inputs required for international shipping

[akd]

Hi,

I am thinking to buy a turntable from Germany through ebay.com, the item is in Germany but the seller listed in ebay.com

item condition: New
size: 15"x15"x8" (box)
weight: 15Kgs
value: around $1,000

the seller will ship through DHL and has quoted $92 for the shipping
charge and I want a legal and proper import, everything should be
transparent

now my queries
1. what is the likely route it will come through (via kolkata or Mumbai)?
2. Approximate delivery time
3. How much will be the import duty? please give me some idea from your
experience
4. If import duty is charged what DHL will do? will they call me and ask
for it and pay on behalf of me and collect the same during delivery?

I'hv asked the same set of questions to DHL India team and waiting for an answer

your inputs will definitely help

 

[dkaile]

1. Depends where you live. Most probably Mumbai
2. DHL should take about 7 days. You can track it online.
3. I imported 200$ phone and was charged Rs. 1500/- as duty and clearing charges; If you can get it marked as a 2-300$ product, same would be charged, otherwise pro quota.
4. They will call you before delivery and inform you and collect the same on delivery.

 

[dillihifi]

These days there are dry docks therefore the shipment will most probably come via a cargo flight and it may be any of the metros where DHL has hubs for international cargo. As I live in Delhi for my case it was always cleared by customs in Delhi. Further if the item is shipped from Germany to any of the metros it will take a max of a week.

Duty will be around 25% of the cost + freight. Further a handling / custom clearance charges ranging to around 500 Rs will be levied.

All the payments will be made by DHL on your behalf and will be collected from you. In the rare case the customs official has any clarifications you will need to be present and clarify his doubts.

 

[issigonis]

>>>

Chapter 85 of the Customs Tariff (Customs Tariff 2009-10 - CBEC), of the Central Board Of Excise and Customs, in section 8519 ( Sound Recording or Reproducing Apparatus), point # 8519 30 00 ( Turntables-record decks) puts the customs duty at 10% of invoice value.

Shipping and insurance are obviously extra.

In the same chapter, Section 8523, point # 8523 8010 has gramophone records at 10%.

Regards

 

[stevieboy]

Figuring out customs duty that you're gonna pay is indeed a blacker art than room acoustics

For records at times I've not paid anything, while a pal had to shell out quite a bit, at other times I've paid a decent bit. I've given up and just factor in a 20% estimate over and above and if I pay less I feel good

At a rough estimate, I'd guess you're going to end up paying bout 9-11k to the DHL guys.

Delivery time will depend on what the seller chooses. Every courier company has different time/rate packages, Express, standard etc. Normal stuff is 10 days, figuring in Sat, Sundays.

Regards

 

[dillihifi]

The customs duty one has to pay is very much mathematical. The calculation is as follows :

Price lets say Rs 100 (for ease of calculation, this is CIF i.e. cost + freight)
Custom Duty 10% (Basic Duty) so now the price is Rs. 110
CVD (this is in lieu of excise duty) @10.3% of 110 comes to Rs. 11.33
Now the total comes to Rs 110 + 11.33 = Rs 121.33
Now only the duty is 121.33-100 = Rs 21.33
Educational Cess of 3% of 21.33 comes to 0.64
Now the total is 121.97 so Customs Duty is worked out as 21.97%

If SAD is applicable then @4% of 121.97 comes to 4.88 so now total price is 121.97 + 4.88 = 126.85 so the effective duty one has to pay is 26.85%

 

[dillihifi]

Well the customs guys will not charge you anything higher than the figure arrived at. They can of course charge you lower duty (it is probably going under the table) or go as per the declaration filed by the Shipping agencies (as they cant possibly verify each and every shipment). Further, if you go ahead and import two identical shipments via the same shipping company (say DHL) you would be charged similarly for these shipments.

The duty to be charged and the amount taken by the shipping agencies will generally differ with the shipping agency quoting a fixed amount towards customs clearance and handling charges extra. These generally jack up the rate.

 

[issigonis]

>>>

Seems that the customs department has become slightly more professional of late and they refer to the rule book ( which is fine with me) to apply the correct rates. Therefore it is important to be correctly briefed on the rates applicable to the product in question, before raising a complaint.
The tariff book is very clear on the rates applicable.

The calculation goes like this.

1. Invoice value of the turntable, pickup arm & cartridge - say 100 ( in Rs)
2. Shipping & insurance - say @10% ( I've kept it on the higher side) = Rs 10
3. Customs duty @ 10% of 1 & 2 above = Rs 11
4. Excise duty (Countervailing Duty)@ 5% of customs duty=Rs 0.55
5. Total = 100+10+11+0.55= Rs 121.55
6. VAT @25% on #5 = Rs 30.39
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand total = Rs 151.94

Please check and revert.

Regards

 

[dillihifi]

Your calculation seems fine. But need to find out if CVD is charged at 5% ? Further, if you are importing for personal use no VAT is payable.

 

[stevieboy]

Dillihifi,

Yup those probably are the reasons charges vary so wildly.

