The SurpriseBox Worldwide Trip 2

[Muirium]

In Britain there is only gift and merchandise, nothing else. And you get taxed on the value of both!

Fortunately not for items shipping within the EU, though. Where the whole thing is just ignored.

[chzel]

Gift is poison in German

Literally poison...

[Muirium]

Huh, I thought you guys were making a Germans are mean joke. But no! I should know, I'm a Scotsman!

[Mal-2]

Huh, I thought you guys were making a Germans are mean joke. But no! I should know, I'm a Scotsman!

And in French, "poisson" is fish, but "poison" is poison. See, your mother was right — spelling can save your life!

[Hypersphere]

And now we have phishing -- a new sort of poisonous activity. As for "Gift", Paracelsus famously said the following:
<<Alle Dinge sind Gift, und nichts ist ohne Gift; allein die dosis machts, daß ein Ding kein Gift sei.>> That is, everything is a poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose can make something not poisonous.

[Mrinterface]

Is there any update on this?

[7bit]

Gift comes from to give. It is originally the same word. You give poison to someone, so the poison is the Gift!


The real reason why not to declare as gift or cadeau is that customs people are thinking it is a trick to circumvent taxes, so they get extra pissy!


Ideally, if you export to Europe (ie at least the EU), you should add an invoice in an envelope (ideally a clear plastic bag, with INVOICE on it) to the package, plus fill in the customs declaration (on the address and stamps label thing).


The HTS-code for keyboards and parts thereof is:
8471 60 20 00


Also:
Always declare the true value of the contents and not the fantasy value the seller thought it was worth!

[Ascaii]

I found a couple interesting typewriters....the pile of things for the box grows.

[Muirium]

Anything that would go well with these IBM Selectric / Beamspring caps?

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I miss U!

[fifted]

Typewriters, eh? I'm glad I'm in line before Ascaii.

7bit: The Left Zero button is a nice condolence for U.

[Ascaii]

Muirium, yes.

Several different things. Not going to put it in the box, but would anyone be interested in a typewriter ancient alps switches and doubleshots?

[scottc]

Perhaos, perhaps! I've been considering getting nice ALPS caps for a bit...

[Ascaii]

Perhaos, perhaps! I've been considering getting nice ALPS caps for a bit...

The old mount, not modern alps ^^

[Nuum]

I'd be interested, any chance they are German layout?

[scottc]

Perhaos, perhaps! I've been considering getting nice ALPS caps for a bit...

The old mount, not modern alps ^^

Ah, I should've gotten that from "ancient"! Still, might be of some use for an Apple M0110 or something similar. Probably too large a project for me to take on, though, but I'd love to see someone take them and do a really good job with them.

[Ascaii]

ill take some pictures

[Muirium]

Muirium, yes.

Yes beamsprings? That'd be a welcome kind of yes!

[Compgeke]

Sorry for not letting you guys know but it was shipped. I'll get the tracking number tomorrow as I cba to go out to the car and get the receipt.

Should be at the next destination by Monday of next week.

[Ascaii]

Muirium, no. xD Sadly, no beam spring, but they look just as good

Glad to hear it, Com...hope everything is going better now.

[7bit]

Great!

Only one more until it comes to Europe!

[Muirium]

Speaking of which: we need to update the list. DanielT's still the first European, but he requested not to, because of dodgy new postage issues in Romania:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/the ... ml#p207731

Anyone want to save Ascaii the import tax hit by being first over here?

[DanielT]

I said that I will cover the import taxes for Ascaii, for me this was never a problem, I don't want the package to get lost that is the most important thing. And there is a problem with USPS tracking not working here.

[fifted]

So, as the guy who will be sending it over the pond, I will mail it (tracked via USPS) to Ascaii in DE but DanielT will make him whole for import taxes. Right? Goodness, I wonder how much the transoceanic postage will be. And how much the package weighs... And what's inside it... Gah! Hurry, Mr. Postman!

[Muirium]

I sent the original surprise box across the Atlantic. Think tracked shipping was about $30-40. It may be a bigger box this time! But you're in the US, so you get a way better deal sending here than vice versa. Should balance out!

[fifted]

Thanks μ, that is just the sort of information that will help me sleep easier.

Last surprise box, was there any sort of reimbursement for those big hops? I note that the OP says "We still need to decide on what to do with excessive continent border crossing postage cost." It seems the consensus may be "pay it".

(To be clear, that's an okay solution; I've been saving my hobby budget.)

[Compgeke]

At the current size\weight it would be ~$50 to mail it as-is to Germany. Not sure what taxes would be on it as I've never dealt with that.

[fifted]

Compgeke! Thanks for the intel. What'd you take out? Pics?

[Halvar]

We could allow fifted and the bearer of the tax to take something more valuable out of the box. Or MrInterface could give them a little "cashback" after the box will have gone back and its contents auctioned or raffled out.

[Muirium]

I wasn't reimbursed last time. But I expected shipping would be costly, so I made off with all the stabs I wanted! So it worked out in practice.

Tax will be 20% of the declared value for customs on the box. USPS will make you fill in a little declaration sticker that has to be on international packages, saying what's inside and what the value is. "Keyboard components" is all you need to say, detail wise. The value, well…

[fifted]

Okay, thanks for the discussion and the voices of experience! After all that, I don't think I'll need any special treatment for this hop -- I'll just figure it out.

μ, should I get the box seen by a professional keyboard appraiser?