Experience 101 - CUSTOM HANDLING

1:12 AM |

Today I would like to share something to anyone who is wondering about how to handle custom when you buy something from overseas. The suppliers for my online business mainly come from China, Korea and Taiwan. So here are some of the things I learned.

Declaration

Nothing attracts custom inspection more than goods imported from China
Goods should NEVER be declared as GIFT / SAMPLE, it is custom's magnet of attention
Goods should NEVER be declared as having the value of USD20 only, this is a lie detector magnet as well, reason? With a box so big, it will aroused suspicion of what is inside if it only has the value of USD20 (That's about MYR70) (Supplier from China likes to do this! So do advice them not to do so! MYR70?! Why do you need to get it from China?! That is what the custom officers explained!)

To be honest, irregardless of anything things still got held up! That is what our custom is & if you are in Johor, all the more ☺

My stocks from China got held up by custom one week ago and they sent me two letters (because of two different commodities in two separate boxes) In the letter you will be given three options:-

Option A: Go yourself to the PosLaju Courier Center - Custom Division and claim the items yourself (Just follow the address on the letter)

You will be required to bring along your payment slips (Western Union / Paypal / Moneygrams receipts) and your Identity Card

My items are bags, shoes and wallets so the tax bracket is 10% of the price I pay. You can always check the tax rate here for different commodity (Import Tax Charge )
Certain goods requires approval from certain government body

Electronic, tablets & phones - Approval from SIRIM
Medicinal products - Approval from KKM

✲✲ This is the best option - As you can negotiate the price of tax with custom. I got my discount too... So it is adviceable to go yourself. There is nothing to be scare of! Custom officers here in Johor (Thank God) are very friendly ✲✲

Option B: Appoint PosMalaysia as your declaration agent, they will do all the declaration and then the item will be sent to your nearest Post Office and you will hence go there and pick-up the item yourself and pay through the counter the charges incur (You have to sent back the form through fax or email and they will do the work for you)

Easy option BUT not a good option as I read from many website that the tax usually turn out to be very expansive as Pos will not negotiate the discount for you.

Option C: Authorize someone else to do it on behalf of you

As I chose the first options - my hubby took a day off to sent me there to pick up the items. The process is easy and not as frightening as I thought would be.

Arrive at the PosLaju Custom area at 9.30am
Show to the officer in charge the letters sent to you by PosLaju and they will bring out your parcels accordingly.
They will asked you what is in the parcel! Do not bring trouble upon yourself by saying something else.
They will certainly ask you to open up the parcel and take out piece by piece for them to have a glance
Once done, they will count out the tax your are required to pay (here is how it is calculated)

Amount you pay through WU/PP/MG + 1% insurance + courier charges (for China is 50% of the amount pay to your supplier) x 10% = AMOUNT YOU HAVE TO PAY AS TAX

You can attempt to negotiate the price or in my case, they offer me the discount before I can ask them for it! (Thank God)
Once paid, they will tell you to fill in some forms and signing it off you will be issued a receipt of payment and you can be on your way @ 10am

To be honest, the process wasn't painful, it was alright! The custom officers were chatty and they even told me about where to get items from which country is the best! They seem to be in good mood that day! (Thanks to all the prayers) and also like what my sis would quote "Do not worry if money can settle the problem! Since money can settle the problem it is NO PROBLEM AT ALL"

✲ FYI : EMS is said to be the easiest way to courier stuff from Asia because if you use other courier, there are times when the goods are in transit to the States you will be slap with custom imitation law as they are very strict with imitation goods from China! Your goods might be seize or even incur a heavy fine! So be careful.

✲There are also a few pointers to avoid item being held by custom

DO NOT DECLARE AS GIFT
PACK THE ITEMS IN SMALL BOXES as this indicates small value goods
Declare the value lesser than USD150(As anything above MYR500 will be subject to tax)

So here I am very happy to have my stocks and run my business officially. So no need to worry c'est la vie.. Happy July everyone!