USA Proxy Shipping Advice

[chip chop]

Hi, Not sure this is the right area for this question, please move if not.

Does anybody have any advice about selecting a USA proxy for shipping to Europe? Any experiance good/bad etc.

Being from Europe looking at boards on Ebay.com and $70 shipping on a $50 board seems strong.

Any advice would be valuable.

Cheers

[Phenix]

eg shipito or so work. however, check usps / fedex shipping first: estimate 10$ to the proxy + X$ for shipping to europe.

[chip chop]

I was thinking more of balancing the overall cost.

E.G. some of the Proxies will hold a items for upto 180 days. Then create a single shipping package. So, say I order 5 boards and have a single shipping (with proxy discount) of say $100 +/- plus proxies item handling fees. This discounts the total. If that makes sense or seems reasonable?

Just trying to think of a way to get what I want without helping UPS or FedEX's share price.

[j0d1]

I never thought about that, I wonder if proxies exist for Canada. A lot of nice keyboards are in the USA and crossing the border is costly for unknown reasons...

[fohat]

US Post Office flat rate priority mail boxes are about $55 to Canada and about $80 international. They will fit 2 standard keyboards or smaller, but only 1 large one.

There is little way for a private individual to get around this, although commercial rates are often lower.

[Phenix]

I was thinking about using a proxy to get around the German customs, but in the end if (say some keycaps from massdrop - sa carbon eg) are underdeclared and get lost in transit, Im fucked.

So I guess for saving customs it isnt worthwhile.

Otherwise to combine orders it is likely a good idea..

[vometia]

I don't think there's a reliable way of avoiding customs: I dunno how it is in Germany but in the UK it's at the point where it's best to just pre-pay them if the option is there as most shipping handlers will sting you with a sometimes quite hefty charge on top of the customs fee: why yes, I'm perfectly happy to pay you another £20 on top of the already exorbitant postage for giving me a brief advance on the £3 import fees. It's not like they don't get their money back since they'll hold parcels hostage until they get their pound of flesh.

Funny how things used to be much simpler and cheaper before online shopping really took off... and funny how when I go to the local shop they somehow manage to deal with all that awkward processing all due taxes and duties without charging me extra and delaying me for the privilege.

[chip chop]

You can ship from the US and have it marked as a "gift" and zero rated for import duty. But that only works on infrequent shippments, and a business usually would not mark it as a gift.

It was more for shaving down the shipping costs as the Import Duty is charged at 20% of the total "value" (inc postage) this is the bit the gets my goat as the shipping has not tangable value. 20% of the item value is fine but...

[alienman82]

removed.

[vometia]

It was more for shaving down the shipping costs as the Import Duty is charged at 20% of the total "value" (inc postage) this is the bit the gets my goat as the shipping has not tangable value. 20% of the item value is fine but...

I guess they see it as the "service" part of goods and services, but I agree, it's annoying, especially if you've already paid tax on the shipping at the origin. The most annoying thing has to be when you pay tax on tax, though: okay, literally speaking, the tax does have value, but it certainly doesn't have a value to me. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a higher tax-free allowance for privately importing goods from outside the EU but it's ridiculously low and they recently made it even lower.

[Phenix]

Declaring the goods as gift saves indeed customs - however, I am worried that if the parcel gets lost I am not insured at all.
(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

[chip chop]

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a higher tax-free allowance for privately importing goods from outside the EU but it's ridiculously low and they recently made it even lower.

But that is the EU for you, other more free trade countries have higher personal rates before duty kicks in. I think Australia is something like $1000.

[chip chop]

(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

I cant see why you couldn't insure it, but best to check with your local post office I guess.

[vometia]

But that is the EU for you, other more free trade countries have higher personal rates before duty kicks in. I think Australia is something like $1000.

I think in my case that's the UK for you and our "taxes are for the little people" mentality. I'd rather not get into the whole EU morass, speaking personally I'm pretty Euro-ambivalent and there's been so much nonsense spewed by both sides of that particular debate that it's utterly impossible to go anywhere useful with it.

[Slom]

Declaring the goods as gift saves indeed customs - however, I am worried that if the parcel gets lost I am not insured at all.
(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

That's actually a perfect recipe to get it stuck in Customs ... in my experience.

[XMIT]

FedEx International Ground is consistently cheaper to Canada than USPS flat rate.

[Phenix]

Declaring the goods as gift saves indeed customs - however, I am worried that if the parcel gets lost I am not insured at all.
(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

That's actually a perfect recipe to get it stuck in Customs ... in my experience.

thanks for sharing your experience.
Then I will hope and do three crosses if custom miss my next keyset parcel (from massdrop)..

[BPX-926]

Declaring the goods as gift saves indeed customs - however, I am worried that if the parcel gets lost I am not insured at all.
(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

That's actually a perfect recipe to get it stuck in Customs ... in my experience.

I would agree with this. If you do this, customs will hold it. They will sometimes open the parcel and attempt to determine the real value. Then charge you based on that value.

The best in my experience is to get the person sending it to send you it as a gift. Ensure that the value of the gift is below the gift threshold and you will not attract customs. This has worked for me many times. Many eBay sellers are very helpful like this.

[Slom]

Declaring the goods as gift saves indeed customs - however, I am worried that if the parcel gets lost I am not insured at all.
(or am I wrong and I can mark as gift + get it insured?)

That's actually a perfect recipe to get it stuck in Customs ... in my experience.

thanks for sharing your experience.
Then I will hope and do three crosses if custom miss my next keyset parcel (from massdrop)..

Massdrop tend to attach usable invoices, which means that you can pay the VAT at your local post office and not the nearest customs office.

[chip chop]

All good advice, I think the gift threshold in the U.K. is £50 inc postage cost. I guess it is always best to be honest for the simplist transaction.