Ebay import tax & duties

[kanguro]

Hi, I'm considering buying a laptop through ebay.com & getting it delivered here in BA.
I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who's already bought stuff & had it delivered here.
What was the total import duty rate? I believe the duty is somewhere around %45 of the retail value but I'm not sure yet.

Also I'm wondering if anyone has experienced any problems when receiving anything through USPS express mail international services once it gets over to this end. It's a U$1500 dollar laptop.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jp]

Risky business. You might get away with it, you might not.

A friend recently had a camera sent over with DHL. She's a tourist and was having a broken SLR repaired. DHL impounded and are refusing to release it unless she pays $300USD "import duty" - 50% of the supposed value of the item. Its a scam basically, and there's no secure way you can avoid it.

I'd get someone to bring it in for you if you can.

 

[2GuysInPM]

I agree with JP. We've had to pay ransoms twice to get two small packages of nicnacks and medications released from customs in the past. The experience itself was horrendous (several hours making lines and collecting about 30 signatures, paying fees all along, etc.)

The best way is to wait until you go back to the states and bring it with you, or have a visiting friend bring it over. If you do this however, and it is a new laptop, it is best to remove all packaging from it and put "stickers" all over it (ie, make it look old). Otherwise customs agents in EZE may give you a hard time as well (specially if you are a resident or non-tourist visa).

Another option, which I am in the middle of trying out right now, is to use an import agent. We're trying SkyBox (http://www.skybox.net/shopping_in_usa.aspx) at the moment. It is not cheap, and you may basically pay as much (or perhaps a little more) than you would pay for the same item here. They have a calculator on the website, to get a rough cost "estimate". The benefit is that you will be able to buy anywhere online (ebay, Amazon, etc.) and get the latest models. It also helps for big heavy items that you can't get here or easily carry on a plane. This is the first time we use the service and our package is still "in transit", so if you're interested I can let you know how it all turned out maybe in a week or so.

ps: For pricey laptops and other expensive electronics, the shipping+import fees can be upwards of USD$800+. At that point, it may make sense to purchase a ticket back to US, and bring it yourself.

 

[mikaela]

Last I order something from the USA I had to pay 50% of both the costs of product, shipping and an inflation tax (something they guesstimated!!). So it was 80% in all of the product price. I would buy a laptop here or fly back and pick one up. You could order it and get it send as a gift, not sure if that would make a difference. Good luck.

 

[tangobob]

The hastle you will get simply is not worth the trouble. Why not try buying local? There are cheap places to buy out there. My freind had a lot of trouble with her computor and needed it as she was running a business remotely, I may have the story slightly wrong, but it must be worth a go. She went to this guy for repairs
Ignacio Tozzini [[email protected]].
and I am pretty sure she ended up getting a good deal on a new machine, good enough to be worth her taking it home.

 

[kanguro]

Hi everyone,


Thanks so much for the replies! I really appreciate it.
It boils down to the following, you pay roughly %60 or more of the cost of what ever you buy online. This is depressing me very quickly.


I don't like this kind of control. Thanks for the feedback. I cut & pasted the info from the aduana web page.




