Buying Game Collections from Abroad - Import Duties

[fcgamer | 4,725]

I'm currently in the process of purchasing the gaming collection of a friend of mine from Europe. We're talking something like 40 pounds of goodies, 500+ cartridges. The cost I am paying per cart is quite low, as essentially my friend just needs the money and wants to get rid of everything at once, I was only interested in some of the items, you know how it goes.

Anyways, as he has begun packing the items into this huge-ass box that looks about the size of a human coffin, the thought suddenly crossed my mind, will I have to pay duty on these items? If so, what are we looking at? Although I am purchasing the set for my personal use, as an individual, is customs going to look at a set of 500 games and truly believe that I am purchasing it for collecting purposes, rather than for resale? I really doubt that bringing them over to my apartment and giving them a tour of the game room really would suffice, lol.

That being said, I am wondering if anyone here has had experience purchasing the collections of other gamers living abroad and their experiences when it came to import duties and customs. Of course tax amounts and what not are going to vary between countries and whatever, but I am just trying to brace myself for the worst case scenarios here, before we even proceed to getting the items sent out the door on his end.

Thanks.

[Brickman | 3,987]

All depends on the country. Here we can import roughly $1200 worth of goods before we get duty added on. I will always split my orders where possible.

Some countries it is absolutely brutal. I think Europe is one of the worst for this and I always have to mark the item as $20. Even the post office worker told me to mark anything to Europe as $20 or under or they have to pay duty.

[Gloves | 11,783]

It'd double the price if I was to do that. 

[Ankos | 442]

15 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I'm currently in the process of purchasing the gaming collection of a friend of mine from Europe. We're talking something like 40 pounds of goodies, 500+ cartridges. The cost I am paying per cart is quite low, as essentially my friend just needs the money and wants to get rid of everything at once, I was only interested in some of the items, you know how it goes.

I'm glad to hear he was able to find someone to buy all that

[fcgamer | 4,725]

4 minutes ago, Ankos said:

I'm glad to hear he was able to find someone to buy all that

If everything arrives fine without being confiscated or something stupid like that, I'm going to get stuff dumped, scanned and preserved.

Anything that I personally don't want goes up for grabs on the cheap with the bulk of the funds going towards the original seller. There's a few things I specifically want, but there's a lot that is take or leave for me, and I want to give him back a bit. 

If I get taxed ten million dollars and the goods confiscated that's a totally different story sadly, then I'll likely join Ross in gaol and fear for bending over to pick up the soap.

[Ankos | 442]

13 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

If everything arrives fine without being confiscated or something stupid like that, I'm going to get stuff dumped, scanned and preserved.

Cool. I think the only undumped game I noticed he had listed was the Hulk Sintax one. On one of the multis he had a Lord of the Rings Makon game that got dumped very recently though

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

If anyone here knows anything about tax import laws from Europe to Taiwan, I'd be very surprised.

I recently purchaed 70 games at a value of $9000 but it certainly wouldn't fill a coffin sized box. I don't know what duties are going to be but if they're high enough I usually make the drive to the Customs office and clear them myself instead of paying the shipping company to do it for me. So instead of $100, it'll be $10.

[fcgamer | 4,725]

alea iacta est

[Tyree_Cooper | 755]

Taiwan charge 5% VAT tax for imports over 2,000 ntd. It's also possible that the carrier will charge a fee of their own, like all carriers do in the EU when VAT has not been paid at checkout (they call it "dossier fee" or "administrative fee", and it's a flat fee per package/shipment).

https://www.dhl.com/discover/en-my/logistics-advice/import-export-advice/your-guide-to-import-duty-taxes-in-taiwan

[fcgamer | 4,725]

9 hours ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

Taiwan charge 5% VAT tax for imports over 2,000 ntd. It's also possible that the carrier will charge a fee of their own, like all carriers do in the EU when VAT has not been paid at checkout (they call it "dossier fee" or "administrative fee", and it's a flat fee per package/shipment).

https://www.dhl.com/discover/en-my/logistics-advice/import-export-advice/your-guide-to-import-duty-taxes-in-taiwan

Yeah I saw that page the other day, but thanks for the link anyways.

I got the goods divided up into two parcels to make it a bit more manageable anyways. I guess we'll see how things turn out in a few weeks time!

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

you saw pics right? not just a list

you checked to make sure they were'nt PAL ? that could be hairy

 

 

[fcgamer | 4,725]

1 hour ago, CIB_Wholesale said:

you saw pics right? not just a list

you checked to make sure they were'nt PAL ? that could be hairy

 

 

Yeah I know exactly what I'm getting, and I've chatted with this guy for over a decade.

 

Edit: aside from stuff possibly getting confiscated or getting taxed out the ass, I'm not actually concerned about this transaction 

Edited August 21, 2023 by fcgamer

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

1 minute ago, fcgamer said:

Yeah I know exactly what I'm getting, and I've chatted with this guy for over a decade.

i just spent 5 years selling off my collection. selling quickly ends up about .5-.6 price charting can maybe extend to .7-.8 retail

 

hope it's a steal that looks like a lot of work

[fcgamer | 4,725]

2 hours ago, CIB_Wholesale said:

i just spent 5 years selling off my collection. selling quickly ends up about .5-.6 price charting can maybe extend to .7-.8 retail

 

hope it's a steal that looks like a lot of work

Well I'll respond back after it arrives, for better or for worse