Birkin duty fees?

maxmara

maxmara

O.G.
Dec 17, 2005
861
3
#1
I am planning on purchasing a Birkin from France.. the seller said he would ship it via fedex. I am very concerned about customs. Has anyone bought a Birkin from over seas, who had to pay the actual amount of duty fee? How much should I be expected to pay. The seller said, he would mark it as a gift under $500 but I've read that customs are now cracking down on that and I don't want to risk having my bag stuck on customs. Any advice will be appreciated.:flowers:
 
#4
Do NOT have the seller under-declare your bag. Yes, you are responsible for duty BUT if you have him under-declare it, if the bag is lost then you can only recover the amount declared. Furthermore, if Customs found out about it, you can be fined and in worst case scenario, they can confiscate the item.

As a seller I always tell my buyers that I have to declare the item by the actual transactional value. Doing otherwise is breaking the rules ...
 
#5
Yes, I know what you mean.. I do not want to risk losing the bag or worse scenario have it confiscated.:wtf: How much should I be expected to pay for duty fees for like $9k?
 
#6
maxmara said:
Yes, I know what you mean.. I do not want to risk losing the bag or worse scenario have it confiscated.:wtf: How much should I be expected to pay for duty fees for like $9k?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how much it is but it's probably around 10%? I know that the first couple hundred won't be taxed. Actually I'm sure other ladies on the subforum can answer this question.:yes:
 
#7
Why don't you call your customs offfice? You don't need to tell them who you are. Customs laws varies in individual countries. But I would declare full value, for sanity sake.

You are already dropping a chunk of change for the bag, don't allow the small details to get into the way. Pay the tax, cry on our shoulders here and be done with it.
 
#12
As far as I know...10 % vat is taken off, then the first $800 is taken "off the top" that is how much you can bring in duty free. If the bag is from france, I think they are E4500, so -10%=E 4050 then the E/$ exchange is about $1.29 ...= $5224 -$800=$ 4424 that is the amt your duty will be asessed on. 4-8% (this is as of summer of '06) I think this is still the case. Hope this was not too confusing!:shame: ...I stink at math, :sweatdrop: consider this an example.:s
 
#13
VAT is the tax return you get when you purchase something in Europe and you export it out of the EUR nations. This can only be done if you purchase a certain amount from a store that has a VAT processing service. They will process your purchase and give you a form to stamp at the airport by custom when you leave the EUR nations. You must have the form and your items with you just in case they cross check it to make sure you are actually exporting it out of the country.

U.S custom duties is the tax you pay when you import something into the u.s. This dutie is charge at a different rate depending on orgin, materials and etc. It very hard to get an exect quote of the tax rate for you item b/c sometimes each custom officer view the item differently even when they have a guide line to follow. There are times that they will pick on the item and there are times that they will look pass it. It really depends on your luck.

hope everything works out for you.
 
#14
This gets very complex, do check with your local Customs office, but here are some experiences I've had...

I recently bought my wife a Garden Party in Chicago, and had to take it back through customs in Heathrow. So, declare it and pay duty and VAT, or risk it in the suitcase? Well, as it was in a very large orange box I decided to be honest and pay up. When I got to the red channel I remembered that duty is very complex - should I be charged 3.5% for handbags or 3% for leather goods? Because I had 'fessed up the inspector allowed me to choose the cheaper option. Similarly I persuaded them to only charge VAT on the price before sales tax. Lesson: talk to customs, they may be nice.

On another occassion my wife sold a snakeskin belt on ebay, and shipped it to the US. However it was stopped by customs who decided that it was an endangered species - it wasn't, but customs have complete discretion on this point. They destroyed it (or possibly kept it for themselves, but lets assume they are honest!) Lesson: if your bag looks like it could be made of anything covered by CITES then get some documentation that it isn't.
 
#15
i had my birkin 40cm ardenne shipped from usa, i asked the seller to declare it as a 40usd gift and insert a greeting card incase they open, i didn't have a problem it came faster than i expected, thanx to fedex. i guess it depends on the customs of your country. the customs in my country is a bit corrupt so if the seller refuses to under declare, i'd rather not take it. they charge here like 50% of the declared value, crazy. fedex is reliable, only 1 in a thousand chance of ur item geting lost or damaged
 
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