I know this is not Website feedback,
but next year can you make the HU calendar without US holidays?
As many of us do not live in the USA, the US holidays are not needed.
Heck, not even Christmas is celebrated on the same day in every country.
If cafepress requires US holidays, I guess we have no choice, but I thought I would suggest it anyways.

Chris

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Japan touring information

bugs my ass too!

No choice unfortunately, it's the standard default "anything you want as long as it's this one" calendar.

I'm on it, no worries!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Before I start, I know, I know, always read the small print! But...
Having ordered the new calendar I was a bit miffed when I had to pay the customs clearance charges of a whopping £8.68 to the post office before I could take it home.
I had guessed Cafepres was a worldwide organisation and the european orders would be printed and posted form Europe rather than the states. Shame they're not.
I appreciate it is stated on the site but it would be nice if there was some way European orders could be printed 'over here' in future - may not be possible I appreciate.
Lovely calendar of coursethough :-)
Perhaps a group order would be way to go as the fee is based on 1 or 10 caledars in a package?

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www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/davies

Sorry! Although you shouldn't have had to pay - as I understand that's printed matter which attracts NO duty in the UK!

Does the package say printed matter, or anything? If not I'll take it up with CafePress.

We'd LOVE to get them printed here - but although CafePress has talked about it for a couple of years, we seem to be no closer.

Perhaps next year, when we have a more reliable idea of quantities, there is a SMALL chance of local printing - but we'd need to print a lot to make it viable. I really have no use for 500 extra calendars.

If anyone knows of a good calendar printer at a good price for small quantities - please let me know!

Good to hear you like the calendar despite the price anyway! We DO try to keep the price as low as possible, and really hate attracting duty.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

PS - Re Group orders - sounds good, we thought of that too - but the logistics of getting it together, keeping track of all the orders, early orderers have to wait, getting it here, then possibly paying the duty anyway, repackaging and resending - naaah, sorry, not worth it.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I was going to order a couple as pressies. can anyone confirm that I don't have to pay silly money on duty before I order? er Grant....

__________________
Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

I'll check the packaging this evening for wording, and I'll question the post office regarding policy on printed matter. I’ll report back.
One way round it - which I could not possibly condone, is to get the sender to package as a gift (which ironically the calendars are), attracts no import charge – however a large automated company cannot do this, shops often can…I believe !
Bulking an order between friends (or associates) is the only other way to reduce (I guess?) the cost by dividing it, but I have ‘occasionally’ found group ordering is fraught with problems.
PS Grant, last year I produced a one off calendar with a company in UK of the same standard for a very similar price (reduced postage and no US holidays! No holidays at all even an option). They had an automated re-order facility for other friends etc at different addresses so might be an option, but I appreciate the ‘keep it simple’ stand you have to take – I’ll PM you their details tomorrow.
None of this detracts from the calendar itself of course, great shots.
Will report back soon.

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www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/davies

HM Customs Note from this page: "Some unscrupulous overseas suppliers openly advertise on the internet, or on their web-sites that they will deliberately either misdescribe items or underdeclare their value in order to evade customs charges that are legally due on importation. You should be aware that although the foreign sender may have completed the customs declaration form on the parcel you are regarded (in law) as the importer of the goods and responsible for the information on the declaration, and any customs charges that may be due. This means that if you purchase goods from these suppliers and the declaration is found to be false or misleading you may be liable to financial penalties or criminal prosecution. Furthermore the goods themselves will be liable to forfeiture. It is in your own interests to ensure Customs declarations are completed properly."

btdt - don't wanna do it.

Excellent! Always of course is the problem - SOMEONE has to pay more shipping no matter where it's made!

Good!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Some tidbits on UK Customs and Excise etc.

-------------------------------

From this page

Question: "I have been charged VAT and duty for goods bought over the Internet, why is this?

Any goods purchased from outside the EC are liable for duty and in some cases VAT. If you have been sent a gift and the value is under £36 you will not be liable, over that amount you will be charged depending on the product. For purchases bought by yourself with a value over £18 you may have to pay duty depending on the product; it may also be liable to VAT. Under that amount you will not be liable."

-----------------------
So for the calendar: US$31.99 including International Shipping = £16.70 as of November 22 2006.
-----------------------

Question: "What do I do if I think I have been overcharged Customs duty on my parcels/goods?

Once you have confirmed that you are entitled to a refund (ie by checking the duty and VAT rates or available duty reliefs), your next action will depend on who delivered your parcels/goods, as follows:

For Parcelforce and Royal Mail deliveries you need to contact the Customs Office that dealt with your parcel so that they can advise you how to make your claim. Their contact details will be on the Red and White Charge label attached to the parcel, along with the Charge Number. You do not have to take delivery in order to make your claim, in which case the Parcelforce or Royal Mail local delivery depot will be able to provide you with the Customs Office details and Charge Number information from the parcel.

For all other deliveries you need to complete a C285 (available from the National Advice Service) and send this together with any supporting evidence to:

HMRC
National Repayments Unit
Priory Court
St Johns Road
Dover
CT17 9SH

Tel: 01304 664482"

Also see Shopping on the Internet.

"If you purchase goods through the Internet you should be aware that Customs duty and VAT will be payable, as follows:

* Customs duty - if the amount of duty is £7 and over and
* Import VAT - if the value of the goods is £18 and over."

From A guide for international post users.

Question: "3.6 Where can I ask about or query a customs charge?

