Custom duty discussion on blu-rays imported

I have been hearing about customs being charged only from mumbai,pune,Hyd. Is it safe or atleast worth a chance to send items to chennai. Am going to chennai for a month for training. So thinking of ordering to that place.
 
I have been hearing about customs being charged only from mumbai,pune,Hyd. Is it safe or atleast worth a chance to send items to chennai. Am going to chennai for a month for training. So thinking of ordering to that place.


Yes, so far I have ordered around 20+ discs from Amazon Uk in 4 -5 shipments and have been lucky:yahoo:
 
Somewhat around 16 parcels were delivered in Month of June. All by India Post. Some 5 out of 16 attracted duty. Normal 21-25% duty.

Just Today, I received one more.
- Blu-ray price was 14.12 GBP including shipping. Item was shipped by zavvi.
- Invoice was stuck on front of the parcel, like all my other parcels. Proper forms and everything.
- Customs assessed the value of the parcel to 2000 :mad::mad::mad:
- And calculated duty of 41.45%. Rs. 860.

If anyone has same experience, where assessed value was significantly more than invoice value, and duty charged was on assessed value, kindly share, what did you do in this case.

EDIT : Oh and on top of that, Steelbook seal was also opened and removed. Thankfully There was no damage to it.

2 parcels including above mentioned and one another, both from zavvi, both separately packed and having different tracking number were shipped on 5th May, so they were with customs for more than 20 days. Both had steelbooks and both were opened. Seals removed. Pathetic repack. Lucky me, both arrived un-damaged.
 
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That is why now I stick to Amazon.com because everything is known upfront and delivery is trackable plus being delivered within 7-8 days flat. On top of that, quite a few of the times there is duty refund also. The only issue is Amazon.com is more expensive than Amazon.Co.UK or zavvi.
 
Zavvi is only for selected items, specially steelbooks (that too zavvi exclusives) And I am more into SBs.

Issue is they assessed the value of the BD more than invoice value. If it's 100-200 bucks, It may make sense. But they directly increased the value by 700 bucks in my case, from 1300 (even if I take today's GBP to INR conversion rate) to 2000. Which is not proper at all.

I read that
The customs valuation is based on CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) which means that the amount used to assess customs duty is the sum of cost of goods, insurance and shipping cost to India

And on top of that they do not have the courtesy to keep the Shrinkwrap of the BD in the box, even though they opened and inspected it. I do not mind inspections. But of they keep on opening the items, that will definitely bug me a lot.
 
Till now, What I have noticed is, If parcel is from amazon UK, and sent by normal shipping method (Cheapest one), and if it takes parcel to reach more than 15 days, Duty would have been charged 100% on it.

Duty is not applied, generally, on parcel which is delivered on/before amazon's estimated delivery date.

But now, customs have started opening my parcels as well. last 3 items from UK were opened, seals opened as well and inspected.
 
There does not seem to be a standard policy on the duty charged- just whim and fancy of the assessor - I have had 100% yes 100% duty charged on two parcels from USA - and anything from 20 to 45 % from UK/ EU. I have not bought anything for over a month now.
I guess the moral police are also checking if the discs inside are as claimed.
 
Any one order placed in amazon.com for turntable? Coz I tried to place order but failed... This msg shows
We're sorry. Your order contains items that may not be shipped to the selected destination. Please select another address
 
Anyone familiar with Tracking status "Retention reason : Awaiting proof of purchase/value from addressee" ?

What should be done now ?

1 of my parcel from Korea has been retained by customs at Mumbai , and current status for it is this. Item has invoice in it with all details 100% accurate. It was sent by a regular retailer who has sent many parcels to me in past.
From the info I could find out from google, I will need to send an email to "[email protected]" with invoice copy and proof of payment made.

That's it, right ?
 
Anyone familiar with Tracking status "Retention reason : Awaiting proof of purchase/value from addressee" ?

What should be done now ?

1 of my parcel from Korea has been retained by customs at Mumbai , and current status for it is this. Item has invoice in it with all details 100% accurate. It was sent by a regular retailer who has sent many parcels to me in past.
From the info I could find out from google, I will need to send an email to "[email protected]" with invoice copy and proof of payment made.

That's it, right ?
Has the Customs department contacted you as yet?
 
Has the Customs department contacted you as yet?

Nope, no contact yet. But I assume, they send some letter to my address, in this case. And that would take some 10 days (roughly). So better I send them details via e-mail.

And consignment has invoice in it with all details 100% accurate. It was sent by a regular retailer who has sent many parcels to me in past.

Something new to experience :indifferent14:
 
Update

parcel was released by Mumbai customs within 4 days. This is the process, which I followed.

- I directly contacted Mumbai customs on 022-26156063.
- The person who picked up the phone was very supportive. He asked about some DY(or BY) Number related to my parcel. Which I did not know. So He told me to first get DY(or BY) Number by contacting post dept. And than, he told me to send proof-of-purchase and invoice copy to e-mail address [email protected]
- I than contacted Post dept of Mumbai on 022-26156125 (Speed-post helpline Mumbai). My parcel was sent by EMS. There is one another number for registered parcel.
- They gave me DY(or BY) Number.
- I sent the email.
- After 2 days, I again contacted Mumbai customs on same number. He verified the invoice, took a print-out and told me that parcel will be released within today.
- Parcel got released next day, and was en-route to my address.
- Parcel contained items worth 10K. so duty was charged as well.
 
Just got hit with another almost 100% duty :mad: Parcel was from Secondspin USA. Total of Rs 1022/ on a value of $18,( @55 approx) it contained just 6 DVD/ Blu ray but the package was HUGE - even the Postman did not bring it home but asked me to collect it directly.
.....
After reading the encouraging report of the supportive /polite answer from the Mumbai (Postal) Customs - I plan to call and ask them as to how duty is levied!:p
 
I keep a very tight record of orders on Amazon.com/Uk. Please find here the status of duty refunds in the last four months:

Order Placed: April 16, 2013
Item(s) Subtotal: $57.49
Shipping & Handling: $32.92
Total before tax: $90.41
Import Fees Deposit $23.97
Total for This Shipment: $114.38
---------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL REFUND $23.97
---------------------------------------------------------------

Order Placed: April 26, 2013
Item(s) Subtotal: $59.46
Shipping & Handling: $17.84
Total before tax: $77.30
Import Fees Deposit $20.50
Total for This Shipment: $97.80
---------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL REFUND $3.01
---------------------------------------------------------------

Order Placed: May 8, 2013
Item(s) Subtotal: $61.95
Shipping & Handling: $20.95
Total before tax: $82.90
Import Fees Deposit $21.95
Total for This Shipment: $104.85
---------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL REFUND $9.60
---------------------------------------------------------------

Order Placed: June 3, 2013
Item(s) Subtotal: $62.95
Shipping & Handling: $24.94
Total before tax: $87.89
Import Fees Deposit $23.31
Total for This Shipment: $111.20
---------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL REFUND $10.42
---------------------------------------------------------------

Order Placed: June 21, 2013
Item(s) Subtotal: INR 8,083.73
Shipping & Handling: INR 2,845.84
Total before tax: INR 10,981.01
Import Fees Deposit INR 2,897.21
Total for This Shipment: INR 10,981.01
---------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL REFUND INR 1,262.87
---------------------------------------------------------------
 
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