Amazon Kindle in Taiwan

[Adam_CLO]

Has anyone ordered one yet? I preordered mine and it shipped out last Monday (October 19). The total including taxes and shipping came to $295 US (after the $20 discount they recently put on the International Kindle).

It reached Taoyuan airport on Wednesday (October 21) evening, where it's remained since. The message on the UPS tracker website is "ADDITIONAL IMPORT DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE"

I finally got sick of waiting and called the local UPS office. They emailed me a few forms that asked me to fill out my name, address, passport information, signature and a copy of my passport. Is this standard procedure for UPS orders? Were they waiting for me to call them? If I hadn't called, would I just be waiting indefinitely? They have all my contact information, so they could easily have contacted me last week.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with receiving shipments from UPS? Just thought I'd give people a heads up if they were planning to order a Kindle.

[Dragonbones]

I finally got sick of waiting and called the local UPS office. They emailed me a few forms that asked me to fill out my name, address, passport information, signature and a copy of my passport. Is this standard procedure for UPS orders?

Private shippers like UPS often require such info, yes. They should normally call you within a day or so, so an extra week's delay sounds like they screwed up. I no longer use DHL, UPS or Fedex if I can avoid it, as the extra paperwork and delay are both hassles, in addition to a higher likelihood of getting hit with customs duties, in my experience (in Taibei).

[nemesis]

I've had it happen, also for a UPS Amazon order. Not a Kindle, though.

[Adam_CLO]

Having lots of fun reading the status updates of the delivery so far:

TAO-YUAN, TW 10/27/2009 3:31 A.M. PACKAGE NOT RELEASED THROUGH CLEARING AGENCY SYSTEM - DOCUMENT INSPECTION REQUIRED
TAO-YUAN, TW 10/26/2009 11:14 P.M. ADDITIONAL IMPORT DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE / BROKERAGE RELEASED SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT IS SUBMITTED TO CLEARING AGENCY FOR FURTHER CLEARANCE
TAO-YUAN, TW 10/22/2009 11:35 P.M. ADDITIONAL IMPORT DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE
TAO-YUAN, TW 10/21/2009 10:29 P.M. IMPORT SCAN

[John]

It reached Taoyuan airport on Wednesday (October 21) evening, where it's remained since. The message on the UPS tracker website is "ADDITIONAL IMPORT DOCUMENTATION IS REQUIRED FOR CLEARANCE"I finally got sick of waiting and called the local UPS office. They emailed me a few forms that asked me to fill out my name, address, passport information, signature and a copy of my passport. Is this standard procedure for UPS orders? Were they waiting for me to call them? If I hadn't called, would I just be waiting indefinitely? They have all my contact information, so they could easily have contacted me last week. Has anyone else had a similar experience with receiving shipments from UPS? Just thought I'd give people a heads up if they were planning to order a Kindle.

I order a lot from the USA (just got the new Canon Powershot S90) and this is very common (the paperwork, not the delay).

The document you have to sign is power of attorney, allowing the courier to deal with the customs declaration etc.

I now always fax and/or email a new PoA and ID copy to their customs gateways as SOON as I receive the shipping info from the seller. This usually gives me 3 days to make sure everything goes smoothly and gets delivered on time. I bombard them with multiple copies and make sure to plaster the airway bill number all over the paperwork.

A few hours after you sent your fax, call their customer services number and get them to follow up. They probably wont be able to locate your fax and will give you yet another fax number to use. However, I have found that the CS reps ALWAYS follow up and call back after I make initial contact.

My fax cover letter usually reads something like this:

"I am expecting a personal delivery from the USA (UPS/DHL#________). It is currently in transit.

The content is___________.

The value is USD_____ , all invoices will be included on the cargo box.

I am faxing you ALL the paperwork now, to avoid unnecessary delays with delivery

Here are the Power of Attorney and ID card you need for customs processing.
Sometimes you cannot read my ID number, so here it is:________

Also, I realize there MIGHT be import tax duties. Please do NOT delay delivery.
Simply deliver the cargo, ASAP. If there is any import tax, then I will pay it in cash to the courier upon delivery."


