This reminds me I'm lucky to live in a country (Australia) where government is only moderately corrupt and extortionate.
I think in the Australian government's case it's less a matter of being corrupt than it is of being incompetent and inefficient.
I think in the Australian government's case it's less a matter of being corrupt than it is of being incompetent and inefficient.
Let me rephrase that.
This reminds me I'm lucky to live in a country (Australia) where government is only moderately corrupt, extortionate, incompetent and inefficient.
i mean do you have a governor lives in a house similar to normal people's house? i suspect no. some country's governor (and cronnies) live in a house similar to the "your majesty's castle"
Yeap I understood your question
that’s why ask “was it ever different?”
Even big chief sitting bear had biggest wigwam couple hundred years ago, it was always like that and it won’t change any soon.
Btw, she isn’t my majesty, she is a parasite to my tax payments, besides most of us don’t call it castle it is more like puppet show
Yes I'm in this corrupt EU country.
He is expecting same from other countries.
He just has to be slightly more discerning when he looks for ones to trade with. There are many to choose from:
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results
While we are sharing personal anecdotes about customs declarations:
I ordered a
RF Explorer a bit over a year ago from China. 129USD, so it was not a cheap piece of equipment. I was fully expecting it to get stuck in the customs and having to pay VAT (the limit in Finland was ~50-60USD back then). Instead, after some weeks I get a notification that I've got a postal packet ready to be picked up from my local post.
It indeed was the RF Explorer. The packet wasn't very large, but it was quite heavy for it's size, you really got the feeling that there was probably something expensive inside. Then I looked at the customs declaration:
Contains: Light Emitting Diode
Value: 5USD
A pretty bold faced lie... The Finnish customs must have been really sleeping or simply not caring to let that one through.
He just has to be slightly more discerning when he looks for ones to trade with. There are many to choose from:
That is a nice one there Tepe
Besides if the package smile shows is a DMMCheck like he mentioned before, he is lucky how fast it is handled, I got a DMMCheck shipped same date as his and it is waiting to be checked-in last 13 days together with a shipment form Franky (iloveelectronics) at Dutch customs. So if they are not corrupt, than they are lazy, there is always something wrong
Contains: Light Emitting Diode
Value: 5USD
Tuomas, I got yesterday a package with yellow flash lights in it for my own service car and it was marked with “MINI TOY HELICOPTER” and I never ask the seller to mark the shipment with anything.
I have found that if the item comes by regular post it in all likely hood will not get charged customs duty if on the other hand it comes UPS or DHL or some other international freight forwarders it will get charged duty whatever as they are entitled to charge a fee for doing the collection of the custom duty and VAT here in the UK so I never order anything that is dispatched by such company's any more, once bitten twice shy.
yes....small letters and so on work fine. So if you buy components you have a high chance that it will go through, with parcels the chances are rare that it won't get controlled.
BTW: here we have a minimum Tax amount of 5Euro. I once got some photo stuff which should have been taxed with about 4Euro. Customs checked it and checked my payment and then calculated the tax (was VAT only). As it was below 5 Euro I didn't need to pay anything.
Probably there is some regulation like that in your country as well....
BTW: here we have a minimum Tax amount of 5Euro.
... which i always found quite a silly thing. It should be considerably higher. I mean, let's be real. How much work do they have with that, and how much does an hour of their work cost? After all, they have to look at the parcel, check tax form, check their lists/books, maybe even open the package to verify the contents. Alltogether it surely is an hour or more. I doubt that they work for 5 Euros per hour there....
Having such a low limit, while at the same time having rather low "customs/tax free" limits anyways, is pretty much a loss instead of giving them some profit. And it's pretty clear that it is silly: they obviously have such low "customs/tax free" limits that whenever you are a bit over it, you still don't reach that 5 Euro-in-customs/taxes limit. Looks like someone didn't know how to use a calculator while comming up with that stuff.
Greetings,
Chris
BTW: here we have a minimum Tax amount of 5Euro.
... which i always found quite a silly thing. It should be considerably higher. I mean, let's be real. How much work do they have with that, and how much does an hour of their work cost? After all, they have to look at the parcel, check tax form, check their lists/books, maybe even open the package to verify the contents. Alltogether it surely is an hour or more. I doubt that they work for 5 Euros per hour there....
Having such a low limit, while at the same time having rather low "customs/tax free" limits anyways, is pretty much a loss instead of giving them some profit. And it's pretty clear that it is silly: they obviously have such low "customs/tax free" limits that whenever you are a bit over it, you still don't reach that 5 Euro-in-customs/taxes limit. Looks like someone didn't know how to use a calculator while comming up with that stuff.
Greetings,
Chris
I think you very much overestimate what they do.
I really doubt they do such a thorough check, maaaaybe if it seems suspicious but i don't think they take an hour per package most likely less than 5-10 minutes.
BTW: here we have a minimum Tax amount of 5Euro. I once got some photo stuff which should have been taxed with about 4Euro. Customs checked it and checked my payment and then calculated the tax (was VAT only). As it was below 5 Euro I didn't need to pay anything.
Finland used to have a lower limit of €10, but this year it was lowered to €5. This change was mainly due to retailers setting up mail-order stores in the Åland islands to avoid VAT on things like videogames and DVDs, which brick-and-mortar stores found unfair. (Åland was left outside the EU VAT area so cruise ships trafficking between Finland and Sweden could still sell tax-free booze and cigarrettes.)
