Trading In Germany

[metaltrekman]

Ok, A few weeks ago, before my Computer puterd out. And I had to do a system recovery. I sent a box of burned CDRs to a friend in Germany. One hundred to be exact. But some were just double copies and old ones I had laying around for a long time.

 

Anyway she gets the box and customs keep it and say she has to pay a tax on it? Because it is a large shipment and they think she will sell them. They also tell her that it is illegal to have copied (CDRs) sent to Germany. And Illegel to send them/make them.

 

Has anyone else heard this bullshit before? All the places Ive shipped, I have never heard anything like this.

 

How can I find out if this is true.

[PeterS]

Ok, A few weeks ago, before my Computer puterd out. And I had to do a system recovery. I sent a box of burned CDRs to a friend in Germany. One hundred to be exact. But some were just double copies and old ones I had laying around for a long time.

 

Anyway she gets the box and customs keep it and say she has to pay a tax on it? Because it is a large shipment and they think she will sell them. They also tell her that it is illegal to have copied (CDRs) sent to Germany. And Illegel to send them/make them.

 

Has anyone else heard this bullshit before? All the places Ive shipped, I have never heard anything like this.

 

How can I find out if this is true.

 

Good luck if you want to try and understand German law.

 

Clearly copying CD's is breaking copyright so they probably have a point. I suspect that you just got unluckly though.

 

I've had stuff shipped here no problem at all but it was never 100.

[Guest ypsmusik]

Ok, A few weeks ago, before my Computer puterd out. And I had to do a system recovery. I sent a box of burned CDRs to a friend in Germany. One hundred to be exact. But some were just double copies and old ones I had laying around for a long time.

 

Anyway she gets the box and customs keep it and say she has to pay a tax on it? Because it is a large shipment and they think she will sell them. They also tell her that it is illegal to have copied (CDRs) sent to Germany. And Illegel to send them/make them.

 

Has anyone else heard this bullshit before? All the places Ive shipped, I have never heard anything like this.

 

How can I find out if this is true.

 

 

Hi,

 

I think your friend tell you the truth.

 

It's sometimes very difficult with the customs office in Germany.

 

Every parcel that I got in the last 1,5 years was opened by the customs office. No matter whether these were one or more CDs/CD-Rs. Also I had to pay 4 times the taxes. The customs officer appraise the value of every CD & calculates then 16% taxes. Sometimes I had also problems with CD-Rs. Illegel.... etc.

[Kristian]

Same thing here in Denmark, but they only tear up the packages coming from non-european countries and they only do it as a random check, and sometimes you're unlucky, and then you have to pay the taxes in order to obtain your items.

[Delbert]

Really makes you wonder about the "fair Trade" stuff we hear about in the USA all the time????? People send us stuff from all over the planet and 99.9% of the time, it is never opened at customs, we NEVER pay a tax on it and yet, if the USA decides to tax steel, electronics or some other imported product to help equalize prices with American made products, we are called down by the rest of the world for "unfair" trade practices or worse yet, protectionism........

 

I think the USA is the only place on Earth where you don't have to pay a tax on something that someone sends you from another country!!!!

[Kristian]

Here's a wild examble of just how much tax you have to pay when buying a car outside of denmark. You have to pay 180 percent of the cars price in taxes, this means that if I buy a car in Germany, say a BMW for 20.000 dollars, It'll cost me an additional 36.000 dollars to bring it with me across the border. In the end I'm spending 56.000 dollars for 20.000 dollar car. Now that's

[JLPRocks]

Really makes you wonder about the "fair Trade" stuff we hear about in the USA all the time????? People send us stuff from all over the planet and 99.9% of the time, it is never opened at customs, we NEVER pay a tax on it and yet, if the USA decides to tax steel, electronics or some other imported product to help equalize prices with American made products, we are called down by the rest of the world for "unfair" trade practices or worse yet, protectionism........

 

I think the USA is the only place on Earth where you don't have to pay a tax on something that someone sends you from another country!!!!

 

And if the United States doesn't watch....we're going to end up just like them.....

