Last week I sold our fellow e4 member @shadowless a sealed Gym Heroes booster box… well, I sent it (via FedEx if anyone cares), it cleared customs and arrived… opened. Really dumb, and they didn’t even leave a note/indication.
Box before I sent it:
Same box… now lesser:
I do want to thank @shadowless as a buyer though for being a great communicator and working on this deal with me. It’s just a shame that customs took it upon themselves to bust open the box…
So are you able to claim loss or damage of item through the German customs?
I’ve seen a few people have this happen recently. One I can remember was @jcincy101 with a Fossil box.
It makes me not want to send boxes overseas. I don’t understand it at all because boxes are shipped overseas all the time but when it’s one box it seems to be a red flag to customs or something. Maybe they see the packs in an x-ray or something? Super shitty either way.
Yep and I know another member on here just got a gym challenge box opened at customs AND a pack was opened as well. Nuts.
I guess German customs workers are told to open everything above a certain value… before our FTA with Japan, the only thing stopping my customs office from slicing open two booster boxes after a long argument was the office closing time.
Also, it seems random which packages one has to pick up at the office and which are processed and then send to your door. Maybe they make distinctions between origin countries. Never ordered anything expensive from America (25%+ customs tax).
Was the box declared at a really low value by any chance?
Edit: not getting into the value declaration discussion.
The box Jciny was referring to was also declared at $100.
I suspect since foil is often used to conceal drugs, the low import value makes customs suspicious.
Id be interested to see if the same would happen if its declared at $500 or $600
I once had an italian Aquapolis box shipped from italy to germany and the german customs opened the package, but they did not break the seal of the box. Germans are very weird in this regard, they let in millions of strangers from the middle east into their country, but you can’t pay with a 10€ bill without them scanning the bill if it’s not counterfeit.
Honestly, this is no surprise. Customs all over the world open sealed product, and they should.
So what do we do? Understand the risk. If too hard to accept, only ship locally.
Personally, I don’t, and have never shipped sealed boxes overseas.
True maybe that was the reason. Yeah I don’t underdeclare anymore after learning I’m committing tax fraud…oops. Really narrows down the international buyer pool but it is what it is.
Since FedEx is an Express Service customs work differently with them. Normally if you order something over 25$ (eg with USPS) it will just go straight to the office and you’ll open the package in front of their eyes. FedEx however has an own department and you never get to see the actual package until it leaves their facility.
Are these incidents only happening with German customs or is this happening in multiple countries? I’d like to ship a box to a fellow member but I’m afraid to take the risk now.
I can understand why they do it, still it doesn’t make it any easier. At least value wise the packets will still net you a fair amount.
welcome to the club… Sad to hear mate
I’ve had a lot of boxes shipped to Australia over the past few years and never had any issue with customs opening/inspecting anything.
Germany seems to be very strict when it comes to this kind of stuff. What I’m going to say now is a bit off topic, but hear me out:
I just came back from holidays and I had a flight connection in Germany on both times, when going and coming back. The security was super strict when I was leaving the country and they wanted to inspect my carry on baggage. My carry on baggage had my camera and Nintendo Switch in it. My laptop was there too but I had taken it out as it’s required when passing security. Police was there and they made me open my baggage and looked in there and started to moan how I should bring a separate baggage for my electronics. Never heard of that before - I’ve always put my electronics in their own protective bags and then inside my backpack. For some reason in Germany it’s a problem.
Coming back I did this trick where I moved all my electronics in a separate shopping bag away from my backpack and they didn’t complain at the security, but they still inspected my body which has never happened in other countries where I’ve passed. In Germany they did it both times.
Also I bought Pokemon TCG product from Brazil and it was in my heavy baggage. Now… That baggage had a “Lufthansa checked x-ray” sticker when I got it back. So they checked it but they haven’t opened my baggage as everything was in the exact order I put them in. But I wonder if they were suspicious about that Pokemon product. It was a collection box though and not a booster box so it’s a bit different, but anyways… Every other EU country where I’ve passed seems just fine but Germany is over the top.
Illegals? - Fine
Ponyta? - Heck no.
I have over the years imported many sealed booster boxes into Norway, and none has ever been opened. Many of them through the international shipping program that Ebay has set up. All values are decleared and all taxes and duties are paid up front. I prefer sellers that uses this program, as it is less hazzle and no suprises.
Really? You may be in the minority. Any other internationals agree with this take?