From my experience ordering overseas, I make it a point to have the seller, whether be it Andover or Norvil et al., to have it shipped via Royal Mail or equivalent regular ground mail from the country of purchase. Some get caught by customs and tax and duty is applied, others get through the backdoor most likely from the custom officer who hates life that day and could give a lesser...
Honestly, I'm not sure what advantage "Vintage Motorcycle Parts" really gives you when contents are declared prior to shipment. It does not exempt the contents from taxes or duty. So I'm not sure why people stress that point? Perhaps, like some of the responses to this thread indicate, they may be more lenient when it comes to parts which may or may not contain asbestos. I'd be quite surprised if they would even turn a blind eye to such a thing, especially with the proven health research results of asbestos.
One tip I could give is that most custom agencies will not charge tax on orders that are valued at less than $20-$30, so if you are close to this amount, kindly ask the seller to lower the declaration content value to some value within that band. This can also apply to things which may be expensive but to the untrained eye, is something of little value. Most of the custom guards are not privy to any value assessment info so what is wrote on the paper, they do not question. For instance, I purchased some down tubes from overseas at a fairly expensive price as they were quality but not shiny, so I asked the seller to lower the declaration value in order to alleviate some taxation. He agreed no problem.
In conclusion 8) , stay away from the couriers (Fed Ex, UPS, etc) they charge you a ridiculous amount for handling fees as soon as the package goes through customs. Going through them on an international order is probably comparable to getting a zucchini in the hole no vasil!