[metaltrekman]

Ok, thanks everyone for the information. Its sad that its this way. I hope she is able to get the CDs. She said paying the tax isnt a problem. She may not have any idea what she is in for. And if it really is a big problem for her she probably wont trade anymore. Because of such restrictions. I hope that doesnt happen. Its sad.

[lrc72315BANEED!!]

Ok let me ask a stupid question, what is the point of marking the package as a "gift" of Customs in the receiving country are going to open it and charge any kind of duty tax etc, even if the value is marked low.......It doesn't make alot of sense to me........I know i have had several packages held in US Customs coming from Japan that i had shipped via EMS, for of all things, the title of the cd.......No shit, the most recent was a copy of "Shake the Faith-America the Violent", I almost did not get it for that simple fact.....And 4 of the last 5 packages i received from any European countries have been opened and inspected.......It is definately a pain in the ass anymore........

 

Later

Lon

[nightwolf]

i had the same shit pulled on me when i got the hot boy cd. customs it makes me wana the bastards

[Guest ypsmusik]

Ok let me ask a stupid question, what is the point of marking the package as a "gift" of Customs in the receiving country are going to open it and charge any kind of duty tax etc, even if the value is marked low.......It doesn't make alot of sense to me........I know i have had several packages held in US Customs coming from Japan that i had shipped via EMS, for of all things, the title of the cd.......No shit, the most recent was a copy of "Shake the Faith-America the Violent", I almost did not get it for that simple fact.....And 4 of the last 5 packages i received from any European countries have been opened and inspected.......It is definately a pain in the ass anymore........

 

Later

Lon

 

 

Hi Lon,

 

The "gift sticker" not always helps.

If the postage costs and the value of the CDs are more than 40 Euro , you must pay the taxes.

The problem is, some customs officers estimate the value of the CDs & others customs officers not. If you have luck, your package is only opened & controlled and after this you get it. But it can last up to one week longer till I get my parcel and sometimes something is also absent (CD-R or artwork).

Such things are really a disgrace for Germany!!!

 

Take care,

 

Joachim

[metaltrekman]

So if the package is worth less then about 50.00 than they may not tax it. Do they count the value of each CD? How do they do that with the prices so different everywhere. What if they arent new CDs? ANd they tax CDRs the same as New CDs?

 

So send smaller packages with less CDRs in it?

[Bobbi Flekman]

So if the package is worth less then about 50.00 than they may not tax it.

There are also stipulations of origin. Europe has a free trade with other countries from the EU, so if I get a package from Germany or England I do not have to pay taxes. If I order something from the US/Canada customs can (read will)intercept it and hold out their hand...

Do they count the value of each CD? How do they do that with the prices so different everywhere. What if they arent new CDs? ANd they tax CDRs the same as New CDs?

Correct. If it is under a certain amount it won't be taxed. The amount differs per country. If it is above that (and that includes shipping and handling costs) then it will be appraised for roughly the amount it is worth on the "native market", and taxes will be calculated on top of that. This is regardless of new, old rare, CD-R, whatever. A CD is a CD, a DVD is a DVD. Period. So this means that your extremely hard to find exclusive CD of Ozzy Osbourne doing Mariachi music will be the same price as the latest Backstreet Boys record. So the balance shifts both ways.

So send smaller packages with less CDRs in it?

Correct. People may have a lot of CDs, receiving a 100 pieces is kinda hard to explain. Remember most people only buy stuff they hear through the radio and have something like 40 CDs in total. The fan(atics) are different. I have over 2000 CDs, so do others. The customs guy finding your package with 100 CDs in it simply cannot grasp that they are for you... On a related note, try insuring that lot!!!

[Guest ypsmusik]

So if the package is worth less then about 50.00 than they may not tax it. Do they count the value of each CD? How do they do that with the prices so different everywhere. What if they arent new CDs? ANd they tax CDRs the same as New CDs?

 

So send smaller packages with less CDRs in it?

 

Hi,

 

Yes, if the value of the parcel is under 40 Euro you don't pay the taxes. It makes no difference whether the CD is new or used. They count the value of each CD.

