Job Discussion Forums

[happeningthang]

Hey people,

I've made it out to HCMC with the aim of going cycle touring through the mercifully flat and easy going Vietnamese countryside.

For some reason I thought a major capital city would have shops that would sell things like, oh I dunno, a decent bike and all the accessories that go with it. No such luck.

I'm reduced to ordering bits and pieces from Singapore and the US. It's beginning to dawn on me that Vietnam doesn't really work like the rest of the world. Will my many packages draw import taxes? Be held up in customs? How can I speed up the process so I don't spend my budget waiting for parcels to show up?

[slug93]

i recommending calling around to various shipping/import broker.. tell them you are bringing in stuff AS GIFT(NOT TO SELL) from other countries. Also tell them WHAT TYPE OF ITEMS(bike parts, new vs old, etc.,) asked them if they can receive it for you and CLEAR CUSTOMS, and what the cost is.

Some things have high tax(ie, cosmetic) while other have low tax(ie, nail clippers). I dont know what tax for bike parts would be, but a shipping broker would. Also, VN allows people to receive gift packages that is NOT tax, IF it's under a certain dollar amount. One custom official told me 1,000,000 dong/month, but you should talk w/ the broker.

I do importing from US to VN, and my stuff(health/beauty goods) have a "tax" fee all over the place. Some weeks, it's this amount, other weeks is another amount. Example, a Laptop will cost about $70-150USD to clear custom AS GIFT.

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

Given the likely hassles & cost you're likely to have importing the bits you need, it's probably worthwhile flying over to Singapore & buying the stuff yourself. Flights are v cheap these days.

Getting stuff imported here is a nightmare - packages are routinely opened by customs (and in some cases the contents used or damaged - one bloke got his Playstation sent over, waited ages for it, & when he used it he found many of his high scores had suspiciously increased ) and taxes applied even for innocuous packages like half a dozen pairs of socks.

On a different note, Vietnam does seem to have quite a lot of competitive cycling enthusiasts and a lot of domestic road racing so there must be parts available somewhere. Worth asking around or doing a bit of web research.

[happeningthang]

Thanks for the advice guys. I crossed my fingers and got things sent via mail.

If it turns into too much of a hassle I'll be giving more thought to flying out for a shopping trip. Either that or I'll try my hand at bribing government officials in a communist country!! (Do they still do that here?)

Cheers

[huxter]

As sickening as is may be and in spite of my reluctance to feed the chain of corruption in Vietnam, sometimes a bribe is the only way to get things done.

A friend of mine recently had his computer shipped over. Delivered to his home by two "immigration officials", he was presented a choice: have the boys in green laboriously trawl his hard drives for any offensive material (which they claimed would take hours) or pay $40 and they'd be out of his hair and on their merry way to the bia hoi. Not a hard choice. Police registration is a similar story. My landlord faced either a lengthy wait at the police station or a 100,000VND payment for the swift issue of that hallowed red stamp. Again, not a hard choice.

Best of luck!

[kparsons]

Getting packages shipped to Vietnam is, quite plainly, a pain in the ass. My first experience w/it was pretty awful, but it got better from there! My camera went on the fritz and was still under warranty. I sent it home then had my parents FedEx the replacement to me. Even though the camera being a free replacement, they still taxed me on the value of the camera (despite my hysterics) -- good thing my parents had tucked some meds (Advil, etc.) into the box -- those things are tax-free, so I was able to claim them at very high values and manage to get away only paying about $50 for the camera.

Since then, we've only had to pay for one package. It seems that less gets taxed if you go through the post office rather than using an expensive carrier, like FedEx.

It's my understanding (from discussions w/the customs officials) that as long as the package was sent w/in 30 days of your arrival in Vietnam (keep that yellow sheet!!!), you shouldn't have to pay any taxes.

[happeningthang]

Well just as a cautionary tale and a well justified rant.... let me end the story by saying NEVER try to get things sent by mail.

I had three packages come, from Singapore, Korea and the US, with UPS, EMS and general mail and I got screwed over on everyone.

It seems there is a blanket 50% tax on the value of a parcel and no amount of outrage can get you out of it. It is either a matter of coughing up or returning the parcel. OR having the foresight to have the sender lie about the value of the goods, as was explained by the postal clerks.

After an expletive filled protest it was explained that the tax is only levelled at goods that are available in Vietnam. Could be understandable except of been all over this city in the last 3 weeks and these goods are nowhere to be seen.

Anyway, if anyone is ever in this situation, just fly out of this den of thieves to Bangkok or Singapore. Yo�ll be spending the same amount of money, but at least yo�re not handing it over to the Vietnamese government, in effect, rewarding their failures.

[ChuckECheese]

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

Thang:
Maybe instead of slagging off the VN post office or moaning about the lack of bicycle shops here, maybe you should have done some research and preparation before your trip. Cycle touring in third world countries requires planning, you can't just pitch up & expect everything handed to you on a plate.

[happeningthang]

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

I guess the reason pumps & other repair equipment are hard to find here is that there are motorbike/bicycle repair men on every street corner Seriously, get a puncture or some other breakdown here and within seconds someone will have your wheel off & get it fixed for you.

As I said in my earlier post, getting stuff mailed over here is a nightmare. I get books/CDs/mags sent over from the UK sometimes with no problems, but I wouldn't bother trying to get anything else. Again, I suspect this situation will change soon as VN standardises its import regulations to meet WTO accession conditions, but in the meantime, as I said you'd have been better off nipping over to Bangkok or Singapore.

[ChuckECheese]

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

If you call being charged less than a dollar for someone taking your tire off, locating the puncture, repairing the inner tube, reinflating it & refitting the tyre a rip-off, so be it.

For someone who claims to dislike Vietnam you spend an awful lot of time in the VN forum. It didn't work out for you here, get over it & move on.

[BedTiger]

How to deal with this situation.

Quote:

Yeah right! So that they(repair men) can rip you off more because you are a foreigner and don't speak the language. It's just never ending rip off. And there is no way that you will escape the rip offs unless you're seasoned veteran and speak their rip-off language

.

[color=blue]Ask the price ? Make sure to do this before he touches your bike.

Chances are he will raise some fingers or show you some money.

Acted shocked, shake your head and show about half the money he is asking. If he doesn't move, just start trekking towards the next guy about 10 FEET away. At this point one of the guys will realize something is better than nothing (but not always) and drop the price.

Remember, they do this to each other also. The guy driving the expensive (and ugly) New Vespa is going to get charged more than the guy with the 20 year old dream !! But the guy with the Vespa will not negotiate as hard as the guy with the dream because he needs to save face and act like a big shot...Hes got the money its no big deal...The average Vietnamese cannot understand why we get so upset when they charge stupid prices...they actually think we look stupid bargaining down (losing face but haggling when we have money) !! "your a rich white guy, you should be able to afford it.." that's whats going on in their heads.

Hope this helps a little...[/color]

[ChuckECheese]