Novel Ideas for Importing Speakers

saikat

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
177
Points
18
Location
Bangalore
Lets assume X goes to a country where a pair of (a)bookshelf or (b)floor standing speakers (X has been gagging for) is half the price for which it is available here...:D

What options would X have to bring them over to India?

Solution 1->Bookshelf speakers: Throw away all other stuff and pack the speakers into your check-in luggage...:p

20kg max limit though..:(
 
Okay, while we're indulging in fantasy, how about this... disassemble the speakers completely and bring it back to India in parts. You can't be taxed for... a crossover assembly... a pair of drivers... an empty cabinet... spikes and covers and so on. Divide parts between multiple companions or trips for better results.
 
I owe you mate! I had idea in the past and even ventured dismantling some stuff (secret ;)), but shelved the idea as some of my friends confused me regarding customs etc.

Okay, while we're indulging in fantasy, how about this... disassemble the speakers completely and bring it back to India in parts.


Still can't I put everthing in a container ;) in dismantled condition, ship it along with other House hold stuffs under transfer of residency law [once in every 3 year I guess].

You can't be taxed for... a crossover assembly... a pair of drivers... an empty cabinet... spikes and covers and so on. Divide parts between multiple companions or trips for better results.
 
You can absolutely ship it under transfer of residence, provided you can prove it. For e.g.your passport will have a stamp with the date, amount, etc so you cant make use of this too often :)
Even used stuff for household have customs duty on it, generally the duty is quite low. You can ofcourse get stuff in knocked down condition, but it will limited to one or two components. But under TR, you dont need to bring it knocked down condition since the duty is low anyways.
If you get too many of these, you will invite unnecessary attention. Customs guys are also up to date on many brands and their value, they have a database of prices which is shared on a worldwide basis. If you do get very expensive stuff or big brand name equipment, the chances of your paying duty is much higher.
hope that helps
 
Okay, from my personal observations, this is how the customs guy checks if they should check/open your luggage or not; they check if there are any locks on your check-in luggage right after you pick it up from the belt... :D
 
odyssey / Particleman: thanks for sharing the knowledge, Yes i've loads of stuff to bring. Having said that i don't have plans to escape from customs duty, still need to be resonable though ;)

saikat: sorry to hijack your thread, i'll shut up after this post :) I did imported several stuff in that way (never crossed >INR25000), once caught by chennai customs guys, but I had the proof showing the items valued <INR25000
 
Last edited:
if you cn do a TR then nothing like it. its once in 4 years with proof of having stayed more than 2 years and with proof that it is a return back to the country. speakers are NOT taxed if you can prove them to be used.

if NOT TR then only option is request an undervaluation to a much smaller amount..many distributors oblige. so customs is lower.
 
Thanks ARJ for the info, I've to do this ASAP as this would be the last chance for us as my wife also gives up Indian citizenship early next year.

Good reason to buy more AV stuff :)

if you cn do a TR then nothing like it. its once in 4 years with proof of having stayed more than 2 years and with proof that it is a return back to the country. speakers are NOT taxed if you can prove them to be used.

if NOT TR then only option is request an undervaluation to a much smaller amount..many distributors oblige. so customs is lower.
 
Guys
there seems to be some misonception about TR. Let me see if I can clear a few things up -
You can get used personal items under TR. The limit at least 3 years back was about 1.5 L (for a family of two). I am not sure if it was exactly Rs 1.5L but roundabout at that amount. You can use it once in a few years (dont remember if its once in 4 yrs or 3 yrs) but you have to be outside for that period of 1 or 2 years. Now for the duty structure,
electronic/electrical items are chargeable at 15 to 20% of the current value
The trick is how to determine used value - if you can have bills and say you can prove that the item is say 5 yrs old, then depreciation applies and you can list the present value of an item is quite low (say if you bought it for $100, you can say the present value is $25 as an example). However, in my experience and others that I know the value charged was quite low (10%). This also depends on the agent that you have and how he is managing everything :D
Also, the customs officer is allowed to determine what is "reasonable" as personal use and what isnt. They will not bother about a 2-in-1 or a DVD player or CD player if its a mass brand. Lets say you get a $10K player and it looks new, then they are going to charge you for it. An officer might now consider a high end item as reasonable for personal use....yes this is true. If you multiple items of the same type, then again this becomes harder to justify as personal use. There is also a HT classification (wherein the duty is lower) than 2-channel stereo - find it funny, but its true. So instead of declaring a DVD, receiver/6 ch amp, speakers, etc as separate items, just declare Home theater system with DVD, receiver and speakers in one item ;)
The experiences in Bangalore at least has been pretty good (mine and others that I know), but this was three years back. I had some pretty expensive stuff with me :D There was no electronic database 3 years ago for use with customs. They do have one now and just about any major brand that you can think of is in that database, if they punch it in, they get the value of it, so pls have bills just in case. Here again there is no one type of experience, I know friends of mine who brought back a whole container of household stuff and didnt have a single item checked/inspected. The customs officer just took the listed item of goods and value on what was submitted. I have also heard of experiences where they have opened and gone through every single box and checked the value against the databse, so its a toss up and depends on your Karma :D
Finally, one cant use TR and then take a one-way ticket and leave the country, not so simple - if you try and do this, the customs/immigration guy can ask you to produce the last and current years tax filing and will also force you to pay the TR value listed in your passport for full duty (42%). If I interpret what someone mentioned a couple of posts back, they cant bring stuff back and leave within a year with a one-way ticket and still avail of TR. Pls check with someone more knowledgabe. As I mentioned all of this was true when I went through it 3 years ago, things can be a little different now although I dont think there will be radical differences.
I can also recommend worldwide4shipping if you are moving from EU or US, excellent service though slightly on the higher side, but well worth it.

Oh, one more thing - When you use shippers, you will declare a certain value for insurance/damage/loss purposes, some shippers will use this as the value to declare at customs, some others use two different invoices (one for insurance and one for customs). Be sure to do your homework



Hope this helps

cheers
 
odyssey, thats useful info !

I did use TR once..4 years back. had imported and my HT and stereo system. just paid 10K duty as i had bills which showed them to be 18 months old and electronics is depreciated quite sharply.

I did leave the country again in the next 6 months but thankfully no one asked me/checked the TR..
 
Check out our special offers on Stereo Package & Bundles for all budget types.
Back
Top