I also would not lie on a Customs form.....especially not these days.
Ditto. You are talking about an eBay auction here. How easy is it for an investigator to access that information? Too easy. This is not the kind of thing to fool around with.
Not advocating any of this but just to state what actually happens: If a shipper places a very low value on the package then the customs at the arrival country will impound the package. They cant prosecute the shipper as they have no jurisdiction over the shippers country. They cant prosecute the buyer either because the buyer did not write the value on the form. So customs would inform the shipping company (UPS etc) that they are holding the package. The shipper would then have to supply documentation to prove the value is correct. If this is not available then UPS etc would not be able to clear the package through customs and would give the shipper the option of returning the package, at the shippers cost or disposing of it.
OK, so here's the plan. A US buyer wins the bid on ebay, then he packages and ships the top to UK. He claims that the item is worth a thousand bucks or euros or whatever and the guy on the receiving end pays the import taxes. Then a British 328 GTS owner installs the top on his car and drives over to France and turns over the top and collects the balance of payment. Then he drives his topless 328 back to the UK. Then money is passed around to whoever is owed what, and everybody celebrates the massive victory over customs and taxes. After factoring in time, gas and aggravation you will easily save 17 euros!
Living in Germany for 20 years I have seen both the USA and Germany go after rediculously small amounts.
True enough, they stopped some POSTERS from Antone's I sent to Wolfgang, and it was clearly labeled as "gift" and not worth much in any event. He had to go down and they inspected them, to claim the items.
Yep. And "the true value on any item is merely a Google search away." Author: Customs Inspector Ramstein, Germany.
A better idea would be to take it over to France in a big van and stop off on the way back at Auchan in Calais and fill the van up with cheap wine, that way you gain both ways. There are no import duties between UK and France although people returning with huge trucks full of booze claiming its for "personal use" does rather annoy the UK customs.
Luckily enough here down under there are no taxes or duties paid on any imported item under the value of $1000,,but being so far away,it usually costs a bomb for shipping. I bought a used Targa top which I had sprayed red for my 328 from Gator FL(thanks again Duane) and I organised the shipping and the cheapest price I could find from memory was around $300,,,UPS,FedEx and DHL wanted over $500..funny thing was the freight company I used actually went through FedEx..
Spot on, Mark; never underestimate those guys: in that case he would only have to type "transparent top ferrari" in any search engine, and guess what? He would find a) the add in Ebay with the definitive sales' price and b) this exact discussion... Heard about the fraud in Greece about the taxes on swimming pools? Anyone having a swimming pool in Greece is supposed to pay a specific tax on this. But of course, almost nobody was actually declaring a swimming pool in Athens to the tax administration... Until one bright civil servant in the said tax administration got up one morning and put "google maps" in his search engine, and asked for satellite pictures...as the story goes, he nailed 16.000 persons for "swimming pool tax fraud" on a single week... They know modern tools as we do.
Via IP matches and posting histories, I conclude that hawaii50 is also ferrari1, Golfmaster, and Saitacollector. Furthermore, the registration e-mail address of Saitacollector is too reminiscent of the eBay seller "newshawnee291y" for it to be a coincidence. In posting history, ferrari1 also admitted to being the seller. I therefore conclude that these are multiple accounts and have been deliberately used as shills to exploit the membership of FerrariChat. Multiple accounts are not permitted on FerrariChat for any reason, so your recently created "shill" accounts have been banned: Golfmaster: permanently excluded from the forum Saitacollector: permanently excluded from the forum hawaii50: permanently excluded from the forum For the deliberate deception and exploitation, I am also banning your first account: ferrari1: permanently excluded from the forum Regards, Andrew.
Well wasn't that a nice trick....said sarcastically.... Dr Tommy called them (his split personalities) out on it awhile back. Looks like Doc was spot on. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=385319 Ya know, this guy selling it would have gotten just as good exposure being honest. Got to wonder what the hell he was thinking to rationalize his actions. Best Regards, John M
Its another top is it not? Not same seller. You could forward that Mark to ebay so they will see if he shilled the auction.
Current top on eBay may not be a bad deal if you can pick it up for several hundred $ and do the fiberglass repairs yourself. Looks pretty rough though. Has anyone ever seen a Saratoga top break near the pins like that? Also, those are Ferrari, not Saratoga pins.
I thought we can attach a layer of UV shade to cut out heat and UV, those window film that we use on car window. No ?
I didn't see the other thread, but if so, a good reason if someone would actually pay that. For myself, I could add $5.6K to what my GTS would likely sell for and get a nice carbed GTB.
