Buying stuff from ebay, will there be any tax?

[ianbr26]

i am thinking of getting some stuff from ebay. it's not that the stuff i need cant be bought locally but its very much cheaper to buy from ebay. even with the delivery charges, they are still cheaper. however, i am not sure whether i will be charged for tax, i.e. import tax. if yes, how much will the tax be? there must be a certain percentage for imported goods i believe.

anyone with experience, please share. thanks

 

[zul_bds4366]

Anything more than RM 500.00, will be taxed. Better check with Kastam Diraja Malaysia before commit to buy from ebay. You can email them what type of stuff you want to buy from ebay. They will reply shortly about percentage of tax that will apply to the stuff. From my experience, piston set = tax 43%. Meaning (piston price + delivery charges) + 43% tax..

Hope this will help..

 

[ianbr26]

will the tax be charged up front by the seller or whom would i need to pay the tax to? and how to go about paying the tax if it wasnt charged up front by the seller?

---------- Post added at 02:09 AM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 02:07 AM ----------

Anything more than RM 500.00, will be taxed. Better check with Kastam Diraja Malaysia before commit to buy from ebay. You can email them what type of stuff you want to buy from ebay. They will reply shortly about percentage of tax that will apply to the stuff. From my experience, piston set = tax 43%. Meaning (piston price + delivery charges) + 43% tax..

Hope this will help..

43% tax for the price of the item only or for the price of the item plus delivery charges? should be just for the item, i suppose? thanks.

 

[autocrosser]

You will definitely be charged import duty. The total will be the item cost and delivery cost combined. That's right, they charge you on the postage involved. The last time i did anything like this, the duty was 25 per cent of the cost of the item. If i remember correctly.

 

[ianbr26]

ok. you are suggesting that it's best that i check with our customs first by telling them all the items i want to buy. list them one by one and ask how much is the tax for each item. right?

 

[autocrosser]

You pay the duty when you receive the items. You don't pay, you don't get the stuff. Simple as that. If you use UPS, FedEx or DHL, you might have to pay brokerage charges too. It would be best to first ask the courier company you intend to use.

 

[ianbr26]

as for the courier company, i thought that it will be arranged by the seller?

so now the seller ships the stuff to malaysia and goes to kastam. i will have to go to kastam and pay them whatever is needed first and then i bring back the item with me?

 

[autocrosser]

The courier is chosen by the seller. I am talking about the brokerage charges, which is the cost they charge to clear the item past Customs. Unless you can do it yourself. After the item is cleared through Customs, they will deliver it to you or you can pick it up. You pay them the duty and the brokerage charges, if any. If you are lucky, maybe no brokerage charges. If not, be prepared to shell out.

If you can clear the item yourself, then just pay the duty and pick up the stuff. Depending where you live, you might be better off letting the courier guys do it for you and pay them the brokerage. My two cents.

Like i said, find out from the courier company first. You don't want a nasty surprise after the fact.

 

[ianbr26]

thanks a lot. you have been very helpful. i have mailed the customs and should be getting a reply in 3 days. upon receiving their reply i will post it here if it is any help to others.

 

[autocrosser]

Glad to be of help. Hope to see what Customs have to say. It should be helpful to the rest of us. Good luck on your purchases. Cheers!

 

[l2s_turbo]

I remember my fren bought a front bumper from yahoo japan and he sent by DHL, upon arriving to the airport, the customs called him to go and pay the taxes.. i remember clearly he paid RM 800++ for the taxes, and the bumper itself cost RM400++ including delivery charges, so total around RM1200 he paid for that bumper.. but he said it was worth it as the new original bumper if order here will cost around RM 2k..

 

[G221]

You will most probably have to pay tax if the delivery address is your home. The trick is to put the delivery address to your office. Better if you work in Government sector. For sure won't get tax.
Maybe there's a limit of the total cost of the item that won't get tax. The most expensive item I bought in ebay was around 1k++. not sure if more than that or heavy items have to pay tax, but I have never paid tax when shopping in ebay.

 

[basikal_pancit]

Based on my experience:-

1. Many sellers will shipped as "gift" or "sample" and it will be exempted from tax. (Most of it will get through, mine did several times)

2. If the item is hard to value, they will just stated there low price (usually less than RM500) so that the Custom wont bother taxing it.

 

[bera]

hi... you can check the tariff and duty over here

JKDM HS - Explorer

it is pretty comprehensive and mind boggling...so please double check where your item bought and ship from...as it differ from nation to nation...

 

[ae101rulez]

i thought the easiest would be shipped the item by asking the seller to tagged it as a gift. I recently purchased a full set of SuperPro bushes from Aussie, tagged as a gift which then delivered to my doorstep without any problem. Purchased some things from Yahoo Japan site through middle man which arrived to the house without any problem also.

 

[ddv_nk12]

A while back, I have already enquired about this from our Kastam.

My first enquiry:

I am planning to purchase a few car engine equipments from an international seller located in the United States of America whom I found in e-bay.

My enquiry will be the following:
1. What are the charges involved? Taxes, tariffs and so on.

2. What is the percentage for the taxes or such charges for the items that I want to purchase? Is there a table which I can refer to?

