Volks Int. Questions

Hello everyone, I'm quite new to this hobby and of course I have some questions.

 

When will volks usually restock their standard dolls? Is there a pattern? I'm getting insane from stalking the website. (Talking about Mirai here)

 

Could someone from europe tell me how much shipping for one doll will be? answered

 

 

Thank you for your time.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Guest

I cannot quite help you with the restock question, but do you not get a shipping quota before you pay? (At least with paypal)

As in, you can just select checkout and then see what the total would be, and then select cancel without any risk of the order having been made.

 

But I just checked my recent order, and shipping, to Sweden, was (for 2-3kg?) about 5500 yen.

Thank you! 5,5k seems okay. I thought of 10k+ Haha! I'm excited for my first doll^^

Do not forget to calculate custom fees... I sure got hit with it.

Ah.. yes. I didn't find enough info for german customs (at the moment, I didnt search SO much). All I know is when it's over 150€ you need to pay WAY more.

How much did you pay on customs if I may ask?

Ah.. yes. I didn't find enough info for german customs (at the moment, I didnt search SO much). All I know is when it's over 150€ you need to pay WAY more.

How much did you pay on customs if I may ask?

Customs is generally gonna be your sales tax/vat, plus sometimes a customs %/fee. So calculate at least 19% of item value plus shipping.

Do not forget to calculate custom fees... I sure got hit with it.

 

That's if you don't live in the US. The US is weird and doesn't charge customs on hobby items.

 

. . . if you're in the US, just hope she doesn't come in through LA. LA's ports are a mess right now, so I'm betting that customs office is too. >.>

Ah.. yes. I didn't find enough info for german customs (at the moment, I didnt search SO much). All I know is when it's over 150€ you need to pay WAY more.

How much did you pay on customs if I may ask?

Customs is generally gonna be your sales tax/vat, plus sometimes a customs %/fee. So calculate at least 19% of item value plus shipping.

 

Usually orders under 100 USD does not get charged with customs.

And yeah, 20% of the order price is what I usually go with when I calculate.

 

That's if you don't live in the US. The US is weird and doesn't charge customs on hobby items.

 

That is the first I have heard of that... Is that really the case?

That's if you don't live in the US. The US is weird and doesn't charge customs on hobby items.

 

That is the first I have heard of that... Is that really the case?

 

There's no import duty on these items but you're supposed to pay state sales tax. However, US customs does not collect sales tax nor do they automatically inform the government that the item passed through customs so if you don't report it yourself then the state doesn't know. Some states doesn't have a sales tax at all though so in those places you don't have to pay anything for hobby imports.

tl;dr is that the US is *very* different from Europe when it comes to sales and income tax, as well as customs.

tl;dr is that the US is *very* different from Europe when it comes to sales and income tax, as well as customs.

 

Yeah, no kidding. Over here they don't bother putting the tax on an item until you're at the freakin' cash register--it's NEVER included in the sticker price. Very annoying. (I realize it's probably because of how much state sales tax varies--from 0% some places to nearly 10% where I'm at--but it's still kind of a pain.)

 

But yeah, no customs tax on hobby items. Apparently the treasury gets so much from commercial shipments (especially of textiles) that they don't need to bother with little stuff like that. I guess it's a weird side effect of our outsource-heavy economy.

Actually I already asked to Volks Int about restock, but I asked about their SD standard instead of DD. I asked about will they restock before 20th this month weeks ago and get a reply:

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

We will need some time to look into this matter and reply to you.

We are doing our best to reply to you as soon as possible, so please wait for a while.

Our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.

Sincerely

 

 

This is sent 5 days ago and tomorrow is already 20th so I think no luck for me. Guess they're to busy in the end of the year

Actually I already asked to Volks Int about restock, but I asked about their SD standard instead of DD. I asked about will they restock before 20th this month weeks ago and get a reply:

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

We will need some time to look into this matter and reply to you.

We are doing our best to reply to you as soon as possible, so please wait for a while.

