Buy bass oversea....

[garagesale_01]

Hey,
im planning to buy a bass guitar from talkbass.com

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=466665

i was wondering whether will be i charged for any taxes of watever CIF u call it...

it's a used bass...

hope to hear from you guys soon...

 

[yuujin]

i havent bought a bass from overseas before.
but i doubt you have to pay taxes.
just insurance if you declare it over 400 i think.
shipping isnt cheap as well.

 

[garagesale_01]

shipping is paid USD$130...
so is it worth it?

payment by paypal....
is it safe?

 

[mrekoj]

if you pay, he never send, you gonner

at least if you buy from ebay usa, you are covered for certain amount (200 for new seller, 2000 for reputable sellers)

think the risk not really worth it

 

[DarkRed]

hi, you will have to pay 7% GST in addition to shipping for any item over $400sgd. my average shipping (via vpost) is about $200, depending on the size of the bass and how they pack it. charges were generally according to volumetric weight - the larger the package, the more expensive the shipping.

for commercial retailers, they have a standard way of packing that is safe but kind of bulky, but for 2nd hand, maybe you can talk to the seller to pack it in a smaller box.

 

[azhfar]

hey there... I bought my bass from USA abt 6 months back... Honestly, transaction was smooth... Payment made thru paypal... The guitar cost USD535.. Then shipping was USD100... SO total i spent was USD 635.. Tats all.. NO tax... Not sure why... So u just convert to SGD ah the USD 635... At tat time the rate was like 1.38.. So kind of cheap ah... Hehe..

Also, if u buying from ebay, make sure he can be trusted.. Look thru all his comments and ratings. Better still if he is a powerseller... Then make payment thru paypal.. So quite safe after all...

As for me, my guitar has no insurance. But since he is a powerseller, i trusted him ah... Indeed, it was worth it for me... Shipper tat time was using USPS... Ard 6 days shipment...

 

[lordie]

i bough a bass from a usa recently ;p and taxes is close to sgd$200 and shipping is sgd$200. got discount from fedex corp acct, usualy price is usd$220

bought it from those mom and pop shops ;p

 

[frenchtoast]

I think if you pick the bass up from the post office they wont charge you the 7%. I think shinobi spoke about this trick before. Could be wrong.

 

[vinestreet]

Anything above $400 ( i think), you must pay 7% GST.

My advice is pay the GST because you better insure the guitar. It's not so much the seller not packing properly, it's the shipping agents that mess up your boxes very badly. If you under declare the cost of the bass to save on GST, you'll end up under insuring.

Try boderlinx - they have a tie up with Citibank credit cards. Cheaper shipping than VPOST even though they use DHL AND FREE INSURANCE (saves you at least S$30-40 on insurance alone).

I've not tried them yet, but i've got a bass that is on order in US and it will be shipped to Boderlinx's US warehouse to be DHL'ed over here in Singapore. VPOST with insurance is too expensive, about S$120 more than Boderlinx.

Edit: Holy shit man, I just saw the bass. You BETTER INSURE IT FULLY!

 

[rottenramone]

..

wow, that bass is nice.

if u can, ask him to unbolt the neck from body. that way u can ship in a smaller and cheaper box. think that's abt usd70.

 

[shinobi]

I think if you pick the bass up from the post office they wont charge you the 7%. I think shinobi spoke about this trick before. Could be wrong.

wasn't me, it was some laojiao...

some kind of cheat code tactic. but u need to know when its coming in and the tracking no. etc

 

[e4t3n]

have been wanting to buy stuff from talkbass but not too sure how it works too..

anw nice bass man!

 

[garagesale_01]

so is it USD$400 bucks or SGD$400??

im not shipping using vpost, the bass is being shipped over by the seller. so i guess i cant pick up the bass myself..

but how do i declare the bass price?
what i think i will do is to pay him 400(usd or sg?) in my first payment.. hopefully that would pass off as the payment?

 

[garagesale_01]

oh yes one more thing..
so should i purchase the instrument over ebay?
or should i juz pay him using paypal transfer... 400 first installment and the rest in the next transaction.

Thanks!

 

[lordie]

ebay usually pay full.

the 7% taxes are sgd$400

 

[vinestreet]

so is it USD$400 bucks or SGD$400??

im not shipping using vpost, the bass is being shipped over by the seller. so i guess i cant pick up the bass myself..

but how do i declare the bass price?
what i think i will do is to pay him 400(usd or sg?) in my first payment.. hopefully that would pass off as the payment?

All the TB seller needs to do is to post it to the US address that VPOST or Boderlinx has. From then on, VPOST or Boderlinx will take over and ship it to you. It will end up cheaper because they ship in bulk. Even if the TB seller uses USPS, it will still be more expensive.

On all packages, there has to be a sticker on the outside that declares it's contents and it's value. This is how you will be taxed, and this is how your insurance is calculated also.

USD400 or SG seems high for a deposit. That's 30% dude. I normally go with 10-20% to cover one-way shipping in case I reject the goods so the seller won't be out of pocket or have no money to ship it to me.

You can don't even pay a deposit. What you can do is to ask him to fix up a paypal auction just for you with a buy it now price. Once he puts it up, you go in and buy it immediately. Then you pay by paypal the full amount.

Paypal holds the $$$ in escrow till the seller says it has been delivered and you confirm that it has and it's in good shape. This way if anything happens to the bass, you can get ebay to step in to reject payment, and you can withhold payment with paypal. No need for deposits, and peace of mind.

But....if you're using VPOST or Boderlinx, you have to inform the seller in writing and he must agree that after he tracks it to their US warehouse, he has to wait at least 6 days before the bass makes it to Singapore, then only can you inspect the bass and release Paypal payment. You can supply him with the new tracking number for this so he knows you're not being funny.

It's a niiiiiiice bass. I hope it works out and you get it. Alot of guys are helping you out on this - YOU MUST POST PICTURES WHEN YOU GET IT!:mrgreen:

 

[garagesale_01]

so is paypal really safe to use?
as in lets say if i do not receive the product i still can get back the money?

cos actually in this case... myself as a buyer is not really insured...

 

[mrekoj]

so is paypal really safe to use?
as in lets say if i do not receive the product i still can get back the money?

cos actually in this case... myself as a buyer is not really insured...

paypal is only safe if you go through ebay, ebay is the one who insured ur money, not paypal
if you just send money across through paypal, there's no insurance and if the seller wanna play punk, you are gonner.

new seller, you are insured for 200 bucks only
reputable seller, you are insured for 2k

but i think you are only insured of cost of the items, so if a empty box is shipped over, your shipping cost cant be claimed

there's steps to tell you how to claim, but what's the success rate, i'm not very sure

 

[garagesale_01]

okay here's e procedure which most likely i will be doin this...

1. Pay first installment, USD$265 (abt SDG$380)
2. Pay 2nd installment, USD$1065
3. Seller will ship over via Canada Post to me

Is this a good procedure?
Or should i do it other wise?

Any other 'safer' method?

 

[mrekoj]

.....
dont think by paying installment will help much...

in the end you still pay him full amount before he will send the item over, he can still play punk.

but there wont be a seller who will send the item before you pay full payment so ... i guess you have to take the risk ....