International Shipping and declearing Value of product

[teachandlearn]

I' m working on opening a ebid store and considering weather to offer international shipping. I have been researching international shipping and find there are forms to fill out to declare the value of the item shipped. The new service we are offering is cleaning/ repairing of DVD/ game/ CD/ Blu-ray/ Computer disks. The customer would send their disks to us, we would repair it, then send it back. I'm based in the USA. I'm a bit confused on declaration of the items value. Its the customers disk being returned so its already been bough them them. Don't see why any customer would pay duty taxes for a purchase they already bought. I want to be up front with customs, but don't have information if the items value is basically 0.00. Its the item being returned.

I would appreciate any information on custom forms for international shipment and any feedback if anyone has an idea of how shipping would work in this situation. If I don't find a way to properly ship internationally I may list as USA domestic only, though I'm cutting off loads of business by listing this way. RJF "Wooden Tree Publishing", a new concept in demand print publishing.

[rokins_toys]

I remember purchasing some items from a seller in America and on the customs forms their end (I live in England), they marked the items as only having a $20 value and marked the items as "commercial sample". This obviously saved me from a big'ish VAT bill for importing as I didn't have to pay any import fees/taxes lol. Unfortunately I no longer have a copy of the US customs form that was with my items and I cannot remember all the options you have available for goods being sent, but I know there is a "gift" option which you can put a very low value on or set the value at $0.00.

My guess is, as you are repairing disks and sending them back to the customer, I don't think it would cause any harm to mark any customs forms as "commercial sample" and put a low value on them or just put the value at $0.00. After all, you are providing a service not selling them the disks, but returning them their own disks after providing a service. I do believe "commerical sample" would be your best bet on this one for returning customers their own disks.

Edit: I do know that on commercial samples or gift, there are no import fees/taxes to pay at all.

[suesjools]

Not sure what other sellers do, but I usually mark the overseas customs form with the price the item sold for (item value IMHO) and mark as merchandise. I'm not sure about taxes, (as a buyer I've yet to pay any taxes on overseas purchases), but I'd rather comply with customs as best I can, than risk having problems with them.

Just my 2 cents...

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[JaBek1]

I have a policy of using the amount the item sold for as the declared value on customs declarations. Of course, you don't include the S&H in that amount.

[HerMajesty]

Sending from the US to the UK, in the UK we have to pay an extra customs import (called something else) charge on things over about £80, if I recall.
That's about $120, roughly. You can find the exact calculation online at UK customs site, I believe. You could mark the items in the description as USED personal disks.......which is what they are. They aren't new, they aren't for resale, etc....if I understand correctly.

[kreativebargains]

Best bet from any country is to be honest. I am UK based and we have a small label. But I would put on there something like "Customer DVD - Returning after repair, value of repair $xxx".

In many countries there is a value under which no customs duty is payable, and for most small packages they simply slip through the net anyway, for some countries it is quite low, about £15 in the case of Norway.

If you are to offer overseas services, I would make it clear to the buyer that duty may be payable on your listings, state what you will be putting on the customs paperwork, and advise them to check for their specific country.

[adruml]

I' m working on opening a ebid store and considering weather to offer international shipping. I have been researching international shipping and find there are forms to fill out to declare the value of the item shipped. The new service we are offering is cleaning/ repairing of DVD/ game/ CD/ Blu-ray/ Computer disks. The customer would send their disks to us, we would repair it, then send it back. I'm based in the USA. I'm a bit confused on declaration of the items value. Its the customers disk being returned so its already been bough them them. Don't see why any customer would pay duty taxes for a purchase they already bought. I want to be up front with customs, but don't have information if the items value is basically 0.00. Its the item being returned.

I would appreciate any information on custom forms for international shipment and any feedback if anyone has an idea of how shipping would work in this situation. If I don't find a way to properly ship internationally I may list as USA domestic only, though I'm cutting off loads of business by listing this way. RJF "Wooden Tree Publishing", a new concept in demand print publishing.

Howdy neighbor!

I agree with kreative...honesty!
It's not a gift so dont mark it on the customs form. Falls under service (other) DVD return after repair.

I have the same situation with repaired cymbals and I asked the post office how to mark the custom form. They said, check the box marked other and describe as service, cymbal repair. No taxes are levied.

[teachandlearn]

Thanks so much. I have been wondering how this would be handled. I'm selling a service and the item belongs to the customer. Don't see why there would be a customs charge on their own dvd. Though I see labeling in the listing to check with customs may be worth adding.

I have been creating the "AD" and had to decide if I was shipping Internationally. You folks gave me some great ideas. The only question missing is the custom form used in the USA to "X". Don't know if there is any different form for this being a service compared to merchandise.

Will watch this thread a bit more before listing to see if anyone finds a problem or has experienced this problem and has a specific way of shipping for a service. Seems one listing already has, just watch for any others and specific suggestions on custom forms and any warnings/ suggestions how to fill it out without flagging customs to some problem.

Don't need to have my first overseas customer to be the first oversea "experiment". As a company we are striving for a high quality product and experience for everyone using us. We sure don't need to start off on the wrong footing by having customs hold the first customers package or charge high from a misunderstanding of what we are doing.

Did this on Ebay, but didn't ship overseas. Of course as others may have run stores on Ebay, I got frustrated with many many things with it and switched to Ebid. I'm on the learning curve now setting our store up and looking for any differences between the functions of Ebay and Ebid. I would guess many here have switched from similar experiences.

I also looked up questions on adding for packaging costs. I don't see any add on columns, under shipping of adding "handling, ie package, padding costs" and insurance if wanted. Thanks so much for those taking their time to respond. Richard Friese, Wooden Tree Publishing "A different way to Publish- On demand Publishing", our main service
We started repairing disks using a high quality machine internally in the company and were so impressed we figured we would offer it publicly.

[darklisruthven]

I had a friend here in the UK getting some sample items to review for a magazine, from the USA, and although they were marked as commercial samples he was still whacked with a customs fee higher than the actual value of the items (he wasnt too impressed and had to contest it).

The problem is, that it is illegal to mark something as a gift or sample, when it isnt. On UK CN22 labels, theres a box for other, which might cover services such as repair?

If selling something then I put the value it sold for less P&P