Japanese merchandise!
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Japanese merchandise!
I consider myself extremely lucky being able to live in Japan and I was thinking to myself what can I do for those poor people who are stuck in their own countries. I was messaged by a girl who wanted to know about tv magazines and how she was considering ordering them from amazon but they cost so much, and then it came to me. Im sure many people are in the same boat as this girl wanting things like magazines, cds, dvds, books etc but the only way they can get them is off places like amazon which charge a huge fee and I thought what if I bought the items for the people who wanted them and sent them to them without any handling fee. All they have to pay is the price of the item and shipping, no extra cost. This would be a no profit service for me but im ok with that because I know what its like to be in another country and desperatly wanting Japanese stuff.
However this idea may be completely shunned by you people, and you may not need it but it was just a thought so let me know what you think!
However this idea may be completely shunned by you people, and you may not need it but it was just a thought so let me know what you think!
Yes, definietly! (if you want to and if you got the time)
I was SO happy when I got your PM about the TV magazines! ^^
It made stuff so much easier because if I order them from Amazon the shipping would be around 200 SEK but I really wanted them so I thought "it's worth it!" but then the next problem came - I didn't know what magazines included good articles/pictures.
It's really helpful!
But I think it would be OK to take extra money because afterall you need to search for the items and you do it in your free time.
Thanks alot again! ^^
I was SO happy when I got your PM about the TV magazines! ^^
It made stuff so much easier because if I order them from Amazon the shipping would be around 200 SEK but I really wanted them so I thought "it's worth it!" but then the next problem came - I didn't know what magazines included good articles/pictures.
It's really helpful!
But I think it would be OK to take extra money because afterall you need to search for the items and you do it in your free time.
Thanks alot again! ^^
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Exactly. The mail system may allow you to declare items as non-commercial. But after you send a dozen packages in a short period of time, they WILL see a pattern, and therefore will set off a red flag. I've read about this in the eBay forums. Best thing to do is declare the packages accordingly. The mail system is not someone you want to mess with.InTr4nceWeTrust wrote:Because you're not really sending it to friends. At least the government won't see it as this. They'll see that you're providing a service to get around import taxes.
--- groink
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Think Yorokobi shouldnt declare the items as commercial because they are not, no money is gained with this and will only make people pay taxes and deal with customs...
If large amounts of CD/ DVDs are shipped, I understand how suspicious that may look to the post office, maybe only ship a few per month or so. Magazines, posters and other stuff, think it should be OK sending them to "friends" and declaring what they are by name "magazine", "book"...
This would help many people
If large amounts of CD/ DVDs are shipped, I understand how suspicious that may look to the post office, maybe only ship a few per month or so. Magazines, posters and other stuff, think it should be OK sending them to "friends" and declaring what they are by name "magazine", "book"...
This would help many people
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@Yorokobi
There are no international law buffs on D-Addicts that will be able to give you guaranteed information about trying to provide this service. Many D-Addicts users aren't even of legal age yet. Read up on import/export laws between Japan and whatever country you're going to send items to. Hire a lawyer if you must. Make your best judgment. Ignore what anybody else says here.
There are no international law buffs on D-Addicts that will be able to give you guaranteed information about trying to provide this service. Many D-Addicts users aren't even of legal age yet. Read up on import/export laws between Japan and whatever country you're going to send items to. Hire a lawyer if you must. Make your best judgment. Ignore what anybody else says here.
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i vote yessah tooelly_ketz wrote:I voted yes..
I think u should do this..
though I'm still a middle school student and didn't have a lot of money except my pocket money
but I still hope other people would vote yes..
minna,vote yes..
dont worry ur not the only middle school student
i only have pocket money too
Commercial does not mean you're making a profit. I can sell people products at a loss or break-even and it would still be commercial. Commercial is a practice.deshou wrote:Think Yorokobi shouldnt declare the items as commercial because they are not, no money is gained with this and will only make people pay taxes and deal with customs...
You're basically telling this person to work-around the system and to stick his neck out for someone he doesn't even know. He's risking being charged duty or having the package returned to him and must come up with even more money to re-send.deshou wrote:If large amounts of CD/ DVDs are shipped, I understand how suspicious that may look to the post office, maybe only ship a few per month or so. Magazines, posters and other stuff, think it should be OK sending them to "friends" and declaring what they are by name "magazine", "book"...
This would help many people
Well, I guess the logic is that we're all breaking copyright laws on the torrent tracker... Why stop there? Sometimes it is worth breaking regulations for some things. But not for EVERYTHING in life.
--- groink
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poor logic tho. illegal import/export would use the US post office. torrent tracker is hosted on a server in amsterdam?groink wrote:Well, I guess the logic is that we're all breaking copyright laws on the torrent tracker... Why stop there? Sometimes it is worth breaking regulations for some things. But not for EVERYTHING in life.
