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Hello Friends,

I have ordered eight Antminer s9 units (7 units of 13.5 TH/s and 1 unit of 13 TH/s) and eight power supply units (APW3+-12-1600W,PSU..120 USD each) about a month back on the Bitmain website. The price of Antminer s9 with 13.5 TH/s was 1445 USD and the price of Antminer s9 with 13 TH/s was 1378 USD at the time of placing the orders on the Bitmain website. All the shipments have arrived in the last one week in different batches.

I have placed three orders on Bitmain, 5 Antminer s9 (13.5 TH/s) and 5 PSU in my first order, 1 Antminer s9 (13 TH/s) and 1 PSU in my second order and 2 Antminer s9 (13.5 TH/S) and 2 PSU in my third order. I have spent a total of 14.5538 BTC including shipping. The BTC value at the time of my first two orders was between 901 to 904 USD and was about 981 USD at the time of my third order, but Bitmain took the BTC value for my third order as 917 USD only, I spoke to the Bitmain customer team about this, but they failed to give me a convincing reply and I didn't want to argue further. Anyway, the total value in USD on Invoice copies including shipping is 13226.73 USD.

Although I have placed three orders, Bitmain has sent my orders in Six shipments, I asked Bitmain support team about this, they said miners and power supply units are shipped separately.

Now, Coming to the customs duties in India, I had no idea about how these customs duties are calculated in India. I tried looking online and on bitcointalk, but couldn't find enough information on this. Somebody told me that I won't be charged more than 10 to 15%, this guy claimed he was charged that much only. But I was prepared for 20% in worst case.

The total value on Invoice copies of power supply units including shipping cost is 1221.54 USD (5x120 + 2x120 + 1x120 + shipping cost), I was asked to pay a Duty fee of 26,771.35 INR including all taxes and handling fee from DHL. This amount is nearly 33% of the total value (i.e. 33% of 1221.54 USD). I had no other option but to pay, I paid the amount and received my power supply units.

The Miners are not yet cleared by the customs. When I spoke to the DHL team, they said I will need an IEC and if I don't have one, a dummy IEC should be created and many other documents will be required and it will take more than 20 days for my miners to be cleared by customs and there can be a heavy fine as well. Then I got in touch with one of the DHL representatives, he said it will be better if I applied for an IEC and my shipments will be cleared much quicker. So, first I have to apply for an IEC, then get my IEC updated and to get this job done quickly, I should get a broker and pay him 5k INR to 10k INR. After all this is completed, the Duty fee on my Antminers will be calculated.

The total value on Invoice copies of Miners including shipping cost is 12005.43 USD (5x1445 + 2x1445 + 1x1378 + shipping cost), going by the amount of Duty fee I paid for the power supply units, I'm sure the duty fee for the miners will be more than 2,65,000 INR and have to see if they'll fine anything extra. I will update this thread when Duty fee on the Miners is calculated.

This is my first experience in importing and it has become a nightmare for me. I'm also not happy with Bitmain, I personally think that they should have done something to lessen the burden of taxes on their customers. I still don't understand why they have put the shipping charges on the Invoice, the least they could have done is to not include the shipping charges on the Invoice. I also feel that they should have mentioned the HS codes on the Invoice or somewhere instead of leaving that option to someone who doesn't know anything about these goods. May be I should just blame myself for not digging deeper in to all these before placing the orders.

I hope this thread will help the Indian customers who're planning to buy Antminers from Bitmain and give them some idea about the Customs Duties in India.

They really can't do much that isn't illegal to help out with customs duties, of course you will pay some but if you really want lowered fees just buy locally. It might be a little bit more costly but you wont have to worry about fees like these. If it was actually your first time you should've just ordered one miner to test how much the fees really would be if you wanted to buy more. Doing so all in one transaction is pretty risky seeing as you didn't know how much fees were.

When you place an order, it'll show you the USD equivalent of BTC. Did you check that at the time of placing your order? BTC pricing is inconsistent, so if you haven't checked pricing at the time of placing your order and maybe checked it before or after that, it's possible that it was 917 and not 981.

https://s11.postimg.org/q4y67za4j/usd_btc.png


I haven't ordered from BitMain, but I think most shippers would do the same. They'll ship miner in one package and PSU in other.


