The buying doesn't really stop at the Cupcakes and Unicorns headquarters, that is my house. If a bargain is irresistible, then why try resisting? If you can justify the postage with the small cheap purchases, then I say do it.
Yes. And most shipping companies offer a nasty service fee to declare your goods, so you don't have to, even I have to find every information on my items for it.
Which shopping services have you been using? For stuff from Japan I've tried at least 3 (Tenshi, Japonica Market and From Japan - well, and Tenso, but they're more of a forwarding service) and I can't remember anything like that and they are quite clear on invoices about which fee is what for.
Not shoppingsservice, but post offices does take a fee to handle your customs. Even with invoices there the ammount of money declared was checked, even my hauenuli order slip through the system.
Oh, right, now I get it. But that's just something you need to deal with or find ways around, if possible. UK has pretty low threshold, but by declaring less and not shipping EMS I've been able to avoid it most of the times. On the other hand I have a friend in Belgium where they seem to open every single parcel and check the invoice and I recently learnt that in Poland it doesn't matter what's declared, anything from outside the EU will get hit with tax and customs.
It's the other way around for me - I hardly ever get hit with customs on my Taobao stuff, but I often do on stuff from Japan. Although as far as I can tell, if it's not random, then it's to do with the currency things are declared in and exchange rates - Chinese tend to declare in USD, whereas the Japanese will almost always declare in JPY and the two have quite different exchange rates in relation to GBP.
I might can justify the postage for small items, but sadly not the service fee for paying taxes. But good finds, I really like the letter necklace.
ReplyDeleteYou mean paying tax on these items when they get here, to Europe?
DeleteYes. And most shipping companies offer a nasty service fee to declare your goods, so you don't have to, even I have to find every information on my items for it.
DeleteWhich shopping services have you been using? For stuff from Japan I've tried at least 3 (Tenshi, Japonica Market and From Japan - well, and Tenso, but they're more of a forwarding service) and I can't remember anything like that and they are quite clear on invoices about which fee is what for.
DeleteNot shoppingsservice, but post offices does take a fee to handle your customs. Even with invoices there the ammount of money declared was checked, even my hauenuli order slip through the system.
DeleteOh, right, now I get it. But that's just something you need to deal with or find ways around, if possible. UK has pretty low threshold, but by declaring less and not shipping EMS I've been able to avoid it most of the times. On the other hand I have a friend in Belgium where they seem to open every single parcel and check the invoice and I recently learnt that in Poland it doesn't matter what's declared, anything from outside the EU will get hit with tax and customs.
DeleteIt is also very depending on the countries, I almost never get customs on packages from Japan, but China is always.
DeleteIt's the other way around for me - I hardly ever get hit with customs on my Taobao stuff, but I often do on stuff from Japan. Although as far as I can tell, if it's not random, then it's to do with the currency things are declared in and exchange rates - Chinese tend to declare in USD, whereas the Japanese will almost always declare in JPY and the two have quite different exchange rates in relation to GBP.
Delete