You can get a good estimate of import tax and VAT here: viewtopic.php?f=69&t=81888

Here are some fax numbers, names and email addresses.

DHL

Customs gateway
Fax: 03 3992556 or 03 3992558
emails: MIKA.HSU@DHL.COM or stella.huang@dhl.com

Customer services
email: ashley.tsai@dhl.com


UPS

Contact name: Judy
Fax: 03 3987518 or 03 3987502

[Mucha Man]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but why do I never have to deal with this when I order books from Amazon and they are shipped here?

[TheGingerMan]

UPS are renowned world-wide for their sloppy approach to customs documentation, and their reckless assignments of H.S. Classification numbers and descriptions. I always got much better results from Amazon when they use someone like Deutsche Post.

Mind you, the Taiwan customs agents are not much better. I've seen them apply the wrong tariff number, apply the wrong duty rate, allow dutiable goods to enter free, and charge duty on goods which are free & exempt. I've been out to the airport several times to cause several crews & their supervisors to lose serious face.
It's almost as if they were a bunch of idle slackhands just making it up as they go along, like border guard characters out of a Tintin book.

[Adam_CLO]

Thanks for all your help. The Kindle was finally delivered to me yesterday (Wednesday), exactly 1 week after it reached Taiwan. I phoned them in the morning to ask what the status was, and they said it would "probably" be delivered the next day. The status on the website at the time was PACKAGE NOT RELEASED THROUGH CLEARING AGENCY SYSTEM - DOCUMENT INSPECTION REQUIRED. However a couple of hours later it was delivered. Couldn't they have updated the status when it left Taoyuan on route to Taichung (I thought that was the whole point)? Why didn't the person who picked up the phone know that it would be delivered the same day and not the next day?

Anyway, delivery complaints aside, I've had a chance to play with the unit and here is my feedback so far, starting with what I don't like:

1. Not all books on Amazon.com have Kindle versions.
2. From those that DO have Kindle versions, many are only available to US readers and not to international users (why??).
3. I don't like the browsing for books experience on the Kindle as much as I do on the main site. The main site knows who I am, my browsing history and what books I would be interested in. On the Kindle however, you pretty much have to know what book you're looking for to begin with. The best seller lists are full of books I have never heard of, since main of the real best sellers aren't available (on the international Kindle at least).
4. The prices of Kindle books aren't much cheaper than (especially for paperbacks). Most sell for $11.99 US which is around $375 NT. Hard cover equivalents tend to cost more.

Here's what I do like however:

1. All Kindle books let you sample a chapter for free. With one click, the first chapter is sent to your device. This works better with some books than others, since with some books, most of the "first chapter" is filled with acknowledgements and table of contents, leaving very little to sample of the actual book. However this is still better than nothing, and helps in the decision process (of whether to buy).
2. The wireless transfer works quite well. So you almost don't feel like paying a few bucks more, because the book is instantly downloaded onto your device.
3. I downloaded a piece of software called Calibre from http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ It is a sort of itunes for ebooks. It is free (open source) and does a great job of converting pdfs and ebooks in other formats into the Kindle format. You have to plug your Kindle to your computer via USB though to use it. You CAN have it transfer files wirelessly to your Kindle, but then you get dinged hefty fees from Amazon ($0.99 USD per MB).
4. This Calibre software also lets you subscribe to your favorite blogs, feeds etc. These will be sent to your Kindle during your next sync.

In summary, without points 3 and 4 above, I would probably find the Kindle purchase to be a bit of a waste. However the Calibre software makes a big difference. Plus I expect the international selection to increase over time, which I expect to add to my enjoyment.

[jashsu]

It's a shame Kindle doesn't support .epub format natively.

By the way these are some excellent sites to find public domain books formatted for e-ink readers:

http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://www.manybooks.net/

[ironlady]

FWIW: US Kindle with International download capabilities

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015T ... _sv_kinc_0