The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Nevertheless, we all know that C&E can be barstewards when they want to make a point. Such as confiscating the cars of people bringing booze & fags back from the continent.
> adrian wrote:
> Videogamesplus.ca are a good company as they do mark the package
> down
> as a gift of $20, but this is by no means a sure thing of getting
> away
> with customs tax.
>
> The other thing that many people don't seem to realise is that
> falsifying Customs documentation is a criminal offence, and you as
> the recipient - not the sender - may face prosecution.
That wouldn't really stand up if the company was doing it to everyone. My PSP too arrived from videogamesplus with an invoice stating I only paid $20.
> Videogamesplus.ca are a good company as they do mark the package down
> as a gift of $20, but this is by no means a sure thing of getting away
> with customs tax.
The other thing that many people don't seem to realise is that falsifying Customs documentation is a criminal offence, and you as the recipient - not the sender - may face prosecution.
I guess various companies will put their own packages together with games etc or charge a few pounds less (like SR).
The quoted price so far for a PSP is £179.99.
There are two packs however, a standard and value pack, and I have not yet seen anything saying the PSP will be cheaper than £179.99, so does that mean that the standard pack will be £179 and a value pack £199?
Sony haven't mentioned the pricing yet, despite the launch only being a few weeks away.
[EDIT] Amazon's listing at £178.99 is for the Value pack, so maybe it is official.
Videogamesplus.ca are a good company as they do mark the package down as a gift of $20, but this is by no means a sure thing of getting away with customs tax. When ordering through VG+ I was advised by one of there staff to not order loads of stuff at the same time as a PSP and 5 games is a bigger package and could get stopped. The $20 gift marking is there to make you not pay customs at all, but if they stop the package and inspect it more carefully and find out that its not the correct value then you will be charged extra and were talking a good £50 or more for a PSP and some games. 99.9% of the time it will go through but there is always a chance it wont.
The other thing that I am not too sure about is what happens if the package is lost? $250 PSP but sent as a $20 gift, doubt you could claim the any more than $20 for it.
But it's only fair that others know the full facts about what could happen before they make up their mind to import.
I was going to import one myself some time ago, but decided against it for the reasons I've stated.
To be honest, at this stage, with only 3 weeks until the official UK launch, I wouldn't even consider it - it's not worth the potential hassle.
So, im willing to take that risk.