Importing Dslr Camera Lenses (any Idea What The Tax/duty Etc Costs?)

Saturn · December 31, 2008

I'm looking to get a Canon L series lens. I can either get it via the agent or import it - the agent has a markup of $300 approx. What I want to know is, has anyone here imported lenses? what are the customs costs/duty/tax/vat etc?

I'd be getting it thru fedex or UPS probably. I DID try to ask them but they seemed clueless

FYI the lens I want is about $600 outside (and $900 at the agent here)

Nilantha · December 31, 2008

Saturn said:
I'm looking to get a Canon L series lens. I can either get it via the agent or import it - the agent has a markup of $300 approx. What I want to know is, has anyone here imported lenses? what are the customs costs/duty/tax/vat etc?
I'd be getting it thru fedex or UPS probably. I DID try to ask them but they seemed clueless

FYI the lens I want is about $600 outside (and $900 at the agent here)

try it from ebay.com

Pericles · December 31, 2008

Nilantha : ebay doesn't operate in SL. It still gets shipped in to SL and gets taxed on entry.

Saturn : The most effective option is to get someone to hand carry it for you. From the price, I'm guessing 70-200 f4L? Its not too much of a handful to put in carry on. Of course, its a little tricky finding someone, but sometimes, forums can help. See Ripper is off the forums playing with the 50D that was bought in by MeanGreen And of course, your truly's equipment was bought in by Andrew_GTR in April-May. Course, you gotta find someone that you can trust

Edited December 31, 2008 by Pericles

Nilantha · December 31, 2008

Pericles said:
Nilantha : ebay doesn't operate in SL. It still gets shipped in to SL and gets taxed on entry.
Saturn : The most effective option is to get someone to hand carry it for you. From the price, I'm guessing 70-200 f4L? Its not too much of a handful to put in carry on. Of course, its a little tricky finding someone, but sometimes, forums can help. See Ripper is off the forums playing with the 50D that was bought in by MeanGreen And of course, your truly's equipment was bought in by Andrew_GTR in April-May. Course, you gotta find someone that you can trust

ebay operate in sl without problem. last time I bought Olympus Camedia C 750 digital camera for 56US$ include shipping to sri lanka. he heee. My ebay point is now “20” if you want I will buy and take it to u. but I want to keep a margin. If u want tel me.

Pericles · December 31, 2008

Nilantha said:
ebay operate in sl without problem. last time I bought Olympus Camedia C 750 digital camera for 56US$ include shipping to sri lanka. he heee. My ebay point is now “20” if you want I will buy and take it to u. but I want to keep a margin. If u want tel me.

The key words here would be shipping to sri lanka. Not that you can't access the damn thing When it gets shipped thru a customs point, it can get taxed so thats not real helpful.

Nilantha · December 31, 2008

Pericles said:
The key words here would be shipping to sri lanka. Not that you can't access the damn thing When it gets shipped thru a customs point, it can get taxed so thats not real helpful.

don't want to ship to sri lanka label. some sellers, if we ask they will ship to sri lanka. sri lanka customs can manage. not too much tax.

Watchman · December 31, 2008

Nilantha said:
don't want to ship to sri lanka label. some sellers, if we ask they will ship to sri lanka. sri lanka customs can manage. not too much tax.

I dont quite understand what you're trying to put through machang, but what Peri is saying is the problem is not with ebay. Its with Sri Lanka Customs.

Though there's probably set guidelines on the tax it'll also depends on the guy it'll depend on officer that's handling your parcel. Could let you off tax free, tiny tax or even a big-ass tax!

The whole process of buying off ebay and placing the order really is quite simple... its the SL customs thats a issue... i've had some earphones and a average size camera bag shipped to SL, they came in plain envilops so didnt look very expensive fromt he outside, so they went under the customs radar. but a friend of mine bought a small digi-cam and was taxed for it...So the bigger question is if you're willing to run the risk of being taxed, and NOT if the seller ships to Sri Lanka.

Ripper · December 31, 2008

Dilesh said:
I dont quite understand what you're trying to put through machang, but what Peri is saying is the problem is not with ebay. Its with Sri Lanka Customs.
Though there's probably set guidelines on the tax it'll also depends on the guy it'll depend on officer that's handling your parcel. Could let you off tax free, tiny tax or even a big-ass tax!

