| Author |
Message |
Seth
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
Hello All,
Has anyone out there solfshipped a guitar internationally? A gentleman in South America is interested in bidding on the LR10 I have listed on eBay, but I put the "will ship to US only" disclaimer on the auction, because I've heard there can be some funky taxes and duties on goods shipped abroad. Are there any special things a seller/shipper should know? Any advice, words of wisdom, or cautionary tales would be much appreciated.
Seth |
JohnS
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
Call the shipping company (FedEx has an International division) you plan to use and ask about EVERY charge that would apply to your delivery.
Beware: EVERY country is different regarding tax rates, duties & how items are classified. And, the shipping company is NOT obligated to tell you about anything more than the actual cost of FedEx's actual shipping charges. If you don't ask specifically about the taxes and duties....they won't even mention it. Also, they can only give you an estimate of the taxes and duties. No one will know the exact charges until it has been processed, upon delivery. Sometimes the customs will do an estimated charge (to expedite the package delivery) and then send a bill for the rest of the taxes later. It sounds stupid, but it happened to me. Not a pleasant surprise.
I'd get what info you can, from FedEx, pass it on to the bidder and then tell him to call and ask what his FedEx rep says about his liability.
In my deal with a Canadian purchase, I got hit with over $100 of extra costs that I didn't know about.
Above all, let the buyer know that he is responsible for ANY AND ALL CUSTOMS CHARGES and GET YOUR MONEY BEFORE YOU SEND THE GUITAR! J |
Seth
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am: | |
Thanks John, you've confirmed my suspicions. I think you mentioned the Canadian purchase at the Philly show. . . I've decided not to do the International thing. All taxes and shipping charges aside, the gentleman doesn't seem to speak English well. It could be tough to communicate the intricacies of the shipping process - and resolve any disputes should they arise. |
Jerry Neves (Jerryneves)
| | Posted on Friday, March 30, 2001 - 1:07 am: | |
Has anyone ever shipped a guitar from Germany to USA? What extra fees, taxes, duties did you encounter?
Thanks Jerry |
Sixvsix (Sixvsix)
| | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 10:23 am: | |
Thought I would pick up this thread to discuss exchange rates to follow on from the discussion held at the bottom of this thread:
http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/discus/messages/16/622.html?1078870524
This seems a more appropriate thread, assuming that some of you may be interested?
I've just heard that markets have taken a bit of a nosedive today.
The pound dropped against the US dollar by about 2 cents last night. Does anyone know what the latest forecast is?
Public spending here in the UK of late has virtually made the UK treasury bankrupt.
I'm getting twitchy because I want to pump some more Sterling into the Dollar but if it starts goin' belly up, then I may quit.
six |
Bigmike (Bigmike)
| | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 2:24 pm: | |
I moved to Santiago, Chile in 1999. I lived there 9 months. I had a buddy mail me one of the vcr's I left behind in California to me in Chile. It was MY vcr. Chilean Customs/Postal Service tried to charge me import duties for it's value (in Chile). Until we opened the parcel and I proved to them it was USED and was my personal property - it had my name and California Driver's Licensce number scratched on the bottom of the case (proof of ownership). I paid nothing in Customs Fees.
Even in a huge town like Santiago (5 million plus people) cool guitars, whether American or Japanese made, were priced at about 2 to 3 times their street value in the States. Fender had a store in Santiago - carried mostly Japanese and Mexican made instruments (a lot of Squiers). They were pricey. There was ONE shop near there that had "vintage" guitars. About 12 in all and a couple of cool amps. The prices were at least double the street value in the States.
So, my point really is: what it's going for on eBay seems like a real deal to this person in South America. As long as he PayPal's you the money for the guitar and all shipping fees you should be ok. He'll be the one paying any duties and fees that are accessed at the destination so as long as he's willing to take full responsibility for those without any renegociating you should be ok.
I have used USPS EMS (Express Mail Service) a couple of times to send large parcels overseas. I sent a Mac to a guy in South Korea, with that sale I had to be quite careful about the dimensions of the parcel - he ended up paying some duties, but nothing too high. I also sold a guitar to a member here that lives in Europe - with that sale the dimension rules were more lax and the parcel made it there in 5 business days. And he paid some duties once it arrived.
My memory of transit times to South America is with EMS it is roughly 7-12 business days. Time spent in Customs is really where things slow down. Countries like Chile are very laid back, tomorrow is a word you hear a lot when asking "when". ;-))))
The bottom line for this guy in South America is this instrument would be very hard, if not impossible, for him to ever find in his country. My overall experiences in dealing with foreigners was extremely pleasant. I can't speak THEIR languages at all so the fact they have a little trouble with MY language is really of no consequence.
Good luck deciding, and good luck with the sale. |
Sixvsix (Sixvsix)
| | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 7:50 am: | |
Reading your post Mike, I would suggest that we should consider ourselves fortunate when considering any purchase.
Buying a guitar is probably equal to a years pay for some folk around the world.
six |
Bigmike (Bigmike)
| | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 2:50 pm: | |
Sixvsix,
You got that right. I remember doing online research on Chile before I moved there. ASK JEEVES said the average family in Chile made about $2000.00 a year !! Funny thing was most of those folks were so totally unaffected by what we'd consider poverty. No welfare system there, no unemployment compensation and they would do just about ANY work to put food on their families tables. The only people you saw panhandling for money were older widows - and people would go out of their way to be generous to them.
I think anyone in South America that has the bread to be buying a guitar online will likely have the bread to pay any customs fees he knows his country will charge him. And as I said, finding a decent hollowbody in Chile is about impossible. So a prisine AS400, he'd be dying to get it...
BigMike |
Johns (Johns)
| | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 6:23 pm: | |
Bigmike:
Did you move to Chile for a temporary work assignment or just didn't like it and came back? Where do you live now? |
Bigmike (Bigmike)
| | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 8:43 pm: | |
I moved to Chile to be with a woman I met online. I lived on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile. She had 2 kids, a girl 10 and a boy 12. Things didn't work out for us so I came back. I am a retired IBM'er (I still work elsewhere) and used my pension to support us. It was a very fascinating experience and I regret the lady and I could not sort things out...
BigMike |
|
|
Thank you for supporting Ibanez Collectors Forum. Please help your favorite Ibanez guitar site as we endeavor to bring you the latest information about Ibanez custom vintage electric and acoustic guitars. Here you can discuss ibanez, guitars, ibanez guitars, basses, acoustics, acoustic, mandolins, electric guitar, electric bass, amplifiers, effect pedals, tuners, picks, pickups.
|