Engeika And Customs Charges.

[Hospitalier]

You no longer have to pay Customs duty for goods up to the value of £135

But if the item does have a listed value of over £135, then the current rate of import duty for a fountain pen is 3.4%; just so you are aware. Not that any of the above will be likely to dissuade any reasonable person from buying Japanese pens direct from Japan through Engeika, considering their very agreeable prices in comparison to buying domestically or elsewhere.

[amarjit]

But if the item does have a listed value of over £135, then the current rate of import duty for a fountain pen is 3.4%; just so you are aware. Not that any of the above will be likely to dissuade any reasonable person from buying Japanese pens direct from Japan through Engeika, considering their very agreeable prices in comparison to buying domestically or elsewhere.

3.4% custom duty is great, in our country it ranges from 10 % to 40 %

[clear1]

A few years ago, I remember Engeika sending out an email, saying that he would have to list the full price afterwards.

 

There was some kind of warning from some kind of bureau that he was violating the law, writing down the price low on the shipping label, he said.

[ForgottenMemo]

It depends on where you live (how strict the customs are), the value of the item, and what it is shipped with. In Australia, the customs aren't very strict, and so, I've had no problems with customs tax. Shipping via EMS is going to be faster, but more prone to taxing. If items are less than $500, I don't think you will be asked to pay customs tax. If the order is for an expensive item, try registered post as you'll rarely be taxed if it is not express mail or a courier such as DHL and UPS. The only times I'm been taxed were when I purchased some very expensive pens that were shipped via these couriers.

I heard it was $1000 AUD, but I've never confirmed the amount. Where do we find this piece of information?

[Algester]

I would just say.. support your local vendors whenever possible be they online of brick and mortar while yes I agree that as consumers we would like to spend less as possible, but we have to think about the businesses that support the local trade, foreign online purchases is what I would consider a "last resort" tactic for the most desperate and if you think the good you want wont really be locally be available for the rest of your lifetime

while yes buying local would mean buying expensive but hey give these people a cut yo

and I know what it means to resort to that "last option" when I'm still thinking of my options in buying those more elusive sailor inks...

Edited November 18, 2015 by Algester

[Hospitalier]

I agree Algester - I particularly like my local butchers and farm shops, but maybe I am just lucky to have such quality produce available locally and at sensible prices.

However, since UK dealers are charging double, triple, or even in excess of four times the cost we can buy Japanese pens ourselves for including shipping and customs duties... I would rather support the producers than the merchants.

[Algester]

well then if you want to support the producers... there's one simple way... go to the point of origin and pay there with tax :X that means to buy that Japanese pen you need to go to Japan and dont avail for the tax free for 10K yen single receipt purchases

and breathe that Japanese air

this way you have no way to worry about your customs fees because you already paid the local tax (oh its also there's an incentive to the Japanese side if it is true they are facing yet another negative economic shift)

Edited November 18, 2015 by Algester

[Hospitalier]

Flights to Japan from UK... about £500 return; visiting Japan... priceless!

[Erik Dalton]

I'm taking a wait and see approach to these folks. Too many unknowns. Amazon and the bay provide at least some buyer support and that is worth a couple bucks to me.

[aeba]

I heard it was $1000 AUD, but I've never confirmed the amount. Where do we find this piece of information?

Right here at Dept. of immigration and border patrol.

[WhatsAGoodUsername]

Thanks for posting this. Which pen did you get did you get? I was considering getting a Vanishing Point from them. Any other retailers that have a good price for the VP?

I got the Sailor Koshu Inden, you know, basically Pro Gear wrapped in a velvety deer leather!

Um you can get a VP from Amazon.ca for 130 dollars. Yep, 130 canadian dollars. So that's not something one'd have to buy from engeika, to save the trouble.

Edited November 19, 2015 by WhatsAGoodUsername

[WhatsAGoodUsername]

I would guess that a 220 dollar pen purchased from amazon.ca would get duty as well. My experience is that it is random. If you purchase from a seller that declares a fraction of the true cost you will likely pay nothing.

I bought a 150 dollar pen from Amazon and it was no tax; so perhaps we found our magic cut off at somewhere between 150 and 220? LOL

[Hospitalier]

Coincidentally, two items arrived for me at my local post office today, both from Engeika.

 

1 - Platinum Century 3776, UK rrp £100; I had a $20 dollar discount from a previous purchase, so the initial cost was £41 including shipping, I then paid £23 customs and handling (VAT was calculated against list price, rather than the discounted price which was the actual cost).

 

2 - Sailor Professional Gear, made to order with specialist nib, UK rrp in excess of £500; initial cost with free shipping was £250 - the same price as an 'ordinary' Pro Gear without special nib retails in the UK, I then paid £55 customs and handling (no import duty as, although the value was over £135, the amount of duty applicable would have been less than £9).