The whole process of buying off ebay and placing the order really is quite simple... its the SL customs thats a issue... i've had some earphones and a average size camera bag shipped to SL, they came in plain envilops so didnt look very expensive fromt he outside, so they went under the customs radar. but a friend of mine bought a small digi-cam and was taxed for it...So the bigger question is if you're willing to run the risk of being taxed, and NOT if the seller ships to Sri Lanka.

http://www.customs.gov.lk

check here... sometime ago they had the rates for digi cams and accessories but if i'm not wrong the total tax amount was almost 100% of CIF value.

But of course if you know somebody and the central post office, you can easily by pass the tax thing

And those customs fellas a quite weird...

once when i was getting down some fishing lures, one officer taxed me only 100 bucks for 4 lures where i've been previously taxed 1200 bucks for the same bloody thing and shockingly the first time it was only one lure... suppose you gotta catch em in a good mood or summin like that

Peri is right...thanks to AL forums, i found Mr.MeanGreenZ who was supernaturally helpful and carried not only the 50D but also two lenses, a bag, the cleaning kit, extra batteries, CF cards, filters and also a 10 pound full size tripod and a monopod

Quite a rare breed of a AL user i'd say

But the toughest part for me was getting the deal through wifey and tell her that how i'm putting 2200$ worth of equipment on a guy i met on AL :)

anyways...it was all good

And no taxes too :)

btw...50D rocks

Nilantha · December 31, 2008

Ripper. its better if you can remove your post.

MasterDon · December 31, 2008

Ripper said:
Quite a rare breed of a AL user i'd say

ai api kaludoo?

speaking of meangreenZ,fellow seems to be missing from the forums these days

maersk · December 31, 2008

Pericles said:

Nilantha : ebay doesn't operate in SL. It still gets shipped in to SL and gets taxed on entry.

Sure it does operate. Few months ago I bid & won a Palm PDA. They sent it from USA via FedEx without any problem. No custom, no tax, no nothing & bingo - 1 morning somebody delivered it to my home. Actually USA-CMB sector was faster than Colombo-where I live (outstation) sector but altogether it took about 8 days.

On the package it was written that it's an electronic item but still custom did not bother.

This is not a guarantee that you can get anything always but it’s worth give a try. Happy bidding!!

Watchman · December 31, 2008

Nilantha said:
Ripper. its better if you can remove your post.

why may i ask? I don't think ripper is breaking any forum rules or offending anyone.. on the contrary he's praising someone

xXx · December 31, 2008

maersk said:
Sure it does operate. Few months ago I bid & won a Palm PDA. They sent it from USA via FedEx without any problem. No custom, no tax, no nothing & bingo - 1 morning somebody delivered it to my home. Actually USA-CMB sector was faster than Colombo-where I live (outstation) sector but altogether it took about 8 days.
On the package it was written that it's an electronic item but still custom did not bother.

This is not a guarantee that you can get anything always but it’s worth give a try. Happy bidding!!

i wouldn’t recommend that to anyone and maersk consider yourself extremely lucky. stuff send through reputed courier companies are scrutinized heavily by the local customs. you stand a better chance getting it delivered via the central post station. atleast you can 'take care' of an employee there and avoid heavy custom duty.

shanX · December 31, 2008

Bought a Canon Powershot A1000 IS , gotta see how it would go wit customs

Ripper · January 1, 2009

Nilantha said:
Ripper. its better if you can remove your post.

Errr why may i ask???

Ripper · January 1, 2009

well i've been buying off ebay for a few years now... it was back when paypal was not servicing SL and it was only either direct CC payment or though BidPay.com which later turned into auctionpayments.com

In my experience so far...larger, heavy or insured items tend to get flagged by customs folks for further checking and of course most of the time bigger taxes...

On a good day you would walk away with a smaller tax amount if you go through the post office folks even playing by the rules...

But sometimes the same item get taxed more for some odd reason and we really don't know about these tax things to challenge the tax values those guys put in.

Those who know the scene always know how to exploit the loopholes and get a better deal through...

