Overseas Steelbook purchases and customs charges question?

[crashkelly]

Hi all,

I am just looking for a bit of advice/information from a few of the seasoned steelbook collectors on the site.

I live in Canada and I am looking at ordering a couple of titles from places like amazon.de, amazon.fr, hmv.com, play.com, ..... but I have no idea how badly I will get stung, if at all, by customs and the like for ordering from places like that.

I ordered a couple of Wanted Blu-Ray Steelbooks from hmv.com yesterday as they were on for a decent price and I am hopeful the extra charges will not be too bad.

Ordering from amazon.de worries me a little as I cannot speak German and they ship internationally via DHL.

Any info greatly appreciated
Cheers and thanks
crashkelly

[Kynch]

Well what is it you're really asking? Besides alternatives, the way Amazon are worldwide cannot be changed, it's their way of being, you know?

I like ordering online because prices are cheaper but I sure prefer to get copies directly off people as they have it in hand and can answer any question you ask them.

[Xboxbydegrees]

Amazon is easy to order from. Their site is almost exactly the same in every language/country. You can also use google translate. (porbably not for ordering but to check some of the text)

[crashkelly]

Hi and thanks for the replies.

Kynch: Sorry for not being clear. What I was really asking was the experience people had had interms of ordering online for shipping to Canada from the stores I mentioned in terms of duty/brokerage/tax. I notice that amazon.de ships via DHL and I am wondering if they are like other couriers, FedEX, UPS, in terms of stinging you with massive brokerage charges for bringing the items into the country.

Xboxbydegrees: Thanks for the tip. I have used Google translate on some of the amazon.de pages to get extra info, but it fails a bit when coming to actually placing the order. Worried I am missing a huge chunk of info about the order.

Thanks again for any assistance
crashkelly

[Kynch]

Sorry if I came off as a dick. I just wanted to know precisely how I could help you out.

Sadly I cannot help you as I'm from France and the stuff I order from .co.uk, .de and .fr is mostly tax-free and doesn't take long.

You should ask Gui (tiger_qc) he's ordered countless times from countries in Europe. He should be able to help you out the most.

[crashkelly]

Hey,

Kynch: No apologies necessary and you did not come off like a dick. I should have clearer about what I was asking. It is a long way from my brain to my fingers and sometimes the details get lost in transit . Thanks for the tip regarding Gui (tiger_qc). I may send him a quick PM regarding.

Travis Bickle: I will check out amazon.de for CanadaPost. When looking at at item it states:

Auf Lager.
Verkauf und Versand durch Amazon.de. Geschenkverpackung verfügbar. Zustellung durch DHL

Which translates to

In stock.
And sold by Amazon.de. Gift wrapping available. Service by DHL

Now granted I have not created an account and/our gone through the checkout process so maybe it, CanadaPost, shows up there.

I generally shy away from courier shipping as I have been stung for massive brokerage charges before.

Thanks for the info
Cheers
crashkelly

[Travis Bickle]

Originally Posted by crashkelly

I notice that amazon.de ships via DHL

I may be mistaken, but I don't think this is true. I always get my orders from Canada Post not DHL. Maybe DHL is an option that Amazon.de uses for faster (express) delivery.

[apsmith21]

Originally Posted by Travis Bickle

I may be mistaken, but I don't think this is true. I always get my orders from Canada Post not DHL. Maybe DHL is an option that Amazon.de uses for faster (express) delivery.

Actually, it is DHL or Deutche Post until it gets to Canada. Just like for us in the US - DHL / Deutche Post passes it over to the USPS or Canada Post in your case.

That's why you can sometimes put the tracking # in from DHL / DP and have it show up in the USPS site (and adding a "DE" to the end).

[Travis Bickle]

It sounds like your worried about Canada Customs imposing duty/taxes on your potential shipment. I've ordered many times from Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, and yesasia and have rarely paid duty/taxes on the my orders.

[scrumptious]

Originally Posted by crashkelly

Ordering from amazon.de worries me a little as I cannot speak German and they ship internationally via DHL.

If their customer service is German, they probably also speak English since Germans are usually fluent in English.

I wish they would just have an English version as an option for all the foreign amazons.

That they don't makes me wonder if they want to lock us in to buying the more expensive imports on the U.S. amazon. Although, that they are now advertising the foreign amazons as places to buy foreign movies (go to their Movies page and you'll see it), tends to cut against this theory.

[crashkelly]

Toally agree. I am always concerned that I am missing the "You will be charged 1,000,000 of some currency for this foriegn order"

Originally Posted by scrumptious

I wish they would just have an English version as an option for all the foreign amazons.