Humood Posted November 3, 2010 Share #1 Posted November 3, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) On October 27th I placed an order with B&H in New York for a couple of Summarit lenses and lots of goodies for my new M9, I asked B&H to ship my order to a forwarding company in new York (who basically give you an "Address" in the USA) they then ship the boxes outside the US. B&H charged my credit card and the order was shipped, transaction complete. I was shocked last night after receiving an email from my forwarding company telling me that the consignment was held by the US customs. Apparently, any shipment in excess of US$2,500 in value needed the shipper (B&H) to fill out a Shipper's Declaration Form! I called B&H and literally begged the guy in customer services to help! A stressful two hours passed then I got an email from my forwarding company saying that the boxes are "on their way to you", Phew! what a relief! I know that negligence of the law is NOT an excuse! so, if you are a buyer from outside the US, Beware! And thank you B&H for whatever you did to help! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 3, 2010 Posted November 3, 2010 Hi Humood, Take a look here Buying from a US online dealer? Read This!. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
andybarton Posted November 3, 2010 Share #2 Posted November 3, 2010 Why could you not get B&H ship the goods directly to you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted November 3, 2010 Share #3 Posted November 3, 2010 +1 You'd asked B&H to deliver the gear to a local New York address. Job done. So the "shipper" for the international delivery is the forwarding company. In the countries I know a customs declaration is needed for all international packages, not just expensive ones. I'm amazed that the forwarding company didn't get the necessary information from you when you arranged the transaction or at the very worst hold the packet until you'd provided the information rather than sending it out with no, or the wrong, declaration. In fact it seems a bit fishy to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppyman Posted November 3, 2010 Share #4 Posted November 3, 2010 I don't know why you chose to do it that way, but B&H have done everything that you asked and this is a problem between you and the third party after the delivery to them. Actually I would have thought that you would have to pay local taxes if B&H shipped to another New York address? I'm guessing that you did this to save money in some way on the transaction? Naturally B&H and the holding company are bound by US law as you are by whatever is applicable wherever you are. Enjoy your new gear anyway and share photos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humood Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share #5 Posted November 3, 2010 Why could you not get B&H ship the goods directly to you? Well, Andy. some US online dealers would only ship to an address in the us (Not B&H though) and yes I save a lot of money using these forwarding companies. Amazon ships straight to my address here in Bahrain, books take mere three days to get here! I will be more careful next time! Thank you all for your comments, it was an experience I wanted to share.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted November 3, 2010 Share #6 Posted November 3, 2010 I got an email from my forwarding company saying that the boxes are "on their way to you" Might just be that the boxes are "on their way to you". The contents could be going on ebay as we speak. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_n Posted November 3, 2010 Share #7 Posted November 3, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted November 3, 2010 Share #8 Posted November 3, 2010 Blimey. That's all I'm sayin'... Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryp Posted November 3, 2010 Share #9 Posted November 3, 2010 And thank you B&H for whatever you did to help! Thanks for your order and this post. We're sorry for any transient stress and hope you enjoy your lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted November 4, 2010 Share #10 Posted November 4, 2010 Humood - I'm surprised that the 8 1/4% NYC sales tax plus the final shipping is cheaper than direct shipping from B&H without the NYC tax. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted November 4, 2010 Share #11 Posted November 4, 2010 Very impressed B&H took the time and trouble to reply here as well. I ordered some film from them recently and it only took a few days to arrive. I had to pay local tax and shipping costs but even so it was worth it. For non-US customers, now is a good time to order due to the low value of the greenback. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Ash Posted November 4, 2010 Share #12 Posted November 4, 2010 I ordered some gear from B&H some years ago and got the same tracking information. I think it is a normal procedure and your call was not required. Regards Steve Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lct Posted November 5, 2010 Share #13 Posted November 5, 2010 ...I save a lot of money using these forwarding companies.... You mean by declaring to customs lesser values than the actual ones? Just curious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted November 5, 2010 Share #14 Posted November 5, 2010 Once B&H have delivered to the forwarding company that's the end of their responsibility in this transaction. The forwarding company then becomes the shipper. I still can't work out why B&H needed to be troubled again. The responsibility for accurately filling out customs forms must then pass to the forwarding company. If they are prepared to declare a value less than the real value, that's a matter for them, the customer and the authorities. Not B&H. I am not suggesting that this has been done, or that B&H are complicit in any way and I suspect that my scenario above is not what has happened, but there must be some very good reason why a lot of money can be saved by buying through a convoluted route. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_x2004 Posted November 5, 2010 Share #15 Posted November 5, 2010 Andy I am not sure a freight forwarder can ever be the exporter. The OP reasonably provided a heads up for the uneducated, when they arrange their own (for whatever reason) international shipping. Most people dont, they jsut leave it to the retailer. Whats all the fuss and blame all about? And two hours to sort it? Jeez it took me more than two hours phone time alone over two days to sort out import this end after Solms thoroughly f$&*!d the documentation associated with returning the re repairs that they again thoroughly f$&*!d up, and I copped customs asessment fine. And good on B&H. Id love to have someone like that between me and the clowns. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
holmes Posted November 8, 2010 Share #16 Posted November 8, 2010 Interesting. Of course each country has it's own import duties, and taxes. Once you have paid import/export duties on any item, that's it. You simply say previously purchased and taxes paid. Sent only for repair. Now moving away from cameras for a moment. The biggest problem consumers have in the US is importing a new Rolex. You'll never see it. It will be sent back to point of origin. Rolex has a cozy relationship with US Customs. No other watch seems to have this import problem. Just make sure you mark on the declaration, used, being sent for repairs. It can be a can of worms. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted November 8, 2010 Share #17 Posted November 8, 2010 Of course, no one is advovating, through this public forum, that anyone should label new, expensive goods as "Used Goods - For repair" in order to avoid paying the correct amount of tax or other duties. Are they. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_x2004 Posted November 9, 2010 Share #18 Posted November 9, 2010 In Aus, we have a goods and sevices tax. Repair is a service. So is the freight forwarders bill. We may or may not have to fork out for import duties and for most stuff there is no tariff. GST and an assessment fee still get tagged on, unless it comes via the post where it often slips the net. Most first world countries have customs web sites and its all layed out there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan c. davis Posted November 9, 2010 Share #19 Posted November 9, 2010 I haven't used a forwarding company to buy goods from the States but am considering doing so. Why? For example if I want to buy photographic gear from Amazon they won't ship to an Australian address. Also the big hiking stores like Rei and Backcountry won't sell many brand names to overseas addresses because of contract reasons. The only way to get around this is by using a forwarding company. It's not about trying to cheat the system or underhand ways to avoid paying GST. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
businessasusual Posted November 9, 2010 Share #20 Posted November 9, 2010 Bought numerous items from B&H. Delivery to Australia is lightening fast using Fedex. Never had a problem. B&H - Rock!!! Thank You! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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