If you have any questions about a particular customs charge you should contact Customs at the postal depot shown on the charge label as soon as possible. If you write to Customs you should include as much detail as you can including, if possible, the charge label, the sender's declaration and the part of the wrapper with your address on it. Customs deals with thousands of packages every day and without this information we may not be able to trace your particular package in our official records. If you telephone it will help if you have the package with you. In the event of a claim you should retain all wrappings and documents until your claim is settled."
-----------------------

From what I can tell, it's unlikely that Duty should be charged on the calendars, nor VAT.

What I need to know is exactly what the packaging from CafePress says on it for value and type of goods etc.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

From HM Customs page
2.4 Gifts

Goods sent as a gift are not free of import duties and import VAT. However, customs duty will not be collected if the amount is less than £7, and under EC Directives and Regulations excise duty and import VAT is not chargeable if:

• the value of the gift does not exceed £36
• the customs declaration is completed correctly
• the gift has been sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in this country
• the gift is for the use of either yourself or your family
• there is no commercial or trade element and the gift has not been paid for either directly or indirectly
• alcohol, tobacco products etc are within the allowances detailed in paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6
• the gift is of an occasional nature only eg for a birthday or anniversary.

2.7 Do multi-gift consignments qualify for the customs duty waiver and import VAT relief?

(i) Where a package contains gifts that are clearly intended for several people eg members of the same family, the waiver of customs duty, and relief from excise duty and import VAT applies to each individual person provided each recipient's goods are:

• individually wrapped and
• specifically addressed to them and
• declared separately on the customs declaration
• within the allowances specified.

If more than one individual package is addressed to a particular person the value of the goods will be aggregated. If the total value exceeds £36 customs duty (unless it is less than £7, see paragraph 2.3) and import VAT will be charged. For tobacco and alcohol etc, the quantitative limits will be applied to the total quantities of goods addressed to one recipient.
If you are under 17 you cannot have tobacco and alcohol allowances.
(ii) If a package contains a number of different types of goods, and these are separately described and given a value on the customs declaration, the waiver of customs duty will apply to each item. For the purposes of excise duty the quantitative limits will be applied to the total quantities of goods. For import VAT only as many items as add up to a value not exceeding the import VAT threshold will be granted relief. However, the value of an item cannot be divided eg if a package contains five items each with a value of £8, only 4 items will be entitled to relief with charges payable on the fifth item.
An illustration of this is shown below:
Goods

Relief given

One item valued at £36 or below - Free of customs duty and import VAT.

One item valued at £44 - customs duty is charged unless the amount of duty is less than £7. Import VAT is chargeable on the full value

Five of the same items valued at £8 each - customs duty is charged unless the amount of duty is less than £7. Four items are relieved of import VAT leaving import VAT chargeable on the remaining one item.

Five different items valued at £120 each - customs duty is charged unless the amount of duty on each item is less than £7. Import VAT is chargeable on the full value.

One item valued at £300 - customs duty is charged unless the amount of duty is less than £7. Import VAT is chargeable on the full value.
===============

Hope that clarifies it!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Further - lengthy - investigations come up with the following:

First off, and most important - if the LANDED cost of the item is UNDER £18.00 INCLUDING shipping etc, there is NO DUTY and NO VAT.

Specifics:

Calendars - Commodity code 4910 000 000 - NO duty, and 17.5% VAT IF over £18 including shipping. NO DUTY and NO VAT if UNDER £18.00.

The HU Calendars should be £16.70 landed in the UK - therefore there should be NO DUTY and NO VAT. Claims for refunds procedures noted above. sigh...

HU Cotton Tshirts - Commodity code 6109 100 000 - 12% duty, and 17.5% VAT IF over £18 including shipping. NO DUTY and NO VAT if UNDER £18.00.

Important - if you buy a Tshirt or any other CafePress product AND a Membership is included in the price - you will have to pay duty on the Membership - which sucks.

So the best option is to simply take out an HU Membership via PayPal, let us know you have done so and the Tshirt etc you want, and we can send you a link to a private store to order at the base price, so the total value won't go over £18, and won't then attract Duty or VAT.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Important - if you buy a Tshirt or any other CafePress product AND a Membership is included in the price - you will probably have to pay duty on the Membership - which sucks.

So the best option is to simply take out an HU Membership via PayPal, let us know you have done so and the Tshirt etc you want, and we can send you a link to a private store to order at the base price, so A: the total value is minimal, and B: Hopefully it won't then attract Duty or VAT/GST/Sales Tax whatever.

Hope that helps,

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Crikies.. £18 !!! The costs of administering would swamp the £18! Suppose it keeps a few people off the unemployment que.

Here it is $500 aud .. under that and they don't bother.

Actually this would make a good addition to the data base .. I'm thinking if someone needs something sent to them and has a choice of where it is sent .. as they are still travelling. So a list of what countries charge and where the cutoff points are would be good? Eg you need a fork seal in Africa but could have it sent to Morocco, Mari, Mali, Senegal ... which country would you chose ..

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---
Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

In simple easy Yorkshire speak...
If I buy two calendars seperately, I will only pay approx £16.70 each transaction
If I buy 2 together it will cost loads more.
Am I getting close?

__________________
Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

yes - it does seem ridiculous - AND they can also charge you an (unspecified) fee to merely open the package and confirm the contents, to decide if and how much they should charge you!
Good idea - will add it to the list for the new system, which is coming along, slowly but steadily.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com