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Post by Reivaj on Jan 22, 2014 13:59:30 GMT -9
When i started with Reivaj Minis, like a comercial product, i expected to be like any other minis producer: make what i like and earn a little of money. It´s what normal producers do, producers that lives in normal country, civilized countrys, conected to the world through internet, conected to a globalized world. Every day i live in Argentina i convince me that i don´t live in a country but an island, and increasingly isolate us more and more. When i started to earn some money with my minis, i started to look for how i can get it through paypal and i discovered that all the paypal offices (and all paypal) leave my islan, sorry country, because of the restrictions that the government put. Then the money can not be cashed in Argentina. I found a solution, if i can´t get the cash, i´ll buy stuff in Ebay (Stuff=action figures). Then i started bidding in auctions and bought some action figures in October and November. Because Custom restrictions, i received recently yesterday a custom notification that recent arrived. Today my "Dear" president and her team, restricted the internet comerce in Argentina, you can only do 2 buys in a year, if you do more than 2 purchases you must be registered as an importer and pay all the taxes that a real importer/trader does. Now i´m more isolate that yesterday and every day we lost more and more our freedon in this islan. Yesterday i had begun a new set of minis, to publish in rpgnow but my disappointment today is making me to think in finish with this little bussines and declare Reivaj minis Closed until i live in a country again and not on an island. Sorry for all this words that may be don´t interest to all of you but i need to make catharsis and write about it to let all the world how we live in the Argentina Islan. Sorry
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Post by Vermin King on Jan 22, 2014 14:32:14 GMT -9
That really bites. I was just thinking about adding some more Thrikreen tonight, and now this. I am so sorry. I don't suppose RPGNow has a way of just turning 'earnings' into 'store credit', do they?
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Post by migibb on Jan 22, 2014 14:57:35 GMT -9
That is so sad to hear Javier!!! I for one would be very sad to see you stop producing those great figures of yours!!
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Post by Reivaj on Jan 22, 2014 15:03:46 GMT -9
Thank you guys but don´t worry, like i said in facebook, may be is just my today depression and impotence, may be tomorrow will be a little more excited to continue doing minis, but today I feel very angry and impotent
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Post by Reivaj on Jan 22, 2014 15:08:14 GMT -9
Verming king: it is the only thing that least to do, use the money like store credit, unless the government starts to control what we downloaded from Internet
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 22, 2014 15:12:17 GMT -9
@reivaj - I appreciate getting a glimpse into how things operate elsewhere in the world. This is something that frankly I can't even comprehend. Blech. I was disappointed, too, to see this the day after I finally went and purchased a bunch of your minis! I hope you are able to find a way through what sounds like a miserable system!
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Post by gilius on Jan 22, 2014 16:19:10 GMT -9
I can relate In Brazil most stuff imported by people has 60% taxes added on top of the total cost i.e. including shipping. I hope you can find alternatives to keep your miniatures brand alive.
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Post by squirmydad on Jan 22, 2014 16:22:16 GMT -9
Bad government. Can you have a friend in another country cash out your account and mail you the money? Or does that get searched and regulated as well?
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Post by oldschooldm on Jan 22, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -9
Hmm. Could you open your own store that takes bitcoins?
Sorry that your country is stuck in the 20th century.
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Post by cowboyleland on Jan 22, 2014 19:25:17 GMT -9
2 online orders a year or you are an importer? Is there a cry of protest at least?
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 22, 2014 19:31:46 GMT -9
from BBC news...
"Anyone buying items through international websites will now need to sign a declaration and produce it at a customs office, where the packages have to be collected.
The procedure will need to be repeated for every new purchase.
Argentina's reserves of hard currencies dropped by 30% last year.
The government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has introduced a number of restrictions on transactions with foreign currency.
Items imported through websites such as Amazon and eBay are no longer delivered to people's home addresses. The parcels need to be collected from the customs office.
Individuals are allowed to buy items up to the value of $25 (£15) from abroad tax free every year. Once the $25 level is reached, online shoppers in Argentina need to pay a 50% tax on each item bought from international websites.
The government tightened the restrictions later on Wednesday limiting tax-free purchases to two a year."
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Post by mesper on Jan 22, 2014 20:11:30 GMT -9
Bad, bad news...
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Post by Christopher Roe on Jan 23, 2014 4:34:22 GMT -9
That's distressing. I hope that reverts or gets thrown out before too long. I can't see it being an economically successful policy over the long run.
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Post by WackyAnne on Jan 23, 2014 5:00:22 GMT -9
Reivaj, I am so very sorry to hear about you and your country's difficulties. I do know some of the background, having studied Latin American culture and politics as part of my honours degree at university, and one of my professors was an Argentinian self-exile. In the last 5 years I've been too wrapped up in family concerns to follow along, and became complacent. The Canadian government, or more specially the ruling political party, is showing many policy initiatives (secret & some not-so-secret) reminiscent of early 1930's Nazi policy, but we are at least not yet experiencing the erosion of personal and economic freedoms that you are. It sounds like your government's scrambling to little too late after the rich have cashed out of the country :/ (I'd be writing this in rusty Spanish if I wasn't on my phone, disculpeme)
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Post by emergencyoverride on Jan 23, 2014 7:54:30 GMT -9
Sorry to hear that bro. That really sucks. It doesnt sound like the government really thought this one through. I hope it changes for the better soon.
