Very unhappy with Solidoodle by now. (Page 1 of 2)

Why would Solidoodle credit any fees? It isn't their fault that OP's country charges import taxes or duties.

OP, you have absolutely nothing to be upset about. This is a part of buying things from other countries. If you bought it from your country, you would have paid VAT.

If you're upset about this, you should take it up with your government. Certainly Solidoodle has nothing to do with OP's local laws. Your ignorance is not their problem.

Solidoodle should have declare a value like 12 USD. The fedex almost wanted to charge me 100 USD as taxes Solidoodle knows.

That would be illegal.

I fail to see how it's my fault that they didn't ship it with the initial shipment. I ordered both together. I didn't choose the hellishly expensive shipping method either which about doubled the import tax that's due, and neither did I tell them they should make fedex pay the import taxes in advance, which cost me another 12 Euro.

Not true for German import sales tax, since for that, shipping costs are calculated into it. Really high air mail shipping costs = really high import sales tax. Had it been in the first shipment, there wouldn't have been additional shipping costs and ergo, less import sales tax (a lot!).
Plus it would have been seen as an accessory of the printer (like the starter spool), and IIRC, the printer only had import sales tax, but no customs value (different item class). As a separate shipment, it was classified as an item that I have to pay customs duty in addition to the import sales tax on.

Wasn't the case for the Press shipment, so how should I have known their second shipment would be different?

PS (edit): Also, to be exact, I've NEVER before gotten a package w/ prepayment here in Germany. And I've ordered from the US a lot of times. It was either paid by sender (and thus, already on the cost proposal during checkout), or post paid.
I think a costly shipping option on an unannounced package that's to be paid by the recipient is something to be asked about by the sender, BEFORE he ships it off using that option.

Right, you have to declare a *fair* value... which is the retail value, not what you paid. I ship thousands of shipments a year, I've looked into the relevant laws. This falls under Method 2, since the full transaction value was used on the first shipment.

https://www.gov.uk/how-to-value-your-im … port-value

Same way you have to pay taxes on a car that is gifted to you, even if you paid $0.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/22/news/ne … h_car_tax/

I guess you could argue that the first shipment should have had a lower value assigned to it, but that gets really iffy and could get the package rejected at customs.

That statement is incorrect. 

In most states, the "Use Tax" on gifted items, including cars is waved.  Take a look at the link below from the DMV, and you'll find that all you need to do in most states is file a "Use Tax Exemption" and you don't have to pay any taxes on it. 

When you're gifted a car by a relative, you can even wave the registration and the smog test.  If you're not a relative, they you need to pay fr the registration, smog and new title.

http://www.dmv.org/ca-california/title- … -as-a-Gift

In the case you mention (the Oprah car giveaway), that was considered a prize winning (like the lottery).  As such it's considered earned income, and subject to taxation.

I used the word gift to describe the fact that Oprah's show gave the car to a person.

In Georgia for example, you must pay tax on cars that are gifted to you, at the fair market value.... even if it is gifted by a relative. This is called the Ad Valorem tax.

I was just providing a quick example, but hopefully that clarification settles it for you.

As interesting as your discussion about car gifts is, don't you guys think you're kinda off-topic by know?

I can understand the tax issue, my concern would be more that he had to pay separate shipping at a higher rate for something that should have been included in the initial shipment. That they charged him for what was essentially their screw up (not including it in the first place) seems a bit cheeky to me.

Ah, I thought you got stuck with shipping fees as well.