Fuji GF670

[Huss]

I think that my be a flaw due to the CoVid era that we are in.
I would not hand over my SS # either.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Pledge furniture polish on a bellows? You gotta be kidding. Vinyl or urethane bellows material might tolerate it. But natural leather and leatherette are going to suffer. Gosh I read some strange things on this forum.

 

[Oldwino]

FedEx from Japan is terrible. Always use EMS (Japan Post) or DHL. I’ve never paid any customs fees using them.

 

[Huss]

DHL tried to hold a package for customs fees. It actually was a Nikon F2 that Sover Wong had serviced and sent back to me.
Which made it even worse, as it was not a purchase. After my refusal, and asking on what basis they were charging me customs fees, they relented.
So it seemed like a good old shake down attempt to me.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Did you make a formal complaint to someone higher up in Fedex. These parcels carrier outfits do get infiltrated by crooks sometimes. Being asked to hand over a SS number is a red flag.

 

[warden]

I cannot know for sure what they need my social security for. Generally, I avoid dealing with the government unless I'm forced to. I told Fedex that I do not believe in filling out forms to receive a 17 year old used photo camera and if this cannot be resolved without me reporting my SSN, the package should go back to the sender.

No arguments here. They don’t need your social for this. Let it go.

 

[MattKing]

Here is what I know based on my former experience as a Canadian Customs officer and my observations on how the US Customs system works (relatively similarly)
If you are importing a $2,500.00 item that you purchased used, it doesn't matter if it is used or new, it still may be subject to duties, and there still are regulations applicable to the importation.
If you are dealing with the return of an item that was sent out of the country for repair, the situation is different but while most likely there is a special tariff item for return of repaired merchandise that renders the importation duty free, you still may be required to declare the goods and claim that particular exemption. There are some additional complexities, but I'm sure they don't apply to cameras.
When you get a courier to bring items from outside your country to you, whether you purchased them outside the country or had them repaired outside the country, you are naming the courier as your agent for the purposes of the importation. If you had, instead, brought the camera into the country yourself by showing up at the border with it, you could very well be required to fill out that form and give your Social Security number. If you are required to provide it with a personal importation, your agent (the courier) will have the same responsibilities.
The volume of cross border shipments means that requirements like this aren't always enforced. There are also thresholds in place that result in the requirements not applying to low value personal importations. If, however, the customs officials have suspicions that the importations are being done for a commercial purpose - such as a commercial photographer importing equipment for their business - then the rules and requirements are much more rigorously enforced.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I once went through paperwork hell accepting shipment of a Sinar 4x5 Norma camera from the UK because they wanted to make sure none of their electronics technology secrets were being being compromised by someone in another country getting ahold of one their cameras! The sheer irony couldn't have been more ridiculous.
Here's a vintage early 70's camera made in Switzerland long before consumer electronics as we now know it even existed, containing exactly zero electrical components, and it's getting shipped to someone who lives near world epicenter of electronics technology, and they're worried about losing a trade secret how to make some rubber bathtub duck quack with a British accent using a battery device, or something like that? It also was unwisely shipped Fedex, who was half the problem.
I was a career buyer for a sales corporation for several decades; we had Fedex trucks arrive daily, and they could be sheer hell to deal with if something went wrong, like a damaged parcel concealed within a larger pallet of boxes, or something missing entirely.