As for the CD-Rs not every customs officer knows whether it's a CD-Rs or not. If he knows it, you get it explained the CD-Rs are illegal.

Best of all you writes "gift" and "promo CDs" on the customs sticker and you send smaller parcels.

[Guest ypsmusik]

So if the package is worth less then about 50.00 than they may not tax it. Do they count the value of each CD? How do they do that with the prices so different everywhere. What if they arent new CDs? ANd they tax CDRs the same as New CDs?

 

So send smaller packages with less CDRs in it?

 

Hi,

 

Yes, if the value of the parcel is under 40 Euro you don't pay the taxes. It makes no difference whether the CD is new or used. They count the value of each CD.

As for the CD-Rs not every customs officer knows whether it's a CD-Rs or not. If he knows it, you get it explained the CD-Rs are illegal.

Best of all you writes "gift" and "promo CDs" on the customs sticker and you send smaller parcels.

[melodicrockoz]

I think the USA is the only place on Earth where you don't have to pay a tax on something that someone sends you from another country!!!!

 

Australia too!!!

[metaltrekman]

Thanks Bobbi and ypsmusik and everyone else for explaining it all. Man that is really unfair for collectors. But the Government has to get thier hands in peoples pockets anyway they can.

 

BTW Bobbi where did you get all the info from? Just experience? So the U.S.doesnt have free trade with all of Europe? Germany taxes imported goods. But the U.S. doesnt. Or maybe its just things higher priced then a few CDs.

[Bobbi Flekman]

Yep...Experience. I order CDs/DVDs from places like Amazon.ca (customs), Amazon.com (customs), Amazon.de (no customs), Play.com (no customs), PlayUSA.com (no customs), and a few other websites like independant artists. Germany and England are part of the European Union, and in the whole of the EU is a free trade convention. So the English can easily order from French sites, etc. My experience says that as soon as a package comes from the US and it's "big" and sorta official looking (like Amazon and other companies) they get picked out at customs. Then some subtle math applied to the price stated will bring forth a price that will be extra for me to pay.

 

I even had to explain this to a deliveryman that didn't know why he wanted money from one parcel, and not from the other. I had two at the moment, both Amazon, but one from US and the other from Germany.

 

PlayUSA is located on the Channel Islands, which is some sort of no-mans-land. Officially it belongs to Great Brittain so it acts as part of the EU. Some sly import routines on their part means that my Region 1 DVDs from them look like coming from England, so I don't have to pay customs on it. On the othe3r hand it is slightly more expensive than ordering straight from an Amazon.com/ca, so it pays to know your import tsx bracket and do the math yourself. If the Euro to Dollar ratio is on the upper hand for the Euro than it pays to order at Amazon. If it is the other way around I'll go to PlayUSA. On the last season of the X-Files this was a difference of roughly $30.00 US (!!!).

 

I think that the limit differs per country, but for Holland this is € 22,00 which is ludicrously low! That means 1 CD (!!!). So, this means that every shipment from outside the EU will be taxed because it won't be less than that. The percentage is differing per type of item, but for CD/DVD that is 19 %. So take a simple calculation. I order for an amount of $ 100.00. US to Dollar conversion is based on an internal rate, not the market exchange rate so this isn't exactly right. But http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html says it'll boil down to € 78,17. 78.17 * 19 % = 14.85, ergo the customs guy wants you to cough up around 15 Euros. Of course, he won't have any coins.... so you'll pay € 15.00. End result: your package $ 100.00 will cost € 93,02...

 

The prices and percentages I got from the website of the Dutch Taxing Authority... Obviously that is in Dutch so I won't bother with posting urls.

 

Tips for trading... Don't send jewel cases. They're big, bulky and give extra weight. The package will be drawing more attention than needed, plus you'll pay extra shipping for the pieces of plastic. Also use lots and lots of cellotape on it, so you can be sure that customs will not open it! The "stack" of CDs will help make the package more solid so it'll be less fragile as well...

 

Hope it helps to understand.