Customs Marking down your item - what happens?

That is when the price written in the package is less than the actual price of the item, and if your package is marked as gift, well, it may help you to avoid or pay less customs fees (as well as the "mark down price"), but actually, everything depends on every country customs.

 

Marking down the package means the sender will declare the value of your item in a lower amount.

An example is if you bought a doll worth $500, but she marks it as $100 for the sender to avoid customs tax and duties.

However, this is illegal and risky. if your package got lost or is damage, you will only be refunded the same amount as declared.

 

It is only illegal when you delcare a lowered value but insure the package for its full worth (which many people do). It can be considered a type of fraud. The reason for this is that claiming a higher insurance for what you "say" the item is worth could technically be considered stealing from the postal service, and the postal service is a federal institution. Connecting the dots? Many people do not see the gravity of this. If something happens to your package and you try to claim the full insurance you could be banned from shipping packages internationally if the post office finds out about the marked down value. It doesn't happen very often, but I would still never take the risk.

 

marking as a gift and marked down the value?
some people in my country tried it...sometimes, they didn't even do that...they purchase something on ebay with low price but then when it entered our country...still, pay the custom although the value was wayyyy from the minimum value that can be taxed...why?
because the custom has their own standard. Somehow, custom is applied not only as an income to the state but to protect local product or limit certain products...
so, it doesn't matter whether you mark it as 20USD but if the custom rule stated it the reasonable value for that product, you'd better be ready to pay.
a person ordered something in small size but a LOT. the total value of the item is small too. Still, he/she got taxed very-very high.
it's legal but some people don't understand this...

Check out your custom rule...I believe each country is different.

in my case, i asked my seller once to state it as it is because i'll be purchasing a doll and i would like to test the calculation of the tax and the procedure to get the item...still, she marked it as gift and marked down the value (^_^)'...i appreciate it but that's not what I meant...i wanted to test something here...oh, well...

I'm a little bit insecure if my doll one day sent with marked down value as it will ruin everything when I need to claim. I may not get full amount. (TxT)...

 

@sadisticxblood...

that's very scary to be banned from international shipping... (TxT)

 

Oh yeah, keyblade master, you're from the Philippines right?

I think if you're going to ask DOD to mark down the prices, make sure they don't declare it too low.

I recently bought a doll and asked the company to mark it down to $45, but when it was inspected by the Customs, the commissioner didn't believe it. She kept asking me the real price. Ehehe, I told her it's worth $120 (but we all know it's worth more than that *wink wink*) But at least she didn't pester me anymore.

I know how the Customs compute the import duties and tax for a bjd, so if you have questions, just ask me and I'll help you with computation. I actually researched about this so I will know if they are charging me right and just.

Technically, anything above $50 (including shipping) has corresponding taxes in our country.

To make this long post short, I was taxed 2,300 pesos for a $154.50 doll package ($120 + $34.50 shipping)

 

My Post Office will not allow this sort of action - how can you declare the item at "low X" worth and then insure it for "high X" worth? They won't do it!

Under-declaring is such a risk.

 

Technically, if marked as a "gift" the custom charges are supposed to be a little lower and the amount at which things start getting charged customs is supposed to be a little higher vs marking something as "merchandise." I've also heard rumors that sometimes things marked "gift" will make it through customs faster.

I don't know if any of these things are true, as I live in the USA where very few imports sent via USPS are charged customs.

Marking an item as a gift would not affect how much money you can get back if the item was damaged or goes missing vs. marking an item at a lower value.

Personally, I think customs knows by now a lot of things marked as gifts are in fact still purchases so I'm not sure it makes a big difference.

 

I was asked to significantly undervalue a package recently, on a potential sale of second-hand dolls. I declined -- is that unreasonable? I wouldn't want to send something oversees uninsured, and I am not keen on breaking the law.

 

It's your right to refuse to put yourself at risk for a massive loss, and your responsibility as a seller to make sure that if something goes wrong, you AND your buyer are covered. There is NOTHING unreasonable about that, even if it is inconvenient for the buyer.

 

I'm in the US, and I've been buying overseas for years and years, and have never paid customs. Even if I had to pay now, that'd be okay given the ratio. (Just to reassure some people who might be worried needlessly.)

I've heard people in Canada have gotten nailed, though.

 

For someone who have had to pay $160 in customs for a doll, I prefer buying from companies and sellers that mark down for me. If the value had been written under $170 I would only had to pay somewhere around $45 for customs, so it makes a huge difference for me. $160 is after all half a doll, lol ^^ But I do respect it when people wont mark down.

 

You've never paid customs because the US doesn't CHARGE customs on very much at all, certainly not dolls and accessories, so it's nothing to do with luck and everything to do with your geographical location. Sadly those of us in Europe, as LadySleepsAlot has already posted, pay EXTREMELY high customs charges, anywhere between 20% and 50% of the total value depending on where you are, with other fees slapped on top, thusly, such things are of a GREAT concern to us and far from a needless worry.

To the latest question at hand, that's entirely your choice and entirely reasonable for you to turn down the request. Honestly, I would have no problem with someone turning me down had I asked.

That said, when you live with the sort of fees the EU members pay, you learn to see things from both sides a lot more!

 

Thanks for the replies. To clarify: I was asked to value a sale at less than 1/6 the actual cost to the buyer (Less than $50 for an actual sale amount of $350). I do understand that there are real financial concerns for buyers. I just also have this fear of bad consequences if I knowingly break the law -- fines, etc. :P I don't know how strictly such things are enforced.

I can only add that, while it is great not to have to worry about paying those fees, those of you who must probably get some gnarly benefits from the revenue they generate. Just the same, I am sorry that it makes collecting these treasures more difficult for you.

 

Something new to consider when buying on eBay and requesting that the value be marked down, the eBay update notice dated 3/22/2011 includes the following update to the Buyer Protection terms:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]We reserve the right to suspend a buyer's coverage under the eBay Buyer Protection Policy if we suspect that buyer is colluding with a seller to misdeclare the value or type of an item for evading customs fees.[/FONT]
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