So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately. The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?
All depends who gets the package. I've had guitars sail through customs in a day, I've had guitars sit it customs for three weeks. They don't have set rules. I used to think they were slackers, but then my wife made me watch a marathon of Border Security and there are a lot of unscrupulous individuals out there trying to import things into the country. I just take it as the cost of doing business these days.
"Looks like wires on the x-ray? Uh-oh. I'll have my colleagues open that one."
Quote from: danwelsh on October 06, 2014, 02:53:20 PM
So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately. The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?
3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.
...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.
Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...
Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.
Yeah, definitely with JS with regards to it being a lot worse in the EU. When I was living in Germany, ordering stuff from the US routinely took 6 weeks with customs, then you'd get hit with 20% VAT on both the goods and the shipping costs (even though 90% of the shipping was done out of country). And I had to go to the customs office, not the post office, to pick it up. Huge PITA, sadly was still cheaper than buying domestically however.
Quote from: juansolo on October 06, 2014, 03:27:05 PM
Quote from: danwelsh on October 06, 2014, 02:53:20 PM
So.....I'm kinda gagged at canadian customs. Why would they hold resistors, caps, pots and wire for 3 days???.....I ordered my parts for my tube amp build and the rectifier tube separately. The tube was ordered the day after the parts and I received that Friday but the components stayed at the border for 3 extra days......I don't get it?
3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.
...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.
Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...
Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.
This is exactly what I'm experiencing in Serbia as well. Makes for a sour taste in the mouth once I get the parts definitely. Bummer.
Quote from: juansolo on October 06, 2014, 03:27:05 PM
3 days! LOL, you don't know how good you've got it. A month or more is quite common for UK customs. Then they charge you for the pleasure, and don't even deliver the bastard. You've got to go an pick it up from you local sorting office to pay the fee.
...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.
Anyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...
Makes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.
I fell your pain! I ordered a guitar neck from the states for an Ibanez I'm building up (unfortunately the only place I could find with a 24 fret S series neck after 8 months of seaching), and had to wait just over 3 weeks as it was stuck at customs, the customs charge was stupidly high, a £14 charge for the privilege of them charging me the customs fee, and £3.99 for the delivery fee!!!!!!
I only order small shipments from Tayda at a time now as they generally don't get caught in the jiffy bags (the boxes always get caught) and a lot of the SMD transistors, diodes, etc generally come from China in batches of 100 at a time, and don't get caught.
Strictly anecdotal but it seemed that StewMac orders in their fancy standout packaging would always get pulled aside and incur extra charges where plain Jane brown boxes always sailed through unnoticed including a couple guitars.
dave
yeah, you have it sweet. i'll just cut a very long and painful story short and say I never order anything more expensive than 30ish euro and over half a kilo in weight. my experiences with local men in white rubber gloves have gone way down since...
to recap, count your blessings! :)
Between Customs, and shipping taking bloody AGES, I don't know whether to laugh, LOUDLY, or buy a plane ticket and punch someone in the nose whenever someone from a certain large country bleats about something taking a whole WEEK to get to him (poor baby.)
Quote from: davent on October 06, 2014, 04:07:21 PM
Strictly anecdotal but it seemed that StewMac orders in their fancy standout packaging would always get pulled aside and incur extra charges where plain Jane brown boxes always sailed through unnoticed including a couple guitars.
dave
And to prove it's completely random, I've never had any customs issues with StewMac shipments. :P
I'm fairly certain it's more to do with who's working the desk (and possibly the port of entry, typically stuff coming through Vancouver is cleared quicker than Toronto) the day your package comes through, especially from the States.
Quote from: muddyfox on October 06, 2014, 04:17:22 PM
yeah, you have it sweet. i'll just cut a very long and painful story short and say I never order anything more expensive than 30ish euro and over half a kilo in weight. my experiences with local men in white rubber gloves have gone way down since...
to recap, count your blessings! :)
I try to keep it below €22 for Germany. But even then once the declaration on the parcel was somewhat cryptic ("gift") and I had to drive 21km (13 miles) to the customs office and have all documents regarding order and payment handy to prove it.
