Did you have to pay import tax and how much was it?

[supermagic]

Please don't use Asendia.

[qrsBRWN]

Please don't use Asendia.

Agreed, Asendia is among the worst I have had opportunity to be a customer of. DHL usually works very well but frankly even distributing via trebuchet is still better than Asendia so...

[Luke]

UK, 20% VAT on the declared value (USD25) = £3.81, plus £8.00 Royal Mail Handling fee = £11.81 total.

I really think the Asendia experiment was an awful experience and, at least for the UK, would prefer China post or DHL (or ANYONE else) in future. It was expensive, it was slow, and 3 weeks with no tracking updates is ridiculous.

I did contact Asendia directly - the first time they said it was not in their system. When I sent a screenshot showing it was, they blamed Royal Mail. This was during the 3 week blackout period - they were the last people to touch it but they clearly have a Teflon (nothing sticks here) attitude to business. If there is anything more I can do or say to help prevent anyone else having such a rubbish experience I am happy to help!

... but you ended up paying less than 12 quid in the end. Would you rather pay £30-40 and have it in a week?

[edit] the above could be read as tentative on my end, its not, I am honestly asking: would you rather pay more and have it quicker?

[dukla2000]

... I am honestly asking: would you rather pay more and have it quicker?

Yes.

The main issue is probably sticker-shock as we are all so used to "free P&P" - in reality it always costs and I understand and prefer that Pine should be explicit on the price of the goody and the price of the P&P.

The whole issue of import taxes/local VAT etc plus the gouging charges by the carriers is irksome but a fact of being a citizen of whichever country we live in (I have read parts of the similar PBP thread).

I am not sure how many Li-ion battery shipping options there are. For sure I don't know what the $35 PBP DHL shipping would be for a PinePhone, arguably a little lower (maybe $25-30?) but a whole heap quicker and more accountable.

At the bottom end I hypothesize Hong Kong post offers a $10 option which may be very slow. For sure Pine64 needs tracked - not sure if my hypothetical HK mail option provides that.

But to me seems Asendia was a bit more expensive than HK mail, a bit cheaper than DHL, but with both pathetic delivery time and tracking.

[pinerokc]

UK, 20% VAT on the declared value (USD25) = £3.81, plus £8.00 Royal Mail Handling fee = £11.81 total.

I really think the Asendia experiment was an awful experience and, at least for the UK, would prefer China post or DHL (or ANYONE else) in future. It was expensive, it was slow, and 3 weeks with no tracking updates is ridiculous.

I did contact Asendia directly - the first time they said it was not in their system. When I sent a screenshot showing it was, they blamed Royal Mail. This was during the 3 week blackout period - they were the last people to touch it but they clearly have a Teflon (nothing sticks here) attitude to business. If there is anything more I can do or say to help prevent anyone else having such a rubbish experience I am happy to help!

... but you ended up paying less than 12 quid in the end. Would you rather pay £30-40 and have it in a week?

[edit] the above could be read as tentative on my end, its not, I am honestly asking: would you rather pay more and have it quicker?

How about offering the buyer a choice of shipping options such as slow and cheap, versus quick and costlier?  Most Internet sellers offer such a choice, but no idea if you need to be at a certain level of items shipped for that to be reasonable.

Regards
R

[8jef]

Got the Pinephone tonight.

No tax to pay for me. I'm in Canada.

Declared value on custom label was USD$25, which seems low enough.

Hope I'll find time to play with it soon. I'm so looking forward to that. Was able to boot and test, and get a full charge.

[stellirin]

A low value and ticking the gift box means an instant investigation in Czechia. Please don't do this. I had to send store receipt plus bank statement confirming the price. I paid 828CZK plus 200CZK handling fee. So that's 1028CZK total, or 45USD.

[qrsBRWN]

A low value and ticking the gift box means an instant investigation in Czechia. Please don't do this. I had to send store receipt plus bank statement confirming the price. I paid 828CZK plus 200CZK handling fee. So that's 1028CZK total, or 45USD.

This happened to me (in Sweden) too. I will be paying 58€ and customs has had it since the 27th, today it was cleared.

I rather have it marked with what it actually is and with the actual value since it will a rather smooth affair to get through customs if everything is in order.

[stellirin]

A low value and ticking the gift box means an instant investigation in Czechia. Please don't do this. I had to send store receipt plus bank statement confirming the price. I paid 828CZK plus 200CZK handling fee. So that's 1028CZK total, or 45USD.

This happened to me (in Sweden) too. I will be paying 58€ and customs has had it since the 27th, today it was cleared.

I rather have it marked with what it actually is and with the actual value since it will a rather smooth affair to get through customs if everything is in order.

Exactly this. If the package simply had the real price on the documentation I would have paid only the 828CZK. Instead I paid ~25% more.

Else I can't complain about the actual courier, The phone eventually arrived in perfect condition. A faster courier has no benefit since the device doesn't have fully functional software available.

People complaining about speed need to learn to be patient 

[supermagic]

Got the Pinephone tonight.

No tax to pay for me. I'm  in Canada.

Declared value on custom label was USD$25, which seems low enough.

Hope I'll find time to play with it soon. I'm so looking forward to that. Was able to boot and test, and get a full charge.

Did you get it in east Canada?