AMAZON.COM overnight astronomical increase in Import Fees (1 Viewer)

[Nick*Z]

Okay, this one is just a no-brainer, or rather...seemed like one until this morning and I am just wondering if ANYONE on these message boards is experiencing a similar shocker when placing 'international orders' via Amazon.com.

My situation:
On Dec. 9th I pre-ordered the Warner Archive's pending release of Battleground on Blu-ray for $21.99, with $6.98 for shipping and $2.95 for Import fees, which brought the total up to $31.92. Not a great, but nevertheless, a relatively fair price, not counting the rate of exchange (easily to add another $5 to $8 dollars to this mix. Okay.

Now, today I tried ordering 3 Fox Archive titles via Amazon.com (not a third party seller) (Sentimental Journey, Sitting Pretty, and, Coney Island - already own Woman's World on Blu-ray) the cost arrived at for all 3 catalog titles, $60.00 plus $10.75 shipping. My import costs were estimated at - wait for it - $43.29!!! What?!? When the price of what you're paying for is basically rivaled by the what they're charging to deliver it to you, that's where I draw the line.

Okay, now follow me on this one. As an experiment I tried re-ordering another single copy of the aforementioned Battleground Blu-ray today. While the cost of the item and shipping cost remained virtually untouched, the Import fee had jumped from $2.95 to $11.67, or an increase of $8.72 for the same item that only 3 weeks earlier cost only $2.95. Must be a joke, right? Well, no satisfaction coming from my call put into Amazon directly. So, I looked into two other websites selling the same Blu-rays for roughly the same price - Screen Archives and Movies Unlimited. They're import fee - $3.95 to $4.75. I'm no math wiz, but it doesn't take one to see something is decidedly VERY wrong with Amazon.com's recalculation of import fees. They have literally tripled in 3 weeks!!!

Interested to know if ANYONE here has experienced a similar catastrophe and can actually account for the logic behind such staggering inflation in one month. Not a pretty picture, folks. And making it harder by the hour for anyone living beyond the borders of the U.S. to get their classic movie fix. How disappointing, indeed!!!

 

[revgen]

1) Try using a package forwarding service.

Here's one that looks interesting.

https://www.shipito.com/en/services/shop-pricing

They have a shipping warehouse located in Nevada. They charge $2 for handling each package + shipping fee. I don't know where in Canada you're located, but the cheapest shipping option for a 1 pound package (A DVD packaged in thick bubble wrap envelope) to Toronto costs $7.44 USD + $2.00 USD handling fee = $9.44 USD. You can pay extra for insurance. If you live in the western provinces like Alberta or British Columbia, it may cost you less.

Also, Shipito makes it abundantly clear that it's your responsibility to deal with Customs in your country. They have a Customs form you fill out out where you can mark the package as "GIFT" or "MERCHANDISE". You also put down the "VALUE" of your package.

The Canadian Customs website makes it clear that all "GIFTS" that cost less than C$60 won't be charged any tax or duties. "MERCHANDISE" that costs less than C$20 also is tax and duty free. So make sure you fill out the Customs form accordingly.

2) Try buying your items from FamilyVideo.com instead. Prices are often cheaper and I believe they don't charge sales tax for Nevada, since their stores are located in the midwest. I know they don't charge sales tax to California since there no stores here. For example, Battleground is $14.99 USD at FamilyVideo instead of $21.99 USD for Amazon. Family Video also only charges 1.99 USD for each shipping order. You can order 20 DVD's and only pay $1.99 shipping. Not quite free shipping like Amazon Prime, but not expensive either, especially if you buy a ton of items.

So theoretically you'd pay 14.99+1.99+7.44+2.00+"Gift"= $26.42 USD for Battleground without insurance.

It seems like a lot of work, but it may end up saving you money.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Okay, this one is just a no-brainer, or rather...seemed like one until this morning and I am just wondering if ANYONE on these message boards is experiencing a similar shocker when placing 'international orders' via Amazon.com.

My situation:
On Dec. 9th I pre-ordered the Warner Archive's pending release of Battleground on Blu-ray for $21.99, with $6.98 for shipping and $2.95 for Import fees, which brought the total up to $31.92. Not a great, but nevertheless, a relatively fair price, not counting the rate of exchange (easily to add another $5 to $8 dollars to this mix. Okay.

