Shipping and Value what is Value

[dtanner]

I have to explain when a customs paper is filled out to ship to Canada or other Places where it the parcel crosses a border. Every item shipped is ask to give a value for the item.. Here is where the problems start!Value is what the item was bought for*agreed price seller and buyer* So if I buy and item and pay $100.00 for the item and shipping is $25.00, The value is $100.00. for some strange reason on this I buy in the US everybody adds the shipping to the value and will declare $125.00. Now when it arrives at Customs the customs official looks at the Value and charges a tax on the declared Value.So poor me has paid a tax on the item that is $100.00 and the shipping $25.00. To all that ship across a border the value that you fill in on the Customs paper should be just the price for the item you sold it for. There is NO value in shipping and the shipping should not be added to the Value. If you charge a handling charge say $5.00 on everything you sell that does NOT get added to the Value, because that is a separate charge. I have bought items in the US that buy the time they were delivered to me the cost to me is crazy. a Part $100.00 ,$5.00 handling,$26.00 postage, valve declared $131.00. I pay tax on value so I will get charged a tax on $31.00 that by law i don`t have to pay tax on. There is NO value for a handling charge or a shipping charge.
I don`t understand why people have such a problem with the Customs paper ,because all you have to fill out is the address to whom it(the item)is going to and the value(PART). Later Don T

 

[aaytay]

Don-
Thanks for taking the time to explain that.

I know I can speak for myself in that whenever I see "declared value" on any shipping paperwork, I always think in terms an "insured value" and always try to ride the high side of things even though I should know better as it is NOT an "insured value".

What never occured to me is that you're taxed on that "declared value", so any explanation you can provide (like you did above) to someone selling you parts from the US would probably be appreciated by the seller, and save you the bucks and frustration to boot.

None of us want to see old-Mr.-Gov get more of his normal cut than necessary...

 

[kide]

Don:
Good info - I'll pass on to my daughter - she sells diecast on E-bay and ships to Canada....

 

[dtanner]

Just got my new z bend pliers from tower hobbies today in the mail.I have to explain what a rip off this whole deal was.
1. Pliers were $19.99
2. shipping charged $24.99
3.carton weight 2.38 lbs and label reads cost $19.99 total value
4 .Customs charge $7.73
5.total $52.71
So now I do have a pair of pliers to put the z bends at a huge cost. Tower Hobbies sent me the pliers in a box with a bunch of books and I guess that's why the shipping was so much.I don`t understand how the customs charge is done but they did break it down on the label gst $1.05 ,pst $1.68 , handling fee $5.00 I think i`ll put there books back Into the box and mark the label refused and send it back. that way they will have to pay for the shipping to get there box back and when they open it they will have there books back.ggrrrrrrr