Charged 42% custom on Mobile!! Help please

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mutant

mutant

Herald
Hi guys!

I am headed off to customs office to see If I can get it changed, a good friend told me it would be good if I take a print out of the current custom rates with me.

Now I am trying to find the customs for mobiles on cbec website

Customs Tariff 2009-10 - CBEC

Now in part 2, chapter 85 ,page number 552 tells me about telephone and says there is no customs on telephones, but they do not mention mobile phones there.

So, where can I find the official rate of customs for mobile phones that I can take a printout of and show it to them while defending my case?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mutant
 
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I'm really glad for you.. I still can't believe how much tomfoolery the officials did ,on purpose or sheer ignorance.
I'm waiting for your guide and hopefully we all would be better informed about how to tackle such issues incase it happens to someone else or with one if us.
 
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I will wait for you guide because customs charged me 800 bucks on a Remington Hair straighter whose real cost was 800

Bought from amazon got it through aramex and customs assessed it for 2000

Cost me real expensive when should have been cheap
 
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To be honest, there is nothing special required to clear customs by paying proper, fair customs duty. What usually happens is these corrupt customs officials are expert in victimising individuals who are importing the stuff via postal service of other governments in an attempt to save few bucks on shipping and also by undervaluing the product. When they see this, they know that they have potential victim to extort the money from him.

The best thing to do is avoid likes of Royal mail, USPS , Canada post for shipping an priority and expensive electronic items like phone. That extra $20-30 you pay to go with UPS or DHL is well worth it in the end considering the value of your purchase.

Also never ever give absurd declaration like $100 value for a phone that looks like Atrix. There is no way they are going to believe it. When this happens they are free to assume any value they seem fit and slap customs duty on that (ok, not really as there are rules and categories for this, but they are hardly ever followed ).

I imported Atrix from states in April which was marked as $199 value. Same thing that AT&T charges for this phone on contract. But as seller attached actual AT&T invoice with the package, and his own Pro-Forma declaration with the package, i was charged just 600 bucks duty for the same. Add to that $29 shipping charge of DHL through my mail forwarder and it turned out to be pretty sweet deal.

Just dont try to save too much in cases like this. Specially with phones where import duty is soo less if you stick to the rules. It will save you lots of mental harassment and trauma in long run.

I am not saying all customs officials are evil, but yes they are working in those offices for ages and know all the quirks in the business and are expert at making money under the table. The best way to avoid these people is to go with private carriers which take care of Customs brokerage for you at minimal fee.

Spend to save is the mantra here ;)
 
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JT_daniel said:
Use ARAMEX. Simply the best there is. No hassles at all, they'll get it through to you in no time. If you want to know how much customs that is applicable on a particular item (X360 in your case), ask the Shop n Ship facebook page and they'll reply within hours.
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What is the price difference using ARAMEX vs normal post ?

pratikb said:
do start a thread abt how to deal with these customs guys.
its very much needed and honestly dont follow any of these royalpost for uk and usps for us.
my sister's i20 which was supposed to come in 2 weeks or so over usps has not come over iin last 5-6 weeks so far.
and that same i20 which we got sent again through dhl came from us to india to my town in 4 days flat.
this is great usps and indian postal services.

UK---i ordered one bios cheap for my senior's laptop.seller promptly sent it off same day.
this is from ebay uk.
my boss said lets get royalmail international.
i had clearly explained abt aramex.
he said lets try.so it is shipped off from uk on 13th may and now its 29th may and it still reads parcel handed over for overseas delivery.
i have gut feeling that we have to go with aramex to import this thing fast.

i have decided for myself no more Internation courier by governement agencies and use always aramex/dhl for this business.

mutant pls get this thread of how to deal with customs.
pls start it.
it will help lot of our fellows.
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Again what is the price difference using aramex vs got postal services from the countries mentioned.
 
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mutant said:
After a lot of struggle and visits to custom office. I was able to clear all customs and I had to pay 0 Rs in duties ( aside from 400 bucks of bribe and 1k of travel money and lots of time of mine, I am thinking it went in drain and I should have just paid 6k and done with it..)

But anyhow, I learned a lot about customs and how we should handle it and whats the right approach and ways to get things cleanly.

If people are interested, I can start a thread with all the detailed information on it. How to deal with customs n all.

Cheers!
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SO was it the bribe which worked(i mean you said okk what you want just give my piece and get me out of this hassle) or was it after so many attempts bribe plus getting pity .

I remembered even for my passport to go through i didnt paid chai-panni to the havaldar and my application was forwarded to crime branch in 12 days suggesting that they called me in station and for 15 days i was nowhere seen(i made the visit but was said we will call you later which they never did).I got to know this as i took the document from crime branch opened the seal read it and repacked it(it even mentioned they called me thrice and i didnt picked the fone or was said no one with the name exist on the correct number) and gave it bak to the police station.Also earlier the police chap was asking me to file some form which is for address change on passport but he was saying filling that will give you bak the passport.Thank got i m litterate else i would had been screw big time.

All this for just 50 buks.I spended around 500-1000 rupees travelling +wasting hours in station and also had to give chai pani than too.
 
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Can i have the answers i asked for in my previous post ?

Its all very good recommending a service, but without knowing the increase in cost it does not help much.

For the record most personal use abroad is via by the govt post. Only companies use private couriers. For personal use who cares whether it takes 1 week or a month to arrive so long as it gets here, if the price difference between is signficant. Companies get preferential rates as they use the service often. Personal use is pricey for the one off or two orders.

To date its very hard to determine whether problems faced by ppl are by them trying to outsmart the customs ppl or not. Getting caught and then b**ching about it.

Mutant, looking forward to your thread. I've yet to read a thread or post over here or elsewhere for that matter that provided a workable guide to importing stuff by oneself. Rather than recommending some 3rd party service.
 
