Ebay purchasing

[carbon14]

Hi,

my friend recently purchase a mint EOS 1VHS on ebay from the US and the seller had classified it as "GIFT". However upon custom clearing in Singapore, the item was detain for GST assessment. Anyone has any experience on this problem.

If indeed taxible, is it still 5% or differs? Please help advice also.

Regards

 

[adamadam]

http://www.customs.gov.sg/trade/trde4_4.html It applies to gifts too

 

[carbon14]

http://www.customs.gov.sg/trade/trde4_4.html It applies to gifts too

Thanks for the info. Great help!

 

[Keltzar]

I think its the declared value (and the size of the box!) that matters.

 

[trucatus]

They need the purchase invoice. So prepare to pay the amount of the goods and shipment. additional 5%.

 

[tommon]

My bro DHL my guitar to Australia a few years back. His secretary declared it as gift got taxed almost AUD400 before I could claimed it. So far best to declare as used personal item. Declare the item's value below $200. You can get away without tax problem.

It can cost more than 5% depending on the items, some stuff have an inport tax/duty.

 

[arpinkor]

I used to buy some stuff from an online Hong Kong shop. They gave me 2 invoices. The 1st one has the actual price and you have to pay them in full before they ship. Once you pay up, they will send the goods with another invoice that declares the worth with a very low amount like $10 (they put the description of the item as used or something like that).
I didn't ask them to do that so I'm not breaking the law, but I believe they do that because customers in countries like Australia ask for it. From what I heard, the customs in Australia are pretty nasty.

 

[tommon]

Yep. Anyway, I won't pay via any bank transfer or western union. Got cheated the last time. PayPal or Credit Card is safer. As long as they shop is legit then it's ok. But cautions is still the way to go. There are CSers going there often, why not donpang them or ask them to check it out. Remember there's no way to return items when it arrive and it not in the condition you expect.