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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:01 am 
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FYI:

Those of you who are receiving the item in Canada,
Please be aware that there is a Custom Clearance charge+Brokerage Fee of $30.58!!!!

I bought the cable with VGA + PS2 Keyboard + PS2 Mouse Cable and a month later, I received a mail from fedex that I have to pay Custom Clearance charge AND Brokerage Fees.

$1.80 Duty and $19 Brokerage fee for $70 cable? Holy..

Anyway no problem on the cable itself, worked perfectly and no problem.. but it's just the hidden cost that I am concerned about..

So be aware before ordering!


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 11:09 am 
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in general for you northern folks (and people shipping to the north)-if you ship by US postal service parcel post you can avoid those crazy fees that fedex and ups charge and MOST of the paperwork involved too.

not sure if in this case Charles wants to be bothered- folks would need to ask him.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm 
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My daughter who imports some stuff from US always asks for USPS transport instead of UPS or others, because there is no custom charges with USPS.

I asked Charles to send me my cable through USPS, and I had no such charges.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:23 am 
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Sorry that you got charged brokerage fees. From all the cables I made and sent to Canada and abroad, this is the first reported incident of duties and taxes being charged (and I have been making cables for six months now).

Typically items that are under one pound (16 ounces) AND less than $100 in value are not charged duties and taxes. HOWEVER, it is at the discretion of the customs officer who handles that particular package on that particular day.

FedEx International shipping (aka registered mail shipping) requires that the shipper includes a customs declaration form, whether the item being shipped falls under the above criteria or not. FedEx's requirements for shipping are typically more strict (for example, requiring the receiver's phone number) but to their credit, they do an excellent job tracking and taking responsibility for lost packages. If a cable is lost via FedEx, I will ship a replacement cable immediately.

USPS shipping to Canada (non-registered mail) does not require a customs form for items that are less than one pound (16 ounces) and less than $100 in value. However, you get no tracking and no responsibility for lost packages. If a cable is lost via USPS, I will not ship a replacement cable. You pay less but take more risks.

I will include a blurb in the first post about international duties that will hopefully alleviate any surprises about fees. I agree that international folks should be aware of duties and taxes for their particular country. My intentions are to help the community and not bombard you with hidden fees.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:11 pm 
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Just to let you guys know that I ordered my VGA & PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard cable from Charles in the US on Tuesday, it was shipped the following day (Wednesday) and it arrived at my house in the UK this morning (Monday) :shock:

Cable looks really well-made... 8)

It's too early to tell if I may be liable for any Customs Charges/Import Duty but whatever happens this was really great service. :D

If you are worried about ordering from the US for International shipping to the UK I would say don't hesitate...no need to worry. :P

All I need to do now is open up the MSS and fit the cable and my 2GB RAM... :wink:

Thanks Charles!

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:23 pm 
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Charles,

I ordered on sunday night (early monday in fact), and the cable was shipped on wednesday.
On the following monday, the USPS mentioned “Attempted Delivery Abroad”, but I didn’t get any paper notice in my mailbox. Because a lack of international procedure, I didn’t know how to request a redelivery, neither where to retrieve the item. They tried to deliver several time during the week but I was not at home. Finally, I was delivered on saturday, so Charles did delivered very quickly, but I did lose almost one week due to USPS lack of information.

The cable was looking nice, and I immediately tried it. The video displayed the boot screen at the first trial, but the blue signal was missing, and I had to connect the USB keyboard in the front connector rather than a rear one. The USB mouse is working fine from a rear connector.

Even without the blue signal, this cable saved my life !!!!
I could reactivate the LAN connection easily, and recover the access to my server.

By removing the cable I discovered a broken wire (the blue signal), and then decided to keep the cable definitively installed rather to install and remove it. Soldering the broken wire was a bit tight, but it’s working fine now, and I am using the VGA input of my monitor, whereas the PC is using the DVI one, so I can easily switch between both.

Thanks a lot Charles, your cable did greatly help.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:53 am 
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Hi Glaps,

Thank you for the pictures! Your box looks great!

I'm am saddended of your experience with shipping overseas. You think that paying $24 to ship stuff overseas, that they would get it right. Before I ship any cable, I test the strength and signal-integrity of each wire to make sure that connections are good and strong. I take a lot of pride in making my cables, so to think that you not only had to wait an extra week, but also had one of your wires loose, saddens me. I do my best to deliver cables in a timely fashion but keep in mind that once a cable leave my hands, it is out of my control.

Usually I hear good reviews of shipping overseas. Can you tell us the destination country to perhaps give a heads up to others? I can assure you that most destinations get their cable in a timely (and workable) fashion.

I'm glad you were able to get things working, despite some of the hickups.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:56 am 
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I am announcing that my little cable making service will be suspended November 12th 2008. If you are interested in a cable, email me (see first post in this topic) to have your request put in line.

Why the suspension? I am working remotely for a few weeks following the American Thanksgiving Holiday and I do not have the resources to take all my cable-building-gear nor the MediaSmart server itselef (no I do not want to travel with the MediaSmart Server in-tow).

It's been really fun helping you guys out and I look forward in seeing all the cool extensions and advances being made (especially in the Linux front).


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:27 pm 
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Cakalapati,

When you say suspended as of November 12, do you mean permanently or just for a few weeks?

TIA.

Rene


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:50 pm 
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guess I better speak up now before it's bye bye-

I ordered a KVM cable a couple weeks ago.

I didn't get a chance to take my MSS apart just yet to try it out (hence I didn't post my final review)- but he shipped within the timeframes promised and the cable's look just like the pictures here- very well done and professonal looking.

been busy at work or I would have gotten that bad boy in there to fiddle iwth my bios. Hopefully this weekend.

thanks!


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 1:31 pm 
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Hi there,

want to give my comment before it´s to late.
I ordered the cable on 12.10.08, it was shipped out on 15.10.08 am finally after some trouble with the german customs I got it today, on 23.10.08.

So really fast I guess.

Cable is already tested and working fine, Charles did a very good job.

Thanks from germany

Mike69

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:15 am 
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Charles,

Thank you very much!
I got the cable, installed it and everything works perfectly. A very quality looking/performing cable.
I highly recommend this.

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:10 am 
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oooohhhhhh!!! I hope my order made it in on time. I cant wait I should have done this a while ago


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:37 am 
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Well, this marks the end of the cable building service. I've been doing this for over six months now and I can say, it's a lot of work (but a lot of fun too).

My sincerest thanks goes out to Alex for hosting this forum, ymboc for figuring out the VGA pinout, HP for releasing the connector specs, and finally to all those who've ordered a cable and used that cable to wow the community. Thank you thank you thank you!

Will I resume the service? Several people have asked me this question and my answer is "maybe". I would like to resume the service in January 2009 but there are no guarantees. I have some work commitments in the near future that will keep me pretty busy. Oh yeah, there's also Thanksgiving and Christmas too!

Thanks again and I hope to be able to help you all again.
Charles

ps: To all those who got their request in before the service ended, your order will be going out shortly


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:32 am 
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Thanks for making these available, Charles, I know a lot of us have benefited from your work. 8)

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