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Buying cigarettes online-reliable or not?

D

David25

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2010
1
0
Has anyone bought cigarettes online that come from a different country? For instance, tobacco or cigarettes, you can buy these online way cheaper, is it illegal to do that? or what about the Tax part of it? If you buy cigarettes online and you aren't paying any tax on them just shipping and handling, are you then responsible to pay state tax on them? I have friends who buy tobacco online and these pay just for shipping, I somehow wonder if this is illegal or if you can get in trouble for not paying state tax? Does anyone experienced such situations, what can you advise or suggest?
Thank you
 
At least here in Finland, it's illegal, I think it's considered as smuggling. Only certain stores have the permission to sell cigarettes here. It may be reliable but possibly illegal, especially the tax part so in the worst case scenario, you end up getting a bigger bill than you thought.

A lot of my friends do it and they also buy snuff as that is not sold here and they haven't got caught. You could ask your friend to buy some for you too and then pay him back. That way you shouldn't get into trouble that easily
 
You are generally limited to how many contraband cigarettes you can have in each state, then you get into the seizure/fine/jail level.

But they are mostly going after resellers instead of consumers anyhow, so unless you buy and share/resell you aren't going to have to worry too much.

Unless you live in a state like California who routinely combs the credit card databases of residents, big brother shouldn't be watching too closely. However, CA does work with other states to share ideas on recapturing unpaid taxes.
 
Your profile doesn't list where you are from.
The cheapest place to buy cigarettes is on native American lands .
Online cigarette sales are usually reliable but often you have to pay by check as credit card companies may not allow that kind of purchase.
Of course the cheapest way is to quit like many of us.
 
I used to buy plenty from yesmoke.ch ($15/carton). Unfortunately, Uncle Sam wasn't getting his cut. So, he seized all of their incoming shipments and effectively shut them down in the States. I've also made one order from cigoutlet.net without any issues.
 
lewis82 said:
In Canada, while it is effectively the cheapest place, you can't bring them out of the reserve.
Click to expand...

You must be joking. lol

EVERYONE buys them for fun, friends and profit.

They've even found that 3 in 10 butts around the Ontario Parliament buildings are Native smokes. :D

If you smoke, please quit. If you don't, please don't start. :(
 
iJohnHenry said:
You must be joking. lol

EVERYONE buys them for fun, friends and profit.

They've even found that 3 in 10 butts around the Ontario Parliament buildings are Native smokes. :D

If you smoke, please quit. If you don't, please don't start. :(
Click to expand...

It's still illegal, just as pot is illegal, yet kids smoke some in the cemetery next to the secondary school.

They can potentially arrest someone for possession of these, but will only do so for large quantities. I remember having read in the paper that they had caught someone with 20 000 contraband cigarettes, and they did take him to court.
 
No way. I'd never do that, even if I smoked. I would never 100% trust any site that sells medicines or cigarettes online.
 
HTML: 
No way. I'd never do that, even if I smoked. I would never
 100% trust any site that sells medicines
 or cigarettes online
These two things should not be lumped together. Online cigarette sales predate prescriptions by at least 5 years. They to were usually native American operations.
It is not illegal to walk onto a reservation and buy 3 cartons for personal use. More than that is intent to resell. I use to buy from the Mohawks
 
I saw a BBC documentary about cigarette bootlegging the other day.
Price and legality are the least thing smokers should be worried about. It turned out that the vast majority of cigarettes being sold in illegal circles are fake Chinese products. After laboratory analyses it turned out that they contained as much as 30 times(!) the levels of toxic chemicals such as arsenic and lead when compared to regular cigarettes. Lovely! So essentially, smoking 1 pack would thus be equivalent to 600 cigarettes. :eek:
Then again, what smoker has ever heeded warnings about the dangers of their filthy habit... :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Hellhammer said:
A spammer (which has now been banned) revived this thread, not kalsta. Obviously, the spammer's post was deleted, hence it looks like kalsta revived this thread.
Click to expand...

Right. I saw an opportunity to make a little joke at the expense of both thread bumpers and smokers, but everyone disappeared and I was left holding the lighter when teacher walked in. :eek: So thanks for clarifying!

jessica. said:
Oh man, my sincere apologies to kalsta.
Click to expand...

No worries. Thanks for the apology. :)
 
kalsta said:
Right. I saw an opportunity to make a little joke at the expense of both thread bumpers and smokers, but everyone disappeared and I was left holding the lighter when teacher walked in. :eek: So thanks for clarifying!



No worries. Thanks for the apology. :)
Click to expand...

Document it, it doesn't come often. :D
 
lewis82 said:
In Canada, while it is effectively the cheapest place, you can't bring them out of the reserve.
Click to expand...

Depending on the province, yes you can. We're allowed up to 3 cartons per month leaving the reserve for personal use. So much as 1 cigarette more and the police will crucify you. I've bought them from both Ontario and Alberta reserves.

Edit - DAMMIT fell for a spambot revival...
 
Oh, are we bringing this one back on-topic? :D

I brought back a carton of smokes from Mexico once. They were cheap (less than half-price vs. American-market cigarettes) but clearly different. I strongly suspect that they were mostly sawdust. :(
 
I do NOT smoke but this is what happened to my best friend's Mother. In 1998she began buying cigarettes online. In the year 2004 she got a tax bill from the state that said she owed $17,000 in back taxes from NOT paying taxes whilst ordering them online. I do not understand how the state found out she was buying them online but they DID and sent her a massive tax bill.
 
I wouldn't trust buying cigarettes online-- you might get some that don't have poison in them!
 
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