Got a detention cum show cause notice from Customs

gauravH said:
They generally don't bother (no close inspection) about stuff bought from areas around HongKong and eBay/Amazon.
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Which is where the OP got his flasher from.

So you're suggesting that prateek got lucky, twice, is that it ?

The second time around, documents were asked but still no penalty.

What did you do prateek ? sent some secret sign all the way from manipal :)
 
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I order stuff [cycling stuff that you don't get here] almost every couple of months, thru post, courier as well as Aramex. About half get thru without duty, more often when by post than thru courier. Only time I have had a shipment held up was when it crossed a certain value, and I got a notice from Delhi customs via Fedex. They wanted the invoice, proof of payment, as well as a declaration that it was for self use [it was a bike]. Fedex handled the entire thing for a fee, but it gave me enough stress.

That was exceptionally high a value, as most of the time my orders are 50/100 and rarely 250 dollars worth.

When the basic duty was 10%, I would land up paying about 26-30% with the CVD etc, but now the basic has increased, so overall duty is higher.

Couriers also charge a handling fee, which is not charged [or maybe a very small amount] by the postal service.

Touch wood, I have never till date been 'over charged'. Yes the rates are ludicrous, but the charges have always been as per published rates, or sometimes, lower, but never higher.
 
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blr_p said:
So you're suggesting that prateek got lucky, twice, is that it ?
...
What did you do prateek ? sent some secret sign all the way from manipal
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If you could get me the mantra to have a passport made in first attempt from any of the PSKs then I'd tell you the secrets of FPOs/customs :p

Customs' rules regarding 41% duty on 2K+ items and non-dutiable gifts under 10K are available on many govt sites... I am not making that up :D

There's only 1 person in this entire world who could give you a satisfactory answer as to why prateek was not charged 41% duty and that person would be the officer/peon who cleared his package!

My guess would be that customs now know that given the opportunity, every Indian gets a laptop/mobile/tab from abroad. They treat these electronic items separately (as in essential for day to day work) from electronics such as home theaters, media players etc. (stuff for entertainment or non-essential). And if they start charging 41% for every tab and mobile then they won't have anything else to do, except for sending letters to people. Public hue and cry would be another thing to handle. Recently they put the TVs (non-essential) back on highly-dutiable items for reasons best explained in the news. That's my best guess and the rest of the secrets are with FPO Bangalore :rolleyes:

Edit: Just wanted to add when people claim they were not overcharged, they must've already paid the duty in advance when ordering the item. eBay, Amazon and other well known sites already charge normal duties because they have the import/export license and they/their agents deal with Indian customs dept. Don't get it confused with India Post delivering the item to you without the extra duties/penalties. That has already been settled for you. If you have any doubts, check with the customs how they deal the packages from sites which allow international shipping. Try ordering from a lame site and see what happens.
 
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I ordered directly from AinolStore the second time, when I was asked for documents ... They do not take duty beforehand. They are a lame chinese store..

The first time I had ordered from some lame chinese store.. And i was not asked for documents.. But duty for Tablet was assessed correctly..

Both items were sent by singapore post and delivered by Indiapost.

Also only amazon takes deposit.

eBay doesn't .
 
gauravH said:
If you could get me the mantra to have a passport made in first attempt from any of the PSKs then I'd tell you the secrets of FPOs/customs :p
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Took me half a day waiting in line but it got done. It was a renewal, if that matters.

gauravH said:
There's only 1 person in this entire world who could give you a satisfactory answer as to why prateek was not charged 41% duty and that person would be the officer/peon who cleared his package!
..
That's my best guess and the rest of the secrets are with FPO Bangalore :rolleyes:
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Don't know about secrets but will pay a visit to the customs officer at musuem road PO during visiting hours and get the picture.

gauravH said:
Edit: Just wanted to add when people claim they were not overcharged, they must've already paid the duty in advance when ordering the item. eBay, Amazon and other well known sites already charge normal duties because they have the import/export license and they/their agents deal with Indian customs dept. Don't get it confused with India Post delivering the item to you without the extra duties/penalties. That has already been settled for you. If you have any doubts, check with the customs how they deal the packages from sites which allow international shipping. Try ordering from a lame site and see what happens.
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So this is what the OP did, paid the customs already during ordering from Amazon and yet still gets charged 41% + penalty.