Comprar Productos por Internet en el Extranjero
Comprar por Internet puede ser una tarea fascinante. En un mismo momento, podemos visitar una tienda en Hong Kong, otra en Estados Unidos y una nueva en Australia. Todo ello comparando precios y servicios para elegir la mejor alternativa. Muchas personas compran productos en el exterior que no pueden conseguir en la Argentina, o que son más económicos en otras partes. Sin embargo, los precios que se ofrecen en portales del extranjero no siempre son lo que parecen. El precio que generalmente aparece publicado no incluye los impuestos a la importación, el impuesto al valor agregado (I.V.A.) ni las tasas correspondientes. Muchas veces tampoco incluyen los cargos por flete internacional y seguro internacional.
En general, los productos comprados por Internet son enviados por courrier. La empresa de courrier se encarga de entregarle el producto que compró por Internet en su casa a cambio de un importe. Este no incluye sólo el flete, sino que también le cobrará los gastos e impuestos de aduana, la tasa de estadística, y los impuestos al valor agregado.
Los productos que ingresan al país por courrier comprados por Internet pagan los mismos impuestos que aquello ingresados por otros medios. Antes de comprar cualquier producto en el exterior es aconsejable calcular los impuestos correspondientes para luego compararlos con los precios ofrecidos por las empresas locales.
Es muy importante notar que no todos los productos pueden ser enviados y recibidos "puerta a puerta" por sistema de courrier. Cómo regla general, podemos decir que los productos con un valor menor a $3.000 y un peso menor a 50kg, pueden ser enviados y recibidos por courrier. Sin embargo, en los casos en el que los productos requieran un estampillado como, por ejemplo, en el caso del calzado, los textiles, los cosméticos, y los productos electrónicos, entre otros, la Aduana retiene los productos y los toma como "carga". En estos casos, el consumidor debe recurrir a un despachante de Aduana para intentar retirar los productos. Este trámite incluye varios gastos adicionales que deben ser tenidos en cuenta antes de ordenar el producto.
Debemos asesorarnos por el sistema de atención al cliente de las empresas de courrier o la Aduana antes de realizar una compra en Internet. En la mayoría de los casos, comprar el producto en tiendas locales o portales nacionales será más económico debido a los costos de seguro internacional y flete internacional e impuestos y tasas de nacionalización.
Gastos de Flete
El costo del flete y envío depende, en general, del peso y el volumen del paquete. Los precios de flete y envío varían según la calidad o rapidez del servicio. En general, las empresas de Internet le ofrecerán diferentes opciones de flete, y usted podrá elegirlos según su preferencia.
Tasas de aduana e impuestos
En general, la empresa de courrier se ocupará de abonar las tasas de aduana e impuestos correspondientes, y luego le cobrará a usted un importe desglosado incluyendo el precio neto del producto, el flete, los gastos e impuestos de aduana, la tasa de estadística, y los impuestos al valor agregado. Es importante tener en cuenta que podemos pagar aproximadamente un 60% más que el precio publicado en la página de Internet.
¿Que debemos agragar al valor de la mercadería?

• 
  [*]Los impuestos de importación
  [*]La tasa de estadística
  [*]Los impuestos a las ganancias
  [*]El I.V.A. e I.V.A. adicional

Podemos hacer el cálculo de la siguiente manera:
El valor CIF es el valor FOB cotizado por la empresa que exporta más el valor del flete internacional, más el valor del seguro internacional.

Al valor CIF se le aplican el impuesto de importación y la tasa de estadística de la siguiente manera:.
Valor CIF + Derecho de Importación + Tasa de Estadística = Base I.V.A
A la base I.V.A. se le aplica el impuesto al valor agregado, el impuesto al valor agregado adicional y el anticipo de impuesto a la ganancia.
Base I.V.A + I.V.A + I.V.A adicional + Impuesto a la ganancia = PRECIO TOTAL QUE PAGA EL CONSUMIDOR
En algunos casos también habrá que adicionarle los impuestos internos.
La siguiente tabla muestra los porcentajes aproximados de los impuestos y tasas aplicados a algunas clases de productos.

Producto​

Derecho de Importación​

IVA​

IVA adicional​

Tasa de Estadística​

Adelanto de Imp. Ganancias​

Batidoras

25%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Libros

0%​

0%​

0%​

0%​

0%​

Cassettes de Audio

19%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Discos Compactos

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

DVD de Audio

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Modem

10%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Estéreo de Auto

25%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Cámaras Fotográficas

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Cosméticos

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Piedras Preciosas

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Automotores

33%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Herramientas de Jardín

21%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Fotografías

17%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Tabaco y Cigarrillos

23%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Flores

13%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Alimentos

20%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Aparatos de Gimnasia

23%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Aspirinas

17%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Papelería

19%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

Bebidas Alcohólicas

23%​

21%​

10%​

0.5%​

3%​

NOTA: Los valores son aproximados, ya que las tasa e impuestos son aplicadas, según el número de posición de cada uno, para más de 5000 productos específicos distintos.
¿Cómo podemos calcular el costo total de los gastos de nacionalización?
Tengamos en cuenta que las tasas porcentuales se trabajan dividiendo el valor porcentual por 100.
Por ejemplo: 30% es igual a 30/100=0.30

