Hacking flashcarts can be lost on customs?

[migles]

i wanted to get a DSTWO for my 3ds from nds-cart.com, is there any change it can be lost on customs?

a friend of mine once bought some cd's from asia, and he had to pay a really lot of money to get them... and he said i can't get a refund if that happens

 

[DinohScene]

If there's no pirated software on it, I don't see why not.
Then again, Nintendo might have made an agreement with your local customs to refuse flashcards.

If it's send in an enclosed bubblewrap package, I don't see why they would refuse it to let it pass to you.

 

[FAST6191]

There are generally two kinds of trouble customs could give
1) They could declare them forbidden devices.
2) They could want sales tax/duty/import tax/VAT or whatever you want to call it on there too. By the sounds of things this is what your friend had happen to them.

I think Portugal ruled in favour of flash carts but I can not recall off the top of my head. For single things this tends not to happen, if you are buying several hundred consider it a somewhat larger possibility. Typically though they are usually more concerned with drugs, medicine, spoilable food, atm/cash point skimmers, weapons and such (the UK does not like lockpicks for instance, though there are actually rules about that here).
2) is somewhat more common though I can not say I have shipped things to Portugal lately so as to get an estimate on the percentages involved. Likewise I have not dealt with it happening either so where here they will make up a number and charge you accordingly and you can show a bank statement or something to say no you really did pay this you may have something entirely different.

 

[migles]

so, if i have proof of the payment, i can release the product without paying the "made up" value?

 

[FAST6191]

Assuming it is just (and not them blocking the import) than then release might be hard, you can probably pay some money though. In your friend's case they probably decided that as CDs retail for what €15 a piece (more if it is a game) and he might have had say 6 of them at what 23% VAT possibly plus.... not exactly no money.
That said I have no idea how Portuguese customs works beyond the broad levels (which are roughly the same across Europe and the English speaking world).

 

[Silterpy]

you should not have a problem with a flash cart(i never i did).
so far i have bought a r4 original, a r4 1:1 clone(use's the same firmware as the real r4), a acekard 2i, acekard 2(sold to my cousin), a m3ds real(when they first came out), a r4igolc(.cn version) a gba firelink(or was it a flash link)
so so far 7 flash carts for gba/nds+ EMS USB, Everdrive, Everdriver MD(Everdrive MD clone and my e3 flasher
i buy seed all the time for my dad from UK and they never check them, hell i know someone that bought pot seed only and it came fine(not opened)

form my experience customs here in portugal only look at the size of the package, so if its a big box( 360 or ps3 sized box) they will open it regardless of how much you paid, if its from europe
so you might want to buy from discoazul.pt they have the dstwo for altogether 35,43€(for me and i live in açores) i bought my swapmagic 3.5 + the magic keys 4 for my v18 ps2 from them took abot 4 days(shipped from spain to azores)

 

[migles]

and how about the store policy? i mean, lets say i order a card from nds-card.com and the card gets stuck on customs, will i be able to get a refund\new card? or what happens exactly after gets stuck on the customs?

 

[FAST6191]

If it gets blocked by customs... sucks to be you really. Not sure which party is technically "at fault" here but if their policy says "your responsibility for customs in your country" then well sucks to be you.

If it gets stopped by customs and they ask you for payment on it then I am not sure why the original store would ever have to refund you -- it is a tax your country is legally allowed to collect and nothing to do with the store that sent it.

 

[migles]

If it gets blocked by customs... sucks to be you really. Not sure which party is technically "at fault" here but if their policy says "your responsibility for customs in your country" then well sucks to be you.

If it gets stopped by customs and they ask you for payment on it then I am not sure why the original store would ever have to refund you -- it is a tax your country is legally allowed to collect and nothing to do with the store that sent it.

but doens't the product gets send back to the store after lets say 1 month or something, if the client doesnt pay the customs?

 

[FAST6191]

Sending things back is usually what happens when it sits in a depot because they failed to deliver it to your house. How customs will play it in Portugal I have no idea -- some delivery companies will pay customs or act as a customs agent and you pay their delivery people or go to their depot to pick it up and pay at the same time, some will leave it at customs until you sort it out and there are all sorts of combinations of the lot. What will happen in customs varies and I do not know, destruction, auction, some customs agent has a new toy for themselves/their kid.... who knows.

You are possibly overthinking it at this point*, if you are really bothered then the site dragonblood9999 linked it thought of well enough and at current exchange rates the differences are not even a cheap lunch really. The worst that will happen is the PJ will come and kick down your door at 4am and drag you into a 48 hour interrogation.

*if this sort of thing happens you can bet GBAtemp and co will hear about it, anywhere in the EU is not usually a customs black hole like some parts of South America, the middle east or Asia (or Canada at various points in time).

 

[yabbitboy]

nds-card.com sent my Gateway in a gold yellow bubbled wrapped enclosed envelope. On the mail there is no mention of flashcart, just your typical mail, althought it took 4 weeks to get the Gateway here from Hong Kong to Australia - the delays are possibly due to Hong Kong Post screening the package for dangerous stuff like lithium batteries?

 

[FAST6191]

nds-card.com sent my Gateway in a gold yellow bubbled wrapped enclosed envelope. On the mail there is no mention of flashcart, just your typical mail, althought it took 4 weeks to get the Gateway here from Hong Kong to Australia - the delays are possibly due to Hong Kong Post screening the package for dangerous stuff like lithium batteries?

When it comes to free shipping it is more often delays are due to it being some of the cheapest shipping possible (possibly a boat rather than a plane when it comes to going to your part of the world), them not shipping every day/every work day and maybe waiting a while (say you order on Saturday morning and they only ship out on Fridays...) or possibly even them waiting for enough product to send.

 

[Jayro]

Just buy a card from your own -beep- country, it's not that difficult.

 

[Vipera]

If you don't want to deal with customs, I would suggest to buy a flashcard from the EU itself, as you don't have to pay taxes. Unless it's a super cheap card, I don't think it's worth the hassle.

 

[F3l1xbxb]

Just buy a card from your own -beep- country, it's not that difficult.

You are so funny -.- there is no such things in Portugal...

Mygles, my flashcart took 1month to get to my house, the next time you can do like i always do, ask them to send as GIFT, so they can not charge taxes at Customs.

 

[orcid]

Buy a card in the EU, if you don't want to deal with Customs. Just make sure that the shop really ships from the EU.

 

[yabbitboy]

When it comes to free shipping it is more often delays are due to it being some of the cheapest shipping possible (possibly a boat rather than a plane when it comes to going to your part of the world), them not shipping every day/every work day and maybe waiting a while (say you order on Saturday morning and they only ship out on Fridays...) or possibly even them waiting for enough product to send.

It would be misleading by Hong Kong Post Airmail to ship their mail instead by boat, I actually think they actually do ship by boat when it took so long to deliver my Gateway. lol.

 

[soulrazor]

i wanted to get a DSTWO for my 3ds from nds-cart.com, is there any change it can be lost on customs?

a friend of mine once bought some cd's from asia, and he had to pay a really lot of money to get them... and he said i can't get a refund if that happens

http://dsflash.es/supercard-ds-one/272-supercard-ds-two.html at your door in 3 days max. already got 2 item from there (ez flash 4 an dstwo no problem)

shop is in spain

 

[Arnold0]

r4menu is from Spain too, but they are pricy (I go my gateway from them 80€ ...)