Up to 150 euro commercial goods to the EU are free of import tax

I am in Europe, will I pay taxes, how does taxation work in practice ?

Effective since 1 Decembe 2008 commercial goods sent by mail to the EU are free of import duty up to 150 euro ( raised from 22 ). However the VAT should theoretically still apply.

From our buyers' information rarely taxes are to be paid for small amounts of plants in postal shipments. Obviously there are many parcels and they can't be opened all for checking. Envelopes are also a very safe way of shipping satisfactorily fast, registered or not.

Below a tax payer in France deemed that there were three situations on a forum in 2006, at a time when import duty was levied under 22 euro ( instead of 150 since December 2008 ):

1) Seller declares a value above 60€ and parcel is EMS, taxation has a 80% chance of being applied.
2) Seller declares a value above 60€ and parcel is Small Air Parcel, taxation has a 40% to 50% chance of being applied.
3) Seller declares " Gift " on the parcel, value is above 60€ and parcel is sal or Small Air Parcel, taxation has a 0% to 10% chance of being applied.

http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/Discussions/Viepratique/frais-comment-determiner-sujet_44139_1.htm

Si ton vendeur écrit le prix réel sur le colis et que tu prends en EMS, c'est à quasi 80% DTC surtout si le prix dépasse 60€.
Si ton vendeur écrit le prix réel sur le colis et que tu prends en SAL/air mail, c'est à quasi 40 à 50% DTC surtout si le prix dépasse 60€.
Si ton vendeur écrit "gift" sur le colis et que tu prends en SAL/air mail, c'est à quasi 0 à 10% DTC si le prix dépasse 60€.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Weights of hydrated freshly cut flowers of Hoya : carnosa and lacunosa

back to the making of soap and Hoya fragrance




Three carnosa and three lacunosa flowers : they are freshly cut and fully hydrated.






The fresh lacunosa flower above, still fully hydrated weighs only 0.63 grams.




The carnosa flower, much bigger is also 10 times heavier : 7 grams

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Italian customs : the low value of an EMS parcel content is suspect and consignee should contact ??

Invoice and phytosanitary certificate were inside the parcel. The cost of transport by EMS was about 43 $ . The price of the plant content, 5 Dischidia non rooted cuttings, was much lower : only 9 $.
This value was on the invoice and on the EMS slip too. Did the Italian customs officer deem the value too small to be right ? Maybe; they informed on the track and trace site that the invoice was missing and then that the consignee should contact the customs at a number ( CONTATTARE 803.160 ), probably to confirm this value; the message was posted 3 times. As a result the shipment was delayed and finally ready to be delivered but consignee was absent. All this mess of time and money, just for 5 small cuts of plants, legally sent with a phytosanitary certificate. Thumbs up. If you wish to order in Italy please contact us so we can arrange safer and cheaper method of transport and if the mail is EMS please follow up on the tracking site of the Italian post for important messages from the Customs for you... Note that you cannot count on Paypal to decide in your favor if you declined to answer - or if you genuinely did not see - the message from your customs. Paypal considers that Customs formalities, including contact of consignee for confirmation of content or value can't be ignored by the receiver. Here are issues with the Italian customs in a few threads : http://community.ebay.it/topic/Fare-Affari-Nel/Pacchi-Dagli-Usa/600080269?&#msg1900107036

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/International-Trading/Italian-Customs-Requesting/510296488?messageID=524535134

http://www.mtb-forum.it/community/forum/archive/index.php/t-112983-p-6.html

http://www.tfpforum.it/index.php?action=printpage;topic=14508.0

In the EU countries since 2008 goods up to 150 euro are free of import duty. Only would be levied the VAT, which is not likely to occur given the cost incurred by the operation.Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoya that are less likely to survive a long trip

Hoya that are less likely to survive a long trip and should be bought as big and established as possible are :

Hoya acicularis
Hoya aff. Sigillatis
Hoya blashernaezii
Hoya campanulata
Hoya camphorifolia
Hoya danumensis
Hoya dennisii
Hoya filiformis
Hoya imbricata
Hoya megalaster
Hoya microstemma
Hoya odetteae
Hoya parvifolia
Hoya patella
Hoya picta
Hoya praetorii

Nota : these cuttings certainly can survive long trips : Horticulture can be a serious thing using hormones or products that tremendously modify the survival rates of stressed plants.


Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoya - so called - finlaysonii veins

Which Hoya "finlaysonii" has the darkest veins ?
In June 2011 Aleyagarden sells 7 Hoya varieties of plants named in the trade Hoya finlaysonii, the pictures are below :


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -1


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -2


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -3


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -4


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -5


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -6


ABOVE : HOYA FINLAYSONII -7

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoya praetorii : hard to root, slow grower, more risky ... and more expensive

I received Hoya praetorii : I am disappointed, is a courtesy gesture possible from your side ?

Thank you for your suggestive picture. On May 2011 we are selling rooted H. praetorii 20$ ( 16$ with discount ) - on picture here -, bare cuttings 12.8$ ( 10.24$ after discount). So yes this species of Hoya is by far much more expensive than others... and for this price it is more risky to grow and much slower to root than others !.

It is a common problem with plant sales : more expensive cars are rarer and stronger, but more expensive plants are usually rarer because they are more difficult to cultivate, and not because they are stronger !. Also plants that are more difficult to root and grow always grow more slowly so that at a given age they also tend to be smaller than others. So yes H. praetorii will be more expensive, smaller, harder to root and slower growers than most other Hoyas. We can only be annoyed but we cannot, unfortunately for our disappointed clients - and for us because they will leave us - link this fact to a form of compensation. The same goes for our conditions of sale : we must accept not to make exceptions and lose clients if we want to remain fair to those who remain with us !

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Thai tracking says " Container received " or " Outgoing international " then no information afterwards ?

" You posted my Small Parcel Air 12 days ago and looking at the tracking page it doesn't seem to have reached Canada or even left Thailand, am I right ? "

Aleyagarden answers : it is common that the tracking information reports " Container received " or " Outgoing international " ( two variations of the confirmation of departure ) and then doesn't give further information until the parcel is ready to be delivered in your country, while your Postal site has no information or informs you that the parcel is still in the sender's country. This lack of information does not seem linked to delays, nor to the method of transport or of course the day of posting : so there is no reason to worry but it is wise to contact your post office if the parcel is waiting there for you after a said unsuccessful delivery, the most common cause of delays.

Small Parcels Air under 500 gr are usually faster than above 500 gr. in particular to USA and Canada; the risk of delay is higher with heavier parcels. Some people prefer using EMS ( the express mail method ) for their parcels above 500 gr. In Europe Small Parcel Air is certainly the best option up to 2 kilos. (The Small Parcel Air is limited to 2 kilos ). EMS parcels go through customs more frequently than Small Parcels Air. 

Envelopes are the safest and the least expensive method of shipping, almost 100 % of envelopes arrive at destination. Many countries offer an express option ( which should not be confused with the method : EMS documents )

To get back to tracking information, below is an other typical case, but this time with an EMS parcel. It was posted on 30 August : the Thai site reports " Outgoing International " on 31,  while on the French EMS site Chronopost - still 3 days after, on 3 September -, we can only read : " sorting in the departure agency ".

But a phone call to EMS Thailand ( the phone numbers are on http://track.thailandpost.co.th/trackinternet/track-help/contact-thai.htm , you will be put through to an english - speaking operator ) would give a verbal confirmation of the departure, with possibly reports of the gate number and flight number. Almost all parcels depart from Thailand not later than one or two days after posting, whatever is written or not written on tracking sites, Thai or foreign, and whatever the distance of the post to the airport. For instance an EMS parcel posted on a Friday in Thailand would leave the country on a Saturday or Sunday flight.

Of course you would have to be patient the lines are busy and your request if early may not meet agents in their best mood. Sometimes the agent may just tell you that the parcel has departed from Thailand, so you would have to insist if you needed to get the exact time, the gate and even flight numbers for your personal investigation. Telling that you are calling from abroad may have a positive effect.





Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com