Import duty - naive buyer

[Bill Taylor]

The last PO one I had was £8.00, October last year. The Fedex one I haven't paid yet had a £12.00 administration fee.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've just Googled to find out the fees. The PO site doesn't tell you. Just that there is one.

The item I'm thinking about cost about £250 from the US including carriage.

[polygonum]

The £15 limit is excluding shipping. However, once you go over £15, the vat is calculated on the sum of the value and shipping.

[Sam Plusnet]

I assume that there is no contract between Mr Taylor and the shipping company - worth a post to uk.legal.moderated ?

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that Dave Plowman (News) formulated :

My experience suggests that everything I receive from the US, is checked and valued by Customs. Most everything from China gets through FOC.

[T i m]

Ah, ok thanks. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[pamela]

I received an international packet and the value declared on the label was actually less than I paid for the goods.

When I queried this, I was told that it's the sellar's responsibility to declare the correct value and the customer has no part in that.

[bert]

In article , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Do they know in advance what the charge is going to be? One would assume so but I'm just trying to think of a reason for seemingly irrational behaviour.

[bert]

In article , Harry Bloomfield writes

Maybe it's to do with trade deals.

[michael newport]

:

Hi again, am only just reading the replies so apols if this is already answered - would just like to get this out now.

This is what appears to be the case:-

The seller in China advertises the item as "Post Free" and sends it.

Item delivery to uk and at that point the item is sent to buyer, in this case by a very well known goods Delivery courier say XYZ.

A few weeks later an invoice arrives from XYZ asking for a payment which, as I mentioned, is about 1/3 the price of the item. The invoice amount is made up of 3 items.

1) The VAT due on the item 2) A charge for administering the VAT on the item ie XYZ paying hmrc on my behalf 3) The vat on 2) ie the VAT on their charge to me for them paying the VAT to HMRC - for me!

XYZ have already paid 1) so I must pay them that I think.

Item 2) is an amount they have decided upon and consquently the amount of 3) .

The thing is, I have never had at any stage, a contract with them - for any of this! If I refuse to pay, I am told that XYZ will probably try to get it from the Seller.

If that works, the Seller may then try to get that amount back from me.

phew!

[Jonno]

michael newport scribbled

What is the name of this shipping company? Have you looked them up to check they are legit? What do the sellers have to say?

[Brian Reay]

I agree.

I have had to pay duty etc. before, always it was clearly official and required before delivery.

[alan_m]

If you have been caught for import duty etc. the carrier will not deliver it without first being paid. Unless the shipping company was the same as the UK delivery company I suspect it is a scam.

In most cases small items from China/USA etc. will get through without examination by customs but if is is inspected and duty is due the delivery company usually collects the tax after adding their administration fee.

[alan_m]

But often in the smaller print on an Ebay listing will be:

[quote] International buyers please note: a.Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are buyer?s responsibility. We will try our best to reduce the risk of the custom duties. [/quote]

Reducing the risk usually means that the goods are declared as a gift or sample with a low monetary value.

One of the bigger problems with Ebay is the seller will claim that it is UK stock and it will be posted from a UK city/town but in reality two weeks later the goods arrive with a customs sticker originating in China.

[Jonno]

Dave Plowman (News) scribbled

I wonder how much duty we will be paying for goods from Europe if the turnip gets his way and we exit the EU.

[Alan Dawes]

The courier hasn't followed the procedure set down by HMRC. Before sending you the parcel they are supposed to notify you of the VAT/duty/fees and get payment. If you do not wish to pay, the courier should return it to the sender. As they have not followed procedure you were unaware that there was any duty/VAT payable, so having had several weeks use of the product it is now "used" which means that you no longer have the option of returning it to the sender for a refund. As it is the courier's incompetence that has lead to this they should be liable for these payments.

see:

Alan

[Adrian]

Assuming the UK stays - as even the "leave" lobby seem to want - in a free trade zone such as the EEA and in VAT union, then the answer is none.

Of course, to do that, the UK'd need to stay within the Treaty of Rome, with the four basic freedoms - including freedom of movement...

If not, then any duty on particular classes of goods would be the subject of whatever bilateral trade deals the UK negotiated with the EU. But we'd be on the back foot on those, having just comprehensively told the EU where to shove free trade etc. And VAT would still need to be charged, since we'd not be in the VAT union, so anything being brought in from any EU country would instantly be 20% more expensive, although you may be able to buy it VAT-free for export from the EU, depending on the vendor. A lot of paperwork, though...

[Tim Streater]

None at all, because everyone knows that two can play at that game.

[The Natural Philosopher]

You know perfectly well that UKIP are not isolationsists.

Its not Europe they want to be free of., it's the EU.

A free trade zone is entirely in everyone's interest if they want to participate freely.

Besides if Britain exits, the EU wont last very long.

[michael newport]

Ah - the first few paragraphs of that link describes the situation exactly.

Here's an extract from that .pdf

========================

Some questions you may have: I?ve already paid for delivery ? why is DHL invoicing me? This invoice is not for delivery charges. The invoice relates purely to import duties and other applicable government taxes such as VAT that were levied by Customs when your shipment arrived in the country. DHL paid these duties on your behalf in order to comply with Customs regulations and to ensure your goods were delivered without delay.

Unfortunately, we are not able to tell you in advance of these costs.

Weren?t these costs included when I paid for my goods? Retailers (internet or catalogue) will normally include advice about import duties on their shipping information pages. You may wish to check the Terms and Conditions of your purchase.

This wipes out all of the saving I made by buying online!

Unfortunately this is sometimes the case. Products sold by companies outside of the UK may appear cheaper compared to UK prices because they do not include taxes. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) advises buyers to check for additional costs before purchasing goods from overseas. You can find useful information and advice at