Shipping Tip

[Jeff]

Hey guys, I'm sure some of you are well aware of this but in order to save a buck or two ( quid or two) when shipping your gifts to each other, when you fill out the customs part,  ALWAYS put a VERY low value or N C V ( No Commercial Value)   because all that is , is for the Government to know how much to charge taxes and duties on, if you put NCV they won't even look at it, also in the description put 'Used scale model parts" or something like that............... NOW that does not mean you can't insure an expensive package, that part is separate , so as an example if one was shipping a very expensive kit, and said that the value was $200.00 or something, the guy at the other end gets dinged for customs, charges and taxes and duties, when in fact all of that has been already paid by the first guy.... there is no commercial value in used model parts, or used books etc... I actually had a Canada Customs guy tell me to do that... and it works...... just a random thought..

[GusMac]

Good tip Jeff. One of the reasons I've bought regularly from a couple of ebay sellers in China. They are always 'creative' on the value, so never been hit by customs taxes yet. The Japanese sellers are scrupulously honest on the other hand and I've been hammered every time. What look like cheap deals on Tamiya kits never are once you factor that in!

[Jeff]

3 minutes ago, GusMac said:

Good tip Jeff. One of the reasons I've bought regularly from a couple of ebay sellers in China. They are always 'creative' on the value, so never been hit by customs taxes yet. The Japanese sellers are scrupulously honest on the other hand and I've been hammered every time. What look like cheap deals on Tamiya kits never are once you factor that in!

Exactly, I find a good price, then factor in the duties , taxes etc, then the horrific financial exchange...... my deal is , I just don't want to pay taxes on stuff that already has had the tax paid on it..... 

[BlrwestSiR]

If you're in Canada and not in a rush, Lucky Models' surface shipping option is a good one. Lucky owns Kinetic Models and they have a warehouse on the west coast. So they ship your order over by container with their Kinetic stuff and then, once it's in Canada, send it the best of the way via Canada Post. It's a domestic package so doesn't even show up on the radar. 

But, it can take 2-3 months to get to you so definitely can't be for something you need quickly. 

Carl

[BlrwestSiR]

23 minutes ago, GusMac said:

What look like cheap deals on Tamiya kits never are once you factor that in!

So true. I always use the delivered price to figure out if a deal is really that good. Tamiya 1/32 Corsairs are often around $130-140 CAD online but then you add $40 -50 shipping and the potential 13% tax and it's close enough or even more than the $180 +13% tax at my LHS.