3. How and when do I pay the charges to the Royal Malaysian Customs Department? Will I be charges up front by the seller or do I personally need to come to the customs office to make the payment of the charges?

4. Where will the item be shipped to? Will it be sent to my home address? Or to the customs first and I will need to collect the item from the customs office?

I hope to get some information on the above stated questions before I make the actual purchase.

Thank you for your time and consideration in replying my enquiry.

Regards,
****

Reply from Customs:

Thank you for using the Customs department e-Pertanyaan.
Refering to your inquiry on the above matter, the explanations are as follows:

1. What are the charges involved? Taxes, tariffs and so on.
In order to assist you further pertaining to the taxes and tariff, kindly let us know the specific of engine equipment. This is due to diversify of tariff under engine equipment category.

2. What is the percentage for the taxes or such charges for the items that I want to purchase? Is there a table which I can refer to?
In order to assist you further pertaining to the taxes and tariff, kindly let us know the specific of engine equipment. This is due to diversify of tariff under engine equipment category.

3. How and when do I pay the charges to the Royal Malaysian Customs Department? Will I be charges up front by the seller or do I personally need to come to the customs office to make the payment of the charges?
For your information, the related duty/tax has to pay at Import/Export Department at the entry point upon clearance of your goods. Under normal circumstances, the related duty/tax can be pay through personally or appointed forwarding agent.

4. Where will the item be shipped to? Will it be sent to my home address? Or to the customs first and I will need to collect the item from the customs office?
In this inquiry, you are advised to contact your shipping agent for the destination planning. For the instance, if you choose your sending way through sea mode, it would landed at port either Port Klang or any port designated based on your arrangement with the shipping agent. Alternatively, if you choose air mode as your deliver way, again, you are advised to contact your courier agent to choose either door to door services or just landed at Mail & Courier Center where you have to collect personally or appoint Pos Malaysia to collect on your behalf.

We hope that you are satisfied with our explanation.

Thank you.

Pusat Panggilan Kastam
Tel: 03-78067200
Faks: 03-78067599

Disclaimer:
The duty/tax as advised is only a guide based on the information given. The assessment officer has the authority to determine the appropriate tariff and the rate of duty/tax is the prevailing rate at the time of import.

ch

My reply:

Hello and thank you for your prompt reply.

Here are the items that I am looking forward to pruchase.

1.
Eagle 85003 Honda Rotating Assy Dart B20+ Block 89mm priced at RM4501.67
Here is the link of these items:
Eagle 85003 Honda Rotating Assy Dart B20+ Block 89mm | eBay

2.
Dart B20 Honda Block 84.5mm Bore priced at RM7953.69
Here is the link of this item:
Dart B20 Honda Block 84.5mm Bore | eBay

3.
CP Pistons 86mm 12.5:1 B-Series Honda Acura B16 B18 B20 at RM1884.09
Here is the link of this item:
CP Pistons 86mm 12.5:1 B-Series Honda Acura B16 B18 B20 | eBay

That is all for now. I hope to hear from you soon

Thank you.

Regards,
****

Their reply:

Thank you for using the Customs department e-Pertanyaan.
Refering to your inquiry on the above matter, the explanations are as follows:

1. Eagle 85003 Honda Rotating Assy Dart B20+ Block 89mm priced at RM4501.67
5% import duty and 10% sales tax

2. Dart B20 Honda Block 84.5mm Bore priced at RM7953.69
10% sales tax

3.CP Pistons 86mm 12.5:1 B-Series Honda Acura B16 B18 B20 at RM1884.0
30% import duty and 10% sales tax

However, for further confirmation pertaining to the duty/tax, kindly refer to Classification Division at any Customs Office.

We hope that you are satisfied with our explanation.

Thank you.

Pusat Panggilan Kastam
Tel: 03-78067200
Faks: 03-78067599

Disclaimer:
The duty/tax as advised is only a guide based on the information given. The assessment officer has the authority to determine the appropriate tariff and the rate of duty/tax is the prevailing rate at the time of import.

ch

After that, I dis not follow-up with any Customs Office as adviced. But from the way it looks like to me, the more expensive the item, the lower the taxes. Hehe. :stupid::stupid: Hope this helps in anyway.

Btw, let's say if I am gonna buy an engine block and ask the seller to delivery it as a "GIFT", will it still be able to pass customs without the taxes? I mean the block is big, get what I mean?

 

[pupjoint]

the taxes are based on landed cost from what i have gone through, not the cost of the item only.

 

[ianbr26]

to date, no reply from customs.

 

[G221]

just collected my stuff from kastam 2 days ago (Pos Malaysia near LCCT). bought stuff from ebay RM1.4k. Kastam said, anything below RM500 won't get tax. anything over RM500 will get tax. I argued that this isn't my 1st time buying from outside. Most are over RM500 so what is the indication that I have to pay tax.
They dun really have an answer. They said "kami cuma nk kutip cukai, mana yang kena tahan tu kira nasiblah". what the hell...
anyway tax charges are based on items you bought. no fix tax percentage.

So, what to do? how do we argue on this? :slug:

 

[pwhyze]

So if the adress is our own home address, the courier would charge us for the service which would include the tax payment, all in? Did I get that right? If we want to pick the items ourselves, what address should we use, the customs? KLIA? Man I'm confused.