Now, today I tried ordering 3 Fox Archive titles via Amazon.com (not a third party seller) (Sentimental Journey, Sitting Pretty, and, Coney Island - already own Woman's World on Blu-ray) the cost arrived at for all 3 catalog titles, $60.00 plus $10.75 shipping. My import costs were estimated at - wait for it - $43.29!!! What?!? When the price of what you're paying for is basically rivaled by the what they're charging to deliver it to you, that's where I draw the line.

Okay, now follow me on this one. As an experiment I tried re-ordering another single copy of the aforementioned Battleground Blu-ray today. While the cost of the item and shipping cost remained virtually untouched, the Import fee had jumped from $2.95 to $11.67, or an increase of $8.72 for the same item that only 3 weeks earlier cost only $2.95. Must be a joke, right? Well, no satisfaction coming from my call put into Amazon directly. So, I looked into two other websites selling the same Blu-rays for roughly the same price - Screen Archives and Movies Unlimited. They're import fee - $3.95 to $4.75. I'm no math wiz, but it doesn't take one to see something is decidedly VERY wrong with Amazon.com's recalculation of import fees. They have literally tripled in 3 weeks!!!

Interested to know if ANYONE here has experienced a similar catastrophe and can actually account for the logic behind such staggering inflation in one month. Not a pretty picture, folks. And making it harder by the hour for anyone living beyond the borders of the U.S. to get their classic movie fix. How disappointing, indeed!!!

As if incentive to order via U.S. Amazon wasn't already low enough with our crappy Canadian exchange rate! This is just so bloody unfair!

 

[Konstantinos]

I live in Greece and I've never paid any import fees with amazon.com.
I just made a test with a bluray, and yes, still no import fees unless I choose Amazon Global Priority Shipping.

 

[Robin9]

It seems pretty obvious that people in Canada should avoid Amazon and buy from alternative suppliers. Neither Screen Archives nor Movies Unlimited offer the best prices, and Family Video say they do not ship outside the United States. I recommend that Canadian residents try Import CDs, Deep Discount and DVD Pacific, all of which ship overseas and all of which have lower prices than Amazon.

 

[Nick*Z]

Well, Movies Unlimited has just shipped my 3 Fox Archive titles - Sitting Pretty, Sentimental Journey, and, Coney Island for $72.25 (not including money conversion). Amazon.com wanted a whopping $143.87 for the same order! So did I save? You bet and big time. They're also offering pre-orders on the Warner Archive titles for January, each only retailing at $18.99. Amazon.com wants $21.99 a pop plus $42.50 in Import fees. I pre-ordered all of the January WAC titles, taxes, shipping included for under a hundred dollars (again, without conversion) but Amazon.com would have cost me just under $170 - for 4 movies?!? In which money grubbers world does this make sense?

I side with the great Katharine Hepburn. When asked in a 1979 interview by Morley Safer if she was "tight", Hepburn replied, "No I'm not tight. I just don't like being taken advantage of..." Yep, I feel the same way. I love my classic movies. But I won't be raked over the coals in a price gouge for them either. Americans quite simply don't know how lucky they are when it comes to their purchasing power. In Canada, movies aside, its become increasingly abysmal to downright impossible to survive unless you are a Rockefeller. I've promptly canceled all my pending Amazon.com orders and have started looking for greener pastures elsewhere. The online world is full of many retailers, folks, and I shant be lonely or left out in the cold!

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I was also shocked when placing an order recently, but don't they generally reimburse the deposit if there are no customs fees charged when the item comes over the border? I've received reimbursements in the past...

 

[Nick*Z]

That reimbursement stopped some time ago. Over Sept. through this month I spent a lot at Amazon.com. In the past there have been refunds a plenty. But lately none, just confirmations that in pre-ordering I have saved some money. I don't know what's come over the company. One by one, incentives have virtually dried up. But this crazy jump in import fees need not be tolerated, Andrew, and I would sincerely encourage you to order from Movies Unlimited where you can. They have always been fair in the past and I just transferred my Amazon orders over to them this morning, paying a nominal fee for both shipping and handling and customs that does not even come to one tenth the insanity Amazon.com is suggesting as the new norm. I also like Screen Archives from time to time, chiefly for their 'exclusive' TT titles. So I guess until something happens at Amazon.com to dictate differently, I will abstain from shopping there in the future. A shame too. This past year's purchases ranged in the thousands, not hundreds. It was a good year, indeed. But all that's at an end. I don't OVER pay for anything. Neither should anyone else!

