Bloody customs

After receiving the Gecko mug, I was very happy with it, I love it...but then i received a bill from UPS asking me about 40 dollars for the custom taxes !
Then, Tiki farm doubled the bill so i was debited twice 59 dollars from tiki farm (that's right : 24 dollars of freight).

So i payed : 158 dollars for one mug !!!
Thanksfully, Holden told me i should have the mistaken 59 dollars back but still, this is a 99 dollars mug...

God, this is hard to be a tiki fan here. I won't be able to order any mug for a long time...

Virani,

That's the unfortunate thing about custom taxes, which are designed to discourage imports in favor of domestic production, it penalizes that countries citizens.

if someone sent you a mug as a gift, would the same fees apply?

Boy that's a Sad tale. I hate hearing things like that. The only consolation is that if you have to pay that much for mug , at LEAST you got the Best one. Gecko's Tribute mug to Martin Denny is the Best.

Make sure they put the value at maybe 10 francs next time...

Well, I for one am shocked--shocked!--that you chose to buy an import mug rather than support the grand tradition of artisan tiki mugs in France. The French mug makers, or les muggaliers, have passed on this fine trade from father to son, over many generations--some families having kilns that date from the time of Louis XIV. It is a little known fact that the Tiki Leilani mug was designed by the official muggalier to Emperor Napoleon, and is a tribute to Josephine's most favored poodle. How dare you not support your countrymen?? Do you want to feel responsible for the muggaliers losing their livelihoods? Do you??? I think you should have paid thrice that customs fee. A pox on you!

At least you didn’t have to pay the freight on one of the legendary Mighty Mugs of Tabingalora. These rare mugs -- some weighing as much as a ton -- were originally used as sacrificial cauldrons for virgins and/or American yachtsmen with three-day beards and greasy sailor caps. It was no less a personage than Ron Bopeil who convinced the Tabingis to market these cauldrons as vast “mystery drink” vessels during the burgeoning U.S. Tiki restaurant boom of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, but the industry collapsed when their king, Kaha-loha-ta-minni-ma-koo, was crushed during a tragic drinking accident.

The one in my backyard is in a place of highest honor.

Because Tiki Farm is a company, I don't think they would get away with marking the mug 'gift' for very long. But maybe they should quote the price of the mug much lower than ist really is to take ths sting out of the duty.

I too am the proud owner of a hundred dollar gecko mug!

Yeah, Exotica cost me about $100 bucks too. But I love it.

-slacks

At the risk of pointing out the obvious...all of you "foriegners" should get stateside friends to send you the mugs as gifts. Or am I missing something here?

Yes, next time I will have any mugs sent to my in-laws in Detroit and pick it up from them. Good idea.

On 2004-06-30 17:00, Humuhumu wrote:

The French mug makers, or les muggaliers, have passed on this fine trade from father to son, over many generations--some families having kilns that date from the time of Louis XIV.

• mahalo to j-tiki for unauthorized photoshopping of his hand *

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2004-07-01 07:18 ]

Maybe next tome, have a fellow TC'r purchase it in the US for you and send it to you as a birthday gift. Would that work?

Aye, I got nailed with the customs for the same mug. Ouch! What was weird was that I thought customs hadn't noticed it, but a few weeks later, I got a bill from the company that sent it (Fed Ex?). I ingnored it, then got another from some debt collection company! Cheers!!

It seems that if you send stuff via the US postal service, it's up to local customs to spot it, then bill you but if it's sent via a company like Fed Ex, they bill you whether customs spots it or not, then add on their own charge.

So my advice to folks sending stuff out of the country is to use the normal postal service, mark items as gifts, and mark down the wholesale price rather than the retail price.

Trader Woody

J$ -- I'm going to print that one out at highest print quality, frame it, and put it in back of my tiki bar --

heh heh - now we know what he was REALLY keeping behind that vest...

Thanks all for your support....

You gave me an idea : I'm going to make my french kings dynasty mugs soon and sell it for hundred dollars !!
Hey, it worked with the Politiki mugs, why not the "Monartichy" ???

if you get around to it, i want a Prince Charles mug ~ it would be ugly, but would hold the biggest volume! hmm. a double-handled mug.. his ears would be perfect!

How the hell do UPS charge a French citizen 40 bucks in taxes for a $24 item? That's a 166% tax rate!! Shouldn't there be a value cut-off for shipped items that Customs overlooks?

Sounds fishy!

Tell UPS to get knicked!

Canada Customs charges an exorbitant 'handling fee' so if your tax is say, 1.50 cents, they will add another 10 or 15 dollars to it to pay for all the paperwork and manpower it took to charge you the buck fiddy.