KOREA CUSTOMS INFO

Hey OP,
I totally feel your pain about the tax and customs problem. My wife and I both shop online a lot and have a lot of things coming into Korea from other counrties. My wife bought me a collectable comic statue figure that was about a foot tall. She had to pay the tax. AND they held it FOREVER hoping she would lose interest and they could keep it. Just keep up the paperwork and your co teacher is helping at least which is great. You will eventually get them. It just takes time and patience.
As for sending anything else over by mail, make sure for next time to tell the people who's sending it to unpack the items and repack in a used box. We get spices and cooking items sent over with vitamins all the time, no customs problems at all. It's all repacked.
Good luck! :D

Hi,

Does anyone know what the customs tax is on new laptop being imported into Korea?

I want to order a laptop from DELL. The laptop sells for $1000 in the US and sells for 1400000 won in Korea. There is an extra 2GB ram with the model in the US.

This all accounts to '400000 won price difference + extra 2GB ram' but I haven't taken customs tax or shipping into account yet, so i'm just wondering.

Regards.

Back in 2008 I ordered a computer from Dell Korea, and there was no customs tax.  I just requested English OS.

I had 30kg of personal items shipped here in November and the customs tax was only around US$100.  It might be different for new things and a computer but hopefully it gives you some type of an idea.

Anything over 300 dollars will get import duty lumped on it so, the thing to do is have whoever is posting it to you to price it at less than 300 dollars and label it as personal items.

Anything over 300 dollars will get import duty lumped on it so, the thing to do is have whoever is posting it to you to price it at less than 300 dollars and label it as personal items.

I just recently had to pay an import tax on a shipment of items totaling about $150.  So the limit is at least as low as that.
And I wouldn't be sure that labeling it "personal items" will get you through 100% of the time.  They seemed pretty diligent to me.  And happy to open packages to search them.

Thanks for the advise, I don't think DELL are going to price my package as lower than $300 though.

Does anyone know if the customs tax is based on a percentage of the overall cost or is there a flat rate? I want to try to work out the overall myself to see if there is a saving to be had.

Regards

Thanks for the advise, I don't think DELL are going to price my package as lower than $300 though.

Does anyone know if the customs tax is based on a percentage of the overall cost or is there a flat rate? I want to try to work out the overall myself to see if there is a saving to be had.

Regards

Based on my understanding and experience, it's a percentage, plus other fixed-ish fees.  However, the percentage changes depending on what kind of item it is.  Some are just a base percentage, others (like alcohol) get as high as like 70%.  Their website doesn't list anything specifically for laptops, but all that means is that it could be anything.  Also note that along with the base item cost, they also take shipping + insurance costs into account when applying the percentage to calculate the total cost of import.  So if you ship express, you pay more at customs.  Also, there's no real dispute mechanism if you believe the price they quote is incorrectly calculated.  You pay whatever they ask or you don't get your item.
My advice is to think carefully about all of your options before you decide one way or another.

Thanks Davox, that's the most informative post I have had and the information I was looking for.

I quess it's best to order from DELL Korea then.

I have looked at their website already but it is all in Korean. I don't feel 100% comfortable ordering with my someone else, (my credit card details and all that).

Did anyone ever order over the phone or is there an english sales service to order through?

Regards

You have to convert the US dollar to Korean won for a fair comparison. The customs & duty tax is based on the value they list on the customs slip. Also, anything over 150,000 won will be taxed if its mailed.

So I just got a package from Canada... Well.. I got an envelope from customs saying I gotta pay 20% to get my package...

Package is worth about $1000...

Harsh!

Anyone have any experience with anything like this? Any loopholes or ways around it?

Hi there,

I used to work for an international courier company so can offer you some advise- anything valued over $100 will be subject to taxes and duties, even if it's personal effects.
Are you able to give me an idea of what the goods are so I can see if you can do anything?

I regularly get packages shipped here and Korean Customs will send you a bill if the contents + shipping cost over 150,000 won. Usually they send you the bill with bank info on how to pay and they will release it for delivery after receiving payment.

Some things I've learned dealing with Korean customs:

- Marking packages as "gift" does zilch as it will get inspected anyways.

- Take items out of their retail packaging.

- Never include items indicating the value of the items inside like a receipt or tags. Leaving them in there will invite greater scrutiny.

- You may get asked to provide prescriptions even for over-the-counter stuff.

I've had things sent to me from my parents, such as a nintendo 3ds, that was marked "game" and gift and I never had to pay a tax. Also, I never had to pay a tax when they sent my laptop to me. The only time I had to pay was when I ordered something from Play-asia.com.

I dunno if I was lucky, or if it was just how my parents worded their packages...

Hi there,

I used to work for an international courier company so can offer you some advise- anything valued over $100 will be subject to taxes and duties, even if it's personal effects.
Are you able to give me an idea of what the goods are so I can see if you can do anything?

It's a guitar.

I've had things sent to me from my parents, such as a nintendo 3ds, that was marked "game" and gift and I never had to pay a tax. Also, I never had to pay a tax when they sent my laptop to me. The only time I had to pay was when I ordered something from Play-asia.com.

I dunno if I was lucky, or if it was just how my parents worded their packages...

Your parents probably didn't write anything in the value portion of the customs slip. That's the only way you won't be taxed.

Your parents probably didn't write anything in the value portion of the customs slip. That's the only way you won't be taxed.

Hmm what do you mean? If they wrote the value I may not be taxed? Or, if the value was before the tax threshold and it was stated on the package or something?

And wasn't my parents who sent it. It was my brother. I've never been taxed on anything sent from my parents. Maybe they did something 'better' than whatever my bro did.

Your parents probably didn't write anything in the value portion of the customs slip. That's the only way you won't be taxed.

Hmm what do you mean? If they wrote the value I may not be taxed? Or, if the value was before the tax threshold and it was stated on the package or something?

And wasn't my parents who sent it. It was my brother. I've never been taxed on anything sent from my parents. Maybe they did something 'better' than whatever my bro did.

Actually, my parents always wrote a value that was higher than $150, usually like $300, but I dunno how it got through. Oh well, lucky me I guess.

Your parents probably didn't write anything in the value portion of the customs slip. That's the only way you won't be taxed.

Hmm what do you mean? If they wrote the value I may not be taxed? Or, if the value was before the tax threshold and it was stated on the package or something?

And wasn't my parents who sent it. It was my brother. I've never been taxed on anything sent from my parents. Maybe they did something 'better' than whatever my bro did.

Actually, my parents always wrote a value that was higher than $150, usually like $300, but I dunno how it got through. Oh well, lucky me I guess.

Just got a Korean to look at the documents they sent me. From what they understand, any gift over 500,000 Won is subject to a customs tax, or whatever you wanna call it.

35% for perfume is the highest. She said my guitar should fall under the 'other' category which means is 20%.

So, this guitar is a guitar I had in Canada and I just got it sent to me. And I gotta pay a tax on something I've owned in Canada. If it is not a new guitar out of the shop, still gotta pay 20% to get my own personal item sent here. Very lame if that is the case.