pongken
Hello,
I am movng myself and as many of my possessions as I can to Bali. I have heard of and experienced the thievery at customs.
Can I expect the same run around bringing in books? Does the government in Jakarta really want to keep the population as ignorant and toolless as possible?
Ken
pongken
Roy,
I want to ship (by ship) my books from Thailand and was wondering what the Customs officials will demand for these imported books.
Ken
mimpimanis
[b]Oops[/b]
For expected...read INSPECTED!
pongken
Roy and Mimpi,
Okay it's the same run around. What you have said conforms to my own experience. So I will just dribble the books in, with no declared value and hope for the best.....
Ken
Roy
[b]Bringing the library home[/b]
Hey Ken,
I had bad luck and some good luck bringing essential volumes from the states to Bali. The best luck was expensive, i.e. using courier services like Fed Ex, TNT, DHL...but never "the brown trucks."
A zero declared value, and a description, "paper files of no value" seemed to work best.
When my mom died last May, on Mother's Day, I had her ashes sent to me, as she was already in the midst of planning her move to Bali. When phoned to pick up the parcel, I was immediately subjugated to negotiations for the "duty" aka, "pay off." Luckily, Eri was with me and she, brilliantly recognizing the clerks as Balinese, simply told them, "they are his mom's cremated ashes. If you wish to pay for her purification ceremony, that's is fine with us." With those words, they humbly carried the parcel to our car, without any further mention of money.
Ten kilos of books costs about US $150.00 to ship over here, so be careful selecting the tomes you can't live without.
Roy
Ken, OK, simply put, they will demand 50% as duty for the declared value of your books. So, I suggest you take a little risk and declare VERY little value.
As I posted, "a zero declared value", and a description, "paper files of no value" seemed to work best. Funny it is how these worthless shipments seem to always find their home in Bali.
I shipped some 16th century books here from the US described in this manner, and it worked out fine. They were the original texts of Houtman's visit in the late 16th century. If I lost them, I would be sick, but I shipped them one at a time, to minimize, and spread the risk.
It's been a few years, pre 9-11 and the Bali bomb since I shipped to Bali my "things" from the states. I would fully expect you, shipping within Asia to be in a favorable position, meaning, it's just a cost issue.
Since 9-11 and the bomb, I have imported some other items of value, but always "play it down." Exporting at full value is one thing, importing at full value is expensive, and not necessary.
The more you call attention to your imported goods, the more they will assuredly be scrutinized, ergo, the more you pay. So, as Bert would say, "that's it." :wink:
mimpimanis
[b]Air Feight[/b]
I have air freighted from UK to Denpasar twice. Six to eight tea chest size cartons plus the odd extra that would not fit in.(eg 6' artificial Xmas tree) I picked them up at Denpasar airport. On both occasions I declared of "No Commercial Value" Personal Possesions.
I paid no taxes whatsover. The only problem was my music cds of which there were a about 150. Because they should be censored, the customs official asked for a little somthing to ignore them. Rp50,000 did the trick.
The second time I had about 20 pairs of sunglasses with UK prices of £19.99 on I actually paid £1 per pair but knew some lads that would appreciate glasses from London, especially if they thought they were Rp300,000 worth. We were asked for 2 pairs by the guys that expected the boxes. Also they did not go throug everything, just a general rummage, so stuff at the bottom didn't get checked.
I know someone else who airfreighted in at about the same time. Becuase she gave an itemised list to the shipping company, Customs had to check everything line by line and it took her hours to get through and she paid heaps (I am not sure for what)
My advice would be to give zero value and do not itemise the contents of each box.