Something isn't right here.
 
Also one more thing to be noted is that mobile spare parts are duty free.

While ppobox and the rest still charge duty for them..rdst_1 was charged duty on spare parts by ppobox..

I got spare parts for mobile phones,I've screen speaker etc.. Via fedex. Package was opened and checked, no duty applied.. Again this was bangalore customs.. Value was 200$.

Had ordered the htc one v just after black Friday.. Via hopshopgo, package was opened, seal broken, no customs.. Value was 50$ plus shipping.. Bangalore customs

Had got many nexus 4 phones via hopshopgo, seal broken, customs applied.. Bangalore customs

Had ordered clothes from WWE store.. Customs duty was applied 28%,mumbai customs...

Brainwavz iems 2-3 times via fedex, Mumbai customs, no duty.
 
Any idea if mobile cases or accessories will attract duty ?

Value to exceed $20 in the case where numerous cases (say about 4) are sought.
 
blr_p said:
So this is what the OP did, paid the customs already during ordering from Amazon and yet still gets charged 41% + penalty.

Something isn't right here.
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This is may not be right... if he ordered through amazon fulfilled, then mostly they've collected deposit and sent through aramex. he must be ordered from different seller(selling in amazon) who shipped it through USPS and no prior duty paid by him.
 
smnrock said:
This is may not be right... if he ordered through amazon fulfilled, then mostly they've collected deposit and sent through aramex. he must be ordered from different seller(selling in amazon) who shipped it through USPS and no prior duty paid by him.
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@moshel

Can you confirm whether it was amazon fulfilled or 3rd party ?
 
prateekS said:
Duty is high on accessories....if imported via fedex/dhl...via post , u might get it duty free...
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So this is the confusing bit, as its counter-intuitive.

In this case....

using couriers who have agents with IEC so as to avail of lower custom duties still yields a higher duty on accessories.

using post get charged penalty or not in this case even though value of the item will definitely exceed $20.

There seems to be an inconsistency here which isn't predictable as far as duty is concerned.
 
I ordered a screen just a few days ago and it arrived via normal post. Just like PrateekS said, I wasn't charged any duty.

When I had got one via PPOBox, Rs. 1200 were charged as duty. Why? Because they have very conveniently not mentioned the category of mobile spare parts when you create the shipment no with them and I had to choose Mobile accessories which are charged at a higher rate.

Other than that had ordered Brainwavz M2 which arrived via normal post as well and no customs were charged. It obviously certainly helps that the Chinese sellers highly undervalue the package and also there is a general conception that Chinese products are cheap.
 
ok, so i managed to get to talk to the customs superintendent at the Bangalore FPO during the visiting hours of 3-5pm.

penalty - there is no penalty. If somebody imports 100 items without an IEC code they will levy a penatly. Basically a penalty gets imposed if the item count is large, large is this case is > 5 of the same item. Where it cannot conceivably be for personal use but rather for trading purposes. You do not need an IEC if importing items for personal use.

If no insurance is taken on the product they impose a 2.125% handling fee.

If no invoice is present on the package they contact the recipient to provide details about the product. Now if you buy a second hand product, they want to see the paypal/cc statement indicating the transaction. There is no appraising cost at Indian MRP if you paid less and can prove it.

He recommended to use speedpost to keep shipping costs low, takes more time but means less duty. I asked him how safe that was, and he said if it packed properly there should not be any issues. He showed me a stack of receipts of people that had ordered iphones, remote controlled toys, electronic parts etc basically showing people have ordered items in the Rs.20-4ok range through the post.