Pasos a seguir​

Fórmula​

Ejemplo para Batidoras​

Sumemos los siguientes valores
(1+ Derecho de Aduana + Tasa de Estadística)
(1 + 0.25 + 0.005)=1.255
Sumemos los siguientes valores
(1+IVA + IVA adicional +Impuesto a las ganancias)
(1 + 0.21 + 0.10 + 0.03)= 1.34
Multipliquemos los dos resultados anteriores

(1+ Derecho de Aduana + Tasa de Estadística) ​

x​

(1+IVA + IVA adicional +Impuesto a las ganancias) ​

1.255 x 1.34= 1.6817
Para obtener el valor final del producto, debemos Multiplicar el resultado de la operación por el valor CIF.
Ejemplo: Si el valor CIF de la mercadería es $100, el precio a pagar al Courrier será el siguiente:

Producto​

Costo Total​

Batidoras

168.17​

Libros

100.00​

Cassettes de Audio

160.13​

Discos Compactos

162.81​

DVD de Audio

162.81​

Modem

148.07​

Estéreo de Auto

168.17​

Cámaras Fotográficas

162.81​

Cosméticos

162.81​

Piedras Preciosas

162.81​

Automotores

178.89​

Herramientas de Jardín

162.81​

Fotografías

157.45​

Tabaco y Cigarrillos

165.49​

Flores

152.09​

Alimentos

161.47​

Aparatos de Gimnasia

165.49​

Aspirinas

157.45​

Papelería

160.13​

Bebidas Alcohólicas

165.49​

A estos valores se les debe sumar los costos adicionales de flete y otros gastos adicionales en concepto de acarreo y otros gastos.
Comprar por Internet en empresas radicadas en el exterior no siempre es tan fácil y económico como parece.
Los costos de flete, impuestos a la importación e impuestos al valor agregado
pueden duplicar el valor del producto, obligando a pagar un precio mucho mayor al que pensaba pagar. Antes de hacer cualquier transacción en compañías extranjeras en Internet verifiquemos el precio total que costará el producto.
Asesorémonos sobre la legislación de impuestos a la importación de los productos que queremos ingresar al país.
Recordemos,
siempre comparar los precios con aquellos de los productos locales.

 

[kanguro]

A clarification about my last post above & some more details:

Regarding that %60.
Roughly speaking, if the on-line cost is $100... then you add %60 of the $100 and add it on top giving you the total of = $160 (or more - depending on the type of item)

The other little nasty I found out was that when you bring something into the country in your luggage or via international couriers, lets say in this case you bring a laptop with you... by law the laptop has to have been owned by you for at least a year for it to be free from the %60 import tax.

So, even if you put stickers on it & try to make it look old... they can still nail you with this. Thanks Tangobob for your feedback, you make a good point saying to see if it's available locally, and I wish this was the case but the particular laptop that I want is not available anywhere in this country. I asked every single shop in Jardin & so far no one there will ship it in for me. I'm waiting on the official Asus suppliers & two other dealers to get back to me on it as well.

