Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dsmoore]

So we had a family member send us some stuff from the US. Nothing much, a camera, some Wii stuff, gum, etc.. But the value does come to about $375. We shipped it FedEx due to getting a 70% employee discount on shipping through a friend. However, they won't deliver the package until we pay a customs fee of around $100! This seems really steep to me. I did some searching on Dave's and found some links to the customs website, which does appear to show a 20% fee on �high priced cameras and accessories�. Is a $170 camera considered high priced? There is not a �catch all� category for the other stuff, the list seem to only mention specific goods.

What are your experiences shipping stuff to Korea? The items are obviously for personal use. They asked if they were new or used. Does that make any difference on fees? We purchased most of them from Amazon and had them shipped to a relative. They opened them up, tested them, repackaged them to ship to us. Is this enough to consider them �used�? I mean, they are not shipping directly from a store. Just to be safe we said yes, they are new.

Would it have been better to ship them in separate boxes to keep the individual value down and not pay fees? Is it any use trying to explain that even at 20%, the charge should be $75 not $100? is the US Postal Service a better way to ship to avoid this in the future, or does everything get charged no matter what?

Thanks!

[ttompatz]

[plynx]

always mark your packages and their contents as "used." i use all caps for added effect. had tons of new items shipped still in their boxes with tags, labels, receipts, etc. and have never been charged a customs fee.

[Young FRANKenstein]