But usually it is better to have several small orders.
Yeah, the stuff that goes through Langley and then moved through Richmond is always, always faster and less likely to be an issue than the stuff through Toronto.
Honestly though, as long as it's not UPS I'm not going to complain. UPS is the worst. I never complain about the Canada Post customs process because of my experience with UPS.
Jacob
P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.
Quote from: jkokura on October 06, 2014, 04:40:55 PM
P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.
This. I bought a Klon from a Canadian fellow a few weeks ago and UPS wouldn't give it to me until I had written them a $77 cheque for a 'brokerage fee'. Apparently, they don't give you the option of doing the paperwork yourself and then charge you for doing it for you along with the customs fees. The didn't give me a receipt either. Pretty shady.
Quote from: jkokura on October 06, 2014, 04:40:55 PM
Yeah, the stuff that goes through Langley and then moved through Richmond is always, always faster and less likely to be an issue than the stuff through Toronto.
Honestly though, as long as it's not UPS I'm not going to complain. UPS is the worst. I never complain about the Canada Post customs process because of my experience with UPS.
Jacob
P.s. My American brethren - NEVER USE UPS SHIPPING TO CANADA FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER.
Canada Post/USPS has gotten a lot quicker as of late (customs delays are something entirely out of their control). I've been shipping guitars to the Eastern States that are arriving in a week and a half, which never used to happen.
UPS is thoroughly unpleasant for international shipping for private individuals.
Quote from: alanp on October 06, 2014, 04:20:45 PM
Between Customs, and shipping taking bloody AGES, I don't know whether to laugh, LOUDLY, or buy a plane ticket and punch someone in the nose whenever someone from a certain large country bleats about something taking a whole WEEK to get to him (poor baby.)
It actually took 2 weeks to get the tube.....and the components stayed another 3 days.....I wasn't sooking about it......it just doesn't make sense. And yes I'm gonna get nailed with 15% tax when it does arrive
USPS/Canada Post always.
On another forum a U.S.of A. member had scored a large quantity of surplus garolite which he was offering/divying up for free. I asked about a couple pieces that would easily fit in your standard large brown envelope. In the course of sorting the deal out, address, how much for shipping he emails back to say its on the way and wants nothing for shipping, he'd popped in next door to where he worked and alls taken care of. Next door... UPS, cost me just shy of $40 to liberate my envelope of free garolite from the UPS driver.
dave
edit,...and not all UPS hate, Digikey used them for a time and it was still the $8/Free above... no nonsense next business day delivery so whomever Digikey uses is moot and Lou, my UPS driver for over 20 years also use to deliver to where i worked so give him a heads up that something was coming down the line and he'd bring me my stuff to work which was much appreciated! Here's to Lou!
Wow!
I thought I had it bad in the Netherlands, but our customs at least seems to keep things in their secret stash for only a week. And when they grace you with the privilege of having to pay customs duties you can pay at the post office, or with the delivery guy.
Quote from: juansolo on October 06, 2014, 03:27:05 PM...and that can be on anything over the value of £15 INCLUDING delivery. What's more amusing is if you go over that £15 by a couple of pounds say. You get taxed on the £17, not the £2 it went over, and they stitch you up for £8 handling fee.
Yeah, they do that too here. Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the Chinese, who offer both free shipping and are willing to label packets as gifts.
QuoteAnyone would think that the UK gov doesn't want you buying anything from outside the EU...[/quite]
Isn't that the whole point of customs duties? Protect local business from foreign competitors and make sure governments still get their taxes regardless?
QuoteMakes getting parts from the US completely pot luck for us as to whether we get them in a couple of weeks or over a month. Had a record recently where a delivery from Canada, which normally takes about a week if customs aren't involved, took two months.
Some things seem to oddly escape the notice of Dutch customs. A $100 guitar neck which miraculously made it through without getting hit by customs duties. And packages from Smallbear and Guitarfetish also seem to go unnoticed for some strange reason. Which considering their ridiculous shipping costs is a blessing in disguise.