The End of Figure Imports?
Otaku Stuffs January 8th, 2009Over the past few months, the economic landslide in the entire world has caused foreign currency exchange rates to go haywire. What used to be the paradise for figure collectors, importing figures, is now something super scary.
Recently I imported two figures from HS. For two figures, it used to cause no problem for me and the local customs in Malaysia. There’s a law here saying that anything using EMS/courier that is below RM500 in value, will not be taxed. (The Malaysian Customs actually counted the EMS postage fees inside that RM500. I wonder whether it’s really like that, or it’s just those freaks’ stupid acts).
My figures was over RM500. I went there, hoping to minimize the damage I get from the tax. As the figures are already super expensive. (I actually never bothered about the forex when buying and thus, never realized their value. =.= ) As usual, I declared the items as toys. I was trying to nego. (There Malay Customs there used to give me good discounts.) But instead of being nice, the Chinese Customs guy said something shocking: “These are not toys. Toys are supposed to be able to move. These are for displays. I should have tax you 30%. But I still tax you at toys’ rate, which is 15%”. I so felt wanted to punch him in the face. But I can’t. This is the first time ever I felt so hopeless when dealing with EMS. I know I was going to lose anyway, since my figures were over Rm500. Nothing to argue anyway. If I could, I would have just let them send back the figures to HS and ask them to resend them back to me, in two separate shipments. I rather spend more than profit those stupid Customs. They’re devils!
Right now, all the figure preorders I have in overseas are 2 figures hanging over at HS. But it will be discarded soon anyway. All PA orders were canceled.
As of now, I officially close ALL my figure imports. It has been fun buying figures at HS and PA.
Ok, need to open those two figures now. 
(Be sure to click the “Show” above XD )
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January 9th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Man that sucks. :\
January 9th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
use SAL!
but yeah, the economic landslide made me reduce my figurine purchase..
ron~s last blog post..2008 Otaku Expenses Review
January 9th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Custom are annoying. In my place, i can bribe the postal officer to get my figures out of custom taxes. Of course the bribe value is lower than the tax value. XD
sonic_ver2.s last blog post..Komaki Manaka maid version – Kotobukiya
January 10th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Customs sucks in every country. So far I haven’t been taxed for packages from Hobby Search… the day I do there will be rage and depression though, most figure stores in the states are really slow and unreliable (from the experiences with them I’ve had)
Persocoms last blog post..Megurine Luka Gallery
January 10th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Bah, dammit, you got me :V
January 12th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
People may spend less, but I don’t think there will be any significant drop in demands for new figures. Of course, that depends whether you have a deep pocket or not, or willing to settle with a bunker buster-sized crater in your bank account.
Hangmens last blog post..NUTBLADDERS ARE SO CASH
January 13th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
time to fill in the complaints form…
like that would do anything.
rains last blog post..BRB
January 15th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I guess we can all feel the pain of the current currency exchange rate. I too am now only sticking to my local store and will only order online for figures that won’t be brought in by them.
ELTboys last blog post..Latest Kotobukiya Figures
January 20th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
next time declare it as sample…
i don’t think custom will tax on sample XD
January 24th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I thought that we were the only ones who had problems with customs ^^; Our customs are terrible here, sometimes they even open up the figures themselves >0<
Oh yeah, I already changed my blog’s URL ^^;
coelis last blog post..Back with a new line
February 25th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
I haven been taxed for a long long time adi..
but yea, adi buying very few figures, now reduce again.. o.O
Serenes last blog post..Tinkle Illustrations 2 : Byakuya no Chakai (SUPER RARE)
February 28th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Dude, i just wanna share this with all of you, there is a way to escape the expensive 15% charges from Custom (10% sales tax + 5% import duty), you can use land transport method, here is how:
I import the figures from Japan into Singapore (or Thailand), then hire a local transportation agency to have land courier into Malaysia via a lorry track, usually land custom has less check on goods due to heavy traffic and the lorry usually takes a huge number of other courier boxes as well. But again, I cannot 100% guarantee this method is always work, this is just a suggestion.
So far I always use this method to import figure items from Japan without tax, it seen working well and only takes one working day for the land courier to reach my place. Just let me know if you need my help for this. ^_^
Jasons last blog post..Buyers & Bootleg Paranoia
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 am
Wow, this site is great! Will add to my rss reader list. Very innovative. Ralph
May 25th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Dude, that’s horrible. And to think I just made a pre-order from HLJ that’s above 500.. I better cancel ‘em.
Zbos last blog post..K-ON! Moe moe kyun ♥
May 30th, 2009 at 1:42 am
It’s pretty evident that the economic downturns will affect almost every aspect of consumer spending. It doesn’t help that currency fluctuations make it more difficult for people to import their favorite things.
Though it seems that a lot of people, if motivated enough, are still willing to spend the money to get what they want.
It’s terrible that you were treated so badly at customs. I hate having to pay extra for something for no reason at all, really. But as I had said earlier, if motivated enough, people will spend the money. I see that you’ve already come up with a better way to deal with the situation.
radiants last blog post..My Wife Watches Anime Based on Eroge, Yuri, and Otaku-ism.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:29 am
sittuation is pretty bad in US. there are lot of Americans home less (1 out of 10 is homeless)
anime downloadss last blog post..176 New Anime Series Added
September 9th, 2009 at 2:58 am
Man…terrible…how can the custom guy remarked it as a display item? didn’t he saw the notes on the parcel consignment? and furthermore the highest probable taxable imported item should be around 5% to 15% most. Shipping duty by air is fixed at 5% and an additional pos Malaysia service release at RM1. So, the worst case scenario would be 20% in total. For 30%?? i think he’s bluffing.
Recently i bought 2 Gundams at HLJ and the price exceeded 13,000 yen. So, it’s taxable and moreover the Gundam 1/100 scale packaging were pretty huge. (so it made them to inspect and unwrap all the boxes inside, including the gundams…. man…i was hoping that I’m the one going to open it).
They charged me 5% for shipping duty and 10% for sales tax. At first I didn’t know that they’ll tax the items since the quantity were small. But, I’m wrong. They did mentioned about not to exceed for more than RM500.
So, for my future buy, I might just split the delivery package accordingly. With all due respect, Mr. Jason has a good point there….if you guys happen to live in peninsular or have relatives/friends in Singapore…then it might be a solution to decrease the taxes. But for people who happen to live in eastern Malaysia…then the probable bet is to try negotiate with the online store if they can decrease the actual purchased value printed on the consignment notes. It’s similar like importing Japanese Recon automobile. if you know what i mean ^^. But again, it’s good plan to make purchases under RM500 and if you’re going to purchase like RM1k then, we can use different recipient names within your household or trusted friends/relatives and split the order to make it below RM500 for each parcel.
Sorry if I shared too much “texts” in this comment…but i’m very delighted that i’ve found a blog that expresses the same situation that many of us gotten into with just to get satisfaction with our Hobby
.
Thanks again…
Regards, Soulhead7
December 8th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Nice to meet you.
I am a Japanese woman.
I love animated cartoon.
I am otaku.
Please make friends with me.
The tax is terrible and high.
When going to the foreign country, I buy the friend the figure etc. as a souvenir.
Good-bye.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:04 am
http://xct.blog50.fc2.com/