Customs charges!!

[Petedillon]

Just wondering is anyone else getting hit with custom charges more regularly? My last 3 buys from US have been and wondered if it was a new crackdown 

[Jimmy Mack]

a bunch of Cee U Next Tuesday's

[Jimmy Mack]

seems it's anything over £15 ,you have to ask the us sellers to put a low price on the package so you don't get a charge .

[Petedillon]

Ok thanks.  So asking them to mark it 'a gift' doesn't work?

[Dylan]

Its the handling fee that used to wind me up....

 

Sometimes more than the customs.

[Samplat]

Also the big ticket items have now got lower limits. Used to be £2000 and now it's £800. Had a five page customs import form to fill because I bought one and he put full value of $1200 on it. It's a serious form

[Jimmy Mack]

2 hours ago, PeteDillon said:

Ok thanks.  So asking them to mark it 'a gift' doesn't work?

yeah you could try that as well 

[Jimmy Mack]

i phoned hmrc about being charged VAT on a 7" that was 50years old ,VAT wasn't invented when this was out and it was second hand ,not having it anything that comes into the country is rated for VAT  i told her robbing barstewards why not go after vodafone (they owe 6 billion ) starbucks and the like they owe millions but they have lawyers that can tie hmrc up in knots us plebs have to suck it up .

[Frankie Crocker]

Got to contact seller to make 'special arrangement'. Maybe divert to US contact for safe delivery and forwarding. Tricky business really but alternatives exist. Get to know the main sellers and their MO - they are generally flexible and open to suggestion.

[Guest Abraxas]

Where are you ??? the UK ??? In Canada , this has been a scandal for ages and even generated class action law suits. The key, at least here, is to avoid all couriers and ask for your goods to be shipped via USPS. They have treaties all over the world to have goods pre-cleared through Customs.

[Guest Abraxas]

Most customs are onto the 'gift' thing and you run some serious risks. You need to be more specific about who is charging you what and for what reason. Goods returning to their nation of manufacture are duty free, for example.

[Smudger]

And soon you" May" be paying it for anything bought from Europe !

[Chris L]

15 hours ago, PeteDillon said:

Just wondering is anyone else getting hit with custom charges more regularly? My last 3 buys from US have been and wondered if it was a new crackdown 

It's the law unfortunately, always, but always ask seller to put low value, I always ask for max $20.00.

[Easty]

It has to be realeted to value Pete. I got stung on one last year. When I found out why, the next time I bought something that was over the value threshold I just got the seller to understate the value and never got charged. Can't remember what it is, and it obviously varies according to exchange rates on a daily basis so you have to allow for that but I'm sure you'd find out online..

 

[Gazoor]

Unfortunately the value of the item includes postal charges, which have gone up quite a lot.. doubled in fact over the last couple of years and postage costs are plainly seen on the mailer.

I agree with Dylan above... the handling fees of £7 or £8 for having to collect the item yourself is a massive p***take!!

[Guest Soulful Si]

If you ask the seller to put value of $20 and it goes missing in the post, my understanding is that the most you can claim in insurance is $20...

[Johnty]

If the items are over £15 in value you are liable for VAT so also incurring the post office handling charged if records + postage go over £30 you then start to incur the import duties as well , got done recently on VAT when I purchased 3 records from Daptone the value of the records was $20.97 taking it over the £15 limit ended up paying £11.75 fees , I always ask sellers to put low figure on items ie $5.99 & take the risk even on high end stuff but some dealers now not prepared to do it

[John Reed]

8 minutes ago, johnty said:

I always ask sellers to put low figure on items ie $5.99 & take the risk even on high end stuff but some dealers now not prepared to do it

The problem with that, its the seller who takes the risk if a package gets lost or damaged in transit not the buyer.  They're the ones who have to put in a claim on the postal service for loss or damage, which is why some sellers are less happy putting a low value on the packages as that's the amount they can claim if anything goes wrong.

Edited June 27, 2017 by John Reed

[Johnty]

1 minute ago, John Reed said:

The problem with that is, its the seller who takes the risk if a package gets lost or damaged in transit not the buyer.  they are the ones who have to put in a claim on the postal service for loss or damage, not the buyer.  That's why some sellers are less happy putting a low value on the packages as that's the amount they can claim if anything goes wrong.