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Lol, still NO answers, should have prefixed by previous question with 'i won't hold my breath'.

So basically this is the deal, you pay loads for an expensive courier or forget ever receving your parcel. Which is nonsense.

Or better still, pay somebody else to get it for you and it works out even more expensive.

Otherwise forget about getting it from abroad.

I don't think so.
 
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Actually Aramex SNS is cheaper many times than direct USPS or Royal mail. Also, many times the seller refuses to directly ship to India. So again it comes to use. Another plus point is they will handle the customs duty part with a brokerage of 50-100 Rs. The Customs duty will be at actual (they will provide the customs duty assessment sheet). If you are overcharged for any reason you can ask them to check and can get refund (I got).

And the 460 Rs (for upto 500gm) for shipping to your home from USA or UK is not "expensive" I think.

Else, be prepared to visit the foreign post office or even worse if you are in a city where there is no FPO (say chandigarh - FPO is in New Delhi) and if you have been overcharged like the OP imagine the rest.............
blr_p said:
Lol, still NO answers, should have prefixed by previous question with 'i won't hold my breath'.

So basically this is the deal, you pay loads for an expensive courier or forget ever receving your parcel. Which is nonsense.

Or better still, pay somebody else to get it for you and it works out even more expensive.

Otherwise forget about getting it from abroad.

I don't think so.
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pauldmps said:
Why don't you google "aramex shop&ship" instead of whining here?
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You're new around here so i'll be gentle.

Do you see the post below yours. It has an answer. Yours does not.

This is a forum. Ppl share their experiences. When questions are asked one expects an answer from ppl with EXPERIENCE. If i had to google then i'd have no use of a forum.

get it ?

If you plan on sticking around this place better make your future posts more enlightening !

archat said:
Actually Aramex SNS is cheaper many times than direct USPS or Royal mail.
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This one depends on the shop, but i see aramex has quite a few outlets there. amazon newegg etc, so thats good.

archat said:
Also, many times the seller refuses to directly ship to India. So again it comes to use.
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Agree

archat said:
Another plus point is they will handle the customs duty part with a brokerage of 50-100 Rs. The Customs duty will be at actual (they will provide the customs duty assessment sheet). If you are overcharged for any reason you can ask them to check and can get refund (I got).

And the 460 Rs (for upto 500gm) for shipping to your home from USA or UK is not "expensive" I think.
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What about insurance ? is that coverd too.

So in addition you pay a brokerage fee of Rs.100
Plus membership fee of $35 ~Rs.1600 before you can start to order.

archat said:
Else, be prepared to visit the foreign post office or even worse if you are in a city where there is no FPO (say chandigarh - FPO is in New Delhi) and if you have been overcharged like the OP imagine the rest.............
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Its not far for me, thing that scares me is damage during transit and mishandling by the post over here.

Is Aramex immune to this sort of thing. How does Aramex deal with damage during shipment ?

They don't do consolidation or holding ? so if you order a numebr of items and they don't arrive at around the same time at their US office then what do you do

Cheaper to send a bunch of stuff than seperately etc. Cheaper still if you club orders with others. This assumes you trust them and payment is no issue.

How long did it take to get stuff from the US to your home ?
 
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^ Membership fee is $5 for TE members. There is a code that needs to be provided at the time of creating the account. That code is in the thread started by the shopandship dealer on TE
 
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No consolidation or clubbing.

No insurance.

If your seller pack well -nothing will happen. I imported ~8 phones (all over 200$), 3 tablets- nothing happened. My memory card of one phone got stolen at some point - I complained and after some investigation they gave me a new one :) . Also, one of my phone had no accessories - when they found that during Customs check they emailed me thinking that the accessories must have stolen or the seller had not shipped. I informed them that it is phone only - and they got it cleared.

I used DHL/Fedex in the past - they are proactive in clearing the shipments quickly and many times pay unnecessary Customs duty (I was charged Rs. 750 customs duty by DHL for some free sample of ICs - market cost of them was not more than 200 Rs. and the manufacturer properly declared them as free sample). Also they charge Rs. 300-400 as customs duty handling charge compared to Rs. 100 by Aramex.

They will collect the customs duty and shipping charge from you while delivering the package.

Aramex is a bit slow - that you have to keep in mind. It takes 7-10 working days to get your package from their NY office to your home.

And you can open an account for 5$ and you will get US, UK and China P.O box addresses for lifetime.
 
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^ AFAIK all packages coming through Shop&Ship are insured upto $100.

Aramex’s liability for loss or damage is limited to the lesser of (i) the value of the shipment; or (ii) one hundred United States Dollars (USD 100) or its equivalent per shipment, regardless of the nature of the claim. Aramex shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, such as loss of profit.
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Shop and Ship :: Service Agreement
 
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Hello there,

Could i have some help? I got the same problem as the OP. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant phone from the US on ebay.com for £255. I asked the seller to mark the item as a gift worth £200. Instead the stupid idiot has marked it as used MP3player worth $50. Customs have charged me Rs7000 as customs. I have refused the item. Is there any way i could contest the charges? All your replies are appreciated.

Regards.
 
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mutant said:
Well they certainly do not follow the rules there, that is certain. But I guess, if the assistant commissioner has told me that it would work, It should work I am thinking. But will have to ask the seller if it would be possible for him to send me get a bill of $100 in his name and then send it to me along with a declaration.
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what pauldmps said is right. Regardless of the declared value, they can challenge it based on their pricelists and charge duty on that value. I must caution you that the $100 declaration route is fraught with danger too. You can be accused of deliberate under-invoicing even though he gave you the advice himself - verbally.

Edit: Sorry after posting this I completed reading the thread and found it was not needed any more.
 
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