Hey Guys,
I'm looking at a set of Forgestar F14's in Piano Black from the states. Unfortunately I live too far from the border to drive down and pick them up, so I'm going to have to ship them directly to me. They're a used set, which should help to eliminate some duty if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone have experience with doing this, and if so, what's the cheapest way to ship?
Thanks!

 

Where do you live, based on duties and extra shipping costs it may still be cheaper to just drive down and pick them up. roaadd tripp. If u have a set of bad tires just mount them on some 50 dolllar steelies, and mount them at the boarder and drive bak caree freee.

 

It's at least a seven hours drive. The $150.00 of gas seems like it would push me over. Unfortunately my old tires are in good shape and being sold as well.

 

USPS is the way to go. Get him to value the wheels at $50ea or something and your duty will be $10.

Just tell him to buble wrap the wheel and tape the carap out of it.

 

I have bought 2 sets now always used UPS but they suck. One of my HREs took a week longer than the rest because they shipped it to Calgary then Edmonton then back to Calgary then to RedDeer finally to me and they are expensive. I have never shipped wheels USPS but if you can thats what I would do, I always declare the real value in case something happens to one or more of them i dont want to out a $500-1000 wheel over a couple hundred bucks duty. Some guys find it worth the risk I would do some reserch on the guy your buying wheels off of I saw a guy on myg37.com that was telling all about how he had 3 different finishes (different shades of black) on the F14 in piano black I would hate to get that set.

 

Sasha, are there any legal implications to declaring the value that low for the seller or for me? What about labeling the package as a gift?

 

Yes they can tie your package up at customs for ever and make YOU pay huge penalties to get them back but it is hard for them to prove it but I have spoke with 3 guys that have got caught and the penalties were large and a flag by your name for shipping goods. The chances are low but it can happen.

PS read my above post about the guy selling the diffent shades of F14 I think they were G37 offsets though.

 

I don't think you will have a problem with used items.

I have to check and see what value my part suplier puts on the boxes. All I know is that I bought $1500 worth of stuff (3 large boxes) and i only had to pay $13.50 or something liket that.

I will check the paper work tonight, and post back.

 

Thanks Sasha. Let me know!

 

Looking at the paperwork, it looks like inport tax/duty is 10% of declared value.

 

Sounds good. Out of curiosity Sasha, do you know how much you paid to ship your wheel here. I seem to be getting Fedex quotes for around $200. Does anyone know if Fedex factors duty into that number? They ask for the declared value, so that's why I ask.

 

That would most likely be for insurance not duty, it usually says in the fine print that you are responsible for the duty on top of shipping and insurance. They will pay it but charge you for it at your door when the item arrives. On my Volk wheels they actually called me when they were at the boarder and gave me the option to pay now over the phone or have them pay and I would get a surcharge + duty when the wheels arrived.

 

$200 sounds about right, but there will be duty/tax on top of that. At least that is my experience with it all.

 

Looking around, it seems like I can also ship the wheels VIA Busfreighter.com for around $130. I feel like shipping them that way might keep them a bit safer and it's definitely cheaper. Any reason not to? Also, if I asked the seller to print a quick craigslist ad valueing the wheels lower, would that help to get them through customs without a hitch?
Aidan

 

The seller priced up shipping via Fedex ground this morning. They quoted him $125, per wheel. This is extremely expensive. Does anyone know of a better way to ship?