Agree you just have to accept the risk not the seller,  but now there is a new handling facility more are getting caught I have no problem paying the VAT & import duties its the handling charge which is wrong

[Jimmy Mack]

how about putting a charge to the post office for collecting the parcel ?

[Johnny Northern]

£8 a package is good business for the recently privatised Royal Mail, it's easy money. Who else charges for collecting taxes? The issue is not paying tax, everyone should pay what is due, It's the handling charge.

[Gilly]

Yes you have to pay handling charges, so what does the postage stamp cost mean

[Tlscapital]

A lot have been said already. Taxes is a very old practice. Existing since the days of old (Kings and Queens, Elfs and Hobits...) called differently according the morality of the day with sometimes slightly different aims. So VAT is actually dating far back in human history. It's purpose can be double or one only at times.

Serving at times to protect the "local/national" economy from "unfair/uneven" competition and/or at other/same time to bring in some money into the authority's budget/wallet. In history some "ridiculous" taxes were introduce with undesired outcome to be finally withdrawn in "shame".

If you come to visit Belgium, you'll see many "blinded" windows on "old" houses because at one time, a tax on windows was introduce. So the more windows your house had, the bigger the tax ticket was. Landlords swift reaction; to brick as many not "crucial" widows as possible... Then when that tax was lifted off, the landlords found it too expensive to put back all those windows.

In the "modern" world of Economy and consumerism, it is often used to protect the local economies from "unfair/uneven" competition. In these volatile nowadays "perverted and polluted" economies the authorities are pursuing the consumers money any which way they can.

VAT stands for "value added tax". So to apply VAT once on an out of the factory product have it's "original" sense. But being able to apply that every time it's sold on, on a used object is just plain steal. Without intervening, the tax man could make a profit out of the same once, twice, trice... again taxed object. Sold on every time, the same object small or huge can fetch in taxes 100 times worth it's original or last face value ! Scandalous or outrageous ?

What I find rather "trashy" is that even the shipping costs are calculated into the object value. Meaning you pay VAT on the stamps also... For those who don't understand why some sellers are charging higher than others on shipping fees, eBay is charging fees on the shipping costs as well. So not only the States are feeding on the consumer's back...

The consumer is the new financial "cow" since the "big companies" were given the opportunity to escape taxes... 

[Northern Soul Uk]

Yes I have been caught out a few times, but I think it's pretty random that you get charged. For instance a few weeks ago, I got charged one day for a record that cost about £30 from the states, and the next day didn't get charged for one that cost over £60? Don't ask.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Northern Soul UK

[Mike Lofthouse]

On 27/06/2017 at 14:23, John Reed said:

The problem with that, its the seller who takes the risk if a package gets lost or damaged in transit not the buyer.  They're the ones who have to put in a claim on the postal service for loss or damage, which is why some sellers are less happy putting a low value on the packages as that's the amount they can claim if anything goes wrong.

You are also asking him to make a false declaration on an official  government form - they might not be inclined to do that.

The way I look at it  you should factor in all the possible costs when making your bid or purchase - if the seller does put a low valuation on the package consider it a bonus.   

Also why would expect a private profit making company - be it the Post Office or courier - to contact you and collect the charges plus store the item for up to three weeks on behalf of the government free of charge?   

[Tlscapital]

False decla

14 hours ago, Mike Lofthouse said:

You are also asking him to make a false declaration on an official  government form - they might not be inclined to do that.

The way I look at it  you should factor in all the possible costs when making your bid or purchase - if the seller does put a low valuation on the package consider it a bonus.   

Also why would expect a private profit making company - be it the Post Office or courier - to contact you and collect the charges plus store the item for up to three weeks on behalf of the government free of charge?   

The authorities might not be incline to put so much effort to "investigate" if a fraud that involve likely less money than what it would cost them is rather thin...

The seller on the other hand if selling through a "big" site is require to follow the site regulation that is at the same time in respect with every country custom and fiscal regulation. For the seller's risk to take blame.

Because a profit company with a monopole is free to find it's profit everywhere it can !

