1 & Only Amazon Japan Thread

[Buster Darkwings]

I think it's already hopeless for certain items. The Super Robot Taisen 3DS LL went up in the middle of a weekday and sold out in an hour or two. If I didn't have internet access at work, I would've missed it. A lot of people weren't as lucky.

At least they're giving this software away for free and not charging for it. It does seem to have features that could be exploited by resellers, but there's nothing preventing regular people from using them as well.

[Ingraman]

Flashing way back!!

Originally Posted by Rhodes

Thanks, I'll keep a note on that in case DHL hits me up down the road.

<sigh> I got a customs duty notice for ~$19 from DHL today ("entry date" of 23 Nov), with what's probably a variant of the old problem code: 8523.49.5000. It says that the duty is 2.7%.

The content line says: "DVD ITEM - NEW (COUNT 7)" Hmm... I had an order that passed through customs at around that time that had 7 Blu-rays, plus three CDs w/DVD or BD:

Jinrui BD 1
Kokoro Connect BD 1
Nazo no Kanojo X BD 5
Hyouka BD 5
Jinrui BD 2
Nazo no Kanojo X BD 6
Yamato 2199 BD 3

[Damius]

Originally Posted by Ingraman

Flashing way back!!

What country are you from?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Damius

What country are you from?

I think that issue with the code and the particular tax rate only applies in the U.S.

[Ingraman]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I think that issue with the code and the particular tax rate only applies in the U.S.

Yeah, I'm in California...

[superdry]

Originally Posted by Ingraman

Yeah, I'm in California...

Just give them a call and tell them that the wrong code was used on the invoice. You should be able to get out of it.

[Ingraman]

Originally Posted by superdry

Just give them a call and tell them that the wrong code was used on the invoice. You should be able to get out of it.

That's what I plan to do.

I was trying to look around at the HTS codes on usitc.gov, and noticed that 8523.40.4000 and .5000 aren't there any more. The codes go from 8523.29.90 to 8523.41.0000.

I presume that my 8523.49.5000 (2.7%) should have been 8523.49.4000 (free).

[superdry]

Originally Posted by Ingraman

That's what I plan to do.

I was trying to look around at the HTS codes on usitc.gov, and noticed that 8523.40.4000 and .5000 aren't there any more. The codes go from 8523.29.90 to 8523.41.0000.

I presume that my 8523.49.5000 (2.7%) should have been 8523.49.4000 (free).

Yea, according to this PDF document on the usitc.gov site, 8523.40.5000 and 8523.40.4000 were deleted on Feb 3rd 2012.

The .49's replaced the .40's this year. I did a search on usitc.gov and saw the two new .49 codes (just did search). Looks like Amazon might have screwed up again with the item description (blu-ray personal media player or something like that) on your order.

I remember when I talked to DHL last year, the person I was talking too was pretty surprised I had all the information ready to go and explained the situation. I guess not many people would actually delve into HTS codes...haha.

[Ingraman]

Originally Posted by superdry

Yea, according to this PDF document on the usitc.gov site, 8523.40.5000 and 8523.40.4000 were deleted on Feb 3rd 2012.

The .49's replaced the .40's this year. I did a search on usitc.gov and saw the two new .49 codes (just did search). Looks like Amazon might have screwed up again with the item description (blu-ray personal media player or something like that) on your order.

Well, I just got off the phone with someone at DHL's billing department. I was told that I could file a dispute for the charge, which I did, but I was also told that I could face a $75 charge if I don't win the dispute. O_O <shiver>

The DHL invoice sent to me had the code 8523.49.5000, but she said that the paperwork from Amazon for the shipment actually had the HTS code as 8523.49.000, which is an invalid code. She seemed to think that someone from Customs probably "corrected" it to .5000. Maybe the order just went through the "wrong" hands at US Customs. I gave her a couple of other tracking numbers for Amazon shipments (one to either side of that shipment, IIRC, and she couldn't look up shipments any further back), and found that it wasn't the first or last shipment to have .000 in the HTS code, although I haven't seen any other DHL invoices so far </me knocks on wood loooooooots of times>.

I hate this.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Ingraman

The DHL invoice sent to me had the code 8523.49.5000, but she said that the paperwork from Amazon for the shipment actually had the HTS code as 8523.49.000, which is an invalid code.

A quick search suggests that .000 may not be recognized in the U.S., but it is considered a valid code in Japan. So much for the system being "harmonized". If different countries are using different codes to represent the same thing, it seems damn near impossible for a merchant to keep track of the different rules in each country. (This is why I suspect a lot of companies don't even bother filling out the code on the packing list, and just put the description and let each country figure it out. But that still might cause the same problem.)

In the end, I'd just recommend to consider whether your time and effort is worth the 2.7% duty you may save. (It'd be a bit different if it were 19% like up here, or more in other places.) It's probably not worth spending more than $19 worth of time on a $19 invoice.