--- groink
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Thats the way it is done with regular mail, usually you declare the value and what it is, thats it. Nothing illegal. She is probably being payed before sending the items, so there shouldnt be any money loss... also, most duties are payed by the receiver and usually books are considered culture = no charges.groink wrote:You're basically telling this person to work-around the system and to stick his neck out for someone he doesn't even know. He's risking being charged duty or having the package returned to him and must come up with even more money to re-send.deshou wrote:If large amounts of CD/ DVDs are shipped, I understand how suspicious that may look to the post office, maybe only ship a few per month or so. Magazines, posters and other stuff, think it should be OK sending them to "friends" and declaring what they are by name "magazine", "book"...
This would help many people
Well, I guess the logic is that we're all breaking copyright laws on the torrent tracker... Why stop there? Sometimes it is worth breaking regulations for some things. But not for EVERYTHING in life.
--- groink
You make it sound like i dont care what happens to her, and it is not like that at all.
As I see it, the only issue here is to know if the items should be treated as "regular mail" or ticked as "merchandise", and that probably depends on the demand, payment and so on... Yorokobi, do you have any idea how people could pay you?
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mmm don't worry yorokobi about the legal stuff, just do itt EVERYONE will appreciate it! including me (well i live in southern cali and can just drive 15 mins to a japanese market to get the stuff.. altho they're not cheap either -__-) can i ask like wat a current myojo magazine is usually?
okayy i sell stuff on soompi forums andd i just send the stuff w/out any worries.. i havn't done any international exchanges thoguh but i'm sure it's okay. just say it's a book/cd u borrowed from a friend a while ago or something if they ask.. there're billions of mail out there they're not gonna confiscate urs. u should have the "friend" you're helping send u money first and send them the stuff, all at their risk of course. tell them u won't be responsible for any losot/damaged money/items.
gluck!! it's a LOT of work though... it's so altruistic of u to not charge any handling fees hahaha. if you ever do that pm me please maybe i'll want to get something if it's cheaper over theree.. xP
okayy i sell stuff on soompi forums andd i just send the stuff w/out any worries.. i havn't done any international exchanges thoguh but i'm sure it's okay. just say it's a book/cd u borrowed from a friend a while ago or something if they ask.. there're billions of mail out there they're not gonna confiscate urs. u should have the "friend" you're helping send u money first and send them the stuff, all at their risk of course. tell them u won't be responsible for any losot/damaged money/items.
gluck!! it's a LOT of work though... it's so altruistic of u to not charge any handling fees hahaha. if you ever do that pm me please maybe i'll want to get something if it's cheaper over theree.. xP
I'll say yes. legal issues could be a problem but I don't see how it could end up being a big issue. Especially if you have the name and address personally on there and it was sent as a friend instead of a money maker or company. It'd be really really handy and lots of people would love you for life. including me. since a myojo magazine is impossible to come by in Utah.
Shipping Internationally can be a bit tricky.
If you ship, say those magazines. I would recommend that you hand write a personal message. And avoid putting any kind of receipt in the package.
On the customs form, if you mark the package as gift, put the ACTUAL value of the item(s) on the form. Do this to avoid issues with, I don't know, mail & tax fraud. Packages passing through customs are opened if they are deemed suspicious & at random.
Also, I know the US has embargoes against other countries, I don't know about Japan. But, you'll want to take note of what you can't ship to certain places.
Also, don't mail too many gift packages at once, lol.
I only weigh in because I ship quite a bit internationally for business and deal with this kind of stuff all the time. Hope it's helpful.
If you ship, say those magazines. I would recommend that you hand write a personal message. And avoid putting any kind of receipt in the package.
On the customs form, if you mark the package as gift, put the ACTUAL value of the item(s) on the form. Do this to avoid issues with, I don't know, mail & tax fraud. Packages passing through customs are opened if they are deemed suspicious & at random.
Also, I know the US has embargoes against other countries, I don't know about Japan. But, you'll want to take note of what you can't ship to certain places.
Also, don't mail too many gift packages at once, lol.
I only weigh in because I ship quite a bit internationally for business and deal with this kind of stuff all the time. Hope it's helpful.
yorokobi-
I'm sure you started this thread and offer with the best intentions but the practicalities involved will probably make it too much effort on your part. Others have pointed out the customs/shipping issues. Let me add that YES--U.S. Customs does look at packages. We just received another opened "Care" package from my wife's family and once again items such as ramen (yup, ramen containing chicken) were removed. (maybe the customs agents are hungry) I buy books and have them shipped to the family and they bundle it with the other stuff--so far no problems with those.
