importing linux CDs in india
 

hello friends

i am stuck here in some problem

I ordered Ubuntu CDs from their website for free
http://shipit.ubuntu.com/

not i revive this ltter fromthe foriegn postal office regarding the package anbd they want

1.purpose of Import
2.value evidence

1.since i am running a Linux Club in my university,so i won't have problems there
2.what should i do for the second one
i have this letter from the Ubuntu site for custom officials regaridng value of CDs
it clearly states that they are for free and for shipping purposes they estimate the value of CD to be .26 euro(i have around 30 Cds in the package)
http://people.ubuntulinux.org/~mako/...er-generic.pdf

so what should i do to be on the safer side

and will i have to pay any duty if this is for educational purpose?

regards

Hey masand,

if I where you, I'd just take the letter that the postal people sent you and the one from the Ubuntu site and go and see them. I suspect that the worst case scenario would be that they work out whatever the duty is on .26 of a Euro...

I'd imagine that is would be something like UK VAT or US sales tax - Uk VAT being 17.5% and I understand that most US states charge around 6%.

and from XE.com each cd @ .26 euro, is about 15 rupee's. so if it's like the same as here it would be 17.5% of 15 rupees X 30 I don't know if that would equate to a lot of money???

Though if you tried "throwing yourself on the mercy of the post master" :D and "lay it on thickly", poor students, educational material, etc etc plus the evidence of the low value of the cd's they might just give you the package and tell you to go away (of course, you might be unlucky and the post master is a total "jobs worth").

Good luck

regards

John

hey thanks for ur advice
i will be sending them the letter along with other docs about the university,club etc etc
and if i meant to give them some money
i will download that for free from my college instead
also that foreign postal office is not in my city so i cannot go personly there
and i checked ut some websites and it looks that this amount will under the allowed limit

regards

I got the Ubuntu CD no problem. Just how many did you order?

as i mentioned above
i ordered 30 Cds coz i have more than 150 preople in my linux group here

regards

Ha ha! Now that's something that I (and probably quite a few "Brits") forget :D. If I had to go to London, I wouldn't have bothered - It's about 55miles and takes maybe an hour and a quarter on the train i.e. it'd be too much hassle.

Whereas distance takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to India :D I'd hate to think how many times the UK would fit into India - I suspect it'd be certainly into the hundreds!

As for the second part of your post.... I think that's what I was trying to say i.e. that surely the .26 euro per disc value would mean it would be very much under the minimum levels of value for import duty and probably any type of sales tax??? I can't even guess, because of the difference in the cost of living between Uk and India..

Though if it does require any payment, if you have a stable net connection via the University, I'd have guessed that it would probably be easier to download it and then do network installs where you can, as that vastly reduces the hassle of trying to make 150 individual copies (time, cost, etc etc).

regards

John.

yes indeed, Mumbai/bombay will take around 16 hrs by train from where i live

and BTW ur webpage looks interesting :D
and for the 0.26 euro =15 Rs
well can get 2 good blank Cds or 3 coke bottles or 2 pencil cells or a cadbury's dairy milk with them

so 30x.26 euro is a good amount for a student like me
it is like half of my pocket money for a month

regards

In most countries you pay the tax only if the value is more than a certain value. You should choose how it is in your case, but IMHO they just want a paper stating that you package is worth less than the value. Phone them, the best possible solution, 16h travel is not a very good option. :)

yes i called them up
and the help desk person could not understand what is Linux so i will be sending some docs in my support

Ah! I suspected as much i.e. that the money thing could be a problem, and that the distance may also be prohibitive.

Oh well masand, maybe that downloading it is looking more inviting afterall ?

As for the post office people not understanding about linux, it's hardly suprising. In fact imagine what a struggle you may have had if you also explained that you can also download it from the net for free!

"download? whats that? Internet? is that some kind of special fishing? Free? If somethings free, surely it must be rubbish/poor quality/useless" etc etc etc :D

I suppose someone has to run the post office, though I'd suspect that it's like most government officials - very, very hard work, especially if you're asking them about something that is outside of their very limited mental remit (sorry, I'm very cynical of "officialdom")

good luck.

regards

John

Yes, bigjohn. You got that right about Civil services in India. Many of these government offices (and I'm sure the postal department is one of them) still use mechanical typewriters for their office work, though most banks have become "computerized".

I seem to recall reading that lot's of the "official mechanisms" in India are still very much modelled on the old British ones. Seeing as how the UK government services are kicking and screaming at being dragged into the 21st century, I can imagine how much of a bind it must be to deal with bureaucracy at your end! (yes sir, you can indeed do whatever, but it can only be done with a government form xx/12489/a1/form 4698X, filled out, using a black ball point pen, in triplicate, and yes sir you DO have to fill out all 197 pages! :D:D:D)

regards

John

hey
i sent those docs
and recieved my package

but but i had letter with that which rewquired to fill in 400 Rs for that package
now with 400 Rs i can get around 60 Blank discs

so i rejected that package,since i cannot out that amount for 30 ubuntu CDs

it was also my mistake to order a no. of Cds, i wil order a lesser no. of Cds next time

regards