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View Full Version : Customs and other fees for buying carts from overseas-how much?



YoshiM
07-21-2015, 11:42 AM
I'm getting the urge to buy some Famicom games from Japan over eBay but many state not including Customs or other such fees. This deters me as I have no clue what these would be, if any.

From the DP collective experience: what would such fees usually run on a simple cartridge?

celerystalker
07-21-2015, 12:28 PM
From Japan to the US, typically nothing. Out of dozens of games, I've paid a customs fee one time, and it was $1.25.

wizardofwor1975
07-21-2015, 12:59 PM
Personally, I've never had to pay any Custom fees on any of the stuff I've bought from Japan. Recently, I bought a HORI one handed controller for the PS1 from Japan and I didn't pay any additionally fees. I would highly recommend the HORI to anyone who wants/needs a quality one handed controller for the PS1 with small to medium size hands. However, my hands seem to be a little to large for the HORI so my Agetec ASCII Grip controller is a better fit for my hands. My second pic shows the size difference between the HORI & the Agetec ASCII Grip.

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theclaw
07-22-2015, 08:50 PM
I'm not sure how much of it is different regulations than most of the world, versus lack of enforcement, but in practice USPS rarely charges customs fees on small general goods.

Aussie2B
07-22-2015, 10:39 PM
While customs fees are a big annoyance for importers located in Europe and Canada and what have you, it's not really a concern for Americans. I've been regularly buying stuff from Japan for a good decade and a half, and I've never once had to pay any special fees, not even on my more expensive purchases that were multiple hundreds of dollars. Just had to pay whatever the seller/store charges for shipping and that's it.

Superman
07-22-2015, 10:50 PM
If you're in the US and you're receiving items by a company like the Post Office, DHL, FedEx, etc., you generally won't have a customs charge or other fees. Customs may do an inspection on the package, but even then it is not likely to result in any customs fees. Customs fees mainly come about when items are imported by ocean, so you should be ok with any items you are thinking of getting, since you probably wouldn't be receiving them that way.

todesengel
07-26-2015, 09:19 PM
Like everybody else has already said, if you live in the US you shouldn't have any problems. I've gotten stuff shipped to me from all over the world and never got hit with a customs charge.