talkmagic.co.uk

Hi All,

For those from overseas and have purchased from PenguinMagic.com before, can you tell me more about the custom tax charges when receiving your order?

If you order from PenguinMagic, do you always get the dreaded custom tax charges? and if PenguinMagic labels clearly the total cost of the package?

It doesn't matter which country you are in, whether UK or Singapore or Malaysia or anywhere... customs charges are a nightmare...

Hi,

I have used them 3 times for fair size orders (about $400 each time) and have yet to be be stung. They kindly mark the packages as demo or similar and worth $10

It's still a lottery so allow for an additional 17.5 VAT 5% duty and another £8 or so handling charge from the post office. I'm afraid with this its a case of sometimes you win and others you lose.

Good Luck, I'd say you've less chance of getting caught than having to pay out though, there must be millions of items coming in everyday and of much larger value and more obvious to scanners than magic items

I would say that it's probably a good idea to place a large-ish order if you intend on using Penguin. Then even if you do get stung by customs, you would still have saved some money because their prices are very competitive. (Penguin, not customs!)

I have a phobia about ordering from the US since a mate of mine bought a Frank Zappa video in the eighties for the princely sum of £15 but had to pay £90 in duties when it arrived! Grrr!

ya... i had bad experience with customs b4....

my last order from magicdepot was bout $300, they marked it as gift... but still i had to pay about 20pounds of custom charges + a ridiculous 8pounds of handling charge! Just bcos they tax u they will add the so called handling charges!!! if u don't get tax there's no handling.. darn!

i called and check and they said anything over the value of 36pounds going into UK will be TAX!!!

Once my friend was shipping his used computer into UK, and he had to pay bout 90pounds of custom and handling.. a nightmare.

I think its only able to avoid the charges if the seller is willing to mark the item value at very low... cos i hv checked in a few countries, it says 'even if its a present, if it is over XX ammount, it will be tax'.....

i only got stung by ellusionist last year sometime.. prenguin do mark their stuff as demo.. so you probably wont get done.. but be prepared

Thanks for the info, that's good to know

I tried emailing them but still no replies yet...

btw, i heard ellusionist's order takes forever to arrive? is that true?

Cheers.

Generally I have no problems with shipping and customs. I once got hit with a hefty charge from China but dealers are usually cooperative.

Makibishi by Outlaw - $5 wooden box eh?

i order pretty much every month from stevens magic emporium from the states...delivered within 4 days if you pay for the UPS delivery, and i've never been stung for anything...not even the free bee they included in the parcel!

argh... just found out from penguinmagic that they dun ship to malaysia bcos of as u know........ high fraud rate! darn......

hey. thanks for bringing my attention to Stevens Magic Emporium..

the last time i was personally shipping magic from london, i almost had problem with security my whole bag was full of magic stuff and decks .... hee... cos i put all the heavy decks in my handluagge hehe.... luckily my 'pursuasiveness' got me thru ....