Ordering vinyl from abroad...

[Sandesh]

A question to all on this thread - How many vinyls have you got through international post without attracting the eyes of the Customs?

 

[G401fan]

Dozens, actually. Mostly, though, just one or two at a time, and none has yet had customs duty imposed. An international seller usually has to attach a small 'declaration of value' form on each consignment, and usually the customs guys don't bother with values less than $100, or so someone else on this forum had observed some time back. Many eBay sellers are OK with undervaluation, if asked, tho' it's not really needed for small orders. Most of my purchases have been off eBay and Amazon, and more recently, Discogs.

 

[reubensm]

I have bought records from amazon and eBay.com, never attracted any duty. All purchases were below $200 send with declaration of value. I have about 50+ records bought from eBay and shipped to India. I have made 3 purchases from amazon.com, again with no duty liability.

 

[Sandesh]

What's the largest amount of LPs that have come to you at a shot?

 

[reubensm]

If I recall correctly, one batch from eBAY had 20 LPs.

 

[Sandesh]

Pretty neat! I want to ship around 30 vinyls for my label and have been a bit worried, but the guy has agreed to pack them in two packs...

 

[tek]

I would say over the years i've probably ordered over a 100 records online.. maybe more. You should definitely break them up, with not more than 10 per pack. Worst case pay the 30% duty, it's not so bad. If you get them shipped via UPS you will almost certainly have to pay duty. Normal air mail via USPS or royal mail is usually fine, but can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. Avoid DHL like the plague, unless you want to wait 6 months to get your records, if you get them at all.

 

[Sandesh]

I would say over the years i've probably ordered over a 100 records online.. maybe more. You should definitely break them up, with not more than 10 per pack. Worst case pay the 30% duty, it's not so bad. If you get them shipped via UPS you will almost certainly have to pay duty. Normal air mail via USPS or royal mail is usually fine, but can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. Avoid DHL like the plague, unless you want to wait 6 months to get your records, if you get them at all.

DHL takes 2 months? It's a courier service right?

 

[tek]

They also have a cheaper service that many online retailers and ebayers offer.. about $8 US to ship to India - but I have had several packages not reach me when I use that... once one of them reached me about 7 months later and the package was opened up and record unsealed.

 

[Shivam]

Once I had to pay duty on a double LP album imported from US. There were just two LPs in a single sleeve.

On another occasion, I was able to get 10 LPs without attracting any duty.

 

[peace_sells]

What's the largest amount of LPs that have come to you at a shot?

The largest I've ordered was about 11 albums (few were single, few were double LPs) from Nuclear Blast records (the german site). But i don't think its the number that matters in customs right. Its the price and the weight. I've also ordered a 150 euro box set from Germany (again) once..quite heavy duty.

Never have i paid any customs so far (*touchwood*)