Rs.2k is the limit for no duty. If somebody sends a gift from abroad it can be of value up to rs.10k. Now if it exceeds Rs.10k you don't get to deduct anything. If its Rs.11k. then you pay duty on 11k and not 1k.

Basically what rdst & prateek said matches what i understood to be the norm and what the customs officer subsequently confirmed.

He did say duty imposed depends on who does it, i told him there are rules which are supposed to be followed by everybody, there is no arbitrary charging here. To do this you need to know the rules in the first place. If you're experienced or can speak to those with experience there shouldn't be any nasty surprises to begin with.

He told me they don't dispose off items very quickly, the rules say 10 days but they have kept items for longer as its not always possible for people to get there in time. I suppose this depends on the volume of traffic. For bigger cities they might be stricter as volume is much higher.
 
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He just stated it out right, He cannot prove a negative.

if somebody says a penalty is to be levied its for them to show under what conditions it applies.

He mentioned something about a 1 lakh limit per year for personal use which i did not fully understand, something i will take up with him tomorrow. Anybody got queries, fire away.
 
blr_p said:
He just stated it out right, He cannot prove a negative.

if somebody says a penalty is to be levied its for them to show under what conditions it applies.

He mentioned something about a 1 lakh limit per year for personal use which i did not fully understand, something i will take up with him tomorrow. Anybody got queries, fire away.
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It would be great if you could get a print out or a link out of him about these rules.
Would help a lot of people over here and perhaps we can then consider using USPS over these freight-forwarders. Also if possible, ask how do the rules change for people with IEC and which all proofs of payment they consider admissible.
TIA.
 
blr_p said:
ok, so i managed to get to talk to the customs superintendent at the Bangalore FPO during the visiting hours of 3-5pm.

penalty - there is no penalty. If somebody imports 100 items without an IEC code they will levy a penatly. Basically a penalty gets imposed if the item count is large, large is this case is > 5 of the same item. Where it cannot conceivably be for personal use but rather for trading purposes. You do not need an IEC if importing items for personal use.

If no insurance is taken on the product they impose a 2.125% handling fee.

If no invoice is present on the package they contact the recipient to provide details about the product. Now if you buy a second hand product, they want to see the paypal/cc statement indicating the transaction. There is no appraising cost at Indian MRP if you paid less and can prove it.

He recommended to use speedpost to keep shipping costs low, takes more time but means less duty. I asked him how safe that was, and he said if it packed properly there should not be any issues. He showed me a stack of receipts of people that had ordered iphones, remote controlled toys, electronic parts etc.

Rs.2k is the limit for no duty. If somebody sends a gift from abroad it can be of value up to rs.10k. Now if it exceeds Rs.10k you don't get to deduct anything. If its Rs.11k. then you pay duty on 11k and not 1k.

Basically what rdst & prateek said matches what i understood to be the norm and what the customs officer subsequently confirmed.

He did say duty imposed depends on who does it, i told him there are rules which are supposed to be followed by everybody, there is no arbitrary charging here. To do this you need to know the rules in the first place. If you're experienced or can speak to those with experience there shouldn't be any nasty surprises to begin with.

He told me they don't dispose off items very quickly, the rules say 10 days but they have kept items for longer as its not always possible for people to get there in time. I suppose this depends on the volume of traffic. For bigger cities they might be stricter as volume is much higher.
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This is what i have been saying since my first post on this thread !
 
I've always had a very positive experience with Bangalore FPO at Museum Road. Have ordered stuff multiple times and just had to go there once and present the invoice - the duty amount is mentioned immediately right then and there. The package shows up at my doorstep in a day or two after that.
 
blr_p said:
@moshel

Can you confirm whether it was amazon fulfilled or 3rd party ?
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It was a 3rd party.
Well I see where everyone is going and thanks to all for the inputs. But consider a practical scenario, if the Customs officer arbitrarily decides to levy 41% duty + penalty, what choice do I have?
 
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