My COUNTRY doesn't let me play shamisen..........

Store/Sales
#1

Hello guys…

Yes…I CANNOT play Shamisen because of my COUNTRY’s RULES!!!

Why was I born in brazil??? My parents met themselves in Japan why couldn’t they stay there??? AAAHHHH.

Ok…sorry,I’m raging.

Let me tell you guys an terrifiying history: I have been dreaming with shamisen for six years… But my country keep scamming the people with taxes and fees…

It started in 2004 when one of the WORST presidents ever was elected,he didn’t even studied to be PRESIDENT,he just put a law that everything that is imported and cost more than U$50,00 should be taxed with 60% of the total price, I recently discovered a very fine tsugaru shamisen,with case,bekkou bachi,ayasugi bori, and it is KOUKI,for this grade shamisen it’s price was awesome! Well I wont say it was cheap because it wasn’t ,but searching and researching a lot I finally had the info I needed.

a shamisen in the same grade,and new would cost 8000 dollars I was looking at a 2900 one. Yes,it’s used,but it was recently refurbished and it looks perfect.

Guys…I’m not rich ok?? But I don’t want to expend 1000-2000 on a starter shamisen that I will use only to learn,because later on, I will NEED to upgrade to a better one and expend more money. I think in my case,that this shamisen was waiting for me. I just need to be very careful handling it and it will last my entire life,and maybe my son’s entire life?

Talking about prices again…here in brazil,we use reais as currency (R$) and 2900 dollars may cost 6000 reais, with the taxes,fees and all that useless stuff it can reach 10000 reais (You could buy a simple,very simple HOUSE with that money) I have been searching differents and unthinkable ways to get it without taxes. But I haven’t find anyone that is 100% secure… D:

This is my sad history… Does any of you guys have to pay these kind of taxes when importing something??? I Don’t think so…ah I have the government of this country,sorry for this but it’s a big bull---- >:(

#2

Sorry to hear that Shinji :frowning:

Can’t you bring it into your country and say that you already had it with you when you left the country?

I thought my country (Sweden) was crazy with taxes and customs. First they added 25% in tax on the total price, including shipping. Then the customs are added with 6,5% for “musical instrument with skin”. It’s crazy that you pay customs on the already taxed price.

#3

Well,we can’t do that because we need a shamisen to leave and a shamisen to enter the country… I could use my broken sanshin,but I want to repair and put a real snakeskin on it. there are some ways to Get it without taxes,but it has some risks,well nothing is 100% safe everytime right?

#4

Shinji, you should have access to some of the best woods there in Brazil. You could make your own and save enough money to buy a house ^o^

#5

If you really want to get it, just ask seller to write different cost on parcel. For example 60$ :slight_smile:

#6

Here in Spain the taxed us with 21%… so if I bought a shamisen from overseas, I know I ned to pay this 21% more…

Anyway, If the seller agree you can do what K H says. I do that with other articles, and it depends if the seller agrees or not.

#7

yeah it is definately worth asking the seller to pretend it cost less, customs sucks mate, I don’t how I would ever afford a decent shamisen, I worked out that if it was a really good one, it would be cheaper to fly to Japan and bring it back yourself!

#8

Our import duty in the UK is 20% VAT on top of the value of the item and depending on the courier another £25-50 in handling charges.
The only other way to do it is like Liam said and get it marked right down on the customs label as ‘gift’ and at a lower value.
OR go on holiday and bring one home with you.

No other ideas that i can think of…

#9

Here in brazil we got tons of good woods but i want a traditional shamisen :slight_smile:

#10

Wow, that’s just crazy… As Amanda said if you label it as a “gift” then I think you wouldn’t have to pay taxes. There’s another method some of my friends have used to order for example clothes from Japan is that you find a “courier”, who will ship the item to you. I think the basic method is just that you pay the product yourself but have it posted to that person’s address and then they send it as a gift or something. But yeah, personally I wouldn’t trust a complete stranger with these kinds of things but I know some people who have had positive experiences using these kind of services (though they have not bought shamisens…:D).

Haha, using the word “courier” makes this all sound illegal… :smiley:

#11

Well,It’s on a antique website,and the seller description is :Tokyo,United States I’m like —> ‘-’. I’ll contact him and see if I get it personally,well I could ask him to write a very small price in the parcel,maybe 100? So I’ll pay a very small fee. Brazil is only a rich country because of the taxes,without taxes the president would be starving,and my family would return to Japan ^0^/

#12

I could ask someone of my family that lives in USA to buy it for me. Then I would pay that relative and ask him to send it for me,directly from buyer to buyer,not from seller to buyer. He will write a small price on the parcel taaadaaaa! But I got only a distant relative that lives in USA,he commands a hospital in Los Angeles,he’s kinda busy. So I can only wait atm, or pray for a miracle

#13

I will just start to search again for ways to get it,with no harming of the government…on my pocket!

#14

The US and Japan have categories for the value of things getting shipped in and out. If it is claimed to be over a certain value it requires separate paperwork, hassle, etc. Also if you claim an insurance value more than $100 you often have to pay for this and it will roll over into the customs value. For Japan it is ~$2000, US $2500. I recently experienced trouble with this so be aware. Most of the items I have got from Japan are listed as $50 value regardless of true value because of these headaches (even in cases where a tax is not due). The risk for a $3000 purchase is that if something happens you loose because it is not fully insured.

I have also found that all of the sellers who ship internationally are aware of these issues and don’t even ask me. They just ship it with a nominal claimed value. So there is a good chance that your antique dealer can work with you.

#15

I discovered some ways to get it ^^ I just got to ask the seller to claim a small price , 150, this way the customs won’t let me pass through,if even after I have paid the fee they still say that it’s not the real price,I will say that,it was a broken skin shamisen,I bought it and separately I asked him to repair the skin for me… The skin was one of the deals,and the broken shamisen,another… It’s confusing,I know but it still good,because the customs dealer will be confused too,I think…

My English is messed up… Sry

#16

If you visit another country, just tell customs that you picked up a gift from a relative on a trip!

#17

They wouldn’t believe it,and I will need to keep money for the visit to the another country? '^0^>

#18

Have it shipped to someone you know in another country close to Brazil and then meet them at the border…just make sure the other country has CHEAP import laws.

#19

wow,its illegal to make that.

I want to get it legally with no fees.

My friend said that if i import something that has been used before,they might don’t ask me the fees.

#20

my english is getting worse everyday

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