Sweet Shoppe Designs

DeepGirl · #1 08-20-2010, 01:36 AM

...for getting me inspired with your recent post... yesterday the first parcel with Martha Stewart's craft tools arrived from the U.S. and I immediatelly fell in love with the punch (in another parcel there should be 6 of them!).

This is what I made:

Andrea Gourley · #2 08-20-2010, 02:53 AM

Hurrah! I LOVE spending other peoples money, lovely card Zora. That punch is one of my favourites, so versatile

Have fun playing with your new purchases

Paula Patrick · #3 08-23-2010, 12:15 PM

Very pretty card!

adrianka · #4 08-23-2010, 01:50 PM

A lovely card. Can't wait what you do next time, Zorka.

Andrea, you DO love spending other people's money, don't you? I know exactly why I bought my punches in the first place. :-)

DeepGirl · #5 08-25-2010, 08:51 AM

So, they are here

I thought the battle was won after I managed via an on-line customs procedure that the goodies were free of duty (as they are for personal use only). I sent to the customs the PayPal receipt, the eBay invoice, sworn declaration that I won't be selling those items for profit and on Friday noon the officer confirmed that they are releasing the delivery to the postal services.

The parcel was taken by the EPS section on Monday afternoon, so it could be scheduled for a delivery on Tuesday morning the earliest. On Tuesday morning, about 10:00 a.m. the courier called me: "Hello, so, I am on my way to you..."
I said: "Wait... but I am not at home, I am at work..."
"What? Where? At work?"
"Yes, about this time most of people ARE at work. Could you please bring me the delivery around 4 p.m.?"
"No, I am sorry, there are vacations all around, I am taking also my colleague's district, I deliver within my district only between 8-10 a.m."
WTF? But we have agreed that he would forward the parcel to another district where my office is. But this could be done only on another day.

Alright, instead of agreed time 12-12:30 p.m. the courier came at 14:15, waiting in front of the office building. I ran down 3 stairs (he would definitelly get lost in that building) to the frontyard, he gave me the parcel and said: "You have to pay € 15,60."
I thought he was joking as it was a young handsome man

"Ha ha, good joke," I said. But he wasn't joking. There was stated: DUTY DEBT.
WTF??? I didn't have my wallet with me, even enough cash with me (I pay everything with the credit card). So I climber 3 stairs back into the office and borrowed € 10 from my colleague.

I paid the courier and finally crawled back into the office with the parcel. I have unpacked the box and read the customs statement: "Free of duty, VAT calculated: € 15,60 under Article 48 Sec. 2 point b) of the Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT."

WTF?

So I checked the VAT act... and really, there it was - even though the goodies are free of duty, the VAT is calculated (exceptions are e.g. 500 g of coffee, 100 g of tea, goodies valued not exceeding € 22, goods imported after marriage, drugs, charity stuff, coffins, food for animals during transport etc.) from the TOTAL amount (including P & P costs!)

It's really interesting that none of the big boxes from AMAZON.COM stuffed with CDs valued more than USD 200 or boxes of tea were caught by the customs. Aaaaaaargh. but it still got chaper than buying the punches from the UK

adrianka · #6 08-25-2010, 09:07 AM

Zori, as I have already told to you, you've been very lucky so far to have escaped VAT and customs duties, so all of this has a big positive side to it. I myself have never escaped from them, or maybe escaped ONCE in all those years. In all other cases I paid. :-)

As for courriers, I have only had weird experience with them so far.

Enjoy your goodies. :-)

adrianka · #7 08-25-2010, 09:09 AM

P.S. Isn't it a wonderful lecture in practice on the beauty of EU's customs union? :-)

*hides from a well-deserved hit on the head*

DeepGirl · #8 08-25-2010, 09:18 AM

Yes, that's true that I have never paid any customs or VAT as all the parcels were somehow... er... overlooked?

So I was lucky to escaped many times... the very last time was the previous crafts parcel, which was sent from Hamburg, NY. As Hamburg is also in Germany, I think the post / customs officer thought it comes from Germany and didn't see the U.S. post label or postage calculated in U.S. Dollars