Vaping vendors "Sketchy"?

[Kopfstimmen]

By sketchy, I mean a little suspect, of course. This comes to me again and again - I get an order, and the customs form (I get my mail through an APO or in this case a German address) says "flavored oils" or something odd like that. What made me think about it especially today is that my Provari got taken by customs, and I had to go pay the tax to pick it up. Lo and behold, the customs form said "Flashlight with batteries - $80.00". What's up with that? They let me have my package, but I was required to bring a copy of the email invoice with me. I just kind of wondered what an anti-vaping nut would do with that kind of discrepancy.

 

[Orobas]

is vaping legal there? if it is then I have no idea why they would do it, and risk you losing your investment or possibly getting in trouble for it

I've personally never had occasion to deal with customs, and I'd be scared off if I did. Bureaucracy makes me anxious.

 

[Kopfstimmen]

is vaping legal there? if it is then I have no idea why they would do it, and risk you losing your investment or possibly getting in trouble for it

I've personally never had occasion to deal with customs, and I'd be scared off if I did. Bureaucracy makes me anxious.

Yep - perfectly legal. I've got no problems with customs - they're people too, if a little crushing in the bureaucracy (nice job spelling that by the way). Still, I would have been SUPER annoyed if they had impounded it for false documentation. I've always shrugged it off before, but wow. I can understand with a little liquid, but with an investment that big?

 

[philly1234]

They probably shouldn't do it, but since it is illegal in some places, they probably have a standard thing that they put on the customs forms to avoid any confiscation. I don't think they're being sketchy, just trying to help out the customer and avoid any "I didn't get my package" kind of things, or returns that will take forever to resolve.

Shipping overseas is kind of a pain, I admire the companies that do it.

 

[Kopfstimmen]

They probably shouldn't do it, but since it is illegal in some places, they probably have a standard thing that they put on the customs forms to avoid any confiscation. I don't think they're being sketchy, just trying to help out the customer and avoid any "I didn't get my package" kind of things, or returns that will take forever to resolve.

Shipping overseas is kind of a pain, I admire the companies that do it.

Amen to that! Even APO is considered overseas, so I'm not complaining by any means... (Provape, if you're reading this, let me assure you that I'm very grateful.)

 

[echofinder]

I read a story on here awhile back of some vendor purposely mislabeling packages because he was shipping to Australia... when the buyer complained he said that this was the only way to get e-cigs through customs. Even where it is legal, there can be trouble; paypal doesn't allow any e-cig related business, from what I hear. Necessary to err on the side of caution I suppose.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

Yeah customs can be a huge pain. When I ordered my Cobra from Alba Vapours in the UK they shipped it out super fast with Royal Airmail. They gave me a tracking number and it was in the US in just a couple days. After it arrived in the US though it took like almost 2 weeks to get to me, and i'm pretty sure it got stuck in customs, even though it's obviously legal here in the US. I think part of that was Sandy since it arrived in New York, but it arrived early enough that it could have easily been delivered to me a few days before Sandy even approached NY. Sometimes things seem to get stuck in customs for a while, sometimes it just slides right though. I bought a GG Penelope weeks ago and it's just now here in my town to be delivered. Should be in today, i'm so frickin' excited!!!!

 

[Mystee]

Customs is tricky. There are strange embargos on things for different countries. It's the same with bringing things into the country as well. And, different items can be charged a different customs value depending on the different countries. For example, when I worked for a fashion company it would cost more for us to bring cotton fabric into the US from other countries. I think the reason being is the US makes cotton fiber and would rather we use the cotton from the US rather than importing it. So, the duties are heavier on things that can already be supplied here. I currently make and sell custom jewelry. Most of what I make is made of aluminum which certainly isn't a precious metal like gold or silver. When I send an aluminum bracelet overseas, from the US, rather than marking the customs form as "jewelry" which will garnish a higher duty for the recipient I say it's a "Fashion Accessory." I'm not lying and I ALWAYS put the correct amount paid and I never call it a gift...always mark it merchandise.

 

[jazzbo]

"paypal doesn't allow any e-cig related business, from what I hear."
Really? I need to check that...I'd be happy to have another reason not to use PP.

I had to ship a mod to a friend in Australia not too long ago and I put "personal vaporizer" on the form. It got there no problem. I agree that playing fast and loose with customs is not a wise thing to do, seeing as how they *are* the government and the government is always looking to stamp their feet about anything they don't understand or like....

 

[Butters78]

I use Google image search in my posts to make them pop more sometimes so I typed in the word sketchy and this guy was one of the top results. I hope he doesn't work for any e-cig sites, I wouldn't trust him with anything lol.

 

[OttoBahn]

Shipping internationally - regardless of what is being shipped - is a royal pain. Add to that, any item(s) that can be/have-been/may-be 'frowned upon' and you can have issues. Keeping up with what is/isn't/might-be 'frowned upon' is troublesome too.

For example (last I checked):

Did you know importing shoes to italy is illlegal?
Now, does that mean a buddy sends you a pair of cool Nike's? or Does that mean someone sending dozens of pairs? Beats me.. ::shrug::

I don't fault anyone for padding the customs form. As to whether (or not) that is 'sketchy'.. matter of personal perspective I suppose.

 

[minimalsaint]

How shameful that a company as "reputable" as this would knowingly mislead an international government body just for the sake of a sale. It is definitely shady business practice and it will definitely catch up with them. Not IF, but WHEN.
My recommendation to any international buyers is to obtain a certificate of origin from the vendor for the product you are buying that includes a full item description including the harmonized tariff system code for the item that will be shipping. It is fully within your rights as a buyer to request this information and and company interested in making a legal sale will provide the documents at will.

 

[SissySpike]

You should wright Provape an email telling them it dose more harm that good to use trickery in Germany. Sounds like they are just trying to help but its not always the best thing to do.

 

[kiwivap]

I've ordered from several ecig vendors overseas and none have considered it a pain to take my money and ship me the goods. I have also appreciated them putting the correct description on the label. Some take longer than others, and Hoosiers has the record for quickest time of all. I was very impressed with that.