Ordered up some bits from the US which I'll likely have to pay import duty on. Tracking says they arrived at UK customs on the 20th. I presumed they send me a postcard saying how much to pay, then deliver after payment? How long does this normally take?
I'd have thought the issuing of the payment demand to be automated so near instant?
IME of this, Royal Mail pays the charges (import duty, VAT) and adds their handling fee. You then have to pay the whole lot before they give you the package.
Yes - I remember it seeming a large amount for what's involved. Last time I did this some time ago. But it seemed to be a speedy process.
Do they take ages to do this? It arrived in the UK (2 days) in a much shorter time than I've been waiting to pay, as it were. The tracking seems to end at customs.
Well I've only done it the once (some static RAM for a 68000 SBC to take it up to a whopping 2Mbytes) but I seem to recall it all bumped the cost up 25% or so. There wasn't a significant delay once the stuff touched these shores, as I recall.
ISTR that the letter from RM/Parcelforce takes a few days to arrive. This letter details the amounts of import duty, vat and handling charge payable. IIRC the RM handling charge is ?8. This is all payable online. HTH Nick.
Thanks. I suppose being the PO they might shut down for the weekend. ;-) I'd have thought it would have been sent out automatically with no human involvement - but perhaps not.
If it's DHL they'll deliver it without saying that anything's due, then a while later, when you've forgotten all about it, start sending reminders about unpaid bills, which don't say what they are about and which you'll ignore because you don't do business with them, and then they'll send you a solicitor's letter and then you might then remember the delivery you had months ago and were surprised not to be charged duty etc for.
They seemed to stop about half-way through that process for a watch I imported a few years ago, they sent an invoice, which I genuinely lost and assumed they'd send another one after a week or two, never heard another peep ...
My recollection is that the delay can be so long as to render some biological specimens for urgent analysis completely useless.
A lab I knew had a framed letter displayed on the wall from HM Customs which said in precis that:
"Your sample of elephant urine has been with customs for 6 months now and if you do not pay the fees and collect it within two weeks it will be sold off at auction to the highest bidder"
The letter informing them that the sample had been impounded by customs arrived so late that the urgent sample was already not worth analysing.
If you are lucky you get a card saying it can't be delivered until you take some dosh to the local sorting office or attach stamps to the equivalent value to the notification card and send it back.
Sometimes things just get through unmolested by happenstance.
Thought you only paid duty on things of some value? Wouldn't have thought that applied to urine. Perhaps they were taking the piss.
Last time I imported something was a few years ago, and I paid online.
I've bought from abroad several times in the last year or so. From China or HK they tend to be low value and just come straight through. I've bought higher value stuff from the US and it depends on the carrier. If the seller uses USPS the American post office, they hand over to ParcelForce, who email me a duty demand which I pay on line. If the seller uses one of the higher cost carriers such as UPS they usually take payment by card on delivery, but on occasions have emailed a request first.
Tracking online is generally good until it hits UK customs, where things tend to enter a black hole for days on end !
Andrew
It was sent by UPS priority international mail.
Just checked on the tracking again and it says cleared customs at 00.34 today. So 5 days to clear customs for priority mail. ;-)
But not priority for customs.
ISTR CITES listed species derived material causes trouble at customs.
Sometimes smaller things just get through but you always have to be prepared to pay duty on them. A friend got very badly caught out by some bargain rare cacti from the USA - the hit he got from customs was a fixed charge per *species* and they were all different!
(they weren't bargains any more)
Here at uni I ordered some items (about £40) from digikey from the USA , the courier arrived at our postroom but would leave the parcel until I hand ed over about £12.50 in cash. Had to be cash too otherwise he'd have put the parcel back on the van.
Yes, but at least it was just the taxes and not some exorbitant fee as well (last time I received a DigiKey order).
OTOH, what do you expect in that area of London? :-)
VAT etc demand arrived today. As I suspected, a computer generated document. So a week to issue it. Parcel Force want extra for Saturday delivery, so it will be Monday.
Considering the high service charge, I think this slow service appalling. But of course providing enough staff to do a job in a reasonable time isn't a priority of this government.
VAT etc demand arrived today. As I suspected, a computer generated
I though the governments sold Parcel force along with Royal mail?
Mike
Yep, they did, since PF is part of RM.
So whether it's the Gov'ts fault or not depends on whether PF or HMRC issued the VAT demand.
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