I do not advocacy fraud, I do not force anyone to sell intentionally, but if one chooses to sell internationally it is nice if the you understand that you better then do not sell to certain countries at all.
Why don't you just assume that a seller will not help you commit fraud?
IMHO the best thing to do is either, try to change your home countries corrupt / socialist problems, or possibly find a country that you can immigrate too that has a better environment to live in. (lower tax, corruption ect..)
I really do feel your problem, but when it comes to commerce in the USA, most folks here stick to the fair and true means of the capitalistic way.
This is the only way to garner trust with your customers. (Not to mention avoiding fraud penalties)
When you start committing minor fraud, what else are you willing to do? 
For example, when I shop on Ebay and I see someone attempting to sell an item where the listed shipping value is many times above the true shipping cost just to subvert paying a larger transaction fee to Ebay, then I will not buy from them because I do not fully trust them in what they are selling. True, I could be wrong but I'd rather not find out.
Anyway, Good luck!
I do not advocacy fraud, I do not force anyone to sell intentionally, but if one chooses to sell internationally it is nice if the you understand that you better then do not sell to certain countries at all.
Why don't you just assume that a seller will not help you commit fraud?
IMHO the best thing to do is either, try to change your home countries corrupt / socialist problems, or possibly find a country that you can immigrate too that has a better environment to live in. (lower tax, corruption ect..)
I really do feel your problem, but when it comes to commerce in the USA, most folks here stick to the fair and true means of the capitalistic way.
This is the only way to garner trust with your customers. (Not to mention avoiding fraud penalties)
When you start committing minor fraud, what else are you willing to do?
For example, when I shop on Ebay and I see someone attempting to sell an item where the listed shipping value is many times above the true shipping cost just to subvert paying a larger transaction fee to Ebay, then I will not buy from them because I do not fully trust them in what they are selling. True, I could be wrong but I'd rather not find out.
Anyway, Good luck!
Asking an individual to change the entire system of his country is the most stupid thing to ask not only in the former Soviet Republics but also in your own so called "democratic" country. Politicians work for corporations and only corporate interests are taken into account when political decisions are made, not individual's. You should know it better then us abroad.
Sorry, there is nothing individual here but this is pure hypocrisy. Americans are no super human beings with all the virtues of the universe. They are simply afraid of cheating because there is harsh punishment as several people pointed out.
Now the OP's demand is unjustified, I agree.
However there are US sellers who write "gift" without the buyer asking for it. I got my Fluke 87V for $295 and it arrived at my door to my big surprise because I was getting ready to go to the customs.
I have asked a couple of times in the past but I do not ask any more because even if the seller agrees to write such things on the parcel our customs people ask for financial proof (letter from the bank, credit card statement) now.
Also I guess Lithuania's system has long changed into capitalism and a wild one like in the other former Soviet Republics and Russia itself. Only the DPRK is left as a communist state.
Asking an individual to change the entire system of his country is the most stupid thing to ask not only in the former Soviet Republics but also in your own so called "democratic" country. Politicians work for corporations and only corporate interests are taken into account when political decisions are made, not individual's. You should know it better then us abroad.
So everyone should just give up and be content to live in a country that is just openly corrupt/unjust/lawless etc?
Which if course if you do that and capitulate, it just gets worse
That is the most stupid thing I've ever heard
No thanks, I'll fight and always try to keep the bastards honest %-B
Dave.
A fight against the system is a battle lost in advance wherever you live, unless the system collapses by itself or because of external factors, like we have seen in the past decades (Irak, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.) I am not sure you would like to repeat that at home.
I also hate it when (usually Chinese) sellers grossly under declare the value of goods. Maybe they think they are doing me a favour, but it's a major hassle (for me) if customs realise it and decide to delay delivery or issue a please explain.
A fight against the system is a battle lost in advance wherever you live, unless the system collapses by itself or because of external factors, like we have seen in the past decades (Irak, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.) I am not sure you would like to repeat that at home.
Which is
precisely why you fight to maintain and improve the system!
Systems collapse because the people don't do enough to maintain them.
If your opinion is representative of Korean people, then I predict that sadly, Korea might also be on the fast track to collapse.
But I think it's more likely you are simply a pessimist, and don't represent the will of the people.
Dave.
A fight against the system is a battle lost in advance wherever you live, unless the system collapses by itself or because of external factors, like we have seen in the past decades (Irak, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.) I am not sure you would like to repeat that at home.
Which is precisely why you fight to maintain and improve the system!
Systems collapse because the people don't do enough to maintain them.
If your opinion is representative of Korean people, then I predict that sadly, Korea might also be on the fast track to collapse.
But I think it's more likely you are simply a pessimist, and don't represent the will of the people.
Dave.
The DPRK flag is just for fun;) I said where I was from before. You see the IP numbers of visitors don't you?
Cheers
MY guess would be that Dave has better things to do than backtracing IPs of users to their country of origin.
I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thread is just a troll attempt.
Just my 2 cents.
The DPRK flag is just for fun;) I said where I was from before. You see the IP numbers of visitors don't you?
My care factor for anonymous people who chop and change their country status, is zero, +/- 1 count.
You get to go to the back of the cue, congratulations.
Dave.
I also hate it when (usually Chinese) sellers grossly under declare the value of goods. Maybe they think they are doing me a favour,
The alternative is that it's actually correct and that's what it cost them to buy direct from the factory
The alternative is that it's actually correct and that's what it cost them to buy direct from the factory
May be true of course, but the buck always stops with customs. If they don't believe it, tough tities!
Dave.