 

[Keith Cobby]

I find amazon.com to be expensive importing to the UK and use importcds.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Hi Nick, that's a shame to hear that they're no longer offering reimbursements on the customs deposit. Thanks for the tip on Movies Unlimited... I'll give them a shot next time. I try to avoid Screen Archives unless I'm ordering Twilight Time discs because I find them really slow with getting their shipments out. For example, I placed an order with them on December 8th for a bunch of TT discs. A shipping label was finally created on December 20th, but it wasn't actually picked up until two days later. I get that they don't have the manpower of Amazon, but that's too long to wait.

 

[bigshot]

Tariffs are levied by your governments, not Amazon. Those of us in the US have no problem ordering from Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk, at least as long as that lasts.

 

[Douglas R]

I find amazon.com to be expensive importing to the UK and use importcds.

I've switched from Amazon.com to importscd as well. Prompt delivery and favourable prices.

 

[cinemiracle]

In Australia there are no duty/tariffs if the items are under $1000 in value. Lucky us but postage (or 'shipping' as you strangely say in the USA) can be expensive.

 

[smithbrad]

Tariffs are levied by your governments, not Amazon. Those of us in the US have no problem ordering from Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk, at least as long as that lasts.

While that makes logical sense, how do you explain two different vendors shipping the same order across the same border having completely different import fees charged? And not just a little difference but a major difference in multiples. Something is definitely amiss.

 

[Mark-P]

Has the law in Canada changed recently regarding tariffs? Amazon may be the first to comply with those changes. How do you guys know that when you place orders from alternate vendors that don't collect the import charges, you won't be charged for them on delivery?

 

[battlebeast]

I haven't bought anything from amazon in a while, but the other day I had some items at checkout and didn't see too high of an import charge.

 

[bigshot]

While that makes logical sense, how do you explain two different vendors shipping the same order across the same border having completely different import fees charged?

Here in the US, sales tax was traditionally not paid on out of state orders. But they argued big online retailers like Amazon should charge sales tax because they have shipping depots in most states. Basically, they went after Amazon because they were big. You can still order from small retailers out of state without paying sales tax, but Amazon is a big red flag for politicians who want to levy taxes.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

To be clear, in the US, you're supposed to pay sales taxes (if your state has a sales tax) on all purchases. If you order from an out of state merchant, you're supposed to pay taxes on those purchase and there is a space in the income tax forms for you to declare those purchases. I imagine not many people do it, but everyone is supposed to.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I prefer to use Amazon.ca, provided the price point isn't too out of line, as their shipments tend to get to me within a day or two. For any other option I sometimes use, the timeline is generally close to a week or more.

Insofar as Import CDs, don't even get me started! As I've previously quite vocally stated my beefs with them elsewhere, I'll merely say that I discovered some aspects of their service that I didn't like, and I'm now rather hard pressed to deal with them anymore, but that's just my opinion!

Movies Unlimited, on the other hand, are in my opinion, very well organized, with decent straight forward customer service. When I feel the need to order from a U.S. based company in the future, I'll likely look to them first.

CHEERS!

 

[Nick*Z]

Hi Nick, that's a shame to hear that they're no longer offering reimbursements on the customs deposit. Thanks for the tip on Movies Unlimited... I'll give them a shot next time. I try to avoid Screen Archives unless I'm ordering Twilight Time discs because I find them really slow with getting their shipments out. For example, I placed an order with them on December 8th for a bunch of TT discs. A shipping label was finally created on December 20th, but it wasn't actually picked up until two days later. I get that they don't have the manpower of Amazon, but that's too long to wait.

Dear Andrew:

Agree totally. Again, small manpower and its Christmas. I also ascribe a little blame to our Canadian postal service or lack thereof. My TT order via Screen Archives arrived in Canada on Dec. 21. I only just received my package today. For those who don't know...I don't live in some forgotten tundra or wilderness but a metropolitan center butted against Detroit Michigan. Too bad my parcel was shipped on the Canadian side, first to a processing plant in Montreal (about 12 hours away in a car trip), then to Kitchener (about 3.5 hours away) before actually arriving at its rightful destination. No one at Canada Post had an idea why those cities should have a crack at my package before I did. I joked my package is more well traveled than me!!! Anyway, I received it today. Thanks you a breakneck work schedule, I won't be watching any of these for about a week - if then. But at least I have them and didn't pay crazy import fees to bring them in.