OT-Having a package shipped from US-UK

[polygonum]

The HMRC really do not help with all the oddities about charges - different rules for duty versus VAT, and so on. No wonder there is a lot of confusion.

I can state that although we buy quite a lot of things from abroad, we have NEVER been charged when the value of the goods only has been less than £15 - even when (goods + P&P) has been over.

We HAVE been charged VAT when the value of goods only has been only a few pence over £15. (Actually, it worked out no more expensive in that case to abandon the goods to be returned to the shipper and re-order having made a tiny change which kept the price below £15.)

[Adam Funk]

The limits are also absurdly low for 2012. They ought to be automatically scaled with inflation.

[Man at B&Q]

They're high enough to make it worthwhile companies shipping orders for DVDs from the US now that the Channel Island scam has been closed down.

You don't go to the high street and not pay VAT if you spend less than =A315. Why allow imports to be VAT free at all?

MBQ

[Adam Funk]

Gifts? (The limit is higher, but not good enough.)

Apart from that, I only import stuff that I can't get here.

[polygonum]

We import quite a bit which is actually significantly cheaper - despite postage, etc. - than it is in the UK, as well as stuff that is not available.

Luckily it tends to be several small things so can often be split across multiple orders.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Similarly, the Irish PO issue airmail stickers for letter post to the UK, even though there's no choice in the way a letter is carried. Surface mail for larger stuff is available and you pay extra for air carriage on that, anyway.