Or like somebody said...with some "convincing" using pocket sized paper media too tends to help out a lot...

on electronic items tax... i once saw this guy at central post office who had come to pick up a package sent to him by most probably a relative abroad. he couldn't speak sinhala that well and had a refugee camp address somewhere up north.... The package contained an older model used phone in not so great shape..

You know how much those punks at customs taxed that man??? some well over 1000bucks that phone itself in that condition would've cost the same.

He didn't have that much money on him and had to go back and get it from a friend who worked in a store in pettah...

I knew the whole scene cos when he returned i gave him my spot in the queue cos otherwise he was missing the train that was taking him back home...

What's sad is that those who don't know the scene gets taxed very unfairly while those who know how to get around things exploiting loopholes always win... And most of the time the latter is much better off financially than the former too...

kinda sucks big time!

shanX · January 1, 2009

I got taxed 3000/= for an item and 2 weeks later I got the same item again and had to pay 2000/=. But some sweet talk helped in both occasions

Edited January 1, 2009 by shanX

Nilantha · January 2, 2009

shanX said:
I got taxed 3000/= for an item and 2 weeks later I got the same item again and had to pay 2000/=. But some sweet talk helped in both occasions

thats y i told sri lanka custom can manage. Isn’t it. i think this 3000 tax is reasonable for the camera..

Pericles · January 2, 2009

Taxes are generally a percentage. And a $600 dollar lens will take a higher amount than a small P&S camera. And this kind of equipment (The L grade lens) is considered professional gear, and will get taxed at the business rate.

Nilantha · January 2, 2009

Pericles said:
Taxes are generally a percentage. And a $600 dollar lens will take a higher amount than a small P&S camera. And this kind of equipment (The L grade lens) is considered professional gear, and will get taxed at the business rate.

that also can be managed.

Ripper · January 2, 2009

Nilantha said:
that also can be managed.

depends on how much of contacts you have and on the mood of the customs guy you're dealing with.

Some fellows really go after items they are clueless about...

I've had that issue many times for my fishing gear...

Some fellas even take out leaflets and stuff that comes with these things to get a better idea about the value of things

Pericles · January 2, 2009

Nilantha said:
that also can be managed.

If your pockets are deep enough, I'm sure any amount of tax can be managed.

shanX · January 2, 2009

Nilantha said:
thats y i told sri lanka custom can manage. Isn’t it. i think this 3000 tax is reasonable for the camera..

Nopes, not a camera, two tail light sets

shanX · January 2, 2009

Ripper said:
depends on how much of contacts you have and on the mood of the customs guy you're dealing with.
Some fellows really go after items they are clueless about...

I've had that issue many times for my fishing gear...

Some fellas even take out leaflets and stuff that comes with these things to get a better idea about the value of things

Agreed about the mood part

Well, yaa, there are some guys who are totally clueless when it comes to tech items and some stuff, it's just random luck, coz recently I managed to collect a laptop, a 10" portable one off them for just 450/=, it's actual value was around $450. They were making this 'damn' face when I told its a laptop in there and told I might have to pay around 10k as import duty. I told em it was a children's toy laptop bla bla, even they were amused of it's compactness and saying cute isn it bla bla lolzzz

Ripper · January 2, 2009

shanX said:
Agreed about the mood part
Well, yaa, there are some guys who are totally clueless when it comes to tech items and some stuff, it's just random luck, coz recently I managed to collect a laptop, a 10" portable one off them for just 450/=, it's actual value was around $450. They were making this 'damn' face when I told its a laptop in there and told I might have to pay around 10k as import duty. I told em it was a children's toy laptop bla bla, even they were amused of it's compactness and saying cute isn it bla bla lolzzz

on that note...once i bought this used offshore trolling reel of ebay that cost a bit... the thing was dirty and the seller wanted to clean it before sending it to me but i told him not to

cos when it arrived at customs, the guy just didnt even want to touch it cos it looked like a rusted piece of junk

lil bit of brasso did the trick and yours truly was a happy camper.... rs100 tax only btw

at the same time once i was taxed rs.1200 for a fishing lure that was worth only about rs.1500 with shipping... I even had bills to prove the true cost since it was bought from an online tackle shop that sent in the original credit card receipt thingy with the package...