For those who may want to know I'm looking for an ASUS G50VT-A1 NOTEBOOK with NVIDIA 9800M video. This is a beautiful system & it goes for roughly $1600 on ebay, plus around $120 delivery to Argentina.
I'm a laptop technician & data recovery specialist & I know why I want to buy this system. But to buy it on ebay I would have to pay US $1600 plus U$ $960 (%60 tax) + Courier $120.... total= U$ $2680 Just in cas

Just in case anyone else is deciding on buying, I've been doing a bit of research on two more items I'm wanting to get as well... and yes I can get them locally but:

1. Ultra portable Notebook/netbook.. Asus eee pc 1000ha - on Ebay it goes for US $388 + delivery $80. This is a fav little portable that can run 5 to 7 hours on it's battery, I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something with decent power, decent keyboard & good sound. It sells for US $640 here in BA.

2. Mobile phone with DVD quality video recording abilty along with GPS & 8megapixels inbuilt cam - Samsung i8510 Innov8 16GB QuadBand 8MP Camera GPS. It pulls excellent reviews from consumer surveys... this one kills the nokia N96 in price & specs...going for around US $600 plus $45 delivery.... selling in BA for US $1090 plus delivery.

I'm just sharing info for those who may be in my position cause I usually like to upgrade my gear at this time of the year.

Thanks LivingLarge for the skybox link, I'm in the middle of checking it out & good point about going to the US to shop, I'm from OZ but I can go there too.

And thanks Mikaela, sorry to hear what they did. I'll see what else can be done & I'll post here if I have any successes! Thanks.

Lastly, I don't mean to complain... there are so many plusses living in Argentina too, but we have our days sometimes when we adapting to a new country don't we all?


And thanks for all your feed back! Very glad this site exists!

Cheers!

 

[Napoleon]

If you send it from the States using EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL, you won't have any problems.

My most recent box from home was ~13 lbs (my family got carried away), it cost ~US$115, and it got her from Texas in 4 days.

I had it shipped to a friend's office and I was the one who opened the box.

Just an FYI. To each his/her own.

 

[2GuysInPM]

So, even if you put stickers on it & try to make it look old... they can still nail you with this....

Hi Kanguro, that's correct. But it makes it hard for them to prove it is a new item if you make it look old with markings, scuffs, and stickers. This has worked for me on 3 separate occasions at EZE. They have no way to prove its new (unless you tell them so, or hand them the receipt and packaging) and you can hold your ground with more confidence. Another tip from a friend is to ONLY speak English to the customs agents and no Spanish at all (even if you speak it). Pretend you dont understand what is happening. This frustrates them and gets them to let you go quicker. I've talked my way out of EZE customs 3 times, so it is possible if you're prepared. Although I'm sure they still do their share of nailing a number of passengers every day just to make their quotas.

They are definately more relaxed with these controls if you are on a tourist visa. In that case you are simply visiting, and bringing a laptop and camera (regardless of condition) is expected. But if you have residency/extended visa, or you're an argentine, expect them to give you a hard time. They will check your passport and DNI for this. The primary things they look for are laptops, computers, video game consoles, and expensive cameras. Also remember this is a random check at EZE. If you're lucky; you get the green light and get waved through, ... or you get the red light but the customs agent is busy texting on his phone and not looking at the scanner.

If you send it from the States using EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL, you won't have any problems.

We've had better luck with USPS as well (regular, intl priority, and express), than with UPS and Fedex (havent tried DHL). Packages shipped via USPS seem to get through more often than not. But the problem is electronics. If they see that on their scanners it is almost certain it will get inspected and stopped. The only thing we've consistently managed to get shipped here w/o inspection is documents.


Good luck!

 

[expatalex]

bro, its best for you to travel and bring it back yourself, you wont pay a dime on import duties if you just bring one Laptop at a time, I travel back and forward to the US about 4 times a year, and I bring 1 new Laptop every time without paying a penny. Thing is if you have it shipped from ebay you will pay 50% on import duties, unless you bitch about it and let the know you're a US citizen, then you have freight charges, won't be less than $100 bucks..... if customs here thinks you're doing business then you will be charged $300 usd under the table (coima)
I have someone that works for Argentina Airlines and he will bring it for $400.00 you need to have delivered to a Miami Address.. let me know if you need help on it........ later