German Customs
RAJ
tenacious local 7,782 Posts
Must be some crazy muthafuckaz.... I'm getting guys in Germany asking me to send fake invoices and jump through hoops of fire. Just got an angry e-mail from a dude who said customs had his records hostage, and he had to drive 40 miles to present them with some fabricated invoice.
Comments
Has strained relations with a couple of my long time customers. I think some cats are pretty discouraged to bid on stuff now, especially in quantity. One dude who used to buy nearly 50 records a month now buys less than 5.
vinylherby?
do you put low customs prices ? if you put like 1 dollar a record there shouldn't be a problem...
Informally on ebay it's a little different.
seriously, don't these guys realize they're asking you to commit fraud? on an international level no less.
BUT, when I was living in Stuttgart (bigger city in Southern Germany), the local custom duties office was ROUGH! First time I went there, two inspectors lead me to a small room without windows. There was a huge mirror. Like one of those examintaion rooms that you see on TV all the time. The two officers wore sunglasses (it was summertime, but still!). They were really big and mean looking. The asked me questions for over 10 minutes (speaking in a weird local dialect - imagine a hick from Alabama). What's inside the package? Would you please open it (I was allowed to open the package with a knife though - go figure!!!)? Is that a rare record? How much is it worth? Who sent it to you? Where did you buy it? How did you contact the seller? Why is there no invoice inside the package? How did you pay? How much did you pay? and so on and so on...
IT WAS CRAZY and I was very intimidated. It worked out fine though. I claimed that my uncle sent me the records and that they were a birthday present. The seller didn't claim that the records were a present, but the officers had to believe my lame story. They "arrested" me for 10 minutes though. I felt like a drug dealer. I was sweating!
I moved to a different part of the city shortly after. The new local custom duties office was much easier to deal with. Still, they held back every second package or so. I had to drive 20 minutes to get there and had to wait in line with grumpy truckers from abroad. But the officers never asked too many questions. It was a busy office and the officers were way too stressed to deal with a guy like me. I still had to open my packages in front of them, but they let me walk off with my records without further questions. They got to know me and it turned into a matter of no importance for both of us.
Seems like the custom duty officers at the Frankfurt airport (that's where all the airmail arives first) open up suspect looking packages that are being sent to bigger German cities and as soon as they see something suspect they report it to the local offices. They reseal the packages and send them straight to the local offices, so it really is like a hostage. Some local officers took it easy, others didn't.
The first time I had to go to the local custom duties office in Stuttgart was just scary!!!
That says more about you DVD rental habits than Cherman customs. I know they do say Absoleewtly a hell of a lot.
interesting story grope. that sounds pretty wack. i'm glad they don't do that shit here. i think you probably didn't have much to worry about tho, i think most people think records are worthless nowadays...
Not sure about elsewhere but in the UK if any item is marked as a gift or promotional material...No Tax...
BA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
the custom duty offices know that vinyl records can be worth a lot of money. in most cases, it's just impossible to prove the current value.
one officer told me that they have to be very careful with antiquities, because there are some shady art dealers who send expensive paintings via the regular postal services. without claiming the real value. sometimes the officers hold back suspect looking paintings and call experts from the art museum. no lie. that's what a freindly officer told me. it's a very big issue for them.
the government doesn't hit the average citizen
with a tarriff for importing/exporting goods.
Seems a bit of a rip-off to me.
I do that for everybody... tick gift check box and claim $5. But that's not enough according to this guy.
it's like i said. if german custom duty officers think your package looks suspect, they WILL hold it back. it has been a big issue for me. they will ask you for an invoice, no matter what the sender claimed. but you don't have to show one. tell that guy to claim that the record is a gift from his buddy in the US. he'll get away with it.
german customs can be weird. very weird. they made me feel like a criminal.
you're lucky! like me nowadays.
people in cologne are so nice! we should try to set up a European Soulstrut meeting in Cologne!