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Post by aaron on Jan 23, 2014 8:27:04 GMT -9
I understand that from a countries point of view that when your people start purchasing things online they are in a sense sending domestic money to a foreign country. This will deflate the economy ... money that is sent away that can essentially never be reclaimed ... I can see why they would want to restrict that .... HOWEVER, by opening up online companies in said country, you will be generating income from foreign sources so in a sense your getting money from outside sources to balance out the money that is leaving and in a healthy economic environment you have more money coming into a country vie internet business than you do going out so overall you have a net gain ... setting restrictions like this is only going to keep Argentina in a third world state and help to depress the economy further... it just doesn't make sense?
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Post by Vermin King on Jan 23, 2014 8:32:53 GMT -9
from BBC news... "Anyone buying items through international websites will now need to sign a declaration and produce it at a customs office, where the packages have to be collected. The procedure will need to be repeated for every new purchase. Argentina's reserves of hard currencies dropped by 30% last year. The government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has introduced a number of restrictions on transactions with foreign currency. Items imported through websites such as Amazon and eBay are no longer delivered to people's home addresses. The parcels need to be collected from the customs office. Individuals are allowed to buy items up to the value of $25 (£15) from abroad tax free every year. Once the $25 level is reached, online shoppers in Argentina need to pay a 50% tax on each item bought from international websites. The government tightened the restrictions later on Wednesday limiting tax-free purchases to two a year." I originally thought they were just being jerks, but in this light, it seems to make sense somewhat. IMF, foreign creditors, ratings agencies all put up requirements for government central banks. It sounds like they are in a pinch. I doubt it is as bad as the government seems to think, but what Argentina really needs is to increase exports in order to bring more currency in. If they are not being successful with hard resources, they need to consider doing so with less tangibles, like designers selling things on the internet, bringing in funds from around the world. Will any of the decision-makers see this? No, unfortunately. EDIT: Seems that Aaron posted while I was putting my thoughts together
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Post by Reivaj on Jan 24, 2014 16:48:33 GMT -9
Thank you very much for the support!! Like i said in Facebook i feel your support closer than other people near me. Thanks to all my internet friends. Things are worse, today i went to custom to recieve a pack and they said me that i can receieve only two of my packages and the other will be returned to the origins. I can´t believe it. All my purchases were made in October and november and were retained to release them in these days when they can steal the stuff, because i doubt that the packs will be returned
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Post by Vermin King on Jan 24, 2014 17:29:28 GMT -9
damn...
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jan 24, 2014 18:21:40 GMT -9
Here in South Africa, we also have really tight exchange control, so until about 2 years ago Paypal was not an option here. It's only an option here now because one of the major banks engineered a legal workaround that allows the Paypal withdrawals to go through the standard ForEx procedures... The workaround takes a long time to process and has some hefty fees and taxes, so several other people land up profiting from my labour along the way.
There was a quasi-legal workaround that involved setting up a business on US or European soil that had its own bank account and PO Box address, and as such was treated as a legal entity in that country even though it was owned by someone living outside of it. That would allow someone to operate a paypal account as if they were a US or EU citizen with all the benefits, but was even more expensive because there's a lot more fees and you have to pay taxes to two different governments.
These anecdotes aside, OneBookshelf can also pay you by cheque and I'm quite certain your local banks will honor that (it would be a standard foreign exchange deal in that case, and have the formal paper trail which paypal lacks.)
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Post by Vermin King on Jan 25, 2014 2:37:30 GMT -9
But still he would be unable to get more than two shipments per year. I was wondering how it works for packages from individuals outside Argentina. I think we have several members from Brazil. I don't know how shipping costs are from Brazil to Argentina, but it should certainly be less than from the US or EU. Can you have things shipped in that way?
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jan 25, 2014 5:20:52 GMT -9
But still he would be unable to get more than two shipments per year. I was wondering how it works for packages from individuals outside Argentina. I think we have several members from Brazil. I don't know how shipping costs are from Brazil to Argentina, but it should certainly be less than from the US or EU. Can you have things shipped in that way? If I understand correctly, he's buying stuff from e-bay because he can't withdraw the paypal money... but if he's getting paid by cheque, that's not an issue. As for the importing, if he gets a trusted friend to buy on his behalf and send it as a gift, that might alleviate the import tax problem.
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Post by Reivaj on Jan 25, 2014 14:31:32 GMT -9
Since three days ago all the packages are retained in customs (gifts too). I don´t know how the new laws work with gifts. About cheque i asked OneBookshelf and they say that don´t know if Argentinean Banks will change them. i´ll ask to the banks
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Post by WackyAnne on Feb 8, 2014 19:41:31 GMT -9
Reivaj, I don't think it will help your situation much, but I offer what I support I can. I bought all the minis I was missing from your catalogue, except for the U.S. Ragers, for historical reasons. It may not do much, but if a cheque works out, then it will be a little bigger and a little sooner. I really hope that you don't discontinue selling your wonderful miniatures, or abandon the hobby in frustration. We would all miss you, and your work.
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Post by enpeze on Apr 3, 2014 2:34:16 GMT -9
Reivaj, I just added the mushroomans, the catfolk and the absolutely amazing elves from you to my collection and I will assemble them ASAIC. I hope you will not give up because of economical reasons. Your minis are really great and it would be a substantial loss for all if you quit.
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