Yea, that's where things get tricky. I've been in a similar situation when I ordered my first SP20E. You've had a bad experience already, but just in case you plan to buy anything else in future, you can make use of this handy tool (http://www.borderlinx.com/en/shipping-cost-calculator) on BorderLinx website. At least, you won't have to trust some random guy.


Instead of blaming BitMain, you should really be blaming the Indian custom, government per say. BitMain isn't imposing taxes on you, the Indian government is. I'll list some of the crappy taxes they impose, for anyone who's interested in know about that.

• KRISHI KALYAN CESS -- % minor, but I'm not really sure what that is
• SWACHH BHARAT CESS -- % minor, but again I'm not really sure what that is
• SERVICE TAX 14%

Besides; there's COUNTER VAILING DUTY, ADDITIONAL CUSTOM DUTY and HANDLING FEE. On top of it, the customs being a government body acts slow as hell. My package was put on hold by them for not less than a month and I've to go back and forth multiple times to get that finally released.

I even had to visit the local sales tax office multiple times to get and fill some forms, which is again wasn't a pleasant experience for me. These guys need to make changes on multiple levels, but I've no idea when that's going to happen (if at all)... Anyways, last word; I think you shouldn't have ordered in bulk when you're not sure about how things work. What's done is done, so let's hope you'll get your machines in one piece and be able to mine to cover your losses.

I'm glad you're sharing your story. This isn't exclusive to India and it applies to nearly everywhere in the world.
People tend to forget to total cost of ordering and owning miners, making their operation unprofitable.

Looking at used and/or local equipment can help you mitigate those costs.

That's right, I shouldn't have ordered in bulk without knowing everything.

What I meant is, the BTC price at the time of placing my third order was about 981 USD, but it was not updated on the Bitmain website and I thought it was a technical error. When I spoke to the Bitmain customer team about this, they said the price gets updated every 10 mins on their website and many other orders were taken for 917 USD during that period. Although I wasn't convinced with their reply, I didn't want to argue further.

Exactly, this is the reason I wanted to share my experience.

So what is the total cost Funky29?
How many % did you pay extra for a machine(Just approximate idea).
I want to order a miner and I am in India. So looking forward to your help.
I want to order a different Zcash miner ion India from US. Not the Antminer.

OP please tell what the cost was in the end.

@NAM what was the final customs duty cost ?

Do we need IE code to clear customs?

you missed the climax man, what happened with miner duties and how much effort and time it took and which custom office you were dealing with?

thanks for telling this man, which state is yours ?

Hell i got goosebumps while reading your experience. Sure its a nightmare. I can't thank you enough dear friend for sharing your experience. I have ordered the 2 X Antminer D3s in 2 separate orders and 1X APW3++ from Bitmain. Now i have to run for the IEC before the shipment is sent.
Thanks again.

if its Nov batch i am also in same boat as you, i think any company which has IEC and you know, they can give their IEC for your order

at last how much how much did you pay?
As now, according to my findings, taxes are:
customs duty is 10%
GST is 18%

suppose product cost= X
so, the amount will be:
X + shipping + 0.10X (customs) + 0.18(1.10X) (GST)
= 1.298X + shipping (29.8% extra from original amount)

so, you are right, % of duties and tax might be sum up around 30%

this is again my assumptions, please let us know how much did you pay?

Please share the customs clearance procedure if you received your shipment or will receive.
thanks in advance.

I cannot even see India listed on the drop down menu of countries. :o I missed the July batch and now I have decided to order for the November batch.
Anyone having the same problem?
Aren't they shipping to India this time?
Assuming that you were able to order directly from bimain earlier.
Should I opt for package forwarding services like Borderlinx, Aramex's Shop & Ship or similar?

I have order 2 D3 miners and my friend has ordered 3 D3 Miners.

we do not have a IEC number yet.

Do we have to apply for two different numbers from our product.
Since it comes in different billing address.



 

Any idea if borderlinx will work?

is anyone currently imported antminer s9 in India ? and is it clear by Indian customs ?

When everything from China is brought into india why not the miner ? Is it that much hard to bring in ? May be because of the recent hypes in past few months caused the customs to open their eyes to more money  :D

Damn...
Such shitty Indian customs... Moreover, all government bodies are slow as hell.
I was looking to buy from bitmain but sadly due to this nonsense I can't. Would have been nice if I could have been in Canada (0% customs :p)

0%?