Cost of fishing tackle in Japan?

[PeterNE1]

This is called smuggling!

Dont even bother arguing about personal this that and the other - you are BUYING goods abroad and then importing them and therefore the full law applies regardless if they are for personal use or for selling within the european community.

It does not matter if they are carried by sea/air/overland/courier they are liable for import duty depending on classification and 20% VAT on the CIF price.

All importers must now be VAT reg and also need to apply for an EORI number to show on their customs declarations.

We know people have stuff sent marked as Gift, samples or various other guises but more people are now getting a calling card from their couriers telling them they need to pay duty/vat as packages have been checked by HMRC who keep a record and will investigate individuals suspected of smuggling.

 

I should know what I am talking about as For the last 20 years I have worked in the customs clearance dept for the UK's largest independant freight forwarding company and worked for another two for a few years before that and deal with several supermarkets, many large corporations / multinationals and alot of various other importers and have had to deal with endless HMRC audits and customs declarations.

 

PS I do import for several well known tackle companies

 

 

Cheers RUDD, thanks for that

Unfortunately you're making assumptions and have jumped into a rather mucky hole with both feet (regarding the smuggling jibe).

I came out of (very) early retirement to take a management job with HMRC within one of their 'secure' units, and worked there until I decided that I'd REALLY had enough of the rat - race, and retired myself again

Just to make the point transparently obvious, it's extremely likely that I know substantially more about smuggling, and the various aspects surrounding it, than most - including a lot of stuff that the public - you included - are not privvy to.

 

If you read my post properly, it was a request asking whether or not anyone had experience of over-the-counter prices in Japan vs the UK: I'm trying to buy a reel that so far appears to be unavailable to me by any normal means, as a purchase initiated directly from the UK. Apparently, it IS available in Japan (where I have extended family) so it's a very simple process for me to ask them to purchase on my behalf a reel, a particularly attractive option if prices happen to be better than in the UK. If I buy the reel personally over there during a visit and bring it back, I'm breaking no laws, and certainly not smuggling - the same situation applies if I have a family member make the purchase on my behalf, and either I fly into the UK with it, or they do.

At no stage do I make any mention or inference of buying in bulk or for resale, or make any reference to tax evasion: saving a substantial amount on the purchase price is another, totally unrelated matter.

 

This is called smuggling!

Dont even bother arguing about personal this that and the other - you are BUYING goods abroad and then importing them and therefore the full law applies regardless if they are for personal use or for selling within the european community.

 

Wind your neck in and stop making ungrounded, inaccurate accusations: you're just making your self look like a prat

[PeterNE1]

All that marking an item as a gift on the customs form ever did was raise the minimum amount at which you owed import fees (doubled the VAT limit I think) but once that amount was reached, import fees were the same as for merchandise. It also increased chances of the item being inspected I think.

 

It's basically a lie normally used by ignorant people who assume that gift = no import fees.

 

I agree entirely Newt, though I'm frequently surprised when stuff arrives at my door (usually from the Far East), when it IS marked up as a 'gift', without me making any mention of such whatsoever at the time of purchase ... it appears almost as though they do it automatically!

 

The only time I ever fell foul of this was entirely accidental, when a Japanese friend sent me an unexpected birthday gift: the first I knew about it was a request for a quite outrageous sum before the courier would release / deliver a small parcel measuring maybe 6" x 6" x 4" ... it was quite quickly and easily resolved when it could be shown that the contents were no more than a very nice watch ... but they had inadvertently marked the value declaration in UK pounds, when it should have been in Yen ... they were trying to charge me for goods accidentally marked with a value of over £30,000 (in a six inch square box!!!), when it should have read 30,000 Yen ... about £250 at the time, I think?

 

A practice I've stumbled across very recently here in the UK (within the last ten days) has me stumped though ... maybe someone else can enlighten me?

 

Long story short, I bought a batch of lures and a small, high quality spinning reel from a Chinese source online - apparently all above board / legitimate, and 'branded' stuff, rather than 3rd-party tatt. Payment went via Paypal, and it actually specified dispatch from China. Prices were silly-cheap (maybe 20% of UK prices ... AND post-free!)

Everything arrived together in a quite large package within about 3 days (much to my surprise!). A second, bigger surprise was when on closer inspection, I discovered that the package had actually been dispatched from Manchester, UK, using a tracked service (that required no signature from me) ... and inside, each individual lure (and the reel) was packaged up as though it was about to be dispatched from China ... individual packaging, customs stamp / declarations (not completed) etc! ... I'm still scratching my head over that one, trying to work out their business plan! ... Can't really suspect anything nefarious, as the seller has been in business for many years, apparently with a good international reputation

Edited September 7, 2012 by PeterNE1

[Phone]

Peter,

 

My experience IN Japan. I paid MORE for their domestic "trick" stuff that was on their local home "hot" list than from Cabala's. Much like England if an angling "product" goes viral - so do domestic prices. I was experienced and paid $5.00 for some $0.30 floats

 

They are very good at limiting supply relative to price as a domestic marketing tool.

 

Phone