Amazon factored their 'best guesstimate' into the purchase price of my Springsteen boxed set of CDs, but as someone pointed out recently import duties appear to be a lottery - even more so since the coup. No idea how this will relate to others when purchasing from Amazon, but this is the refund notice I received. The original deposit was 44.77 USD - more than half the value of the box set - no idea how they came up with that figure. There was nothing on the box to indicate what ThaI Customs considered the appropriate duty to be - in this case, roughly 40% of the purchase price - ~28 USD on a 70 USD product - a significant jump on the Amazon CD order I placed earlier in the year. Fortunately, the box set was worth every penny - the remasters are sensational.

We're writing to let you know we processed your refund of AUD20.13 for your Order 112-8179398-4574658.

This refund is for the following item(s):

Item: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984
Quantity: 1
ASIN: B00NVHRB4W
Reason for refund: Export fee reduced

Here's the breakdown of your refund for this item:

Import Fee Deposit Refund: AUD20.13

We'll apply your refund to the following payment method(s):

MasterCard Credit Card [expiring on 9/9999]: AUD20.13

We've processed a refund for the above order in the amount of AUD20.13. The refund should appear on your account in 2-3 days if issued to a credit card.
Refunds issued to a bank account typically take 7-10 days to reflect on the account balance.

I'd rather download for free

I was also happy to receive a refund from Amazon (UK) for duty waived by Thai customs on a camcorder accessory that was unavailable here.

Duplication. Please ignore.

Edited December 14, 201411 yr by Camelot