OK, say customs of whatever country confiscates something you're sending--who absorbs the loss? You or the requestor? Also supposed many people take you up on your offer--you'll be running around to various stores, wrapping and packing, going to the Post Office, paying subway fares, collecting and depositing money. Soon you'll start to think that "hey--my time is worth something" then what, you'll maybe ask everyone to add something for your time. Pretty soon you'll see that vendors such as YesAsia aren't tagging on "expensive extra" charges and getting something from you won't be much cheaper or faster.
good luck if you decide to do it. but I'd really think about your offer.
I'm sure you started this thread and offer with the best intentions but the practicalities involved will probably make it too much effort on your part. Others have pointed out the customs/shipping issues. Let me add that YES--U.S. Customs does look at packages. We just received another opened "Care" package from my wife's family and once again items such as ramen (yup, ramen containing chicken) were removed. (maybe the customs agents are hungry) I buy books and have them shipped to the family and they bundle it with the other stuff--so far no problems with those.
OK, say customs of whatever country confiscates something you're sending--who absorbs the loss? You or the requestor? Also supposed many people take you up on your offer--you'll be running around to various stores, wrapping and packing, going to the Post Office, paying subway fares, collecting and depositing money. Soon you'll start to think that "hey--my time is worth something" then what, you'll maybe ask everyone to add something for your time. Pretty soon you'll see that vendors such as YesAsia aren't tagging on "expensive extra" charges and getting something from you won't be much cheaper or faster.
good luck if you decide to do it. but I'd really think about your offer.
Is it really same in every country? Isn't the US very strict with things like these?
Even so I wouldn't mind paying all the commercial stuff, etc. for magazines that I can't buy in my own country.
If i remember right the fees are not really expensive, atleast not from Hong Kong?
And I've seen people sell things from Japan on livejournal without any problem? @_@
Even so I wouldn't mind paying all the commercial stuff, etc. for magazines that I can't buy in my own country.
If i remember right the fees are not really expensive, atleast not from Hong Kong?
And I've seen people sell things from Japan on livejournal without any problem? @_@
@afroken
It's not the same for every country. And the US customs can be very strict and from what I understand, Canadian customs is the worst. Some postal services are flat out corrupt. You have to be careful. I don't know about other people, I just don't know if it's worth it.
@yorokobi
It could quickly go from a nice thing to do for your friends to a HUGE hassle for you to do for people you don't know. Keep in mind how some people complain about how quickly a free fan sub comes out... I couldn't imagine what happens when pocket money is involved.
Good luck if you decide to do it anyway.
It's not the same for every country. And the US customs can be very strict and from what I understand, Canadian customs is the worst. Some postal services are flat out corrupt. You have to be careful. I don't know about other people, I just don't know if it's worth it.
@yorokobi
It could quickly go from a nice thing to do for your friends to a HUGE hassle for you to do for people you don't know. Keep in mind how some people complain about how quickly a free fan sub comes out... I couldn't imagine what happens when pocket money is involved.
Good luck if you decide to do it anyway.
yeah don't overwork and frustrate yourself just so people can get merchandise. you want to be happy!!! if you were to start this I'd do like 3 things a month so your not having a heart attack and you can work things out properly. you definately wouldn't be too much of a suspect. just limit yourself.
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oo.. i would so love a kat-tun poster.... but that would be hard to get (?)? Do they even exist
about customs in canada. I've ordered so many things online, they've only checked it once. When it was labled "yo-yo" since it was a huge package (it was a diablo, some acrobats uses it.. it is a yo-yo, but looks like a dumbell).
about customs in canada. I've ordered so many things online, they've only checked it once. When it was labled "yo-yo" since it was a huge package (it was a diablo, some acrobats uses it.. it is a yo-yo, but looks like a dumbell).
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Canadian customs are...to say the least, TERRIBLE. It's come to the point where I don't even order off of any website that isn't located in Canada or has a base in Canada from where they're shipping the goods. It's completely ridiculous the charges they tack on. For example, I ordered three CDs off of CDbaby.com (an independent CD-selling store located in the US). The CD's cost me around $25 + $5 shipping. But after the customs went through it, I ended up having to pay $20 in customs charges. I was just looking at the post office lady in disbeilef because why should I have to pay $20 in customs charges when it's a $25 CD?!
It's really nice of you to offer to help people out in getting stuff from Japan, but in the long-run I don't see how you'd be able to keep it up---especially when you're not making any money out of it. There are already sites like yesasia.com that offers near-retail price on many goods fromJapan (CDs, DVDs, posters, idol goods, etc.) AND offers free shipping. So I think it's best to point people to those sites
It's really nice of you to offer to help people out in getting stuff from Japan, but in the long-run I don't see how you'd be able to keep it up---especially when you're not making any money out of it. There are already sites like yesasia.com that offers near-retail price on many goods fromJapan (CDs, DVDs, posters, idol goods, etc.) AND offers free shipping. So I think it's best to point people to those sites
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