Thursday, June 29, 2006

International Customers

Listen, I love you guys! I have a lot of overseas customers and many of you have been repeat buyers. It is VERY much appreciated and I am happy to send my tools and knives around the world.

It is with regret that I feel I must post this but lately the situation has been getting out of hand.

Look, I know you guys get shafted with import duties and luxury taxes, especially in European countries, and I can fully understand why you would want me to put down a lesser amount on the customs form. "Please make the amount under xx." I get this all the time and I really do sympathize with you. I often pay duties on items that I order from overseas too albeit at a lesser rate than what you guys are having to pay.

On the US customs form there is a line at the bottom that I must put my signature on. That means it is a LEGAL DOCUMENT. It says that the contents and value of the package are accurate and true. If I were to sign that form and put down an amount that is less than what the contents are worth then I would be breaking the law. PLEASE stop asking me to do this as I cannot and will not lie on a legal document.

If I got caught doing that I could go to jail, do you understand? Seriously. And I'm really not interested in becoming some 300 lb gorilla's "boyfriend" so you can save $20.

So have a heart will you? Let's keep me in my shop making your cool toys and not stuck in a jail cell in some federal penitentiary doing 5 years of hard time for mail fraud.

1 comment:

David said...

I'm sorry you get asked to do that so often Peter, especially since you state that you wont do it on your site.

I bought my first prybaby from you a couple of weeks ago and I'm sure I'll buy from you again in the future.

Unlike a lot of people and companies you don't rip international customers off with P&P, I actually noticed that the P&P you charged me was slightly less than what it actually cost you (you paid an extra 15 cent or so) and I recieved my prybaby 5 days later without being hit by customs charges.

The prybaby is excellent value of money and I'm sure everything else you sell is. I'm honestly suprised you can actually make any real money with your prices since paypal will be taking their cut, Phlaunt.com will want their share, then there's material and equipment and that's not even taking your time into account.

Thanks a lot Peter :)

David