 

Please also see https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/300177-in-praise-of-engeika/

[fountainflyer]

For us Canadians, we'll pay both duty and also tax on items incoming through the border unless they're manufactured in a country that we have an agreement for free trade with. (Japan is currently being negotiated!)

 

Couple of points:

- First, CBSA will convert the items declared price from whatever currency of the origin country it is into CAD.

- What is the exchange rate CBSA uses, you ask? It's all based on the Bank of Canada's daily rate for that currency. Do a quick Google search to find out what it is for "that day", however, since you have no idea when the item will actually arrive into Canada Post's clearing area, it'll be just a guesstimate. (Unless exhcange rates really fluxuate.)

 

For example, one day the US Dollar could be 1.30, while another day it may be 1.33.

 

On a $300 USD pen bought from a USA store (i.e. ebay.com/amazon.com):

@ 1.30 exchange: $390 CAD

@ 1.33 exchange: $400 CAD

 

Then, based on where the item is being delivered.. you'll also pay provincial/federal sales tax for your area on the converted amount in CAD.

 

For example, if your province has a 10% sales tax rate (in total for fed and provincial) then you'll either pay an additional $39 or $40.

 

The last step.. the amount of duty. I suspect that for fountain pens it may be 0%. CBSA states that as an average, 8.56% is normally what gets charged, but per their estimator (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html) there doesn't seem to be a category for fountain pens. It's probably not an item with enough high volume for them to be able to collect a noticeable amount of fees on. (Lucky for us!)

 

So going back to $300 USD pen purchased in the states, you're looking at at least another $40CAD in sales tax (as shown in our example) and, if by chance duty is charged, (I'll pick the middle between $390/$400CDN) and say $30CAD on top of that worst case scenario.

 

..That's a bit of a run down for those of us in Canada. You'll never be able to know ahead of time how much you will be charged, but you can get a ballpark idea so you know what to prepare for when your new purchase is delivered.

 

//ff.

Edited November 24, 2015 by fountainflyer

[WhatsAGoodUsername]

For us Canadians, we'll pay both duty and also tax on items incoming through the border unless they're manufactured in a country that we have an agreement for free trade with. (Japan is currently being negotiated!)

 

Couple of points:

- First, CBSA will convert the items declared price from whatever currency of the origin country it is into CAD.

- What is the exchange rate CBSA uses, you ask? It's all based on the Bank of Canada's daily rate for that currency. Do a quick Google search to find out what it is for "that day", however, since you have no idea when the item will actually arrive into Canada Post's clearing area, it'll be just a guesstimate. (Unless exhcange rates really fluxuate.)

 

For example, one day the US Dollar could be 1.30, while another day it may be 1.33.

 

On a $300 USD pen bought from a USA store (i.e. ebay.com/amazon.com):

@ 1.30 exchange: $390 CAD

@ 1.33 exchange: $400 CAD

 

Then, based on where the item is being delivered.. you'll also pay provincial/federal sales tax for your area on the converted amount in CAD.

 

For example, if your province has a 10% sales tax rate (in total for fed and provincial) then you'll either pay an additional $39 or $40.

 

The last step.. the amount of duty. I suspect that for fountain pens it may be 0%. CBSA states that as an average, 8.56% is normally what gets charged, but per their estimator (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html) there doesn't seem to be a category for fountain pens. It's probably not an item with enough high volume for them to be able to collect a noticeable amount of fees on. (Lucky for us!)

 

So going back to $300 USD pen purchased in the states, you're looking at at least another $40CAD in sales tax (as shown in our example) and, if by chance duty is charged, (I'll pick the middle between $390/$400CDN) and say $30CAD on top of that worst case scenario.

 

..That's a bit of a run down for those of us in Canada. You'll never be able to know ahead of time how much you will be charged, but you can get a ballpark idea so you know what to prepare for when your new purchase is delivered.

 

//ff.

Good info. Would not have screamed at my mailman like a lunatic had I expected that 60 dollar duty beforehand.

[fountainflyer]

Good info. Would not have screamed at my mailman like a lunatic had I expected that 60 dollar duty beforehand.

 

You're welcome - yeah, Canada Post has nothing at all to do with the duty/taxes imposed on inbound goods. They simply collect for the government. While CP owns the facilities where all mail enters the country... CBSA agents are there on site to inspect and assess every single box be it for duty or security screening. Can't escape it

 

One other note.. don't be too surprised if your package looks like it's been opened. It's most likely part of secondary screening. I don't think it would be too common on inbound packages from "safer" countries like Japan.. but if you used eBay to purchase a pen and the seller was, for instance, from Thailand - a high drug source country - I'd expect it to be resealed, as well as have the pen plastic tampered with.

 

//ff.