs charge for almost $12.. WTF!

I thought Canadian customs didn't charge you unless it was over $100-200 or something around those lines.

Anyone know info about Canadian customs fees?

[Shpoon]

I just shipped some fans to Canada and declared them @ $25 and the end-user got a customs charge for almost $12.. WTF!

I thought Canadian customs didn't charge you unless it was over $100-200 or something around those lines.

Anyone know info about Canadian customs fees?

It's random.

Period.

I've gotten some items, not gift, >$100, no charge. Some items "gift" at about $30 and I get charged. It's a luck game...

(Whoever reviews your package places it into a category, some place it in the category with no charges, some place it in the ones with charges, then they hit you....EMS shipping also get "handling fees").

[J-Mag]

It's random.

Period.

Yeah I have shipped maybe 20 packages over the last year and a half to canada and no one EVER got any customs charges.

Now that this guy paid almost half of what the product was worth to customs he is pissed at me.

What is your opinion on who is responsible for this fee?

[K.I.T.T.]

Anyone RRP on these sticks? According to my calcs, the tax charged makes it £170...i doubt it's even worth £110

And I'm not paying THEIR handling charge. That should have been covered in the shipping....they can shove it up their ass

[bachus_anonym]

K.I.T.T., just calm down and contact TeamGroup (which you should have done in a first place, instead of ranting here) and see If they can help you solve this. Also, get in touch with the Customs and ask them, what kind of document could TG submit to them to release your package without paying taxes and duties. As it was mentioned above, If they TG could provide a document proving it's a commercial sample and contest price, then it might do it. If that doesn't help, perhaps deny the package so it comes back to the Sender and start over from scratch...

[TeamUSOffice]

Hi K.I.T.T.,

I told Kevin about this issue and he sent me this picture of the custom paper work he filled out. He did marked it as a gift, the only thing I think he wrote it wrong was the value; it should be $150.00. He was thinking about 1G*2's price. I am trying to figure out a solution of how to take care of this right now. I will PM you if i can come out with anything. Sorry about it, but we already marked it as gift so ..... what else can we do in the future to avoid problem like this?

[Rolle2k]

Hi K.I.T.T.,
Sorry about it, but we already marked it as gift so ..... what else can we do in the future to avoid problem like this?

Declare the value of the rams like $25 then there is no customs.. UK have £18 as customs limit.. if the package is worth more than that they have to pay Customs.. In Sweden our limit is 200SEK ($28 or something).

When marked as gift the limit is a bit higher in Sweden 500SEK, but if the customs see that it's sent from a company and not a private person then you probably still have to pay customs.. It's probably the same in UK.
So the best way is to write the sender as just a name, and not a company.. then mark as gift and a lower value. Or if you have to write a company name, then the best way would probably be to Mark as "Commercial Sample" and a lower price.
The bad stuff with lowering the value is that you will get back less cash if the package is insured and is getting lost in the post.

[rapty]

Well Maybe Covering his Import Duty would be the first Problem you could Solve.

He did offer free Advertiseing Work for his Prize and to be offered a Bill on top of his Prize for a written mistake is well off the the written Mark and Your Company Image.

I'm no Bum Sucker thats for Certain how can the guy be asked to pay for something after such a easy Error as mistakeing Import Duties, it does make you Question Team Xtreem's Professional Outlook if they can't even get simple Import Duties and Tax Criteria right.

[kiwi]

EU laws are the same for all EU member countries. It absolutely does not matter if you marked the package as gift or if you won the prize. 45EUR is the limit but may vary from country to country. The best way to send a package from US/Canada to EU is to do this:

1. Send EMS - fast, safer and I've never had problems with taxes

2. Declare value up to $20-$50 - even if you pay tax it will be very little

3. And mark it as "gift"

#2 being the most important
Sometimes up to $100 is fine but more than that and tax is here

In this case no documents will help, trust me. Refuse the package and let the other end send again. Sorry this is the only way to avoid tax.

[Pinnacle]

what else can we do in the future to avoid problem like this?

As a company in this situation you should know. OCZ, ASUS and BFG seem to know the post office very well, nomatter how many times I RMA their stuff I have never been charged customes and it had to be 20 times or more.

Maybe you guys should have sent it as RMA?

I had sellers from the USA declare as low as $0-20 and I still got hit

[Shpoon]

Yeah I have shipped maybe 20 packages over the last year and a half to canada and no one EVER got any customs charges.

Now that this guy paid almost half of what the product was worth to customs he is pissed at me.

What is your opinion on who is responsible for this fee?

He is, you did nothing wrong, you don't control the customs agents, if he has a problem, he can deal with them.

You sold a product at a fair price, and after the box left you, it's out of your hands.