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Krafty's Kritique
Customs men- LEAVE ME ALONE! last modified: Monday, October 23, 2006 (3:33:44 PM) Expected my nice big parcel from the Rinkya deputy last week, however it got stopped by Customs who thought it would be amusing to have to pay a large portion of the government's daily intake from my county.
The tax and import fee came to over GBP 175.00 [USD 330.00] so I wasn't best pleased. My other option was to have the parcel sent back to Japan then get Rinkya to mail it out a second time but with a new [dishonest] value placed on the Customs form. It was USD 183 to send before, so that still saves me a hefty chunk. Fortunately, Rinkya said they'd help me out by faxing an ammended Customs declaration to the tax office in the hope I'd waive these fees. I supplied them with an appropriate email address and parcel details so fingers crossed as I await news! Just thinking of those cels crammed in a damp warehouse with other parcels stacked on top gets me on edge. It really frustrates me having to pay tax and other fees when obtaining artwork from abroard. These paintings don't really have a monetary value, it's more like we are paying for the artists time and skill- the material value is almost zero. Should we be asked to pay these guys wages? It's crazy because these people don't even see the money we pay it all goes to the government who act like a corrupt mob boss taking their cut of somebody elses deal and they get away with it simply because the individual is weak and helpless. It's not like movies and games where you're paying for the licence holder's copyright, so art doesn't have the kind of base value a DVD or CD does. In a distorted way, this is how I see it; and I am pretty twisted :P Whatever happens, when I finally get this package, I don't know where to store all the artwork. With 6 piles surrounding me right now, I'm running out of space. Still, I can always make room for art!! *heh* At least I updated with 3 cels today- Street Fighter Alpha and the original VHD. In time for Halloween.
Geezus! @_@ What a pickle. That''s too bad about those additional fees and such. Hopefully Rinkya will come to the rescue. I hear what you''re saying about the value of art. Art is something that passes many hands on its way through the generations. The original artist received his salary working for the studio or original commissioner of the piece, so don''t feel too bad. Art is only valuable to collectors and entirely subjective. Plus, the artist could swipe items directly from the studio, post-production. (Gasp! Did I just say that?!?!? How terrible of me ;) hehe The new additions look great! It''s always a treat when you update your gallery. Happy Halloweeny!
If the parcel is marked as "Gift", you won''t have to pay any fees (at least that''s how it is in Canada). Otherwise, here in lovely ol'' Canada, we have to pay taxes on every parcel that comes in.
And this is exactly why I don''t work in the cargo facility. (insert evil grin) Yeah, I agree..it''s unfortunate that you have to pay such a high fee for these items. But, you have to ask yourself if the fee is worth having your items stay in a facility where it may not be properly placed....especially if this is a wishlist item. Anyways, good luck with Customs and I hope things are efficiently sorted out for you(in your favor, of course!).
That''s so awful I''m not a fan of customs agents myself as even though I''m in the US I''ve had a nasty time with Customs lately. They''ve opened almost every single thing I''ve receieved from out of the country in the last few months. For one of my boxes from Mandarake they didn''t properly close it again when I got it the cel was sitting in an open box with no packing materials whatsoever and it was raining! Luckily it was an ems or I''d have probably never recieved it. As for the value of art I''ve always been iffy in terms of what to declare the value of something as when filling out a customs form (though I always send cels out as used animation film) as I always think the moment I put a $5 value on something it''s sure to be lost or destoryed or soemthing and the other person will have very little recourse. And the gift thing only works some of the time if I have a large number of items to send out it looks awfully suspicious while I''m at the post office. though if someone specifically asks to mark said parcel as a gift I do it and generally send it alone and usually not from my regular post office. I wish you lots of good luck in sort things out! ~Stephanie
I know the feeling mate...customs canbe a right pain in the ass when it comes down to artwork, but I hope Rinya can sort it out for you. Loving the new additions already and looking forward to what wonders you have installed for us...it must be some catch!
I''d like to back up what Sletia has said. I''ve been though a spell of UK custom stopping *all* of my Rinkya parcels, where as all of my other cels got through. I really think customs have clocked on to the "Rinkya" label. Now I ask Rinkya to label my cels as gifts and I''ve had no trouble since :-) More than the customs charge, what used to bother me was the delay in the parcel being delieved and the "handling" fee Parcel Force adds on to anything stopped by customs (about £13) |
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