Our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.

Sincerely

 

 

This is sent 5 days ago and tomorrow is already 20th so I think no luck for me. Guess they're to busy in the end of the year

 

Well, there is nothing but waiting then. Meanwhile hoping to win Melty.. :/

I didn't have to pay any customs fees on any of the dollfie I imported. I did find a useful resource on the subject by googling "tariffs on dollfie." I can't attest to its validity, however it did list the US as having no tariff and I didn't get charged one.

 

Traditionally tariffs are levied against goods that threaten local industries. For example I believe in the US we impose tariffs on imported cars and car parts, and Japanese/german imports do take substantial business from US auto makers. I don't expect Dollfie are seen as a huge threat to US businesses.

 

California is a state that requires you to pay tax on goods purchased out of state, but I don't know if that applies to goods purchased out of the country. Taxation on goods purchased outside the US is probably a complex thing to address legally, and seems to me more likely to be governed by federal law than state law. Given the expense of some Dollfie I would probably ask a tax lawyer, or contact your states tax board if you are unsure.

 

Edit: I got curious and looked up info from the franchise tax board of California. The out of state sales tax thing is called a Use Tax, and it does seem to apply to purchases in foreign countries. The only exception to that for California for most goods purchased out of the US seems to be "PURCHASES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES—The first eight hundred dollars ($800) purchase price of tangible property purchased in a foreign country by an individual and personally hand carried into this state from the foreign country within any 30-day period is exempt from the use tax." The state does have a lengthy list of other types of specific exemptions by type of good.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Guest

For clarity's sake:

 

The USA does not have any customs, tariffs, duties, VAT or any other type of fee on any dolls or doll-related items UNLESS they are imported from either Cuba or North Korea (and the Cuba thing may change in the near future).

 

The tariff code for dolls is 9503.00.00 which includes "Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars and similar wheeled toys; dolls' carriages; dolls, other toys; reduced-scale ("scale") models and similar recreational models, working or not; puzzles of all kinds; parts and accessories thereof." The general tariff for these items is "free" as in "duty-free."

 

There is only one exception to this rule: if you import your doll from Cuba or North Korea, the duty is 70% of the item's value.

 

If someone does get charged US duties on an imported doll, there are only two possibilities: the doll was improperly labeled with the wrong tariff code (and the person could appeal the assessment) or the doll was from Cuba or North Korea (and the person must pay the duty charges).

 

Each state has its own unique sales and use tax law, so the only way to be sure for your state is to look up your state's unique tax code. In general:

- If you are located in state A and the entity you purchase from has "nexus" in state A (usually "nexus" = physical location, an office, warehouse, distribution center, etc. but there are other conditions that qualify, too), the entity collects sales tax from you on the purchase.

- If you are located in state A and the entity you purchase from does not have "nexus" in state A, you pay no sales tax (and legally, you owe NO sales tax!), but your state likely requires you to pay use tax on the item. Most states don't care if the purchase was out-of-state or out-of-country and have the exact same use tax rules for both.

-Many states do give a "tax credit" for out-of-state (but NOT out-of-country purchases). If, for example, I paid California state sales tax on an item (6.5%) but did not pay Wisconsin sales tax (5.5%), then I owe Wisconsin NO use tax because the credit from California is bigger than what I owe Wisconsin. But, if I paid South Dakota state sales tax (4.0%), then I owe Wisconsin 1.5% in use tax after the tax credit. But Wisconsin doesn't care how much French sales tax I paid, they want the full 5.5% in use tax because foreign countries don't get tax credit.

 

So in regards to sales and use taxes, out-of-country purchases are not complex legally and, yes, they are governed by state and not federal law. If you're really concerned about it, most states allow you to pay your owed use taxes as part of your yearly income tax return. Super simple and no need to get a tax lawyer involved (in the grand scheme of things, dolls are just not that expensive compared to, say, business imports valued in the millions, which is what your state's tax authority really cares about).