anyone have experience with customs in europe?

[comtrails70]

i've been wanting to order some pedals from the states but i cant find any info on what charges might be made by customs in germany.
i've had only bad experiences with customs in germany while traveling or shipping.german customs officers tend to be dicks...yeh i said it.
so my question is if anyone has ordered strait from a builder in the us and if customs held the shippment.
or is it best to just order from a local shop?

[CBGB]

Yes. Once a man in Russia refused to shake my hand over a doorstep. Very strange.

[Gunner Recall]

Perhaps try contacting forumite Kayzer?
He's from Germany and has owned more pedals than this entire forum combined, so I'm sure he's got advice about customs

[devnulljp]

Does being a dick entail charging you the taxes and duty the law requires by any chance?
(I live in Canada and I don't like it either, but it's not the customs guy's fault. Take it up with your MEP maybe?)

[comtrails70]

Does being a dick entail charging you the taxes and duty the law requires by any chance?
(I live in Canada and I don't like it either, but it's not the customs guy's fault. Take it up with your MEP maybe?)

ha thats cute.
it was in regards to traveling.
been told to open wrapped christmas presents i received from my wife
at the customs office.i couldnt care less about stupid chrissmas buti dont feel others should have the authority over me in that way.
i invited the officer to my house on christmas eve if he really wanted to see what the fuck was in there.
also had a run in when trying to get my dog out of customs. getting yelled at after a 9 hour flight to go away (not exaggerating
he was stressed about some co worker and decided to let it out on me) seems like someone can be classified as a dick in my book.
then having to deal with some "lehrling" apprentice customs dick in the making wanting to single me out and check my shit over
just before i reached the exit was pretty much just definite proof.
not so much in the us although i have been grilled there too - " do you have lsd in your guitar?"
so if you like being treated like shit and letting officails have that much control over you then by all means theyre not dicks.
anyway if i can get a gear directly from a builder and not buying it through some
local store then i'm all for it. my question was if anyone had experience with ordering gear from over seas.from what i've heard items not
classified as gifts are held at the customs office here.just looking for a heads up on how anyone has dealt with international orders.
and again i stand by what i said:
customs agents tend to be dicks
i just think alot of those people go into these careers inorder to have some sort of authority over others.

[elbandito]

Phantasmagorovich is from Germany. He was telling me that there's a $25 limit before customs starts charging you ridiculous amounts of money. Hopefully he'll pop up in this thread and will be able to tell you some of the crazy stories he was telling me.

[devnulljp]

just think alot of those people go into these careers inorder to have some sort of authority over others.

Yes, I've run into a few of those over the years too. Not all of them, and they're more open about it since 2001 too.
I gave one of them $50 in Laos to stop being such a dick and he did
It's probably a bit more expensive in Europe though

[comtrails70]

just think alot of those people go into these careers inorder to have some sort of authority over others.

Yes, I've run into a few of those over the years too. Not all of them, and they're more open about it since 2001 too.
I gave one of them $50 in Laos to stop being such a dick and he did
It's probably a bit more expensive in Europe though

i always thought it was more a pissed off german thing.
but it might just be that they hate their lives because they arent musicians.

[metalmariachi]

I never had a problem traveling to Germany, always got stamped and waved through with no hassles.

MM

[phantasmagorovich]

I agree, they are dicks. And that it's their job and you should see it in a playful way. The game is they try to get my money without doing anything for it and I try to avoid giving it to them.

Now to explaining the rules:
There are two separate fees that can be applied: Einfuhrumsatzsteuer (basically the VAT of the importing country i.e. 19% for pedals, import taxes) and Zoll (the actual customs).

The limit for Customs is pretty high (150€), so you'd probably have to buy a couple of pedals to be over that. Careful though: shipping gets included into the value of the package.

The limit for import tax is 22€.


So it goes like this:
value + shipping
then eventually 4% of that for customs
value + shipping + customs
and eventually 19% of that for import taxes


So the only way around this is making the pedal cost less than 22€. It' not enough just to state that on the declaration that has to be filled out and sticks on the outside of the package. They know that people like to lie on that declaration so they open up the box and look for a receipt inside. If they find one then OK, they can't prove that it was more expensive than stated. If not they keep the package and send you an invitation to go pick it up at the customs offica and bring a proof of how much you paid (for example a paypal transaction). If you say you don't have it or it was a gift or a trade they will check the internet for the price and charge you accordingly.

Another way to work around this is by not using USPS / Deutsche Post who of course are on the side of the customs office. If you send with a private service, say Fedex or UPS, things will get easier. They declare the stuff to the customs themselves and just use the value stated on the outside declaration. No opening of boxes and general distrust here. But of course you have to pay more for shipping.



I like the game.

[comtrails70]

I agree, they are dicks. And that it's their job and you should see it in a playful way. The game is they try to get my money without doing anything for it and I try to avoid giving it to them.

Now to explaining the rules:
There are two separate fees that can be applied: Einfuhrumsatzsteuer (basically the VAT of the importing country i.e. 19% for pedals, import taxes) and Zoll (the actual customs).

The limit for Customs is pretty high (150€), so you'd probably have to buy a couple of pedals to be over that. Careful though: shipping gets included into the value of the package.

The limit for import tax is 22€.


So it goes like this:
value + shipping
then eventually 4% of that for customs
value + shipping + customs
and eventually 19% of that for import taxes


So the only way around this is making the pedal cost less than 22€. It' not enough just to state that on the declaration that has to be filled out and sticks on the outside of the package. They know that people like to lie on that declaration so they open up the box and look for a receipt inside. If they find one then OK, they can't prove that it was more expensive than stated. If not they keep the package and send you an invitation to go pick it up at the customs offica and bring a proof of how much you paid (for example a paypal transaction). If you say you don't have it or it was a gift or a trade they will check the internet for the price and charge you accordingly.

Another way to work around this is by not using USPS / Deutsche Post who of course are on the side of the customs office. If you send with a private service, say Fedex or UPS, things will get easier. They declare the stuff to the customs themselves and just use the value stated on the outside declaration. No opening of boxes and general distrust here. But of course you have to pay more for shipping.



I like the game.

thanks for the info
clears up alot for me
i think 19 % is crazy high
so i would have to pay taxes on a gift a relative might send me?
it would be so much easier if they just had better gear available here.

[phantasmagorovich]

Totally.

I don't know many builders from Germany. Hexe and Knarzbox are the only ones that are interesting apparently.
Apart from Effekt-Boutique I can also recommend Crush the Button. In general you can avoid all that tax bullshit by getting your gear from resellers in the EU. I think there is another good one in Denmark.

[comtrails70]

Totally.

I don't know many builders from Germany. Hexe and Knarzbox are the only ones that are interesting apparently.
Apart from Effekt-Boutique I can also recommend Crush the Button. In general you can avoid all that tax bullshit by getting your gear from resellers in the EU. I think there is another good one in Denmark.

im such a noob
i thought taxes were charged on anything thats not from germany.
guitarplayer.nl has eqd !