Yesterday, due to a misunderstanding from an American seller, I got in my mail box a pair of 45's that added above $22 (above that value Belgium Custom VAT & fee$ are applied) that I did require to be ship separately though. So the pair of 45 transited through Custom. It's summer, holiday time and the postman is on holiday. Students are doing the job and likely didn't read the custom sheet/slip on the parcel to require me the €25 custom VAT (€10) and fees (€15) before handling me the parcel... Instead plain and simple drop in my mail box.

Relieved & happy ! Both the seller and I 

Edited July 5, 2017 by tlscapital

[JIMMY SOUL]

The handling fees is a parasitic operation it really is - it's basically a legal form of extortion and I fail to see how it can cost £8 to not deliver the package, and to bung it on a shelf in a warehouse... in any case, Royal Mail are providing a service to HMRC i.e. collecting the VAT money, so why is that being passed on to the customer? Surely HMRC should be paying Royal Mail for that service...

I had a very odd situation recently where I had a record that I paid maybe $250 or something for it, and I asked the seller to mark it low. He replied "don't worry - I'll take care of you!"
So I then get the ticket of doom thought the post, and go to collect the item, and prepare myself for paying the £40 fee or whatever - but when I get there, the bloke behind the counter hands me the packet, I pay nothing, and I walk out of there a bit confused. When I inspect the packet, the dealer had written "value $65" and I'm think WTF so he marked it at a random "lower" figure, well I've never got to the bottom of what went on there, but I feel like I must have dropped lucky!

Anyway, more importantly regarding the import fees - according to HMRC website antiques are exempt from VAT.

Antiques definition:
a collectable object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its age and quality. 

Now without doubt this applies to original vinyl - it's collectable, it's valuable, it's old, and it's quality

Perhaps this is what needs to happen, rather than "used record" which is what is normally written, dealers should write "antique vinyl record" on the import slip and we can avoid this altogether?
I fail to accept that a Claris Cliff teapot is an antique, and a 40/50 year old original soul record is not - I plan to phone HMRC about this for some definitive clarification.
 

[Kjw]

3 hours ago, JIMMY SOUL said:

The handling fees is a parasitic operation it really is - it's basically a legal form of extortion and I fail to see how it can cost £8 to not deliver the package, and to bung it on a shelf in a warehouse... in any case, Royal Mail are providing a service to HMRC i.e. collecting the VAT money, so why is that being passed on to the customer? Surely HMRC should be paying Royal Mail for that service...

I had a very odd situation recently where I had a record that I paid maybe $250 or something for it, and I asked the seller to mark it low. He replied "don't worry - I'll take care of you!"
So I then get the ticket of doom thought the post, and go to collect the item, and prepare myself for paying the £40 fee or whatever - but when I get there, the bloke behind the counter hands me the packet, I pay nothing, and I walk out of there a bit confused. When I inspect the packet, the dealer had written "value $65" and I'm think WTF so he marked it at a random "lower" figure, well I've never got to the bottom of what went on there, but I feel like I must have dropped lucky!

Anyway, more importantly regarding the import fees - according to HMRC website antiques are exempt from VAT.

Antiques definition:
a collectable object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its age and quality. 

Now without doubt this applies to original vinyl - it's collectable, it's valuable, it's old, and it's quality

Perhaps this is what needs to happen, rather than "used record" which is what is normally written, dealers should write "antique vinyl record" on the import slip and we can avoid this altogether?
I fail to accept that a Claris Cliff teapot is an antique, and a 40/50 year old original soul record is not - I plan to phone HMRC about this for some definitive clarification.
 

I totally agree with your comment that Royal Mail should be charging HMRC the handling fee

Good luck with the phone call to them though - the length of time you're kept on hold will make you feel like you've lost a huge chunk out of your life and the cost of it will be more than any amount you've spent on customs fees

[Mike Lofthouse]

But the Post Office are not storing the record on behalf of HMRC - they are storing it for the buyer who may choose to leave it three weeks before settling his bill and collecting it.  

Basically when you buy a record from the US you know that if it is over a certain value (inc postage) you may possibly incur custom fees and VAT and that the PO will charge you collecting these fees and looking after your package in the meantime.  It's simple really if you don't like it, don't buy from the US.......