Issigonis,

As per your calculations, the actual payable ends up quite high! Thankfully it's not followed strictly!

Edit: I think dillihifi is right, VAT is not applicable, unlike shipping to european countries. Which makes the total reasonable.

 

[akd]

Dillihifi,
VAT is not applicable, unlike shipping to european countries. Which makes the total reasonable.

we are talking of shipping into India, so I guess VAT is not applicable, so the amount turns out to be around 26-27% (Pranab's experience) or around 22% (authentic calculation), anyway one should be ready for anything around 25%

@issigonis
the document and thus the calculation seems accurate and authentic, the biggest trouble is the "unknown factors", I feel if an item is clearly described with proper price how the custom officers can interpret in a different way?

@dillihifi
"In the rare case the customs official has any clarifications you will need to be present and clarify his doubts."

what can be the rare case in your view?

 

[dkaile]

^
99% of the time DHL takes care of all customs affairs and you are not needed anywhere.
I have seen heavily priced goods get through customs at less than 2K duty just because it was through DHL

 

[issigonis]

Your calculation seems fine. But need to find out if CVD is charged at 5% ? Further, if you are importing for personal use no VAT is payable.

>>> dillihifi,
If no VAT is payable, then we are talking of a total of 21.55%.

Dillihifi,

Yup those probably are the reasons charges vary so wildly.

Issigonis,

As per your calculations, the actual payable ends up quite high! Thankfully it's not followed strictly!

Edit: I think dillihifi is right, VAT is not applicable, unlike shipping to european countries. Which makes the total reasonable.

>>>

stevieboy,

If VAT is not applicable as per law that's nice. I am fine with the application of customs duties strictly as per law- as every 'favour' bestowed on the 'lucky few' implies lower collections for the administration, which is needed for all of us taxpayers.

we are talking of shipping into India, so I guess VAT is not applicable, so the amount turns out to be around 26-27% (Pranab's experience) or around 22% (authentic calculation), anyway one should be ready for anything around 25%

@issigonis
the document and thus the calculation seems accurate and authentic, the biggest trouble is the "unknown factors", I feel if an item is clearly described with proper price how the custom officers can interpret in a different way?

@dillihifi
"In the rare case the customs official has any clarifications you will need to be present and clarify his doubts."

what can be the rare case in your view?

>>>
akd,
The tariff book is very clear in its definition; I wouldn't expect the officers to have any confusion anymore and with no scope for interpretations. No unknown factors if the papers are in proper order.

Regards

 

[dillihifi]

Well it should be around that figure. The CVD is basically the Excise Duty on the products category manufactured in India. So it cannot be exactly 5%.

Further, in some cases where the customs official is in doubt over the documentation and the value of the product he is likely to summon the importer. This generally happens when you grossly underinvoice the goods being imported.

Some of you may have noticed that several chinese products (like toys etc) carry a sticker of lower price though the shop sells at a higher price.

 

[reubensm]

honestly, its not worth the trouble unless you are ok with a princely sum on duty and shipping...remember duty is charged on the total value which is purchase price + shipping at around 25%...also you run the risk of customs damaging your turntable when they do a check...i've heard horror stories where-in electronic equipment is sometimes opened for an internal check, if suspect....now, i'm sure none of us ever want that to happen!!

 

[akd]

@reubensm
partly true, it all depends upon how much you want something and how is their availability in India, there are plenty of Indian/Western LPs and electronics stuff for which people are crazy about, I feel its good if someone buys with proper duty

Ex: in past I have bought many LPs from ebay (US and UK) which neither have I seen or expect to see in India in my lifetime and they cost me ordinary sums, and all packets reached w/o single penny of import duty as I always make sure the purchase below 3K

 

[reubensm]

agreed, my LPs too come from amazon.com and importcds.com and have never been charged a penny for duty. its a great way to buy LPs as these titles are not available in India and they are way superior to the used ones from the local market.

 

[Hassan Khani]

Yesterday received Emotiva UMC-1 + XPA-5 products from US. It was shipped through fedex and they did the customs clearance in Delhi. They did provide a receipt and calculation of custom duty. It is as below:

BCD(10%) + CVD(10%) + CESS(3%) + EDU. CESS (3%) + SAD (4%) + OTHER (0%) = TOTAL DUTY RATE (26.85%).

Assessable Value: 87329/-
Customs Duty - 23447/.

 

[olly42]

Yesterday received Emotiva UMC-1 + XPA-5 products from US. It was shipped through fedex and they did the customs clearance in Delhi. They did provide a receipt and calculation of custom duty. It is as below:

BCD(10%) + CVD(10%) + CESS(3%) + EDU. CESS (3%) + SAD (4%) + OTHER (0%) = TOTAL DUTY RATE (26.85%).

Assessable Value: 87329/-
Customs Duty - 23447/.

Congratulations on your new acquisitions Happy listening:clapping:

 

[kaushik]

use borderlinx for heavy items if u can , need to have a citibank card .. calculator is v accurate on the site , no tension of customs,all they will take care